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Original sin

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Original sin is the religious doctrine, shared in one form or another by most Christian denominations, which holds that human nature is morally and ethically disordered due to the disobedience of mankind's earliest parents to the revealed will of God. In the Bible, the first human transgression of God's command (the original sin, a concept distinct from that of original sin) is described as the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (called "the Fall"). The doctrine of original sin holds that every person born into the world is tainted by the wrong-doing of the first ancestors, confused because they were deceived, corrupted because they were ruined, fearful of death because they were punished, etc.; so that, all of humanity is ethically debilitated, and powerless to rehabilitate themselves, unless rescued by God.

There are wide-ranging disagreements among Christian groups as to the exact understanding of this doctrine, with some Christian groups denying it altogether. Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, and Islam acknowledge that the introduction of sin into the human race affected the subsequent environment for mankind, but tend to deny any inherited guilt or necessary corruption of man's nature.

The original sin in Judaism

The following considerations about Jewish thought concern "the original sin" (with the definite article), i.e. what Christians usually call the Fall. They do not touch on "original sin" (without the article).

Classical Biblical and Orthodox Jewish view

The Original sin, or HaChet Hakadmon (in Hebrew -- החטא הקדמון), is the episode of Adam's sin in the Book of Genesis. Chet Kadmon is a back-formation from the Christian term; in classical Jewish literature, Adam's sin is known as Chet Adam HaRishon, (חטא אדם הראשׁון), which translates to "Sin of the First Man." Alternatively, Adam HaRishon can be taken as Adam's personal name, in which case the phrase translates as "Adam's Sin."

The account in Genesis 2-3 implies that Adam and Eve initially lived in a state of intimate communion with God. They were, however, forbidden by God to eat of the fruit of "the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." According to Jewish tradition (see Knowledge of the Heart, by Moses Chayim Luzzato), this prohibition was to give them free choice and allow them to earn, as opposed to receive, absolute perfection and intimate communion with God, a higher level than the one on which they were created.

The course of events was as follows:

  • God first warned Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree (Genesis 2:15-17). [1]
  • The serpent persuaded Eve, who in turn persuaded Adam, to disobey this commandment. After eating of the fruit, they immediately recognized their mistake, and became ashamed of their nakedness. (Genesis 3:1-7) [2]
  • God was outraged by what they did and cursed the serpent, diminishing his stature and apparently changing his physical form, including removing his ability to speak. Also, eternal enmity was created between mankind and serpents. (Genesis 3:9-15) [3]
  • God cursed both Eve and Adam. Eve's curse created the menstrual cycle and the difficulties of pregnancy and child-rearing (according to Jewish tradition, Cain and Abel were born fully-grown immediately after conception, before the sin took place). Additionally, the relationship between husband and wife was changed to the form we are familiar with today (the original relationship, which presumably will also be the final relationship, is the subject of much speculation). Adam was cursed to toil for his sustenance, taking away time for pursuit of knowledge, perfection, and communion with God (the pursuit of happiness). (Genesis 3:16-21) [4]
  • Following this curse, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Their stature and communion with God were also apparently diminished. (Genesis 3:22-24) [5]

All these consequences changed the world and affected Adam and Eve's descendants. People are not intrinsically condemned and sinful, but nevertheless begin life at a spiritual and metaphysical level inherited from Adam and Eve, and far lower than Adam's original level. The course of history is meant to return humanity to Adam's original level, and then allow it to surpass that level by completing the task that Adam failed to complete. The curses and changes imposed on mankind and womankind following their sin are meant to facilitate this return to glory.

According to this tradition, Adam and Eve would have attained absolute perfection and retained immortality had they succeeded in withstanding the temptation to eat from the Tree. After failing at this task, they were condemned to a period of toil to rectify the fallen universe. In Jewish tradition, this is a 6,000 year period.

Jewish tradition views the serpent, and sometimes the Tree of Knowledge itself, as representatives of evil. Evil's job was and is to mislead Mankind and give the appearance that God does not actually control all elements of Creation. Adam's task was to see through this veil. After his failure, this became humanity's task through history.

Reform and Conservative Judaism's views

The more modern liberal branches of Jews such as Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism sees no "evil" other than the evil actions of human beings, so they disagree with Christian traditions that identify the serpent with Satan. Eve's only transgression was that she disobeyed God's order. It is also clear from the Hebrew that Adam was with her the entire time and at no time stopped her. Therefore, it is incorrect to blame Eve alone. Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden and had to live ordinary, human lives. In other words, they had to "leave home" and grow up and live as responsible human beings. If they had never eaten from the forbidden tree, they would have never discovered their capacity to act with free will in the world. And according to the Jewish tradition, God doesn't want human beings who have no choice but to always choose to do what is good and right. When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden, they were like robots, without free will. Therefore, it was actually a blessing to have been expelled--that is, Adam and Eve were the first humans to act on their free will, and this is ultimately what God wanted.

Original sin in the New Testament

The New Testament teaching on original sin is briefly summarized by the Apostle Paul, who wrote: "Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned." (Rom 5:12 NRSV).

The experience of original sin, and the spiritual pain it produces in the one who wishes to please God, is dramatically summed up by Paul in the following verses: "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:15-24)

The solution to this dilemma is stated by Paul in these terms: "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:3-4)

Though the New Testament doctrine of original sin is most clearly expressed by Paul, it is also implicit in the teachings of Jesus: for example in such words as: "And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." (Mark 10:18) and "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5).

Original sin in Catholicism

The Roman Catholic Church's Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the Fall, "the original sin" in the sense of mankind's first sin, as follows: "Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command" (397). "He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good" (398).

On "original sin" in the sense in which the term is usually understood, namely the effect of mankind's first sin on the descendants of the first sinner, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, after quoting Saint Paul's letter to the Romans 5:12, 18, says: "By the 'unity of the human race', all men are implicated in Adam's sin, as all are implicated in Christ's justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand" (404).

The Catholic Church teaches that original sin, in which human beings are born, is "the state of deprivation of the original holiness and justice ... it is transmitted to the descendants of Adam along with human nature" (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 76). Being a state, not an act, it involves no personal responsibility (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 405). It is a state that gives rise to other consequences: "Human nature, without being entirely corrupted, has been harmed in its natural powers, is subject to ignorance, suffering and the power of death, and has a tendency to sin. This tendency is called concupiscence" (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 77).

The already existing doctrine of original sin was developed especially by Saint Augustine of Hippo in reaction to Pelagianism. The Church had always held baptism to be "for the remission of sins". Infants too were baptized, and were thus treated as inheriting the guilt of Adam's transgression, which, as St Paul taught, brought death upon the whole human race. In insisting that human beings have of themselves full freedom to choose between good and evil and so can achieve justification by their own efforts, Pelagianism denied both the importance of baptism and the teaching that God is the giver of all that is good.

The Catholic Church did not accept all of Augustine's ideas, in particular the opinion that involvement in Adam's guilt and punishment takes effect through the dependence of human procreation on the sexual passion, in which the spirit's inability to control flesh is evident.

There is a close link between the notion of original sin and the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, namely the Church's teaching that, in view of the saving power of the future death and resurrection of her son Jesus, she was preserved from this "stain" (i.e. deprivation of holiness), which affects others. Those who deny the existence of inherited original sin implicitly profess belief in the immaculate conception not only of Mary but of every human being.

Original sin in Protestantism

The notions of original sin as interpreted by Augustine of Hippo were affirmed by Protestant Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin. Both Luther and Calvin agreed that humans inherit Adamic guilt and are in a state of sin from the moment of conception. This inherently sinful nature (the basis for the Calvinistic doctrine of "total depravity") results in a complete alienation from God and the total inability of humans to achieve reconciliation with God based on their own abilities. Not only do individuals inherit a sinful nature due to Adam's fall, but since he was the federal head and representative of the human race, all whom he represented inherit the guilt of his sin by imputation.

Because of this conundrum, Protestants believe that God the Father sent Jesus into the world. The personhood, life, ministry, suffering, and death of Jesus, as God incarnate in human flesh, is meant to be the atonement for original sin as well as actual sins; this atonement is according to some rendered fully effective by the Resurrection of Jesus.

Original sin in the Restoration Movement

Most Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement churches, such as the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and other Congregational Churches of this shared origin, also reject the notion of Original sin, instead believing that all men and women are responsible for their own sins. Adam and Eve did bring sin into the world by introducing disobedience, and as a result the concept spread, however, sin itself is an action, and not something that one can inherit.

The original sin and original sin in Eastern Orthodoxy and in Islam

The Orthodox Church's teaching on the original sin agrees strongly with the view presented above as being "Old Testament". In addition, the Church teaches that the specific act of the the original sin is not the responsibility of all humanity. Instead, the consequences of that act exist and plague the world. The original sin creates an environment within which it is simply not possible without direct Divine intervention for a human being to avoid some sort of actual committed sin some time in his or her life. In essence, it is a type of combined "spiritual environmental pollution" and "spiritual illness".

Orthodox reject what they consider to be a very common Western concept that original sin is some sort of inherited guilt. People are not presumed to bear personal responsibility for the acts of Adam. Islamic doctrine also proclaims that Adam and Eve were both capable beings and so were knowingly responsible for their own actions.

The original sin in Gnosticism

The Christian Gnostics see the figure of the serpent as a divine benefactor and liberator of humanity, rather than Satan, Lucifer, or any other ill-intentioned figure. They hold that the world was created by the Demiurge, an imperfect creator who wished to rule it as a tyrant. However, the spirit of Christ interfered by posessing the serpent and telling Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The fact that Adam and Eve ate from this tree allowed for them to have free will and thus defy their creator if need be. Therefore, what most Christians consider the Fall was really the freeing of humanity's minds and souls, according to the Gnostics.

The original sin in the Unification Church

Genesis 2:17 is a key Bible verse for discussions about the fall of man.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (KJV)

Even though Adam and Eve are described as eating the fruit, they did not "die" immediately (in the physical sense). According to the Unification Church interpretation, they "died" in a spiritual sense: their relationship with God was cut off.

According to Unification Theology, Adam and Eve sinned by having a sexual relationship before they had reached perfection. The "fruit of knowledge" was a symbol of Eve's sexual love, which could be either good (if centered on God) or evil (if not). Eve was initially tempted into sin by the Archangel Lucifer, who seduced her. The reason Adam and Eve hid their "lower parts" after the Original Sin is similar to the reason a child having swiped cookies might hide their hands ("I have concealed my transgressions like Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom." -- Job 31:33)

The original sin in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS Church, and the "Mormons") teaches no doctrine known as "Original Sin." They do however, teach a doctrine known as the Fall of Adam, which is that the actions of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden brought about spiritual and physical death. Latter-day Saints believe that separation from God (spiritual death) was an intended part of the plan of God. The main objective of the plan being that mankind should be tested (see Abraham). Because separation from God was necessary, Latter-day Saints see the transgression of Adam and Eve as a great and necessary sacrifice, rather than a "mistake". Adam and Eve were cast out of God's presence, and suffered physical pain and death after committing the transgression. Their choice to enter that fallen state willingly meant that the God's "Plan of Happiness" could proceed as intended, and was inline with his will.

The Second Article of Faith states: "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression." Thus, Latter-day Saints generally reject the notion of original sin in favor of the doctrine of the Fall, as explained. Furthermore, they hold that there is nothing inherently wrong with human bodies or spirits. They see the separation from God, combined with the temptations of Satan as the cause of mankind's inclination to sin. Additionally, they do not believe in "infant baptism" (see Moroni 8) because they believe that children are still innocent until the "age of accountability" (age 8) and infant baptism is therefore inappropriate. Additionally, all children who die before reaching that age will be returned to God's presence.

Mormons do not believe that the transgression in Eden was of a sexual nature - nor that it could have been as God commanded Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the Earth. This implies that sexual relations between our progenitors were sanctioned by Him, and that they were de facto married by God in Eden. Likewise, Eve is not blamed for being the first to partake of the fruit, but rather celebrated in her wisdom to recognize that her descendants would have to be born, live, and make righteous choices on Earth, learn to repent through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and pass through death, in order eventually to be fully redeemed and return to live with God again. Taken from the idea that it is better to pass through the sorrow of this life, in order to know the Good from the Evil, rather than to exist in a perpetual state of innocence and stagnant ignorance. (see 2nd Nephi 2:11)

Original sin according to Quran Alone Muslims

The majority of the Quran Alone Muslims do accept the concept of original sin, not in the Christian sense, but that every single human has sinned individually before coming to this earth. They argue that it doesn't make sense that some children be born with deformity or disease unless the soul to be placed in their bodies committed a crime before. They also claim that once a person came down here on earth they have forty years to improve themselves. Anyone who dies before that age goes to heaven, not as high a degree as those matured above 40, according to them based on the following verse:

  • [46:15] We enjoined the human being to honor his parents. His mother bore him arduously, gave birth to him arduously, and took intimate care of him for thirty months. When he reaches maturity, and reaches the age of forty, he should say, "My Lord, direct me to appreciate the blessings You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do the righteous works that please You. Let my children be righteous as well. I have repented to You; I am a submitter."

They also believe that GOD controls life and death as also mentioned in Quran and that He knows which soul deserves what according to the following verse:

  • [7:158] ...There is no god except He. He controls life and death."...

Problems with the concept of original sin =

The concept of original sin creates several logical problems. First is the inheritance of the original sin, which Bertrand Russell presented in his History of Western Philosophy. St. Paul insists on Rom 5:12 that we inherit the original sin from our parents, implying the original sin is a corporeal corruption, since we inherit our bodies from our parents. The dogma insist on the other hand that sin is corruption of soul, and we get our souls from God and not from our parents. Therefore if we inherit our bodies from our parents but not our souls, the concept of the original sin as an actual sin is logically impossible. If, on the other hand, the original sin is an actual sin, this will lead in the conclusion we inherit our souls from our parents and not from God. This is against the dogma, rendering the original sin as an internally contradictory concept. This contradiction was already pointed out by the scholastics already on 12th century.

The Catholic church solved the problem by insisting that the original sin is a state - tendency to commit sins, not a sin by itself. Luther dismissed the validity of logic, insisting the original sin is something so horrible which cannot be understood with earthly reasoning, while Calvin insisted do not believe the human wisdom, but the holy unerring word of Bible. Logically Luther's argument is argument from ignorance, while Calvin combines red herring with argument from authority). See logical fallacies.

Second problem is God's assumed love, omnipotence and omniscience. If God is presumed to be loving, omnipotent and omniscient, he will not have arranged a state where His children are prone to danger on committing the act leading into fall. (Omniscient = knows his children are fallible. Omnipotent = can prevent bad things from happening. Loving = does not will any negative issues to anyone.) As he did arrange the Tree of Knowledge in paradise and arranged a situation where his children could commit act leading in the Fall, God threrfore is not omniscient. If God is presumed to be omnipotent and loving, he will not have allowed His children to commit the act leading into Fall and somehow prevented His children from eating from the Tree of Knowldge. As they did and God did nothing to prevent it, God therefore is not omnipotent. If we assume God was loving, He would not have punished His children from committing the act leading in the Fall, but rather restored the situation as it was before the Fall. As He instead decided to punish the His children from disobedience with death. God logically is not loving.

Third problem is judicial. God is assumed to be unerringly wise and just. Sin is an act against God's will, something you do and are responsible of; and as the original is something you are born with, it is a state. One of the most profound principles in jurisprudence is that only acts can be punishable; a state cannot be, as the person cannot be held responsible on what he is. If the original sin is a punishable condition, and as no condition which is not due to an act is punishable, then God is cannot be just.

Calvin averted this problem by insisting God's infallibility, authority and sovereignity is far above the puny human capacity of understand, and that God is not bound on human concepts of wisdom and justice. Logically this is a straw man combined with argumentum ad verecundiam.

Fourth problem is a derivative of the third. If we assume the original sin is a punishable condition, and the punishment is eternal damnation ("the pay of sin is death"), and if we assume everyone is under the original sin, then every human being is by default destined to eternal damnation (see predestination). That refutes the concept of God being Love. If salvation is only from God (sola Dei) and God is Love, and due to the original sin man cannot choose between salvation and damnation, then everyone is saved as man cannot be held responsible of the original sin. Yet if not everyone is saved and God is Love and omniscient, then God must know those who are saved and who are not sentenced to damnation. That assumption leads also in conclusion that either God is not Love, or man indeed is able to select between salvation and damnation. If God is Love, omniscient and omnipotent, and if not everyone is saved, and if God knows who are saved and who not, then God must do everything to prevent those sentenced to damnation from going into damnation. Since God is omniscient (he knows who are to be saved and who not) and omnipotent (he can do everything to prevent those not saved from being sentenved to eternal damnation) but does not save them, the concept of omnipotence combined with omniscience leads into logical conclusion that He then actually wills that those who are not saved, indeed are to be condemned. This is also known as reprobation or double predestination. But as God wills that some of His children are sentenced to eternal damnation, it follows that God is not Love. Several denominations avert this conclusinon by the concept of limited atonement.

Bertrand Russell goes even further in his History of Western Philosophy. If God is onminpotent and omniscient, but not Love, and people are by default sentenced to Hell, then creation of the human being must be an extremely miserable event, and the purpose of life only to produce fuel in Hell. This is, of course, contradictory with the Scripture.

See also

References

Print

Online

The Book of Concord (www.bookofconcord.org): The Defense of the Augsburg Confession, Article II: Of Original Sin

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