Tag: original-sin

Let’s take a look at the second article of the Augsburg Confession: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/original-sin/

This article deals with the issue of original sin.

The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created without sin. However, they disobeyed God and brought death into the world. From that point on, they and all their descendants have had a propensity for doing wrong.

Note the careful wording of the article: “all men begotten in the natural way are born with sin.” Apart from Adam and Eve (who were created directly by God), there is only one person who was not “begotten in the natural way,” and that is Jesus (who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary). Being fully God as well as fully man, he was born without sin and lived a perfect life.

With the exception of Jesus, all of Adam’s descendants have been born into sin.

Psalm 51:5: “Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (NIV)

Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (NIV)

Romans 5:12: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—” (NIV)

Note, however that original sin is more than just a propensity to sin: it is sin, because it involves a lack of faith in God (see Romans 14:23). Hence, all people, even infants, need a saviour.