I. What original sin is:
A. The term itself.
1. It has reference to the first sin committed.
a. The term suggests that there is more to this sin than simply an act of rebellion.
b. For this sin had its fruit in Adam and his posterity.
2. The two parts of “original sin”:
a. Original guilt.
1) This emphasizes the legal consequences of Adam’g sin.
a) The one act deserved the condemnation of God.
b) Points to the punishment of which God had spoken: death.
2) That original guilt affects Adam’s posterity.
a) Adam was the representative head of the race. What Adam did, he did for the entire race.
b) Thus original guilt means death for all those out of Adam.
b. Original pollution:
1) This refers to the consequences, the results, of Adam’s sin.
2) It is the corrupting of the entire being:
a) The act of sin by Adam was of such a nature that his entire being became darkness.
b) And that darkness was transmitted to his posterity by virtue of the fact that Adam was first father of the race.
B. That original sin was the transgression of God’s command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
II. ITS extent.
A. It affected the whole human race:
1. It affected Adam first of all.
a. He became immediately dead even as God had said.
b. The image of God was changed in him to its opposite.
c. Result was that Adam could not serve God at all of himself.
2. It affected his posterity:
a. This sin extends to all men.
1) It is as a root-sin out of which proceeds all other sins.
2) There are no exceptions to this–but Christ only.
b. This sin infects infants “even in their mother’s womb.”
1) So also Scripture teaches: Ps. 51:5; Rom, 3:10.
2) Thus all are under condemnation from conception on.
III. Its significance:
A. Errors arise in connection with this doctrine.
1. The error of Roman Catholicism:
a. This teaches the removal of original sin by baptism.
b. We deny that the water of baptism itself washes away this sin; we also deny that union to Christ involves the removal only of this “original sin.” The cross of Christ removes all the sins of His people.
2. Pelagians:
a. These “assert that sin proceeds only from imitation.”
b. Thus:
1) Infants are born as blank sheets of paper. If these later sin, it is the result of imitation.
2) Thus there is no “original sin” and salvation is possible for all apart from Christ.
3. The Anabaptists:
a. In some instances these used the truth of deliverance as an occasion to maintain that we are no more “under the law” and then can live as we wish.
b. On the contrary, knowledge of this sin and deliverance from it, assures the Christian and incites him to a walk in godliness.
B. This truth of original sin is important:
1. Because it emphasizes that scriptural truth concerning our total depravity.
2. And emphasizes that deliverance must come wholly outside of ourselves.
Worksheet
A. Supplementary reading:
1. Scripture: Romans 5; Genesis 3.
2. Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 27.
3. Canons of Dordt, III-IV:2, 3; III-IV:B:1, 3, 4, 5.
4. Westminster Catechism, Questions 24-29.
B. Proof-text: (total depravity) Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one.”
C. Questions for study and consideration:
1. Why should such a “minor” sin of Adam warrant such severe sentence?
2. Is the view of “original sin” pecularly Reformed?
3. Can you find anything on the “Covenant of Works” in the Westminster Catechism?
4. What must we say of the expression: “innocent babes?”
5. Is the idea of “representative head” unjust or unfair? Can you cite other instances of this?
6. How is sin transmitted from parents to children?
7. Does Arminianism deny “original sin?” If so, how?