Why Original Sin (The Biblical Version) is Good News

Original sin is not a popular doctrine. It’s probably why we don’t mention it very much. It’s certainly why I was surprised to hear it being mentioned on Radio Four’s Thought for the Day on Tuesday.

The speaker (or should it be, thinker?) was Rev Giles Fraser, a man not known for his sympathy towards biblical doctrines. Here’s how he defined original sin.

“I find in Christianity, especially in the Augustinian tradition, a remarkably similar observation to that proposed by Freud [ie: that we all feel helpless, because of our lack of control over the sources of our satisfaction].”

“For Augustine, we are fundamentally dependent creatures. That’s what he means by original sin … human brokenness and our inability to fix ourselves. Original sin is the wound that all humans carry around … the wound of our not being omnipotent and in control of the sources of our satisfaction."

“All human beings come stamped with the request: Fragile. Handle with care.”

This is a very gentle version of original sin. It makes us the victims (we’re vulnerable, and wounded, and it’s not our fault). It makes our feelings the issue (we feel helpless, and this makes us sad). And by lining Augustine up with Freud, it makes the therapist’s couch the solution:

“What I’ve learned through therapy is that helplessness does not mean hopelessness. Pain can be borne”.

Man is the victim, and man (through therapy) is the solution.

It’s a pleasant thought for five to eight on a Tuesday morning. It’s also completely not what the Bible teaches (or, though I’m not an expert at all, not what Augustine thought).

Biblical Original Sin

Original sin is, in fact, essentially the shorthand term we use to sum up Paul’s teaching in Romans 5. It is the truth that when the first human, Adam, sinned, we all sinned. He was humanity’s leader, representative and ambassador; what he did, we did. “Sin entered the world through one man … death came to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5 v 12). An outworking of this is the doctrine of inherited sin: that we are born sinful (see Psalm 51 v 5).

This is not an easy truth to swallow. We are held guilty of sin – we are guilty of sin – because of what Adam did on our behalf. We are sinful – we are born sinful – because of what Adam did before we were born.

To take Rev Fraser’s comments as a structure for a definition, here’s what the Bible teaches:

“We are fundamentally wanting-to-be-independent creatures. That’s what the Bible teaches, that we call original sin: human sinfulness and our inability to not be sinful. Original sin is the rebellion that all humans are born into and are guilty of … the wound of our fighting the ominopotent and rejecting him as our source of satisfaction.

“All human beings come stamped with the verdict: Sinful. Headed for death.”

In individualistic societies such as ours, this causes us to splutter into our cornflakes. But even in such individualistic societies, we still accept that others act as our representatives, on our behalf. When the Prime Minister negotiaties a treaty, he does so as our representative. His decision is our decision. If he declares war, we are at war. When Adam decided to sin, we decided to sin (and we demonstrate that it was our decision by making the same decision every day).

We are not victims of original sin. We are participants in original sin.

Whose Original Sin is Good News?

The Bible’s view of original sin is a lot blunter and more offensive than Giles Fraser’s. But on close inspection, it is also a lot better news. Here are three reasons:

1. We need a God who accepts another’s work on our behalf.

As an individual, I can’t reach God’s perfect standards. That’s the ultimate problem I can’t fix, and a therapist’s couch can’t help with that.

But God doesn’t deal with me as an individual. He deals with my representative, Adam. I am guilty because I am in Adam. And God has sent another Adam—Jesus. “As through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5 v 19). I can ask Jesus to stand before God on my behalf. His obedience, his perfection, can be counted as mine. It is wonderful news that, in Adam, God treats me as he treats Adam, because it means that I can, through faith, be in Christ, and be treated by God as he treats his Son.

2. We are all equal.

The only “division” that matters in the world is not between rich or poor (or, between those who can afford therapy and those who can’t); between good and bad, black and white, male and female, and so on. It is the one between Adam and Christ, those who are represented by Adam and those who are represented by Christ. Knowing that I was born in Adam, and have been given new life in Christ, means that I’ll neither look down on others, or despair about myself.

3. We are not to blame for our children’s sin

Sooner or later, we discover that a beautiful baby has grown into a lovely, but sinful, toddler. How did that happen? If they were not born sinful, then we are responsible. If there is no original, inherited sin, then parents bear the blame for their children deserving God’s judgment. The doctrine of original sin tells us that our babies are born sinful in their nature. We are not at fault; and we are not the solution. Christ is. We have the responsibility to bring up children well but original sin liberates us to be honest about sin with our children (rather than hiding it, excusing it, or despairing about it). And it enables us to remember that what our children most need from us is not to learn good behaviour or be given high self-esteem; it is to be pointed towards a Saviour, a better Adam, a representative who lived the perfect life and died a sinner’s death on their behalf.

We probably won’t hear that on Thought for the day tomorrow…