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The place of the doctrine of original sin within the Christian message
The Christian message is essentially a message of God's love for us, of the saving grace of God in Christ. This "good
news," however, is addressed to fallen humanity which is in absolute need of God's saving grace (i.e., "original sin" in us
as a universal human condition—peccatum originale originatum). This universal condition in which the human person is
found prior to any personal decision is due to a primordial sin (peccatum originale originans): God did not create humans
sinners; rather, humans, created good and called to communion with God (cf. "original justice"), refused God's call.
The Bible
• Old Testament
⁃ Genesis 3
⁃ The place of Chapter 3 in Genesis (J tradition, relationship to preceeding and following chapters)
⁃ The message and its expression: paradigm and etiology
⁃ Psalm 51
⁃ ["Miserere"] time of composition and literary form
⁃ its message [cf. also Jeremiah and Ezekiel]
⁃ Sirach 25:23; Wisdom 2:24
• New Testament
⁃ Romans 5:12-21
⁃ General theme of the letter; the context of the passage
⁃ Verse 12: (Vulgate) "... in quo omnes peccaverunt" = "in whom all have sinned."
⁃ Correct translation: EITHER "because all have sinned" [i.e. because all have shared in the first sin,
either in the first parents or by personal sins continuing the sin of the first parents] OR "by reason of
which everyone has sinned" [i.e. by reason of the situation which was brought about by this first sin]
⁃ The whole passage [cf. in particular verse 19], in its general Pauline context, surely contains a basic
teaching on original sin.
⁃ NOTE: See in all these texts the place of original sin within the total Christian message as indicated
above in the Introduction.
⁃ Tradition and Magisterium (cf. TCF, chpt. V)
Patristic Theology
• The Provincial Council of Carthage (418), canons 1-2 [cf. DS 222f; TCF # ]. This doctrine was reaffirmed
by Trent [see below].
• The "Indiculus" (compiled by Prosper of Aquitaine against the Semi-Pelagians in the middle of the 5th
century), especially cap. 1. [cf. DS 239]
• The Second Council of Orange (529) [cf. DS 371f]. This was reaffirmed by Trent [see below].
Medieval Theology
• Under the influence of Augustine there was a strong tendency in medieval theology to identify original sin (in us)
with concupiscence, though admitting—again with Augustine—that concupiscence as culpa, "the guilt of
concupiscence," is remitted by Baptism.
• St. Anselm, however, saw original sin in the privation of due justice in the will. It was, then, slowly realized (with
the progress of the theology of the "supernatural") that this privation is a privation of supernatural justice (i.e. of
sanctifying grace).
• The two trends were connected in the view that original sin is formally a privation of sanctifying grace, and
materially found in concupiscentia. The latter remains also after Baptism but, without the formal element, does
not have the character of sin.
• This last view is found essentially also in St. Thomas [cf. Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 82, a. 1 on the essence of
original sin, and q. 81, a. 1 on the transmission of original sin]. Thomas appeals (with the whole tradition) to the
sharing of the same human nature, but uses also the notion of voluntas terminativa: "the disorder which is in an
individual man is not voluntary by reason of his personal will, but by reason of the will of the first parent, who
through a generative impulse, exerts influence upon all who descend from him by way of origin, even as the will
of the soul moves bodily members in their various activities."
• In response to Protestant accusations ("Pelagianism") and errors (original sin remains even after
Baptism, though it is not "imputed"), the Council of Trent summed up the traditional teaching on
original sin, without deciding the questions discussed among the different theological schools [cf. TCF,
# , 5th session of the Council, AD 1546]: Intro. [DS 1510]
⁃ Canon 1 [DS 1511] Adam's sin and its consequences for Adam. See Second Council of Orange, Canon 1
[DS 371].
⁃ Canon 2 [DS 1512] Consequences of Adam's sin for the whole human race: not only punishment (death) is
transmitted, but also "sin," "death of the soul," loss of holiness and justice. See II Orange, Canon 2 [DS
371].
⁃ Canon 3 [DS 1513] Original sin is "one in origin" yet "in each and proper to each." This is especially against
Albert Pighi (1490-1542) who held that original sin is numerically one in all and not proper to each.
⁃ Original sin is transmitted by propagatione and not by imitation; this is a rejection of the Pelagian view,
without deciding whether natural generation is the cause, or rather only the necessary condition (as most
theologians today believe) of original sin.
⁃ Original sin can be taken away only by the merits of Christ.
⁃ Canon 4 [DS 1514] See Council of Carthage, Canon 2 [DS 223] -- Even infants, "who in themselves have
committed no sin," are truly baptized "for the remission of sins." Thus, peccatum originale originatum is
truly "sin" but distinguished from personal sins (see also Canon 5).
⁃ The Vulgate interpretation of Romans 5:12 does not seem to be defined, even though it would surely be
contrary to the mind of the Council to deny that Romans 5:12 (in its context, and not necessarily with the
explicitness of later theology) teaches original sin.
⁃ Canon 5 [DS 1515] Baptism takes away everything that is truly "sin" -- it is not only "imputation" of
righteousness, but real transformation.
⁃ "Concupiscence" remains, but it is not really sin.
⁃ Declaration on the BVM [DS 1516] The Immaculate Conception is not excluded by the above decree.
Twentieth-Century Developments
Original Sin and the Beginnings of Human History (Original Sin and Monogenism)
• Note: The purpose of revelation is to enable us to share intelligently in God's saving plan, not to satisfy
our natural curiosity.
⁃ As for the salvation of those who die before having arrived at a personal decision for or against the
grace of God — think, for example, of the multitude of unbaptized infants — the Church's teaching is
not fully defined yet. The following points, however, can be confidently affirmed:
⁃ God does not inflict positive punishment on anyone who is not guilty of personal sin. Therefore, IF these
infants die without having received Christ's grace, they will not share in the beatific vision but will attain a
state of natural happiness in the knowledge and peace of God [cf. also TCF # : Pope Innocent III, AD
1201]. This state, assumed by a part of the theological tradition, is called "Limbo."
⁃ We cannot exclude the possibility that Christ's grace reaches also these infants.
⁃ Indeed, God's universal salvific will and Christ's death for all gives — at the very least — positive hope
for such a possibility.
⁃ Some theologians would speak, for example, of a possible "baptism of desire" in virtue of the faith of
the parents or of the whole Church.
⁃ Another theological theory [viz., e.g., Ladislav Boros, The Mystery of Death] would maintain that, in
the process of the "separation" of soul and body, such infants also would be given an opportunity to
accept or reject God's grace.
• Vatican II spells out very clearly that our faith and hope in the universal power of God's grace in Christ
should not weaken the missionary work of the Church (see Lumen Gentium, Chpt. II, #16 end, and #17
[quoting Mt. 28:18-20]).