Where did the notion of original sin come from?

Question

There is no occurence of the phrase in the KJV bible. The new testament says quite explicitly, on several occasions, that we are not all sinners:
Romans 5:14 Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned.
1 John 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not.
3 John 11 He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
Yet, as with so many things, the NT is not consistent about this:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Answer 1

it is a roman catholic concept not found in the bible
Augustine of Hippo believed that the human race, without God's help, is depraved.

Original sin, from the Augustinian perspective, is not a free and individual choice by a baby; but rather the effect of the sum total of "world sin", taught analogously through the story of the sin of Adam and Eve. The Augustinian doctrine of original sin teaches that every individual is born into a broken world where sin is already active; that they are inevitably influenced personally by the actions of others and the consequences of choices made by others. The Augustinian effectively believes that human nature - and hence every individual person - is flawed. The Augustinian remedy for original sin is baptism; the ritual washing away of the unchosen but inevitable condition of birth sin; and a vigorous declaration by Christians that sin shall not prevail, but that God's grace can overpower it with our free cooperation.

Some individuals challenge the entire doctrine of original sin as unbiblical, understanding the concept is to contradict Mosaic teaching that the children should not be punished for the sins of the fathers. Ezekiel 18:20 again states unequivocally that descendants are not to be punished for their parents' sins

Those who understand original sin as personal guilt and sin, rather than as sin in an analogous sense, are confronted with a yet graver difficulty, particularly if they conceive of sin as a matter of a person's soul as such, rather than of the ensouled body, or enfleshed soul, that is the person. Sin, they say, is an issue of the soul, but, if we inherit our bodies from our parents and our souls from God, then original sin, which is inherited with human nature from our parents, must be a matter of the body; or, if it is a matter of the soul, original sin must come from God. Martin Luther's ad hoc solution was: Do not listen to human wisdom, but to the holy word of the Bible. This assumes the view presented in Ecclesiastes 12:7 that the body and soul are two separate entities residing together to create man.

Those who interpret the account of the Fall literally, have a problem reconciling the assumed unconditional love of God, with what appears to be God setting a trap for the first human beings and then punishing them and their descendants for falling into it. Such a theory not only questions God's unconditional love, but his omniscience. Why would an all-knowing God set forth laws, knowing they would be broken?

The doctrine of original sin is thought by some to be implied in the Apostle Paul's description of human sinfulness as no less universal than Christ's free gift of righteousness, especially in the verses here italicized: "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 - sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans (RSV) 5:12-21).

Those who identify original sin with concupiscence apply to it also Paul's description of a general experience: "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).

Those who see original sin not as a positive reality but as something merely negative, namely lack of holiness, see the doctrine as implicit also in the teaching of Jesus, as expressed, for example, in the words: "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).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God, not only for himself but for all human beings.

Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation is called "original sin".

As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and inclined to sin (this inclination is called "concupiscence").

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 416-418

By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state ... original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" - a state and not an act" (404). This "state of deprivation of the original holiness and justice ... transmitted to the descendants of Adam along with human nature" (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 76) involves no personal responsibility or personal guilt on their part (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 405). Personal responsibility and guilt were Adam's, who because of his sin, was unable to pass on to his descendants a human nature with the holiness with which it would otherwise have been endowed, in this way implicating them in his sin.

Though Adam's sinful act is not the responsibility of his descendants, the state of human nature that has resulted from that sinful act has consequences that plague them: "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), but is distinct from original sin itself.

The Church has always held baptism to be "for the remission of sins", and, as mentioned in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 403, infants too have traditionally been baptized, though not guilty of any actual personal sin. The sin that through baptism was remitted for them could only be original sin, with which they were connected by the very fact of being human beings. Based largely on this practice, Saint Augustine of Hippo articulated the teaching in reaction to Pelagianism, which insisted that human beings have of themselves, without the necessary help of God's grace, the ability to lead a morally good life, and thus 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, which he developed to counter the claim by Pelagius that the influence of Adam on other human beings was merely that of bad example. For instance, the Church did not adopt 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. Rather, the Church teaches that original sin comes to the soul simply from the new person taking his nature from one whose nature itself had original sin. In this way, the Church argues that original sin is not imputing the sin of the father to the son; rather, it is simply the inheritance of a wounded nature from the father, which is an unavoidable part of reproduction.

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. lack of holiness), which affects others, that is to say, that she was conceived without original sin. Those who deny the existence of original sin thus profess belief in the immaculate conception not only of Mary but of every human being.

Answer 2

The "notion" comes from the Fall in Genesis 3.
The "term" is something used to refer to that notion.

Nothing there is a contradiction. This is an example of taking verses out of context. I will explain below.

Romans 5:14 - if you read the previous verses, the discussion was about the fact that even before the law was given, there was sin. This is because sin comes from the heart, not from actions, and even those who did not just disobey the explicit law still rebelled against God in their hearts (as in, someone who follows the law but hates the judge).

1 John 3:6 - The point is that not all of our actions follow Christs, but when we do follow Christ, we are not in sin. That does not make us free from sin. We repent of our sin by following Christ and we are born again into Christ through declaring Him as savior

Other John verses have the same justification.

Doing what you are doing here is exactly what the Pharisees did to Christ during His ministry. They looked for a single inconsistent word, then say there are contradictions. These alone are not sufficient to show a contradiction - as with anything in the news, you must read things within context.

Answer 3

Original sin is known in two senses: the Fall of Adam as the "original" sin and the hereditary fallen nature and moral corruption that is passed down from Adam to his descendents. It is called "original" in that Adam, the first man, is the one who sinned and thus caused sin to enter the world. Even though Eve is the one who sinned first, because Adam is the Federal Head (representative of mankind), his fall included or represented all of humanity. Therefore, some hold that original sin includes the falling of all humanity. Some see original sin as Adam's fallen nature is passed to his descendents. "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned," (Rom. 5:12). Original sin is not a physical corruption, but a moral and spiritual corruption. It could be compared to the Reformed Doctrine of Total Depravity which states that sin has touched all parts of what a person is: heart, mind, soul, will, thoughts, desires, etc. There has been much debate over the nature of the sin of Adam and how it effected mankind. Pelagius taught that Adam's sin influenced the human race only as a bad example and that all people are born in the same state as Adam was before his fall. Augustine taught that men inherit natural corruption from Adam.1 At the return of Christ and the resurrection of all Christians, the sin nature will be done away with.

Answer 4

The term sin is also used in the sport of bow and arrow target shooting. When you miss the target that is a sin. Or in another way to say it you are off target. Sin as refered to in biblical terms means the same thing. You are either operation in the mind of God in conjunction with Him or you are operating outside to the truth. since Truth is the target then all else is not. Being off target could be even thinking you have a better idea then the Truth. In other words you might say that it would be better if red became green and green became red. No big deal you might say other then the fact that it is not true no matter how much you try to create that reality. It is off target and that is sin. the original sin occured when man and woman were convinced that they did not need any inner force to guide them that they could do it on their own. It would be a much better deal and they could run their own lives quite nicely. That is all good but not the way Truth says it is. Truth says you must have truth in you to even have a clue as to what is true. If you operate without that truth inside then you are just guessing and that is sin. In all cases it will eventually take you to the end of your resorces and you will still feel that you need something more. When you finally align yourself with Truth and let God run the show it starts to work and you are back on target. If you get off again then you are sinning and it will eventually lead to the same destination.

Answer 5

Mankind was created in a sinless state. Now men sin. Therefore logically there must have been a first, that is, an original, sin. The Bible, KJV or other, describes that original sin, even if it doesn't use that term, and also indicates that the human race from that time forward will suffer the effects of that original sin.

Answer 6

Those that kept the law of the Jews were called white coated sepulchers. Sin lives in us until it is put to death on the cross unless of course one loves sin more than Jesus then at death that person's marriage to sin is consummated

Answer 7

Original sin is what Adam and Eve did in the garden. What about that is so difficult to understand?

Answer 8

My question is this - isn't the "original sin" the one where Eve ate the apple? Why do some people think that it's sex? Am I wrong about that?

Answer 9

In the Garden, when Cain slew his Brother Able.

Answer 10

The Garden of Eden,the Catholics perpetuate this idea.

Answer 11

Some of those verses are talking about the unregenerate man...some are talking about all mankind and some are talking about SAVED people...it's all in the context, my friend....no inconsistency there!