The Human Soul and Sin

The Original Sin

Theological Considerations

Quotes:

St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (A.D. 354-430)
Though the sin of Adam, "nature was vitiated [i.e., corrupted], therefore was transformed for the worse; man not only became as sinner, but also begets sinners. In Adam all sinned; his moral character becomes theirs. Thus the penalty pronounced upon him passes also upon them.  We have his sin and are burdened with his guilt. As original sin brings condemnation, it must have this effect even in the case of children. There is in us a necessity of sinning and the absolute unfitness of man for salvation.

Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 - 21 April 1109)
Original sin is the lack of original righteousness, caused by the disobedience of Adam, through which we are all the children of wrath.

Martin Luther (Eisleben, Germany 10 November, 1483; died at Eisleben, 18 February, 1546)
Original sin is the rot of all actual sin, the corruption of nature; by it the memory, the understand, and the will are weakened. The nature and essence of man is, from his birth, an evil tree and he is a child of wrath.

Huldrych (or Ulrich) Zwingli (1 January 1484 - 11 October 1531)
Adam was created free, but died through his sin, and with him the whole human race. Sin, as original sin, is "the infirmity and defect of shattered nature."

Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875)
"To represent the constitution [of a new born] as sinful, is to present God, who is the author of the constitution, as the author of sin." Charles Finney (Finney's Systematic Theology, Bethany House, p. 261).

Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 - March 22, 1758)
"That mankind are all naturally in such a state... that they universally are the subjects of that guilt and sinfulness, which is, in effect, their utter and eternal ruin, being cast wholly out of the favor of God, and subjected to his everlasting wrath and curse."

John Wesley (1703-1791) founder of modern Methodism
In 1739 Wesley preached a sermon on Freedom Of Grace, attacking the Calvinistic understanding of predestination as blasphemous, as it represented "God as worse than the devil."

Winkie Pratney (born 3 August 1944)
"To equate humanity with sinfulness is to make God the Author of His own worst enemy; to make God responsible for the thing that has brought Him unhappiness." (Youth Aflame, Bethany House, pg. 78).

Assemblies of God (1917-current)
"Man was created good and upright; for God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." However, man by voluntary transgression fell and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God (Genesis 1:26,27; 2:17; 3:6; Romans 5:12-19)." (The General Council of the Assemblies of God: STATEMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS, 4. The Fall of Man, Statement of Fundamental Truths 3/6)

With regard to original sin, the difference between Orthodox Christianity and the West may be outlined as follows:

In the Orthodox Faith, the term "original sin" refers to the "first" sin of Adam and Eve. As a result of this sin, humanity bears the "consequences" of sin, the chief of which is death. Here the word "original" may be seen as synonymous with "first." Hence, the "original sin" refers to the "first sin" in much the same way as "original chair" refers to the "first chair." In the Orthodox Christian understanding, while humanity does bear the consequences of the original, or first, sin, humanity does not bear the personal guilt associated with this sin. Adam and Eve are guilty of their willful action; we bear the consequences, chief of which is death.

In the West, humanity likewise bears the "consequences" of the "original sin" of Adam and Eve. However, the West also understands that humanity is likewise "guilty" of the sin of Adam and Eve. The term "Original Sin" here refers to the condition into which humanity is born, a condition in which guilt as well as consequence is involved.[i]

Original sin^[1] is, according to a doctrine proposed in Christian theology, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man.^[2] This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred to as a "sin nature", to something as drastic as total depravity or automatic guilt by all humans through collective guilt.^[3]

Those who uphold the doctrine look to the teaching of Paul the Apostle in Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:22 for its scriptural base,^[2] and see it as perhaps implied in Old Testament passages such as Psalm 51:5 and Psalm 58:3.

Some Christians do not accept the doctrine indicated by the terms "original sin" or "ancestral sin", which are not found in the Bible.^[4] The doctrine is not found in other religions, such as Judaism,^[5] Hinduism^[6] and Islam. Catholic teaching regards original sin as the general condition of sinfulness (lack of holiness) into which humans are born, distinct from the actual sins that a person commits. This teaching explicitly states that original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants.^[7]

The prevailing view also in Eastern Orthodoxy is that human beings bear no guilt for the sin of Adam. Orthodoxy prefers the term "ancestral sin." Eastern Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy which together make up Eastern Christianity, acknowledge that the introduction of ancestral sin into the human race affected the subsequent environment for mankind (see also traducianism), but never accepted Augustine of Hippo's notions of original sin and hereditary guilt.^[31]

The act of Adam is not the responsibility of all humanity, but the consequences of that act changed the reality of this present age of the cosmos. The Greek Fathers emphasized the metaphysical dimension of the Fall of Man, whereby Adam's descendants are born into a fallen world, but at the same time held fast to belief that, in spite of that, man remains free.^[2] Instead of accepting the Lutheran interpretation of Augustine's teaching, Orthodox Churches accept the teaching of John Cassian, which rejects the doctrine of Total Depravity, by teaching that human nature is "fallen", that is, depraved, but not totally.

Pelagianism is the teaching that man has the capacity to seek God in and of himself apart from any movement of God or the Holy Spirit, and therefore that salvation is effected by man's efforts. The doctrine takes its name from Pelagius, a British monk who was accused of developing the doctrine (he himself appears to have claimed that man does not do good apart from grace in his letters, claiming only that all men have free will by God's gift); it was opposed especially by Augustine of Hippo and was declared a heresy by Pope Zosimus in 418. Denying the existence of original sin, it teaches that man is in himself and by nature capable of choosing good.^[4]

In Semi-pelagian thought, man doesn't have such an unrestrained capacity, but man and God could cooperate to a certain degree in this salvation effort: man can (unaided by grace) make the first move toward God, and God then increases and guards that faith, completing the work of salvation.^[5] This teaching is distinct from the traditional patristic doctrine of synergeia, in which the process of salvation is cooperation between God and man from start to finish.

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[i] It should be noted, however, that within the Roman Catholic Church there is still open debate on some of the nuances of this position.