One of the tenets of Calvinism is that man is born totally depraved due to original sin.  What is original sin?  Let us allow defenders of the doctrine to tell us.

“According to the Bible when Adam, the first man, chose to sin in the Garden of Eden, sin came into the world and passed on to every person. Every child born from this point on would have a sinful nature. According to theology “original sin” is defined by two things: (1) the first sin that Adam committed. (2) the sinful nature that passed on to all mankind since Adam. This sinful nature is also referred to as depravity. The sinful nature of man simply means that all human beings are born into this world as sinners, as it says in the Psalms: ‘Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me,’ Psalms 51:5.”  

Psalm 51:5 is one of two primary passages that Calvinists use to promote their theory of inherited sin, the other being Romans 5:12-21.  The idea that man is born a sinner, that is, totally depraved and incapable of accomplishing any moral good, is foundational to their doctrine.  If man is not born a sinner, the entire doctrine of Calvinism is proven to be false.  Let us look at Psalm 51:5 and see if it teaches what Calvinists need it to teach.

First, David said that he was shaped or brought forth in iniquity.  How do I know that he was not saying that God created him as a sinner?  I know it because that doctrine would contradict scripture.  Solomon wrote, “See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” (Ecclesiastes 7:29).  David could not have been made both upright and a sinner.

Calvinists like to say that this passage is only referring to how Adam was created.  However, the Hebrew word here can either refer to an individual or a species, that is, mankind (Strong).  It is clear that in this passage mankind is under consideration.  The New American Standard uses the word men.  The New International Version says mankind, and Holman Christian Standard Bible translates the word people.  God did not just make Adam upright; He made all people the same way.

What did David mean when He said he was brought forth in iniquity?  He simply meant that he was born into a world of sin.  It is no different than the statement in Acts 2:8 made by the Jews on the Day of Pentecost.  They asked, “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” What does it mean to be born in a tongue?  It means to be born in a place where a certain language dominates.  What does it mean to be born in iniquity?  It means to be born in a world that is dominated by sin.

Second, David said in Psalm 51:5, “in sin did my mother conceive me.”  Do these words prove that David, and therefore the rest of us, were born sinners or totally depraved?  Not at all.  This is figurative language.  It might be an example of synecdoche, a literary device in which a part of something represents the whole or a whole representing a part.  This again would have David saying that he was conceived at a time that the world was dominated by sin.

If we do not have a case of synecdoche here, it could be a hyperbole, that is, an exaggeration for emphasis.  His point would then be that he was guilty of such a horrible sin that it is as if he was a sinner when he was conceived.   Hyperbole  is not unusual in Psalms.  In Psa. 58:3, David said that the wicked speak lies from birth.  Since that is not literally possible, it must be hyperbole.  Man lies so much it is as if he comes out of the womb lying.

If one says that the words of David must be taken literally, he is faced with the fact, that if so taken, the words teach, not that David was a sinner, but that his mother was a sinner.  It would be equivalent to saying, “In drunkenness did my father beat me.”  Who is the sinner—the son that was beaten or the drunken father who beat the son?  The answer is clear.  So, who is the sinner in David’s statement if taken literally—the son who was conceived or the mother who conceived the son?  The answer is self-evident.  The truth is there is nothing in Psalm 51:5 that necessitates a conclusion that man is born totally depraved, and remember, this is one of the two primary passages of Calvinism.  To say that it does is to misapply the passage.