What the Early Church Believed: Original Sin

The doctrine

We are inconsiderate, selfish, even cruel: we are sinners, as is everyone we meet. Paul traces this to Eden: sin came into the world through one man, and death spread to all because all sinned (Romans 5:12). The Catechism says revelation gives the certainty of faith that all human history is marked by the fault our first parents freely committed (CCC 390). We are not personally guilty of Adam's sin, but affected by it: we are born without the sanctifying grace needed for union with God, and with a broken nature inclined to sin (CCC 388-390, 396-412). The good news is that God makes it possible to receive grace, be forgiven, and overcome sin.

The witness of the early Church

• Hermas: before a man bears the name of the Son of God he is dead; in baptism he goes down dead and comes up alive.
• Theophilus of Antioch (181): disobedience brought the first man labor, pain, grief and death.
• Irenaeus (180-190): we are all from Adam and inherit his title; through the first Adam we offended God, and through the second we are reconciled (Romans 8:36; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
• Tertullian (197-212): through Adam's transgression the whole race was given over to death; as we die in Adam, so in Christ we are made alive (Romans 5:17).
• Origen (244): the apostles handed on the baptism of infants (Matthew 19:14; Luke 18:15-16; Acts 2:38-39) because all have an innate stain of sin to be washed by water and Spirit (Titus 3:5); in Adam all die, so in Christ all may live.
• Athanasius (358-362): when Adam transgressed, sin reached out to all (Romans 5:12).
• Cyril of Jerusalem (350): if one man's sin brought death to the world, how much more will life reign through the righteousness of one, Jesus, who is life (John 10:10; 14:6).
• Augustine (415): the Church hastens to baptize infants because there is no other way for them to be made alive in Christ.