(Note: the blue horizontal menu bar directly above lists the subsections of "Original Sin in the Bible as Read Today." Beginning with "Acceptance of Evolution by Pope John Paul II," be sure to read each of these subsections before moving on to the next primary section, "New Interpretation of Original Sin.")

Original Sin in the Bible as Read Today
by Joseph F. Wimmer

The doctrine of original sin has been an essential part of the traditional teaching of churches of all denominations in the Christian world. Not only does it seem to explain that great enigma—the tendency toward evil found to a certain extent in every human heart—but great theologians have also proposed it as a major reason for Christ's salvific death on the cross. As Paul wrote in Romans 5:18, "One man's offence brought condemnation on all humanity; and one man's good act has brought justification and life to all humanity." The recent Catholic-Lutheran Dialogue on Justification accepts original sin as a given. The members of the committee state that:

as a consequence of original sin all human beings stand in need of justification even before they commit personal sins. [Sinners] can do nothing to merit justification, which is the free gift of God's grace. Even the beginnings of justification … repentance, prayer for grace and desire for forgiveness, must be God's work in us (1983 Catholic-Lutheran Dialogue on Justification).

We can now study this traditional teaching—the whole human race's complicity in sinfulness and the need for God's grace (through Christ) to attain our ultimate purpose in life—in the light of faith illumined by contemporary hermeneutics and scientific discoveries.

Our catechisms normally present original sin as a prideful and disobedient act on the part of our forebears, often quite literally Adam and Eve, as a result of which we still suffer dire consequences today, even before any immoral act on our part. The doctrine seems to unfairly implicate us in others' past actions that we could not have controlled: they sinned and we got punished along with them! It is possible now to present original sin in a more meaningful and comprehensible way, even while illuminating a profound mystery in our personal and communal selves. We began by explaining evolution as the way in which the universe has come to exist and continues to develop. Now we can look at how evolution, as a teaching of science, does not in itself deny that the universe could have been created by God. Indeed, it can help us better understand the origins of our tendency to sin.

Words highlighted in green appear in the Glossary.