Program / Course 10: Salvation and Eschatology / Lesson 1.3
What you will learn
- Define original sin as the Western churches have taught it.
- Trace how Augustine developed the doctrine in the context of his controversies.
- Distinguish original guilt from original corruption and see who holds which.
- State how Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed and Arminian teaching differ on the doctrine.
The big idea
In the West, original sin names the condition into which every human being is born because of the first sin of Adam. Augustine, bishop of Hippo (354 to 430), gave the doctrine its classic form: human beings inherit a damaged nature, a weakened will and, in his view, a share in Adam’s guilt. Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed churches all build on Augustine but disagree about how deep the damage goes and what baptism does about it. Arminian and Wesleyan churches accept the corruption but deny that anyone is condemned for Adam’s act alone.
Key terms
- Original sin
- The condition of sin into which all human beings are born, as distinct from actual sins that a person commits.
- Actual sin
- A sin a person commits by his or her own act, as distinct from the inherited condition.
- Original guilt
- The idea that human beings share in the guilt of Adam’s first sin. Churches that teach it differ on how.
- Original corruption
- The inherited damage to human nature, including a weakened will and a tendency to sin.
- Concupiscence
- Disordered desire. Augustine linked its transmission with the way human beings are conceived. Catholic teaching holds it remains after baptism but is not itself sin.
- Total depravity
- A Reformed phrase meaning that sin touches every part of a person, not that every person is as bad as possible.
- Traducianism
- The view that the soul, like the body, is passed on from parents. It was sometimes used to explain how original sin is inherited.
- Infant baptism
- The baptism of babies. In Augustine’s argument it was evidence that infants need cleansing from inherited sin.
Background
The earliest Christian writers said that all human beings sin and need Christ, and that death came through Adam. They did not yet have a worked-out theory of how Adam’s sin passes to his descendants. The Latin writers Tertullian and Cyprian moved closer to one, partly because the church was already baptizing infants. The question arose: if infants have done nothing wrong, why are they baptized for the forgiveness of sins?
Augustine answered with a detailed doctrine. His mature position emerged between about 411 and 430, in his writings against Pelagius and his followers (the next module returns to that controversy). Western Christianity, Catholic and Protestant, has taken Augustine as its chief guide on this topic, even where it has revised him. For that reason this lesson starts with him and then lays out the later developments side by side.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Augustine’s account
Augustine taught that Adam was created with a good will, able not to sin. By his free choice he turned from God toward himself. The result was not only a bad example but an injury to human nature. All who descend from Adam are born with a will that is turned from God, unable by its own power to choose the good that pleases God.
Augustine also taught that this fallen state includes guilt. He read Romans 5:12 in the Latin text as saying that all sinned in Adam, and he held that infants are born guilty and need baptism for the remission of sins. He explained transmission partly through concupiscence, the disorder of desire involved in human generation. This part of his teaching is the most debated even among Western Christians.
Step 2: The medieval Catholic development
Medieval theologians, above all Anselm and Thomas Aquinas, refined the doctrine. Anselm described original sin as the lack of the righteousness that a person ought to have. Aquinas taught that Adam had received a supernatural gift, original justice, and that its loss is the formal element of original sin, while disordered desire is its material element.
The effect is to shift the emphasis. Original sin is a privation, a lack of grace and rightness, more than a positive evil placed in the person. Human nature is wounded but retains its natural powers.
Step 3: The Council of Trent
In 1546 the Council of Trent issued a decree on original sin. It teaches that Adam, by his transgression, lost holiness and justice, incurred death and was changed in body and soul. It states that Adam’s sin is transmitted by propagation, not by imitation, and that it is removed by baptism through the merits of Christ.
Trent also teaches that after baptism concupiscence remains, but that it is not truly sin. It is an inclination that comes from sin and leads to sin, and it is left to be fought. This point was one of the chief points of disagreement with the Reformers.
Step 4: The Reformers
Luther and Calvin both stood in the Augustinian line and pressed it further. Luther taught that original sin is not only a lack but a deep corruption, and that concupiscence after baptism remains truly sin though it is forgiven for Christ’s sake. The Lutheran confessions say that human nature is utterly corrupted in spiritual matters.
Calvin and the later Reformed confessions taught that original sin includes both guilt and corruption. The Westminster Confession says the guilt of Adam’s first sin was imputed to his posterity and that all became dead in sin and wholly defiled in every part of soul and body. Many Reformed writers explain this by federal headship: Adam stood for all, as Christ stands for his people.
Step 5: Arminian and Wesleyan teaching
Arminius agreed that Adam’s fall brought corruption on all, including inability to do saving good without grace. Wesley used strong language about total corruption. But both teach that Christ’s atoning work cancels the guilt of Adam’s sin for all, so that no one is condemned only because of Adam. Grace that goes before, prevenient grace, restores to every person enough freedom to respond to God. They hold that condemnation comes from personal refusal of this grace.
- Why did the baptism of infants help push Augustine toward his doctrine?
- What is the difference between being guilty and being corrupted?
- Is a lack of righteousness a smaller thing than a positive corruption, or is it just a different description?
- How can one be sinful before choosing to sin? What does the church mean by ‘sin’ here?
- Does Augustine’s reliance on the Latin text of Romans 5:12 make his doctrine less certain, or do other texts support it?
- Which of the five Western positions on this page seems to take human responsibility most seriously, and why?
Examples
The baptism of infants
Augustine argued that the church’s practice showed what it believed. Parents bring newborns to be baptized, and the liturgy speaks of the remission of sins. If infants had no sin of any kind, he asked, why the rite? His opponents answered that baptism could also bring infants into the church and into a new state of grace. The disagreement shows how liturgy and doctrine shape each other.
A Reformed and a Catholic reader compare notes
A Reformed student and a Catholic student read Trent and the Westminster Confession side by side. Both find that human beings are born with a will unable to please God. The Catholic reads sin as the lack of grace that baptism restores. The Reformed reader sees a corruption that persists through life and is forgiven in Christ. They see agreement on the fact and difference on the remedy and its effect. (A constructed example.)
Prevenient grace
A Methodist teacher tells her class that nobody is left in a state where it is impossible to respond to God. She explains that God’s grace comes first to every person, awakening conscience and making a response possible. A Calvinist visitor says that this sounds close to what his tradition calls common grace, though he adds that only the elect receive effectual grace. They keep talking. (A constructed example.)
Different perspectives
Catholic
Original sin is the deprivation of original holiness and justice, transmitted to all by propagation. It is a state, not a personal fault, and it is removed by baptism. Concupiscence remains as an inclination to sin but is not itself sin. Human nature is wounded, not totally corrupted.
Lutheran
The Augsburg Confession teaches that all born in the natural way are born with sin, without fear of God and without trust in him. Original sin is truly sin and brings condemnation to those not born again through baptism and the Holy Spirit. Lutherans reject the idea that fallen human beings have natural power to come to God.
Reformed
The Westminster Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism teach that Adam’s guilt is imputed to his descendants and that nature is corrupted in every part. The corruption makes humans wholly unable to do spiritual good, while still leaving them accountable. Total depravity describes extent, not degree.
Arminian and Wesleyan
Human beings inherit corrupted natures and cannot turn to God without grace. But guilt for Adam’s act is not charged to anyone as individual condemnation, since Christ’s work removes it. Prevenient grace restores a capacity to respond, so that each person is responsible for accepting or rejecting grace.
Orthodox (for contrast)
Orthodox writers honor Augustine as a saint in some places but generally reject the idea of inherited guilt. They teach that Adam’s sin brought mortality and a weakened nature to all, and that each person is guilty of his own sins. The next lesson develops this view.
Why it matters
The doctrine of original sin sets the problem to which the rest of Western teaching on salvation is the answer. If a person is born with a wound, the remedy is healing and strength. If a person is born under a condemnation that the person cannot lift, the remedy is a verdict of pardon. Western Christians have debated for sixteen centuries which picture better fits Scripture, and the answer shapes their teaching on baptism, faith and works.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Original sin means that babies are personally wicked.
Correction: No Western church teaches that infants have committed actual sins. Original sin is a condition, not a deed. Churches differ on whether it includes guilt, but none ascribes personal evil to a newborn.
Misunderstanding: Augustine invented the idea of original sin.
Correction: Earlier writers taught that sin and death came through Adam. Augustine developed the idea further and expressed it in the sharpest form, in response to the controversy with Pelagius. He did not create it from nothing.
Misunderstanding: Total depravity means that people are as evil as they could be.
Correction: Reformed teaching means that sin affects every part of the person, so that nothing in a person gives a claim on God. It does not deny that unbelievers do many good and useful things.
Misunderstanding: Catholics and Protestants teach the same about concupiscence.
Correction: Trent says concupiscence after baptism is not truly sin. Luther and the Reformed say it is sin, though forgiven. The difference was among the sharper disputes of the sixteenth century.
Knowledge check
What is original sin in the Western tradition?
It is the condition of sin into which every human being is born because of the first sin of Adam. It is distinguished from actual sins that a person commits. Western churches agree that the condition is real and that human beings cannot heal themselves, though they differ about whether it includes inherited guilt.
What did Augustine add to earlier teaching?
Augustine taught in detail that Adam’s sin injured human nature, that the will is unable to choose the good without grace, and, on his reading of the Latin text of Romans 5:12, that infants share in Adam’s guilt and need baptism. He also linked transmission with concupiscence. Much of this became the basis of Western teaching.
What does the Council of Trent say about concupiscence after baptism?
Trent teaches that concupiscence remains in the baptized as an inclination left for the struggle of the Christian life. It comes from sin and leads to sin, but the Council says it is not truly and properly sin in the baptized. The Reformers disagreed and regarded it as sin that is forgiven for Christ’s sake.
How do Arminian teachers differ from Reformed teachers on Adam’s guilt?
Both agree that human nature is corrupted and cannot turn to God without grace. Reformed teaching says Adam’s guilt is imputed to his descendants. Arminian and Wesleyan teaching says that Christ’s atonement removes that guilt for all, so no one is condemned for Adam’s act alone, and that prevenient grace restores a capacity to respond.
Think it through
- Does it seem fair to you for a person to inherit damage from another? How do different traditions answer that sense of unfairness?
- Which is more important for your own faith, the question of guilt or the question of corruption? Why?
- How might a church’s practice of baptism affect how it states the doctrine?
- What would you want a Catholic, a Lutheran and a Wesleyan each to explain to you about their view?
Independent assignment
Comparing four statements on original sin
In your notebook, write 500 to 700 words. Read the decree on original sin in the Council of Trent, the article on original sin in a Lutheran or Reformed confession, and any text from the Wesleyan tradition you can find. For each, copy one sentence of 25 words or fewer that you think states the heart of the teaching. Then write one paragraph per source explaining it in your own words and one paragraph describing what they hold in common.
Further study
- Augustine of Hippo, The City of God Read Book 13 and Book 14 on death, the first sin and the will.
- Council of Trent (1545-1563), Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent Read the decree on original sin, from the fifth session.
- Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith Read the chapter on the fall of man, of sin and of the punishment thereof.
- Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, The Heidelberg Catechism Read the early questions on human misery.
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Read the treatise on original sin in the second part of the first part.
- Romans 5:19 By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.
- Ephesians 2:3 By nature the children of wrath.
- Psalm 51:5 Shapen in iniquity.