Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Original sin

The teaching that all people, descending from Adam, begin life in a state of sin — a corrupted nature, and (in the Western tradition) a shared guilt.

Latin peccatum originale, 'sin of origin'; anticipated by Tertullian's vitium originis.

Psalm 51:5; Genesis 6:5; 8:21; Romans 5:12–19; Ephesians 2:3 ('by nature children of wrath'); Job 14:4.

Attested from Irenaeus and Tertullian (inherited corruption and mortality); developed decisively by Augustine against Pelagius to include inherited guilt; affirmed at Carthage (418) and Orange (529). The Eastern church holds inherited death and corruption but not inherited guilt.

Distinguishes the corrupt condition (we sin because we are sinners) from actual sins that flow from it. Models of transmission: propagation of a corrupt nature (realism), federal representation (Adam as covenant head), or an inherited environment inevitably ratified.

Inherited guilt (West) vs. inherited corruption only (East); federal vs. realist transmission; whether a historical Adam is required.

Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.