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V e r s e b y V e r s e
Original Sin
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This Rock
Volume 5, Number 5
 May 1994 
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Augustine did not "invent" original
sin, as some allege. Adam and Eve invented it in the Garden of Eden,
and as a result all men are born in the state of original sin.
"And the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, 'You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the
day that you eat of it you shall die'" (Gen. 2:16-17).
"[The Lord said] 'Have you eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you not to eat?' The man said, 'The woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.'
Then the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this that you have done?'
The woman said, 'The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.' . . . To the
woman he said, 'I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for
your husband, and he shall rule over you.' And to Adam he said, 'Because
you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the
tree of which I commanded you, "You shall not eat of it,"
cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all
the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to
you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your
face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of
it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return'"
(Gen. 3:11-19).
"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 . . . 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" ;(Rom.
5:12-19).
"But in fact Christ has been raised from the
dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by
a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming
those who belong to Christ" (1 Cor. 15:21-23).
"And you he made alive, when you were dead
through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following
the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among
these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the
desires of body and mind" (Eph. 2:1-3).
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