Sin, Original

Original sin is the Christian doctrine that all people have a general condition of sinfulness from birth inherited from the first humansAdam and Evethat separates humans from God. Original sin is also called hereditary sin, birth sin, ancestral sin, and person sin.

The term original sin applies to both the first sin and to the inherited nature of sin found in each human. Genesis chapter 3 describes the first sin of Adam and Eve, the first humans. Initially, Adam and Eve lived in a state of immortality and in close communion with God. The humans disobeyed God when the serpent deceived them into eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, a tree from which God had told them not to eat. By eating the fruit, Adam and Eve discovered the capacity to know and do evil; thus, they developed a sinful nature. This capital transgression condemned the first humans as well as the human race to a life of sin that ends in death. As a consequence of the first sin, everyone born afterward inherits this sinful nature, thus corrupting the human race. This first sin is often referred to as “The Fall.”

The Christian tradition of original sin is based in part upon Paul's writings to the Romans. Romans 5:12 (New International Version) says, “just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” This thought is repeated in subsequent verses. According to Paul, Christ's sacrificial death was the remedy for original sin.

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354–430), one of the early church fathers and an early Christian writer concerning original sin, believed that every human was born flawed, that is, evil with a sinful nature, and shared Adam's guilt. He based this belief on his understanding of Psalm 51:5. He believed one must be baptized in order to remove this guilt; even infants should be baptized because they are born with a sinful nature. Furthermore, Augustine believed that a person was predestined as to whether one would accept God's grace to overcome this nature and that a person could not overcome this sinful nature without God's help.

Not everyone agreed with Augustine's view of original sin. The Pelagians, a group following the teachings of a British ascetic named Pelagius (late 4th to early 5th century), believed one could reach perfection through a virtuous life. This group believed that Adam's sin was confined to Adam alone and that he was destined to die regardless of whether he had sinned. Augustine wrote against the Pelagians in On Merit and Forgiveness around the year 412. Orthodox Christianity condemned Pelagius's position at the Council of Carthage in 418.

Like Augustine, Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (1033–1109), saw original guilt and humanity's flawed nature to be passed on from parent to child; however, he saw original sin as original in each individual rather than as a reference to Adam and Eve's first sin. He argues that all people were present in Adam and actually sinned in Adam.

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