Original Sin
Humanity inherits a fallen condition from Adam.
This doctrine defines Christian orthodoxy. Denial places one outside the historic faith.
What the traditions say
Defined at Trent. Original sin deprives humanity of original holiness and justice. Concupiscence remains after baptism but is not itself sin.
Formula of Concord I: original sin is not merely a deprivation but a deep corruption of human nature. Without grace, the will is in bondage to sin.
Total depravity: sin affects every part of human nature. Humanity is unable to turn to God without regenerating grace. The covenant of works was broken in Adam.
Augustine developed the fullest patristic account: Adam's sin is transmitted to all his descendants. Eastern Fathers emphasized death and corruption more than inherited guilt.
Wesley affirmed original sin but also prevenient grace — God's grace counteracts the effects of the fall in every person, enabling genuine free response.
Orthodoxy speaks of ancestral sin rather than original sin. Humanity inherits mortality and the tendency to sin, but not personal guilt for Adam's act. The Augustinian formulation is considered too juridical.
Who binds this (creedal)
Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.
Key scriptures
- 1Cor 15:22 — For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
- 1John 1:8 — If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
- Eccl 7:20 — For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
- Eph 2:3 — Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
- Gal 3:22 — But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
- Gen 3:16 — Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
- Gen 3:17 — And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
- Gen 3:6 — And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
- Isa 53:6 — All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- Jer 17:9 — The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
- Job 14:4 — Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
- Ps 51:5 — Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
- Rom 3:23 — For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
- Rom 5:12 — Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
- Rom 5:19 — For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
What the confessions say
Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.
- Reformed Baptist 1689 London Baptist Confession 6.2 — Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment thereof
- Reformed Westminster Shorter Catechism Q18 — Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
- Reformed Westminster Larger Catechism Q25 — Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion Article 9 — Of Original or Birth-sin
- Lutheran Augsburg Confession Article 2 — Of Original Sin
- Roman Catholic Council of Trent (Decrees) On Justification · Chapter I — On the Inability of Nature and of the Law to justify man
The Church Fathers
The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.
Let us be imitators also of those who in goat-skins and sheep-skins went about proclaiming the coming of Christ; I mean Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel among the prophets, with those others to whom a like testimony is borne [in Scripture]. Abraham was specially honoured, and was called the friend of God; yet he, earnestly regarding the…
For this reason [it is, said], "Who shall declare His generation?" since "He is a man, and who shall recognise Him?" But he to whom the Father which is in heaven has revealed Him, knows Him, so that he understands that He who "was not born either by the will of the flesh, or by the will of man," is the Son of man, this is Christ, the…
It is probably therefore with reference to the consummation that Salome says: "Until when shall men die?" The Scripture uses the word "man" in two senses, the outward man and the soul, and again of him who is being saved and him who is not; and sin is said to be the death of the soul. That is why the Lord gave a cautious answer - "As…
Up to the fall of man, therefore, from the beginning God was simply good; after that He became a judge both severe and, as the Marcionites will have it, cruel. Woman is at once condemned to bring forth in sorrow, and to serve her husband, although before she had heard without pain the increase of her race proclaimed with the blessing,…
For the apostle says: "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;…
"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into this world, and through sin death, and so death passed through to all men, in whom all sinned. For until the law sin was in this world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who sinned after the likeness of the…