Original sin
| Category | Dogmatics |
|---|---|
| Depth | Major |
| Article type | local Catholic reference article |
Definition
Original sin is the fallen condition inherited from humanity's beginning: the deprivation of the original holiness and justice God intended for human life. In descendants of Adam it is not a personally chosen act. A newborn has not freely committed an offence, yet enters a human condition in need of redemption.
Catholic usage
The term sin is therefore used differently when speaking of the first personal disobedience and of the condition transmitted to later human beings. Confusing those senses makes the doctrine sound as though God accuses infants of decisions they never made.
Baptism remedies the deprivation of grace and gives new life in Christ. It does not immediately remove suffering, mortality or every inclination towards disorder. The Christian still needs moral formation and continual cooperation with grace.
Doctrinal context
Aquinas explains original sin through the unity of human nature and its origin, distinguishing what belongs to a person by his own deliberate choice from what he receives with the common human condition. This is not a claim that evil is a physical substance carried in the body. Human nature remains created and good, although deprived and wounded.
The doctrine answers a different question from the origin of each person's individual bad habit. Many habits are learned, and many sins are personally chosen. Original sin concerns a more basic loss of right order and supernatural life. Consequently, education and social reform, valuable as they are, do not by themselves amount to redemption.
The doctrine also points towards solidarity in Christ. Christianity does not leave humanity with an inherited disaster as its final word. The new Adam brings a gift that cannot be reduced to moral example: reconciliation and life through his obedience, death and Resurrection. Romans 5 presents this contrast between Adam and Christ.
Distinctions and safeguards
Wounded nature is not wholly destroyed nature. Reason, freedom and natural goods remain real, even though human beings need healing and divine help. Concupiscence, the inclination towards disorder, is not identical with every freely chosen personal sin. Being tempted and consenting to temptation must be distinguished.
Is this an excuse for blaming our ancestors instead of taking responsibility?
No. An inherited condition explains why human life needs healing; it does not erase responsibility for choices that are genuinely ours. We should neither claim self-sufficiency nor use weakness to deny personal fault. The doctrine joins humility about our condition with hope in a redemption we cannot produce ourselves.