Original Sin and the Death of Humanity
The doctrine of original sin, however you hold to it, describes the state of humanity as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. As our first ancestors, the sin of Adam and Eve has an effect on our entire species; the full nature of that effect is where disagreement lies. Some undoubtedly insist that original sin is nothing at all, that we bear no effect from that first disobedience — such a view flies in the face of Romans 5:12–21.
Some conflate original sin with personal sin (thinking, perhaps, to link it to Romans 3:23). I am fairly certain that neither of these views is correct; Scripture is quite clear about the immediate and interminable effect of our ancestral sin.
But perhaps you don’t recognize the term at all. Perhaps you know it by another name: our “fallen nature,” for example. Whatever the term, though, the theology is clear: because of the Fall in the garden, we are now separated from God and we engage in personal sin.
There are still some conflicting views on how this works, though. In at least some Eastern Orthodox traditions, for example, “original sin” is basically our state of mortality; because of Adam’s sin, we (his descendants) inherit death. This is a reading focused on verses 14 and 17 of Romans chapter 5, because “death ruled” over man (with consideration also for 1 Corinthians 15:21–22). I think (in accordance with the Roman tradition) that this is not a full reading of the passage, nor a full understanding of the situation. Rather, in my view, original sin is not merely our mortality, but our very corruption, from which we cannot escape without God’s grace.
Let’s take a closer look at the primary passage in question:
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned — sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. But law came in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
— Romans 5:12–21 (NRSV)
If you’re very familiar with that chapter, then you may know a few of the cross-references as well. Let’s take a quick glance at the most relevant one, which I mentioned above:
For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.
— 1 Corinthians 15:21–22 (NRSV)
Here’s the issue, generally speaking: it may be that what is passed through procreation is merely biological mortality, and not a sinful nature — but from where does our mortality come? Romans 6:23 and James 1:15 tell us that the natural result of sin is death, that death is the just payment for sin. Above, we read that by the sin of Adam, many died, and that grace abounded unto them — but later, we read that we receive grace to accommodate our sin. We see, especially, that through Adam’s sin, the many became sinful — not mortal. Finally, we read that sin ruled in death; so death may have ruled, but sin ruled in it. Which is the greater ruler?
But I grant that it is clear that death comes to us through Adam’s sin. St. Paul makes that plain. But what kind of death is he speaking of? Biological death? Certainly that is the subject in the 1 Corinthians passage, where he is arguing for the resurrection of the dead (that resurrection being one of our bodies after our biological deaths). But here in Romans, where we see this doctrine taking shape, I think he means quite a different death: a spiritual death.
Recall the commandment broken by that first sin: “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” (Genesis 2:16–17, NRSV). Anyone aiming at interpreting this passage must either deny the physical meaning of “day” or the physical meaning of “death.” In context, the physical meaning of day seems appropriate; on the day when some event occurs, some other event will also occur. We infer that the sun will not go down before the second event occurs. It is possible, of course, to conflate this “day” with the “day” that can be a thousand years to God (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8), but it does not seem the most likely. The tradition of the Church at the very least includes spiritual death in this command.¹
Adam and Eve, in their first sin, died a spiritual death; they were separated from God. Thus was Satan able to twist the word of the Lord, saying, “You will not die.” Adam and Eve feared death (or else God’s warning has no power or sense), but they did not grasp the fullness of God’s meaning. (Consider also John 8:51; Romans 8:13; Ephesians 2:1–10; Colossians 2:13; and elsewhere.) Of course, this sin resulted in their physical deaths as well, but not on that same day; just as, likewise, our salvation by Christ will result in resurrection from the dead and eternal life, but our spiritual freedom from sin is immediate (Romans 6:15–23).
After all, if original sin is merely biological death, would its cleansing through baptism, the sacraments, the sacrifice of Christ, not make us immortal immediately? But of course we still die physical deaths — for “the last enemy to be destroyed is death,” being subjected to Christ last of all his enemies (see 1 Corinthians 15:25–26). But dare we say that we are still subject to original sin when we have been set free from every slavery unto the old self? Christ is our master, and no other; physical death is but a temporary inconvenience to the glory of God.
So when St. Paul wrote that “death rules” on account of Adam’s sin, I think it clear he meant spiritual death — that is, corruption. And we shall yet die physically, whether we are saved or not, but those of us who are saved will be resurrected and reign eternally with him, conquering at last physical death and subjecting all under God.
Footnotes:
¹ Here is part of Cornelius a Lapide’s commentary on Genesis 2:17 (my translation):
thou shalt die the death — that is, you will incur a sentence and necessity of certain death. Hence Symmachus translates, θνητòς ἔσῃ, that is, you will be mortal. Thus St. Jerome, Augustine, Theodoretus.
Note: Here God threatens a disobedient Adam with death, not so much of the body and temporal, but also a spiritual death of the soul and an eternal death in Gehenna, and one certain and infallible: for this is signified by this doubling, “thou shalt die the death,” that is, you will certainly die. Therefore, Adam, sinning, soon incurs the necessity of death in the body as long as, in truth, actually, and in fact, he incurs death in the soul; from here, it is clear that death for a man in this situation, in which he was placed by God, is not natural, as Cicero and the philosophers (add also the Pelagians) wished, but that it is a punishment for sin, just as is defined in the Council of Milevis, chapter 1, and as St. Augustine teaches in book 1 of On the Merit and the Forgiveness of Sins, chapter 2. For it is permitted, by observing nature and opposing elements, out of which man was composed, that he ought to die and that he was mortal: nevertheless, by observing the decree, work, and perpetual preservation of God, if he had not sinned, he would not have been able to die, and he would have been immortal. Hence Peter Lombard in book 2 of his Sentences, distinction 19, teaches that man had in paradise “the capacity not to die,” because man was able not to sin, and thus not to die: in heaven, that he will have “the incapacity to die,” because there through glory and the gift of an incapacity to suffer, dying will be impossible: in this life after the fall, that he has “the capacity to die, and the incapacity not to die,” because now in life dying is necessary. To death, therefore, we come into being condemned. Remember, O human, because thou shalt die the death, and that shortly.
