One thing that is certain is that we are created spiritually alive and the LORD is spirtually alive. In the following verse the Apostle Paul describes how he was saved by being made alive by the spirit:
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).
Joseph Henry Thayer says that the Greek word translated regeneration
"denotes the restoration of a thing to its pristine state, its renovation" [emphasis added] (Joseph Henry Thayer,
A Greek - English Lexicon of the New Testament, 474).
The word "regeneration" is translated from the Greek word
paliggenesia, which is the combination of
palin and
genesis.
Palin means
"joined to verbs of all sorts,it denotes renewal or repetition of the action" (
Ibid., 475).
Genesis means
"used of birth, nativity" (
Ibid., 112).
So when we combine the two words the meaning is
a repetition of a birth. Therefore, when Paul used the Greek word translated "regeneration" to describe his salvation experience he was speaking of a repetition of a birth.
It is obvious that the reference is not to a "physical" rebirth, or the repetition of one's physical birth. Paul could only be speaking of a repetition of a spiritual birth. And the words that follow make it certain that the "birth" of which Paul is referring to is a "spiritual" birth--
"renewing of the Holy Spirit."
Since the renewal of the Holy Spirit is in regard to being made alive spiritually then the previous birth of the Spirit must also be in regard to being made alive spiritually by the Holy Spirit. In other words, since a person is "regenerated" by the Holy Spirit then that means that one must have previously been born of the Holy Spirit. That happens at conception.
These facts alone destroy the theory of Original Sin because according to that theory all people emerge from the womb spiritually dead.