Original sin is not a personal sin but a fallen state into which
we are born.
YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the
Catholic Church Lesson 68
Ave Maria series
68. Original sin?
What does the Fall of Adam and Eve have to do with us?
Sin in the strict sense implies guilt for which one is
personally responsible. Therefore the
term “Original Sin” refers, not to a personal sin, but rather to the
disastrous, fallen state of mankind into which the individual is born, even
before he himself sins by a free decision.
[388-389, 402-404]
In talking about Original Sin, Pope Benedict XVI says that
we must understand “that we all carry within us a drop of the poison of that
way of thinking, illustrated by the images in the Book of Genesis… . The
human being does not trust God. Tempted
by the serpent, he harbors the suspicion…that God is a rival who curtails our
freedom and that we will be fully human only when we have cast him aside… . Man
does not want to receive his existence and the fullness of his life from God… . And in doing so, he trusts in deceit rather
than in truth and thereby sinks with his life into emptiness, into death.” (Pope Benedict XVI, December 8, 2005).
But the serpent said to the woman, “…When you eat of it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.”
Genesis 3:4-5
“A moral approach to the world is possible and beneficial
only when one takes upon himself the whole awful mess of life, one’s share in
the responsibility for death and sin, in short, original sin as a whole, and
stops seeing guilt always in others.” Hermann
Hesse (1877-1962, German writer)
[388-389, 402-404]
Original sin - an
essential truth of the faith
388 With the progress
of Revelation, the reality of sin is also illuminated. Although to some extent
the People of God in the Old Testament had tried to understand the pathos of
the human condition in the light of the history of the fall narrated in
Genesis, they could not grasp this story's ultimate meaning, which is revealed
only in the light of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.( Compare Romans 5:12-21.)261 We must know Christ as the source of grace
in order to know Adam as the source of sin. The Spirit-Paraclete, sent by the
risen Christ, came to "convict the world concerning sin",(John 16:8.)262 by
revealing him who is its Redeemer. –Catechism
of the Catholic Church, Second Edition
389 The doctrine of
original sin is, so to speak, the "reverse side" of the Good News
that Jesus is the Savior of all men, that all need salvation and that salvation
is offered to all through Christ. The Church, which has the mind of Christ,( Compare 1
Corinthians 2:16.)263 knows very well that we cannot tamper with
the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ. --CCC
402 All men are implicated in
Adam's sin, as St. Paul affirms: "By one man's disobedience many (that is,
all men) were made sinners": "sin came into the world through one man
and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men
sinned."( Romans 5:12,19.)289 The Apostle contrasts the universality
of sin and death with the universality of salvation in 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."( Romans 5:18.)290 --CCC
403 Following St. Paul, the Church has always taught that the
overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and
death cannot be understood apart from their connection with Adam's sin and the
fact that he has transmitted to us a sin with which we are all born afflicted,
a sin which is the "death of the soul".(Cf. Council of Trent: Denzinger-Schonmetzer
1512.)291 Because
of this certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even
tiny infants who have not committed personal sin.( Compare Council of Trent: DS 1514.)292 --CCC
404 How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants?
The whole human race is in Adam "as one body of one man".(St. Thomas Aquinas, De Malo 4,1.)293 By
this "unity of the human race" all men are implicated in Adam's sin,
as all are implicated in Christ's justice. Still, the transmission of original
sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that
Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for
all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal
sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in
a fallen state.294 It
is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by
the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice.
And that is why original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical
sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" - a
state and not an act. --CCC
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