where did the idea of original sin come from?

Question

Someone on another question said:

"Jews believe that one is born into the world with original purity, and not with original sin. Jews do not believe in original sin. "

I always thought that the whole idea of original sin came from Adam and Eve taking the apple in the garden of Eden, and that tainted all their descendents. This is part of the heritage that Jews and Christians share, so I assumed they believed the same thing.

When did Christians start believing in the idea of original sin, rather than the original(?) Jewish idea of original purity?

Answer 1

First of all, Adam was the original sinner, not Eve (she was mislead). His disobedience brought sin and death into the world (Romans 5:12). As such, we all inherit Adam's "gift" of a spirit of disobedience.

However, we do not inherit his sin; again, we only inherit the proclivity to commit sin. There's quite a difference between the two.

To answer your question, St. Augustine was the first Christian theologian to write that we are born sinners. He rejected the notion that we are simply born with the proclivity to sin. As far as I'm aware, no theologian prior to St. Augustine wrote about this concept (Father K should be able to confirm or deny this).

So, to my mind, the Jewish understanding of this matter is correct. When David writes that he was born in sin, he meant he was born into a sinful world that tempts us to disobey God, and we therefore become sinners.

Consider this final point: Christians believe Jesus was fully God AND fully Man. If ALL human beings are born sinners, that would have meant Jesus was born a sinner, too. But yet, we are told He NEVER sinned, which is why He was a perfect sacrifice.

Answer 2

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 3

Yetzer Harah," the evil impulse or influence" that every human lives with, is an ancient Jewish concept and is similar to Original Sin in Christianity. Original Sin,Which GK Chesterton called" the one doctrine anyone can prove by looking in the mirror. was defined by St Augustine in his struggles with Pelagius ,who taught that we do not really need grace and we are only effected by the sins we commit so we can pull ourselves up to heaven by our own efforts and can live a moral life on our own.

In Christianity there are different views of Original Sin.
Are we born totally depraved and worthy of nothing but Hell(Calvinist)? Are we spiritually dead and weakened in mind and will and now mortal in body because of Original Sin which we inherit and are born with,but basically good if fallen and redeemable by Christ's Sacrifice and grace for us( Catholic)?

The teaching that we all are in need of the Savior and Redeemer is present in Christianity from the beginning.

Answer 4

(First to point out that I am not a Jew.)

Jewish theology has not only a Holy Written Text (the Written Torah, or TaNaKh, which includes the Five Books of Moses, the Books of the Prophets, and Scriptures), but also a Holy Oral Torah (the Talmud), which is even more extensive than the Written Torah, and has a huge number of completion and clarification points.

Added to that, when the Hebrew Bible was translated to other languages, a lot of meaning got lost in translation. In example, the word "sin" does not exist in Hebrew, The closer word is "chet" (חטא), wich means: "missing the mark, to loose focus."

Answer 5

the word Christian is a very broad term that covers many beliefes.

here is what the bible says

obviously, mankind was pure untill adam (not eve being that the commandment was to adam, though if she ate and he did not this place would be very, very different).

as far as children now. the bible says that a baby "comes forth from its mothers womb speaking lies"

just email me if you want the exact scripture.

we are born into sin. this is the reason the second book of acts was written.

Answer 6

Not a hard and fast belief. However, Christians lean towards it based on Psalm 51:5...
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.

The question then becomes, when does sin actually come in to play? At what age? At what point in a child's life do we say, now is the moment they need to be saved? Yet we also see the same writer of the Psalm above also said (when he lost his baby) "I will go to him (heaven) but he shall not come to me."

All to say that this is a difficult question without clear evidence either way.

Answer 7

I believe it was the Christian philosopher St. Augustine of Hippo who first proposed the idea of how first sin of Adam and Eve required God to bring about Jesus.

Answer 8

Original Sin was conjured up by the Original Nutbar

Answer 9

Early Christian Theologists.

Answer 10

It came from St. Augustine, who also deified Mary.

atheist