The False Teaching of Original Sin
The False Teaching of Original Sin by Daniel Keeran, MSW collegemhc@gmail.com The teaching of inherited guilt from Adam is based to a significant degree upon this passage in Psalm 51:5. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. In Psalm 51, David is making a statement of personal remorse after his sin with Bathsheba; he is not making an expansive statement about the sinfulness of humanity from conception. Yet it is the idea of inherited guilt that forms the foundation of Catholic and Protestant ideas of salvation, even those who do not practice some form of infant baptism to remove the sin or stain of Adam. The ideas of total depravity and sovereign grace are based largely on the misunderstanding of this verse. Romans 5:12-13 says: Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned. For sin was in the world before the Law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law. The result of the first sin is spiritual death, a separation from God which occurs when one sins. Sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Do the unborn and infants have a law? Another passage used to support the idea of inherited sin, is found in Romans 5:18. Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. This passage is addressing the choice of the individual, not teaching either universal salvation nor universal condemnation at birth due to another’s choice. Rather condemnation, separation from God, is “because all sinned” in verse 12. Sin is a conscious choice for both Jews and Gentiles, not speaking of infants who lack moral awareness or development of conscience. The notion of humans beginning life in such a negative state, is repugnant to human sensibilities because it places humans in a negative light from their start. By contrast, in Matthew 18 Jesus raises little children to a close relationship with God in verse 11: “their angels always behold the face of the father in heaven.” The teaching of the prophet Ezekiel is that the guilt of the father is not shared with the offspring in Ezekiel 18:20 The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them. One must not bear false witness against someone in Exodus 20:16. Accusing the innocent, infants and unborn persons, of having a sin or stain, is itself a sin. God is also accused of imputing the sin of Adam to the innocent. How is this not blasphemy? You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
The idea of inherited sin from Adam is unknown to the earliest Christian writers: The New Testament, Didache, First Clement, Justin Martyr, Shepherd of Hermas, Clement of Alexandria, and many others. Irenaeus is the first to imply inherited “captivity” which could be either 1) actual sin or 2) the natural desires that left unchecked, may lead to sin. In Against Heresies, Irenaeus (130-202 A.D.) says: “For it is too absurd to maintain that he who was so deeply injured by the enemy [Satan], and was the first to suffer captivity, was not rescued by Him who conquered the enemy, but that his children were – those whom he had begotten in the same captivity.” Tertullian (160-220 A.D.) wrote: “Just as no soul is without sin, so neither is any soul without seeds of good. Therefore, when the soul embraces the faith, being renewed in its second birth by water and the power from above, then the veil of its former corruption being taken away, it beholds the light in all its brightness. It is also taken up (in its second birth) by the Holy Spirit, just as in its first birth it is embraced by the unholy spirit.” On the Soul, XLI. Tertullian seems to hold a view of the unholy soul from birth, and he is first to mention the baptism of children, but he is opposed to it, then Hippolytus (170-235 A.D.), Origen, and Cyprian clearly prescribe baptism for infants in the third century. This quote of Tertullian from On Baptism, Chapter 18, is informative to understand the historical development of infant baptism as an emerging practice: “And so, according to the circumstances and disposition, and even age, of each individual, the delay of baptism is preferable; principally, however, in the case of little children. For why is it necessary — if (baptism itself) is not so necessary — that the sponsors likewise should be thrust into danger? Who both themselves, by reason of mortality, may fail to fulfil their promises, and may be disappointed by the development of an evil disposition, in those for whom they stood? The Lord does indeed say, Forbid them not to come unto me. Let them come, then, while they are growing up; let them come while they are learning, while they are learning whither to come; let them become Christians when they have become able to know Christ. Why does the innocent period of life hasten to the remission of sins? More caution will be exercised in worldly matters: so that one who is not trusted with earthly substance is trusted with divine! Let them know how to ask for salvation, that you may seem (at least) to have given to him that asks. For no less cause must the unwedded also be deferred — in whom the ground of temptation is prepared, alike in such as never were wedded by means of their maturity, and in the widowed by means of their freedom — until they either marry, or else be more fully strengthened for continence. If any understand the weighty import of baptism, they will fear its reception more than its delay: sound faith is secure of salvation.” Emergence of Infant Baptism and Original Sin Third century catacomb inscriptions show the baptism of children began at the urging by parents who feared their child might die. Rather than baptism occurring after birth, as practiced by the time of Cyprian in 250 A.D., baptism was performed before death in its earliest development as it was believed to be essential to entering the kingdom of God based on John 3:5. “To the sacred dead. Florentius made this monument to his worthy son Appronianus, who lived one year, nine months, and five days. Since he was dearly loved by his grandmother, and she saw that he was going to die, she asked from the church that he
might depart from the world a believer” (Inscriptiones latinae christianae veteres [hereafter: ILCV], I:1343, from the third century; edited by E. Diehl (second edition; Berlin, 1961). “Postumius Eutenion, a believer, who obtained holy grace the day before his birthday at a very late hour and died. He lived six years and was buried on the fifth of Ides of July on the day of Jupiter on which he was born. His soul is with the saints in peace. Felicissimus, Eutheria, and Festa his grandmother to their worthy son Postumius” (ILCV I:1524, from the early fourth century). “Sweet Tyche lived one year, ten months, fifteen days, Received [grace] on the eighth day before the Kalends. Gave up [her soul] on the same day” (ILCV, Vol. I number 1531). “Irene who lived with her parents ten months and six days received [grace] seven days before the Ides of April and gave up [her soul] on the Ides of April” (ILCV I:1532). * In Everett Ferguson, Early Christians Speak: Faith and Life in the First Three Centuries, Revised Edition (Abilene: ACU Press, 1984). Origen is the First Origen (184-253 A.D.) is the first Christian writer to say that baptism removes the innate stains of sin. Origen ‘Homilies on Leviticus’ says: “The fact that in the church, baptism is given for the remission of sins; and according to the usage of the church, baptism is given to infants. And indeed...if there were nothing in infants which required a remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would be superfluous. “ (Origen argues from the existing practice of infant baptism and presents infant sin as the essential reason and a new idea.) Origen ‘Commentaries on Romans’ states: “The Church received from the Apostles the tradition of giving Baptism even to infants. For the apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of divine mysteries, knew that there is in everyone the innate stains of sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit.” By the time of Augustine and Pelagius in the early 5 th century, infant baptism was universal, and the doctrine of inherited guilt from Adam reached a full definition in the debate between the two thinkers, with Augustine as proponent and Pelagius the opponent. All who teach the intrinsically sinful nature of humans from their conception, including most Protestants and Catholics, are supporting a form of gnostic Manichaeism promoted perhaps unknowingly by Augustine the former Manichaean, teaching the flesh is evil, stained, or sinful and attributing the lost state of the unborn to their physical existence and inheritance from Adam, transmitted through sexual desire and intercourse. Immersion baptism would not be replaced by pouring until the thirteenth century, solving the embarrassment of infant deaths from respiratory illness resulting from the practice of triple immersion. Original Sin is the Error of Manichaeism
Additional Thoughts Scripture says one is born pure and sins later. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:9). When was Paul “alive once without the law”? Before one is a responsible, accountable individual as an infant or unborn, is the only time in a person’s life when he or she is spiritually alive in the absence of law. A person is not subject to the law of God until he or she is mature enough to understand right and wrong or to be morally responsible for personal behavior. “But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.” – James 1:14-15 “Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.”- Isaiah 7:15 The Spirit of Man is from God, not Adam Protestants and Catholics teach the spirit of man comes from Adam and stained with sin, but scripture says it comes from God who “forms the spirit of man within him.” -Zechariah 12:1 “and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” – Ecclesiastes 12:7 David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let him live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” – 2 Samuel 12:22-23 “For the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil.” - Romans 9:11. "Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, who in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it." - Deuteronomy 1:39 Human sinfulness begins during the period of youth, not from conception or birth. “…every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.” - Genesis 8:21 “…from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the Lord our God.” - Jeremiah 3:21 “Thus says the LORD, "Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.” - Jeremiah 22:3
“For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.�- Romans 5:13 Do the unborn and toddlers know God's Law? Therefore, there is no law for them and no sin in them. "Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices." - Ecclesiastes 7:29 Harvard Divinity School