From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

The present chaotic condition of mankind and the entire universe stems from original sin. Without original sin, there could be perfect people, and a perfect world!

Four Characteristics of Sin

The Bible teaches four things about original sin:

1. It is original - It has its roots in the first sin of the first parents of mankind.

2. Sin produces sins - Our nature governs our habitual practice.

3. It is universal - All human beings are affected by it.

4. It is systemic - It pervades our human natures; no part of us is unaffected.

Original Sin is "Original"

Sin has its roots in the sin of our first parents. Genesis chapter 3 tells us that God created Adam and Eve in perfection and gave them a commandment to obey, but of their own free will they chose to disobey Him. Because all mankind are Adam's descendants, when Adam fell into sin all mankind fell with him, and bears Adam's guilt (Romans 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 15:22-45).

Sin is Both Nature and Habit

Human beings are therefore in a state of depravity. This involves both the loss of Adam's original righteousness and a continual personal propensity toward evil (Romans 3:10-23, 6:6, 6:12-17, 7:5-17, 8:7; Galatians 5:17, 24; Ephesians 4:18-19; James 1:14-15). The result of original sin is that all men commit acts of sin (1 Kings 8:46; Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 130:3; Romans 3:19-23; Galatians 3:22). In other words, as Adam's descendants we commit sin in word and deed, and neglect the good that we ought to do, because we are sinners by nature. We are not sinners because we sin - we sin because we are sinners.

Original Sin is Universal

Since all mankind are Adam's descendants, sin is universal. Scripture tells us that Adam's sin and its effects have passed on to all men, and that in the eyes of God we have all sinned in Adam (Romans 5:12). No one is righteous (Romans 3:10-19), and all have sinned (Romans 3:23, Galatians 3:22).

Original Sin is Systemic

Every part of man is affected by original sin. His intellect is blinded (1 Corinthians 2:14, 2 Corinthians 4:4). Men have become "futile in their thoughts, foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:22). Because of this blindness, mankind is "past feeling" concerning the things of God (Ephesians 4:19) and his conscience is "seared with a hot iron" (1 Timothy 4:2). Romans 1:18-3:20 shows us that man bears the effects of sin in every part of his being. This is the doctrine of mankind's total depravity.

Roman Catholicism denies this consequence of original sin. This denial is part of Rome's system of false doctrine which claims that man is capable of helping to save himself from the wrath of God. Herbert M. Carson addresses this point in his book, The Faith of the Vatican: A Fresh Look at Roman Catholicism. He points out that Rome declares that

Man is deprived, not depraved; he is wounded spiritually, but he is not killed, though in fact God had warned, "You shall die" (Genesis 2:17). So the catechism affirms concerning original sin: "It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice [i.e., righteousness], but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering, and the dominion of death." [From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994.]¹

Carson goes on to point out that the Roman Catholic view of original sin contradicts Scripture: "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). The Apostle Paul speaks of those who have been made alive in Christ as having previously been "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1)

An Accurate Picture of Man and the Universe

The record of the fall of man in Genesis 3 is God's own eyewitness account of what actually took place. And, we know from the Biblical record, the history of mankind outside Scripture, and from personal experience (if we are honest about it) that the Bible's teaching on original sin is an accurate picture of the state of mankind both collectively and individually. The world is in the condition it is in - hatred, bloodshed, disease, death, natural disasters, and chaotic thinking - because of original sin. Because the Bible presents an accurate picture, God's holy law (and our inability to keep it) shows us our desperate condition. As the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:24, the perfect law of God "was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith" in Him.

The problem of original sin also explains the struggles of the Christian life. As the Apostle Paul explains in Romans chapter 7, two natures - the old nature of original sin, and the new nature of life in Christ - are at war within us:

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (Romans 7:14-23)

John Calvin eloquently summed up the Biblical doctrine of original sin and its effects:

Original sin, therefore, [is the] hereditary depravity and corruption of our nature, diffused into all parts of the soul, which first makes us liable to God's wrath, then also brings forth in us those works which Scripture calls "works of the flesh" (Galatians 5:19). And that is properly what Paul often calls sin. The works that come forth from it - such as adulteries, fornications, thefts, hatreds, murders, carousings - he accordingly calls "fruits of sin" (Galatians 5:19-21), although they are also commonly called "sins" in Scripture, and even by Paul himself. We must, therefore, distinctly note these two things. First, we are so vitiated and perverted in every part of our nature that by this great corruption we stand justly condemned and convicted before God, to whom nothing is acceptable but righteousness, innocence, and purity....

Then comes the second consideration: that this perversity never ceases in us, but continually bears new fruits - the works of the flesh that we have already described - just as a burning furnace gives forth flame and sparks, or water ceaselessly bubbles up from a spring. Thus those who have defined original sin as "the lack of the original righteousness, which ought to reside in us," although they comprehend in this definition the whole meaning of the term, have still not expressed effectively enough its power and energy. For our nature is not only destitute and empty of good, but so fertile and fruitful of every evil that it cannot be idle.²

Who Shall Deliver Me?"

The Apostle Paul concludes the seventh chapter of Romans, where he describes the struggle of the Christian with the sin nature, by crying out, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" But he immediately answers the question with the good news: "I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

An Essential Doctrine

The doctrine of original sin is an essential doctrine. It "tells it like it is" about how mankind came to be in our hopeless state without Christ. Understanding this great truth magnifies the glory and riches of what Christ has done by coming into the world and shedding His own blood for our redemption.

Roman Catholicism is not alone in its false teaching about original sin. Cults such as Mormonism and the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Unitarian Universalists, and many liberal "Christian" churches, deny the Biblical doctrine of original sin altogether. Sadly, even many evangelical churches today are teaching that man is inherently good (or at least not totally depraved), and this leads to the preaching of a false, therapeutic gospel of acceptance, affirmation, and personal self-esteem that leaves people feeling good about themselves, but still lost without Christ.

The doctrine of original sin is a vital, integral part of the Gospel message. We must never leave it out. Without original sin, right now there could be perfect people, and a perfect world! The doctrine of original sin explains the present state of mankind and the world. The good news of the Gospel is that, although there cannot be perfect people or a perfect world now, Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for sin and is preparing a new, perfect world, and perfect people for that world - a new heaven and new earth, in which righteousness shall dwell, and original sin and its effects shall be gone forever (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22; Romans 8:21; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-4, 24-27).

References:

1. Herbert Carson, The Faith of the Vatican: A Fresh Look at Roman Catholicism (Durham, England: Evangelical Press, 1996), page 181.

2. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, (F. L. Battles, editor; Westminster Press, 1960), volume 2, pages 11-12.

tq0005