Theological Term of the Week: Original Sin
Wednesday, January 28, 2026 at 2:30AM 
The sinful state and condition in which all human beings are born, which includes both imputed guilt (the guilt of Adam’s sin counted as their own) and inherited corruption (a disposition toward sin); “that hereditary depravity and corruption that makes us guilty before God and yields in us sinful thoughts, desires, and actions.”1
- From scripture:
And you were dead in 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 whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned … (Romans 12:1 ESV).
- From The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 18:
Q. 18. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.
- From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, pages 244:
This sin is called “original sin,” (1) because it is derived from the original root of the human race; (2) because it is present in the life of every individual from the time of his birth, and therefore cannot be regarded as the result of imitation; and (3) because it is the inward root of all the actual sins that defile the life of man. We should guard against the mistake of thinking that the term in any way implies that the sin designated by it belongs to the original constitution of human nature, which would imply that God created man as a sinner.
Learn more:
- Simply Put: Original Sin
- R. C. Sproul: Original Sin
- Richard Phillips: Original Sin
- Louis Berkhof: Original Sin and Actual Sin
- Augustus Toplady: A Short Essay on Original Sin
- R. C. Sproul: Adam’s Fall and Mine
1Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung, pages 117-118.
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