Recently, a YouTube post from a creator that I’ve followed for some time now, caught my attention for it’s provocative title, “The Fallacy of the Doctrine of Original Sin.” Seeing this, I had hoped he would address some of the misconceptions and mischaracterizations of this doctrine before expounding its truths according to Scripture. Sadly, the video was directed towards maligning those who hold to the doctrine of original sin alongside a mis-exegesis of Psalm 51 and later briefly Romans 5 all which informed errors in understanding what this doctrine actually means. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement, but the reality is there’s an ever-growing trend to undercut and discredit this doctrine, particularly online and through social media outlets. The result of these efforts will prove to be disastrous. Recovering a robust, clear, and scripturally accurate view of sin in light of the glory of God has been the fountainhead for revival throughout history.
The doctrine of original sin has been on my radar for some time now. Having seen the explosion of pushback recently, combined with my own completion of exposition on 1 Corinthians, inspired me to try and pull together posts I’ve written over the years which express this doctrine (simply meaning: teaching). You can find these posts in their original, unedited form here: Doctrinal Index Perhaps if the Lord wills, I’ll get an e-book finalized with all of them.
When the Doctrine of Original Sin is discussed, normally what’s in view, or at least should be, is the state or original condition of man, regarding his nature, with respect to the first man, Adam. Louis Berkhof summarizes this well, “The sinful state and condition in which men are born is designated in theology by the name peccatum originale, which is literally translated in the English ‘original sin.’” Two elements must be both included and distinguished in explaining this doctrine and they are: original guilt and original pollution. This latter expression naturally and logically leads to other doctrines: total depravity and total inability. With this, we would also want to also include the consequences of original sin, both corporately and personally. So we begin to see just how foundational an understanding of original sin is to our knowledge of man, sin, and the need for Christ.
When we speak of original guilt as an aspect under the umbrella of original sin, it means that Adam in his capacity as Federal Head of the human race is our representative such that when he sinned and broke God’s Law his guilt was imputed, or credited to, the entire human race. This is reflected in the phrase, “in Adam” found in Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:22; and implicated in Ephesians 2:3. Adam as Federal Head stands over mankind in a covenantal capacity, sometimes called the Covenant of Works, other times the Adamic Administration or Covenant of Creation. Regardless, “in Adam” expresses humanity’s union with Adam in this covenant. The concept of federal representation should not be lost on those of us who live in the United States. Likewise, the subject of corporate guilt should not be lost on those of us who are familiar with the story of Israel and the first generation from the Exodus’ denial into the Land, the sin of Achan, and the corporate exile at the hand of Assyria, and later Babylon. It’s a principle that God had used with them from the start, and it is a picture of the corporate or federal solidarity of all humanity with Adam. Oftentimes, the doctrine of original sin is misunderstood because God’s relationship to man via covenants is not properly understood. Therefore, it’s extremely important to have a robust grasp of God’s covenantal administrations.
Objections for original guilt abound, but primarily focus on babies and their assumed innocence. Relatedly, with original pollution, our second point under original sin, we find that this particular aspect is typically rejected because not only do people want to believe that we are born free from guilt, but that we are also born “good”. Conversely, Berkhof states this side of original sin has two separate pieces: the absence of original righteousness and the presence of positive evil. First, the absence of original righteousness means that there is no one good. This is seen clearly in Romans 3:10, as there are none righteous. In this chapter, after placing all men, both Jew and Gentile, under the same condemnation from breaking the law, Paul provides a stunning summary using Old Testament passages:
For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:9b-20
Notice the comprehensiveness of those Scripture passages cited by Paul:
- None
- No, not one
- No one
- No one
- All
- Together
- No one
- Not even on
The absence of righteousness in all mankind doesn’t mean that man is morally neutral or a blank slate (tabula rasa). No, there is the negative addition of evil, that is the power and presence of sin from original pollution. From birth, man is born with an internal sinful nature. In other words, sin isn’t something external that comes into man, it is internal from the start and flows out of man’s heart. (see: Matthew 15:11-20) This causes man to be inclined to sin from birth and is a point we will take up in our defense of original sin from the recent video podcast. Lacking inherent righteousness and possessing an inclination to sin results in the inability to do good, as we see above in verses 11-12. No one is immune to that.
The two aspects of original sin, original guilt and original pollution, both find their headwaters in Adam. As noted, the former finds its transmission to the human race through Adam’s federal headship. This is through their covenant relationship to Adam as the representative head of the human race. The latter aspect finds its transmission from Adam’s seminal headship, that is, as all mankind have a physical, genealogical connection to Adam. Sometimes in these dicussions, sides are taken as to which aspect of Adam ought to be emphasized. It seems best to hold on to them both. To summarize this point we need to understand that man was originally created in the imago Dei, i.e. in the image of God. Adam’s offspring, typified by Seth, was made in the image of Adam, “When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” Genesis 5:3 Image and likeness here, with respect to Adam and Seth, are the same two words God used of making man in His own likeness and image. It’s clear that Adam has passed along an image and likeness of his own that had been now affected by the Fall. Man is both, and combined, spiritual and physical. All mankind is born spiritually dead, the product of original sin, and will physically die, the product of original sin as well. The gospel grants us new life, spiritually, at the moment of regeneration placing us “in Christ” rather than “in Adam”, however, our physical bodies will still die because of our physical, natural, genealogical relationship to him. But Christ’s work is not limited to the spiritual new-birth only, as we are promised a new, resurrected and glorified body. This sinful, fleshly, human body downstream of Adam needs to be done away with first such that we can receive our new, sin-free, and glorified body downstream of Christ. All humanity is subject to death, because all humanity inherits the effects of original sin from Adam
As we mentioned earlier, under original pollution we find two additional, logical conclusions, namely total inability and total depravity. The former relates to the will of the human, specifically its inability to choose to do or will to do what God has commanded because of the presence of sin. The latter, total depravity simply means that sin has infected the entire person, the result of which is not complete depravity as in depth, but total depravity as in it’s extent or pervasiveness. All the members or faculties of the human, both their spiritual and physical, have been impacted by sin.
This brief post serves as foundational for defining the Doctrine of Original Sin and helps us rightly understand what is meant by the term. Alot of times, especially these days, our disagreements and misunderstandings with each other come because we either use terms that are not properly defined or do not state clearly what we mean. The result is simply talking past each other and usually descends into animosity and frustration towards others.
Grace and Peace.
