Hey T
I like to think of it as more of the motive, not the act that makes it sin. They knew it was wrong because God told them not to do it. They were capable of sinning all the time. The fall definitely had an effect. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is significant.
I think that I derailed my own thread.
I was just kind of thinking out loud, I guess.
Like...
Jesus, being God, always knew good from evil. I believe that His being born of a virgin did not just need to happen because of OT prophecy, but also the effects of the fall also. It would have corrupted Him somehow.
There is a physical element to this sinful nature. We see the effects right away. If Adam had not sinned, He would have lived forever physically. Jesus, in His incarnation, the same. If He wasn't murdered, He would have physically never died. He had no corruption, thus none of the effects, namely, death. After Adam sinned, the effects on mankind were minimal. They lived to be nine hundred years old back then. By the time Moses comes on the scene, the Law was being applied to curb the effects of sin. As someone stated earlier, DNA, when similar, produces more birth defects. We see this with the Amish where they have small communities. They actively adopt outsiders to curb the effects of the fall on their small communities by introducing new DNA. So the effects of the fall are getting worse. We are dying as a race. But the world is telling us we are getting better all time by way of evolution.
So anyway, Mary, receiving the news that she had found favor with God and would carry and raise the Messiah, Knew she was a sinner and thanked God for her Savior.
out of time again