The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy
information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and
public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and
the environment. EIA programs cover data on coal, petroleum, natural gas, electric, renewable and nuclear energy. EIA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Background
The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977
established EIA as the primary federal government authority on energy
statistics and analysis, building upon systems and organizations first
established in 1974 following the oil market disruption of 1973.
EIA conducts a comprehensive data collection program that covers
the full spectrum of energy sources, end uses, and energy flows;
generates short- and long-term domestic and international energy
projections; and performs informative energy analyses.
EIA disseminates its data products, analyses, reports, and
services to customers and stakeholders primarily through its website and
the customer contact center.
Located in Washington, D.C., EIA has about 325 federal employees and a budget of $126.8 million in fiscal year 2021.
By
law, EIA's products are prepared independently of policy
considerations. EIA neither formulates nor advocates any policy
conclusions. The Department of Energy Organization Act allows EIA's
processes and products to be independent from review by Executive Branch officials; specifically, Section 205(d) says:
"The Administrator shall not be required to obtain the approval
of any other officer or employee of the Department in connection with
the collection or analysis of any information; nor shall the
Administrator be required, prior to publication, to obtain the approval
of any other officer or employee of the United States with respect to
the substance of any statistical or forecasting technical reports which
he has prepared in accordance with law."
Products
Offices in the James V. Forrestal BuildingFigure3
from the International Energy Outlook 2023 (IEO2023) report. Aggregate
energy‑related carbon emissions remain constant to 2050 under the low
GDP growth case, otherwise they rise significantly. The analysis is
based on current ascertainable policy interventions.
More than two million people use the EIA's information online each month. Some of the EIA's products include:
General Interest Energy Information
Energy Explained: Energy information written for a general,
non-technical audience. A nonpartisan guide to the entire range of
energy topics from biodiesel to uranium.
Energy Kids: Educates students, citizens, and even policymakers and journalists about energy.
Energy Glossary: Common energy terms defined in plain language.
Timely Analysis
Today in Energy: Informative content published every weekday
that includes a graph or map and a short, timely story written in plain
language that highlights current energy issues, topics, and data trends.
This Week in Petroleum: Weekly summary and explanation of events in
United States and world petroleum markets, including weekly data. This report, together with its companion, the Weekly Petroleum Status Report,
is a handy tool for investors. These are published every Wednesday
(unless Monday is a holiday) at 10:30 AM Eastern Time (for the
preliminary version) with the full report following at 1 PM Eastern. The
Weekly Petroleum Status Report provides estimates of the amount of
crude oil and petroleum products in storage, so that one may get a sense
of whether stocks are building or declining, and of US oil production,
so that an interested party can get a sense of whether it is decreasing
or increasing. It is not unusual for the price of crude oil to jump up
or down by a few percentage points, immediately after this report is
released.
Natural Gas Weekly Update: Weekly summary and discussion of events and trends in U.S. natural gas markets.
Data and Surveys
Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update: Weekly price data for U.S. national and regional averages.
Monthly Energy Review: Provides statistics on monthly and annual U.S. energy consumption going back in some cases to 1949. The figures are given in units of quads (quadrillion BTUs.)
Annual Energy Review: EIA's primary report of historical annual
energy statistics. For many series, data begin with the year 1949. This
report has been superseded by the Monthly Energy Review and was not
produced for 2012.
Country Energy Profiles: Data by country, region, and commercial
group (OECD, OPEC) for 219 countries with additional country analysis
notes for 87 of these.
Country Analysis Briefs: EIA's in-depth analyses of energy
production, consumption, imports, and exports for 36 individual
countries and regions.
Residential Energy Consumption Survey: EIA's comprehensive survey
and analysis of residential energy consumption, household
characteristics, and appliance saturation.
Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey: A national sample
survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial
buildings, including their energy-related building characteristics and
energy usage data (consumption and expenditures).
Projections and Outlooks
Short-Term Energy Outlook: Energy projections for the next 13–24 months, updated monthly.
Annual Energy Outlook: Projection and analysis of U.S. energy supply, demand, and prices through 2040 based on EIA's National Energy Modeling System.
Projections are currently based on existing legislation, without
assumption of any future congressional action or technological
advancement. In 2015, EIA has been criticized by the Advanced Energy Economy
(AEE) Institute after its release of the AEO 2015-report to
"consistently underestimate the growth rate of renewable energy, leading
to 'misperceptions' about the performance of these resources in the
marketplace". AEE points out that the average power purchase agreement (PPA) for wind power was already at $24/MWh in 2013. Likewise, PPA for utility-scale solar PV are seen at current levels of $50–$75/MWh. These figures contrast strongly with EIA's estimated LCOE of $125/MWh (or $114/MWh including subsidies) for solar PV in 2020.[19] This criticism has been repeated every year since.
International Energy Outlook: EIA's assessment of the outlook for international energy markets through 2040.
Legislation
The Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 created the Federal Energy Administration
(FEA), the first U.S. agency with the primary focus on energy and
mandated it to collect, assemble, evaluate, and analyze energy
information. It also provided the FEA with data collection enforcement
authority for gathering data from energy producing and major consuming
firms. Section 52 of the FEA Act mandated establishment of the National
Energy Information System to "… contain such energy information as is
necessary to carry out the Administration's statistical and forecasting
activities …"
The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977,
Public Law 95-91, created the Department of Energy. Section 205 of this
law established the Energy Information Administration (EIA) as the
primary federal government authority on energy statistics and analysis
to carry out a "
...central, comprehensive, and unified energy data and information
program which will collect, evaluate, assemble, analyze, and disseminate
data and information which is relevant to energy resource reserves,
energy production, demand, and technology, and related economic and
statistical information, or which is relevant to the adequacy of energy
resources to meet demands in the near and longer term future for the
Nation's economic and social needs."
The same law established that EIA's processes and products are independent from review by Executive Branch officials.
The majority of EIA energy data surveys are based on the general
mandates set forth above. However, there are some surveys specifically
mandated by law, including:
EIA-28, Financial Reporting System - Section 205(h) of the DOE Organization Act.
EIA-1605 and 1605EZ, Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases - Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992.
EIA-886, Annual Survey of Alternative Fueled Vehicle Suppliers and Users - Section 503(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992.
EIA-846A-C, Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey - Section 205(i)
of the DOE Organization Act (the act calls for a biennial survey;
however, this survey is done quadrennially due to resource constraints).
EIA-457A-G, Residential Energy Consumption Survey - Section 205(k)
of the DOE Organization Act (the act calls for a triennial survey;
however, this survey is done quadrennially due to resource constraints).
EIA-871A-F, Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey - Section
205(k) of the DOE Organization Act (the act calls for a triennial
survey; however, this survey is done quadrennially due to resource
constraints).
Petroleum Marketing Surveys - Section 507 of Part A of Title V of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975
broadly directs EIA to collect information on the pricing, supply, and
distribution of petroleum products by product category at the wholesale
and retail levels, on a State-by-State basis, which was collected as of
September 1, 1981, by the Energy Information Administration.
World energy resources are the estimated maximum capacity for energy production given all available resources on Earth. They can be divided by type into fossil fuel, nuclear fuel and renewable resources.
Remaining reserves of fossil fuel are estimated as:
Fuel
Proven energy reserves in zettajoule (ZJ) as of the end of 2009
Coal
19.8
Gas
36.4
Oil
8.9
These are the proven energy reserves; real reserves may be four or
more times larger. These numbers are very uncertain. Estimating the
remaining fossil fuels
on the planet depends on a detailed understanding of Earth's crust.
With modern drilling technology, we can drill wells in up to 3 km of
water to verify the exact composition of the geology; but half of the
ocean is deeper than 3 km, leaving about a third of the planet beyond
the reach of detailed analysis.
There is uncertainty in the total amount of reserves, but also in
how much of these can be recovered gainfully, for technological,
economic and political reasons, such as the accessibility of fossil
deposits, the levels of sulfur and other pollutants in the oil and the
coal, transportation costs, and societal instability in producing
regions. In general the easiest to reach deposits are the first
extracted.
Coal is the most abundant and burned fossil fuel. This was the fuel
that launched the industrial revolution and continued to grow in use;
China, which already has many of the world's most polluted cities, was in 2007 building about two coal-fired power plants every week.
Coal's large reserves would make it a popular candidate to meet the
energy demand of the global community, short of global warming concerns
and other pollutants.
Natural gas is a widely available fossil fuel with estimated 850 000 km3
in recoverable reserves and at least that much more using enhanced
methods to release shale gas. Improvements in technology and wide
exploration led to a major increase in recoverable natural gas reserves
as shale fracking methods were developed. At present usage rates,
natural gas could supply most of the world's energy needs for between
100 and 250 years, depending on increase in consumption over time.
Oil
Remaining oil: Breakdown of the remaining 57 zettajoule
(ZJ) of oil on the planet. The annual oil consumption was 0.18 ZJ in
2005. There is significant uncertainty surrounding these numbers. The 11
ZJ of future additions to the recoverable reserves could be optimistic.
It is estimated that there may be 57 zettajoule (ZJ) of oil reserves on Earth (although estimates vary from a low of 8 ZJ, consisting of currently proven and recoverable reserves, to a maximum of 110 ZJ)
consisting of available, but not necessarily recoverable reserves, and
including optimistic estimates for unconventional sources such as oil sands and oil shale.
Current consensus among the 18 recognized estimates of supply profiles
is that the peak of extraction will occur in 2020 at the rate of
93-million barrels per day (mbd). Current oil consumption is at the rate of 0.18 ZJ per year (31.1 billion barrels) or 85 mbd.
There is growing concern that peak oil production may be reached in the near future, resulting in severe oil price increases.
A 2005 French Economics, Industry and Finance Ministry report suggested a worst-case scenario that could occur as early as 2013.
There are also theories that peak of the global oil production may occur
in as little as 2–3 years. The ASPO predicts peak year to be in 2010.
Some other theories present the view that it has already taken place in
2005. World crude oil production (including lease condensates) according
to US EIA data decreased from a peak of 73.720 mbd in 2005 to 73.437 in 2006, 72.981 in 2007, and 73.697 in 2008.
According to peak oil theory, increasing production will lead to a more
rapid collapse of production in the future, while decreasing production
will lead to a slower decrease, as the bell-shaped curve will be spread out over more years.
In a stated goal of increasing oil prices to $75/barrel, which had fallen from a high of $147 to a low of $40, OPEC announced decreasing production by 2.2 mbd beginning 1 January 2009.
Sustainability
Political considerations over the security of supplies, environmental concerns related to global warming and sustainability are expected to move the world's energy consumption away from fossil fuels. The concept of peak oil shows that about half of the available petroleum resources have been produced, and predicts a decrease of production.
A government moving away from fossil fuels would most likely create economic pressure through carbon emissions and green taxation. Some countries are taking action as a result of the Kyoto Protocol, and further steps in this direction are proposed. For example, the European Commission has proposed that the energy policy of the European Union should set a binding target of increasing the level of renewable energy in the EU's overall mix from less than 7% in 2007 to 20% by 2020.
The antithesis of sustainability is a disregard for limits,
commonly referred to as the Easter Island Effect, which is the concept
of being unable to develop sustainability, resulting in the depletion of
natural resources. Some estimate that, assuming current consumption rates, current oil reserves could be completely depleted by 2050.
The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates the remaining uranium resources to be equal to 2500 ZJ. This assumes the use of breeder reactors, which are able to create more fissile material than they consume. IPCC
estimated currently proved economically recoverable uranium deposits
for once-through fuel cycles reactors to be only 2 ZJ. The ultimately
recoverable uranium is estimated to be 17 ZJ for once-through reactors
and 1000 ZJ with reprocessing and fast breeder reactors.
Resources and technology do not constrain the capacity of nuclear
power to contribute to meeting the energy demand for the 21st century.
However, political and environmental concerns about nuclear safety and radioactive waste started to limit the growth of this energy supply at the end of last century, particularly due to a number of nuclear accidents. Concerns about nuclear proliferation (especially with plutonium produced by breeder reactors) mean that the development of nuclear power by countries such as Iran and Syria is being actively discouraged by the international community.
Although at the beginning of the 21st century uranium is the
primary nuclear fuel worldwide, others such as thorium and hydrogen had
been under investigation since the middle of the 20th century.
Thorium reserves significantly exceed those of uranium, and of
course hydrogen is abundant. It is also considered by many to be easier
to obtain than uranium. While uranium mines are enclosed underground and thus very dangerous for the miners, thorium is taken from open pits, and is estimated to be roughly three times as abundant as uranium in the Earth's crust.
Since the 1960s, numerous facilities throughout the world have burned Thorium.
Nuclear fusion
Alternatives
for energy production through fusion of hydrogen have been under
investigation since the 1950s. No materials can withstand the
temperatures required to ignite the fuel, so it must be confined by
methods which use no materials. Magnetic and inertial confinement are
the main alternatives (Cadarache, Inertial confinement fusion) both of which are hot research topics in the early years of the 21st century.
Nuclear fusion
is the process powering the sun and other stars. It generates large
quantities of heat by fusing the nuclei of hydrogen or helium isotopes,
which may be derived from seawater. The heat can theoretically be
harnessed to generate electricity. The temperatures and pressures needed
to sustain fusion make it a very difficult process to control. Fusion
is theoretically able to supply vast quantities of energy, with
relatively little pollution.
Although both the United States and the European Union, along with
other countries, are supporting fusion research (such as investing in
the ITER facility), according to one report, inadequate research has stalled progress in fusion research for the past 20 years.
Renewable resources are available each year, unlike non-renewable
resources, which are eventually depleted. A simple comparison is a coal
mine and a forest. While the forest could be depleted, if it is managed
it represents a continuous supply of energy, vs. the coal mine, which
once has been exhausted is gone. Most of earth's available energy
resources are renewable resources. Renewable resources account for more
than 93 percent of total U.S. energy reserves. Annual renewable
resources were multiplied times thirty years for comparison with
non-renewable resources. In other words, if all non-renewable resources
were uniformly exhausted in 30 years, they would only account for 7
percent of available resources each year, if all available renewable
resources were developed.
Production of biomass and biofuels are growing industries as interest
in sustainable fuel sources is growing. Utilizing waste products avoids
a food vs. fuel trade-off, and burning methane gas
reduces greenhouse gas emissions, because even though it releases
carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide is 23 times less of a greenhouse gas than
is methane. Biofuels represent a sustainable partial replacement for
fossil fuels, but their net impact on greenhouse gas emissions
depends on the agricultural practices used to grow the plants used as
feedstock to create the fuels. While it is widely believed that biofuels
can be carbon neutral, there is evidence that biofuels produced by current farming methods are substantial net carbon emitters. Geothermal and biomass are the only two renewable energy sources that require careful management to avoid local depletion.
Estimates of exploitable worldwide geothermal energy
resources vary considerably, depending on assumed investments in
technology and exploration and guesses about geological formations.
According to a 1998 study, this might amount to between 65 and 138 GW of
electrical generation capacity 'using enhanced technology'. Other estimates range from 35 to 2000 GW of electrical generation capacity, with a further potential for 140 EJ/year of direct use.
A 2006 report by the MIT that took into account the use of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) concluded that it would be affordable to generate 100 GWe (gigawatts of electricity) or more by 2050, just in the United States, for a maximum investment of 1 billion US dollars in research and development over 15 years.
The MIT report calculated the world's total EGS resources to be over
13 YJ, of which over 0.2 YJ would be extractable, with the potential to
increase this to over 2 YJ with technology improvements – sufficient to
provide all the world's energy needs for several thousand years. The total heat content of the Earth is 13,000,000 YJ.
Renewable energy sources are even larger than the traditional fossil
fuels and in theory can easily supply the world's energy needs. 89 PW
of solar power falls on the planet's surface. While it is not possible
to capture all, or even most, of this energy, capturing less than 0.02%
would be enough to meet the current energy needs. Barriers to further
solar generation include the high price of making solar cells
and reliance on weather patterns to generate electricity. Also, current
solar generation does not produce electricity at night, which is a
particular problem in high northern and southern latitude countries;
energy demand is highest in winter, while availability of solar energy
is lowest. This could be overcome by buying power from countries closer
to the equator during winter months, and may also be addressed with
technological developments such as the development of inexpensive energy
storage. Globally, solar generation is the fastest growing source of
energy, seeing an annual average growth of 35% over the past few years. China, Europe, India, Japan, and the United States are the major growing investors in solar energy. Solar power's share of worldwide electricity usage at the end of 2014 was 1%.
At the end of 2005, 0.3 GW of electricity was produced by tidal power. Due to the tidal forces
created by the Moon (68%) and the Sun (32%), and Earth's relative
rotation with respect to Moon and Sun, there are fluctuating tides.
These tidal fluctuations result in dissipation at an average rate of about 3.7 TW.
Another physical limitation is the energy available in the tidal fluctuations of the oceans, which is about 0.6 EJ (exajoule). Note this is only a tiny fraction of the total rotational energy of Earth. Without forcing, this energy would be dissipated (at a dissipation rate of 3.7 TW) in about four semi-diurnal
tide periods. So, dissipation plays a significant role in the tidal
dynamics of the oceans. Therefore, this limits the available tidal
energy to around 0.8 TW (20% of the dissipation rate) in order not to
disturb the tidal dynamics too much.
Waves are derived from wind, which is in turn derived from solar
energy, and at each conversion there is a drop of about two orders of
magnitude in available energy. The total power of waves that wash
against Earth's shores adds up to 3 TW.
The available wind energy estimates range from 300 TW to 870 TW.
Using the lower estimate, just 5% of the available wind energy would
supply the current worldwide energy needs. Most of this wind energy is
available over the open ocean. The oceans cover 71% of the planet and wind tends to blow more strongly over open water because there are fewer obstructions.
Original sin (Latin: peccatum originale) in Christian theology refers to the condition of sinfulness that all humans share, which is inherited from Adam and Eve due to the Fall, involving the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of the Image of God. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (the story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden), and in texts such as Psalm 51:5 ("I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me") and Romans 5:12–21
("Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all
sinned").
The specific doctrine of original sin was developed in the 3rd century struggle against Gnosticism by Irenaeus of Lyons, and was shaped significantly by Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD), who was the first author to use the phrase "original sin". Influenced by Augustine, the Councils of Carthage (411–418 AD) and Orange (529 AD) brought theological speculation about original sin into the official lexicon of the Church.
Protestant Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin equated original sin with concupiscence (or 'hurtful desire'), affirming that it persisted even after baptism and completely destroyed freedom to do good, proposing that original sin involved a loss of free will except to sin. The Jansenist movement, which the Roman Catholic Church declared heretical, also maintained that original sin destroyed freedom of will. Instead, the Catechism of the Catholic Church declares that "Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ's grace,
erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the
consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man
and summon him to spiritual battle", and the Council of Trent
states that "whereas all men had lost their innocence in the
prevarication of Adam [...] although free will, attenuated as it was in
its powers, and bent down, was by no means extinguished in them."
History
Scriptural background and early development
For the Apostle Paul,
Adam's act released a power into the world by which sin and death
became the natural lot of mankind, a view which is evident in 2 Esdras, 2 Baruch and the Apocalypse of Moses.
Paul uses much of the same language observed in 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch,
such as Adam-death associations. He also emphasizes the individual human
responsibility for their sins when he described the predominance of
death over all "because all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). Early Christianity had no specific doctrine of original sin prior to the 4th century. The idea developed incrementally in the writings of the Early Church Fathers in the centuries after the New Testament was composed. The late 1st- or early 2nd-century Didache's
seemingly exclusive preference for adult baptism offers evidence that
its author may have believed that children were born sinless. The
authors of the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas, also from the late 1st or early 2nd centuries, assumed that children were born without sin. However Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch, from the same period, took universal sin for granted but did not explain its origin from anywhere; and while Clement of Alexandria in the late 2nd century did propose that sin was inherited from Adam, he did not say how.
The biblical bases for original sin are generally found in the
following passages, the first and last of which explain why the sin is
described as "original":
Psalm 51:5, "I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me";
Romans 5:12–21,
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all
sinned..."
Genesis 3, the story of the Garden of Eden, makes no association between
sex and the disobedience of Adam and Eve, nor is the serpent associated
with Satan, nor are the words "sin," "transgression," "rebellion," or "guilt" mentioned.
The words of Psalm 51:5 read: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin my mother conceived me", but while the speaker traces their
sinfulness to the moment of their conception, there is little to support
the idea that it was meant to be applicable to all humanity. In the 4th century, Augustine would use texts such as Romans 5:16–18 to justify his theory of original sin as originating in propagation since Adam rather than being merely imitation of Adam as Pelagius
claimed ("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."). However, Pelagians
and modern interpreters such as M. Eugene Boring argue that Paul's
meaning is not that God punishes later generations for the deeds of
Adam, but that Adam's story is representative for all humanity.
Paul the Apostle (c. 5 – c. 64/65 AD), early Christian evangelist whose writings are taken as foundational for the doctrine of original sin.
Second Temple Judaism
The first writings to discuss the first sin at the hands of Adam and Eve were early Jewish texts in the Second Temple Period, such as the Book of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon.
In these writings, there is no notion that sin is inherent to an
individual or that it is transmitted upon conception. Instead, Adam is
more largely seen as a heroic figure and the first patriarch. Rather,
the beginnings of sin were seen in the stories of Cain or the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6.
Despite the lack of a notion of original sin, by the 1st century,
a number of texts did discuss the roles of Adam and Eve as the first to
have committed sin. While Wisdom of Solomon 2:23–24 states that "God created man for incorruption[...] but death entered the world by the envy of the devil" (2:23–24), Ecclesiasticus 25:24
states that "Sin began with a woman, and we must all die because of
her" (25:24). The notion of the hereditary transmission of sin from Adam
was rejected by both 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch
in favor of individual responsibility for sin. Despite describing death
as having come to all men through Adam, these texts also held to the
notion that it is still the individual that is ultimately responsible
for committing his own sin and that it is the individual's sin, rather
than the sin of Adam and Eve, that God condemns in a person. Ian McFarland argues that it is the context of this Judaism through which Paul's discussions on the fall of Adam are to be better understood.
Greek Fathers before Augustine
Justin Martyr, a 2nd-century Christian apologist
and philosopher, was the first Christian author to discuss the story of
Adam's fall after Paul. In Justin's writings, there is no conception of
original sin and the fault of sin lies at the hands of the individual
who committed it. In his Dialogue with Trypho,
Justin wrote "The Christ has suffered to be crucified for the race of
men who, since Adam, were fallen to the power of death and were in the
error of the serpent, each man committing evil by his own fault"
(chapter 86) and "Men[...] were created
like God, free from pain and death, provided they obeyed His precepts
and were deemed worthy by Him to be called His sons, and yet, like Adam
and Eve, brought death upon themselves" (chapter 124). Irenaeus was an early father appealed to by Augustine on the doctrine of original sin,
although he did not believe that Adam's sin was as severe as later
tradition would hold and he was not wholly clear about its consequences.
One recurring theme in Irenaeus is his view that Adam, in his
transgression, is essentially a child who merely partook of the tree
ahead of his time.
Origen of Alexandria had a notion similar to, but not the same as original sin, since Genesis was largely allegorical for him. On the other hand, he also believed in the pre-existence of the soul,
and theorized that individuals are inherently predisposed to committing
sin on account of the transgressions committed in their pre-worldly
existence. Origen is the first to quote Romans 5:12–21, but rejected the
existence of a sinful state inherited from Adam. To Origen, Adam's sin
sets an example that all humanity partakes in, but is not inherently
born into. Responding to and rejecting Origen's theories, Methodius of Olympus
rejected the pre-existence of the soul and the allegorical
interpretation of Genesis, and in the process, was the first to describe
the events of Adam's life as the "Fall".
Greek Fathers would come to emphasize the cosmic dimension of the
Fall, namely that since Adam, human beings are born into a fallen
world, but held fast to belief that man, though fallen, is free. They thus did not teach that human beings are deprived of free will and involved in total depravity, which is one understanding of original sin among the leaders of the Reformation. During this period the doctrines of human depravity and the inherently sinful nature of human flesh were taught by Gnostics, and orthodox Christian writers took great pains to counter them. Thus Christian apologists such as Justin insisted that God's future judgment of humanity implied humanity must have the ability to live righteously.
Latin Fathers before Augustine
Tertullian, perhaps the first to believe in hereditary transmission of sin, did so on the basis of the theory of traducianism,
the theory that each individual's soul was derived from the soul of
their two parents, and therefore, because everyone is ultimately a
descendant of Adam through sexual reproduction, the souls of humanity
are partly derived from Adam's own soul—the only one directly created by
God, and as a sinful soul, the derived souls of humanity, too, are
sinful. Cyprian,
on the other hand, believed that individuals were born already guilty
of sin, and he was the first to link his notion of original guilt with infant baptism.
Cyprian writes that the infant is "born has not sinned at all, except
that carnally born according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of
the first death from the first nativity." Another text to assert the connection between original sin and infant baptism was the ManichaenLetter to Menoch, although it is of disputed authenticity.
Ambrose
accepted the idea of hereditary sin, also linking it, like Cyprian, to
infant baptism, but as a shift from earlier proponents of a transmitted
sin, he argued that Adam's sin was solely his own fault, in his attempt
to attain equality with God, rather than the fault of the devil. One contemporary of Ambrose was Ambrosiaster,
the first to introduce a translation of Romans 5:12 that substituted
the language of all being in death "because all sinned" to "in him all
sinned".
Augustine's primary formulation of original sin was based on this
mistranslation of Romans 5:12. This mistranslation would act as the
basis for Augustine's complete development of the doctrine of original
sin, and Augustine would quote Ambrosiaster as the source. Some exegetes still justify the doctrine of original sin based on the wider context of Romans 5:12–21.
Hilary of Poitiers
did not clearly articulate a concept of original sin, though
anticipates the views of Augustine, as he declared that all humanity is
implicated in Adam's downfall.
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo (354-430) wrote that original sin is transmitted by concupiscence and enfeebles freedom of the will without destroying it.
On the precise nature of Adam's sin, Augustine taught that it was both an act of foolishness (insipientia)
and of pride and disobedience to God of Adam and Eve. He thought it was
a most subtle work to discern what came first: self-centeredness or
failure in seeing truth, as he wrote to the Pelagian bishop Julian of Eclanum. The sin of Adam and Eve would not have taken place if Satan had not sown into their senses "the root of evil" (radix mali).
The sin of Adam is transmitted by concupiscence, or "hurtful desire", resulting in humanity becoming a massa damnata (mass of perdition, condemned crowd), with much enfeebled, though not destroyed, freedom of will. When Adam sinned, human nature was thenceforth transformed. He believed that prior to the Fall, Adam had both the freedom to sin and not to sin (posse peccare, posse non peccare), but humans have no freedom to choose not to sin (non posse non peccare) after Adam's Fall.
Augustine found the original sin inexplicable given the understanding
that Adam and Eve were "created with perfect natures" which would fail
to explain how the evil desire arose in them in the first place.
Augustine also identified male semen as the means by which original sin
was made heritable, leaving only Jesus Christ, conceived without semen,
free of the sin passed down from Adam through the sexual act. This sentiment was echoed as late as 1930 by Pope Pius XI in his Casti connubii: "The natural generation of life has become the path of death by which original sin is communicated to the children."
Concupiscence
Adam
and Eve, via sexual reproduction, recreated human nature. Their
descendants now live in sin, in the form of concupiscence, a term
Augustine used in a metaphysical, not a psychological sense. Thomas Aquinas explained this by pointing out that the libido ("concupiscence"), which makes the original sin pass from parents to children, is not a libido actualis, i.e. sexual lust, but a libido habitualis, i.e. a wound of the whole of human nature. Augustine insisted that concupiscence was not "a being" but a "bad quality", the privation of good or a wound. He admitted that sexual concupiscence (libido) might have been present in the perfect human nature in paradise,
and that only later it became disobedient to human will as a result of
the first couple's disobedience to God's will in the original sin.
In Augustine's view (termed "realism"), all of humanity was really
present in Adam when he sinned, and therefore all have sinned. Original
sin, according to Augustine, consists of the guilt of Adam that all
humans inherit. Although earlier Christian authors taught the elements
of physical death, moral weakness, and a sin propensity within original
sin, Augustine was the first to add the concept of inherited guilt (reatus)
from Adam whereby an infant was eternally damned at birth. Augustine
held the traditional view that free will was weakened but not destroyed
by original sin until he converted in 412 AD to the Stoic view that
humanity had no free will except to sin as a result of his anti-Pelagian
view of infant baptism.
Anti-Pelagianism
Augustine articulated his explanation in reaction to his understanding of Pelagianism
that would insist that humans have of themselves, without the necessary
help of God's grace, the ability to lead a morally good life, thus
denying both the importance of baptism and the teaching that God is the
giver of all that is good. According to this understanding, the
influence of Adam on other humans was merely that of bad example, thus,
original sin consists in imitation of Adam. Augustine held that
the effects of Adam's sin are transmitted to his descendants not by
example but by the very fact of generation from that ancestor (propagation). A wounded nature comes to the soul and body of the new person from their parents, who experience libido (or "concupiscence"). Augustine frequently cited Romans 5 to refute the Pelagian theory of imitation.
But
observe more attentively what he says, that “through the offence of
one, many are dead.” For why should it be on account of the sin of one,
and not rather on account of their own sins, if this passage is to be
understood of imitation, and not of propagation? But mark
what follows: “And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift; for
the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the grace is of many
offences unto justification.” [Romans 5:16] Now let them tell us, where
there is room in these words for imitation. “By one,” says he,
“to condemnation.” By one what except one sin? [...] That person,
therefore, greatly deceives both himself and others, who teaches that
they will not be involved in condemnation; whereas the apostle says:
“Judgment from one offence to condemnation,” [Romans 5:16] and again a
little after: “By the offence of one upon all persons to condemnation.”
[Romans 5:18]
Augustine's
view was that human procreation was the way the transmission was being
effected. He did not blame, however, the sexual passion itself, but the
spiritual concupiscence present in human nature, soul and body, even
after baptismal regeneration. This was because, according to Augustine,
sexual desire is only one—though the strongest—of many physical
realizations of that spiritual libido.Christian parents transmit their wounded nature to children, because they give them birth, not the "re-birth". Augustine used the CiceronianStoic
concept of passions to interpret Paul's doctrine of universal sin and
redemption. In that view, sexual desire itself as well as other bodily
passions were consequences of the original sin, in which pure affections
were wounded by vice and became disobedient to human reason and will.
As long as they carry a threat to the dominion of reason over the soul,
they constitute moral evil, but since they do not presuppose consent,
one cannot call them sins. Humanity will be liberated from passions, and
pure affections will be restored only when all sin has been washed away
and ended, that is in the resurrection of the dead.
The theologian Pelagius
reacted thoroughly negatively to Augustine's theory of original sin.
Pelagius considered it an insult to God that humans could be born
inherently sinful or biased towards sin, and Pelagius believed that the
soul was created by God at conception, and therefore could not be imbued
with sin as it was solely the product of God's creative agency. Adam
did not bring about inherent sin, but he introduced death to the world.
Furthermore, Pelagius argued, sin was spread through example rather than
hereditary transmission. Pelagius advanced a further argument against
the idea of the transmission of sin: since adults are baptized and
cleansed of their sin, their children are not capable of inheriting a
sin that the parents do not have to begin with.
Illuminated parchment, Spain, c. 950–955 AD, depicting the Fall of Man, cause of original sin
Reaction of the Church to Augustine
Opposition to Augustine's ideas about original sin, which he had developed in reaction to Pelagianism, arose rapidly. After a long and bitter struggle several councils, especially the Second Council of Orange in 529, confirmed the general principles of Augustine's teaching within Western Christianity.
However, while the Western Church condemned Pelagius, it did not
endorse Augustine entirely and, while Augustine's authority was
accepted, he was interpreted in the light of writers such as John Cassian,
who rejected Pelagius but believed that fallen man could still choose
to follow God of his own free will, although it is God who guides his
progress. Some of the followers of Augustine identified original sin with concupiscence in the psychological sense, but Anselm of Canterbury
challenged this identification in the 11th century, defining original
sin as "privation of the righteousness that every man ought to possess",
thus separating it from concupiscence. In the 12th century the
identification of original sin with concupiscence was supported by Peter Lombard and others, but was rejected by the leading theologians in the next century, most notably by Thomas Aquinas.
Aquinas distinguished the supernatural gifts of Adam before the fall
from what was merely natural, and said that it was the former that were
lost, privileges that enabled man to keep his inferior powers in
submission to reason and directed to his supernatural end. Even after
the fall, man thus kept his natural abilities of reason, will and
passions. Rigorous Augustine-inspired views persisted among the Franciscans, though the most prominent Franciscan theologians, such as Duns Scotus and William of Ockham, eliminated the element of concupiscence and identified original sin with the loss of sanctifying grace.
Eastern Christian theology has questioned Western Christianity's ideas
on original sin from the outset and does not promote the idea of
inherited guilt.
In Cur Deus Homo,
Anselm of Canterbury explained that after the original sin of Adam and
Eve, the sacrifice of Christ's passion and death on the cross was
necessary for the human race to be restored to the possibility of
entering Paradise for eternal life. Indeed, a life of infinite duration
required infinite merits of salvation that only the infinitely valuable
blood shed by the Lord could purchase. Thomas Aquinas
maintains "that Christ is the head of the Church, and that the grace
that he possesses as head is passed on to all the members of the Church
because of the organic conjunction that obtains within the Mystical
Body." Quoting 1 John 2:2,
Aquinas declares that the passion of Christ satisfied superabundantly
for the sins of the whole world. The death of Christ was necessary only
as a result of God's free decision to redeem humankind in a suitable
manner, showing forth both the justice and the mercy of God.
Protestant Reformation
Both Martin Luther (1483–1546) and John Calvin
(1509–1564) represent a radical Augustinian shift: equating
concupiscence with original sin, maintaining that it destroyed free will
and persisted after baptism.
Luther asserted that humans inherit Adamic guilt and are in a state of
sin from the moment of conception. The second article in the orthodox
statement of Lutheran doctrine, the Augsburg Confession presents its doctrine of original sin in summary form.
It is also taught among us that
since the fall of Adam all men who are born according to the course of
nature are conceived and born in sin. That is, all men are full of evil
lust and inclinations from their mothers' wombs and are unable by nature
to have true fear of God and true faith in God. Moreover, this inborn
sickness and hereditary sin is truly sin and condemns to the eternal
wrath of God all those who are not born again through Baptism and the
Holy Spirit. Rejected in this connection are the Pelagians
and others who deny that original sin is sin, for they hold that
natural man is made righteous by his own powers, thus disparaging the
sufferings and merit of Christ.
Calvin developed a systematic theology of Augustinian Protestantism with reference to Augustine of Hippo's
notion of original sin. Calvin believed that humans inherit Adamic
guilt and are in a state of sin from the moment of conception. This
inherently sinful nature (the basis for the Reformed doctrine of "total depravity")
results in a complete alienation from God and the total inability of
humans to achieve reconciliation with God based on their own abilities.
Not only do individuals inherit a sinful nature due to Adam's fall, but
since he was the federal head and representative of the human race, all
whom he represented inherit the guilt of his sin by imputation. Redemption by Jesus Christ is the only remedy. Calvin defined original sin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion as follows.
Original sin, then, may be defined a
hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature, extending to all the
parts of the soul, which first makes us obnoxious to the wrath of God,
and then produces in us works which in Scripture are termed works of the
flesh. This corruption is repeatedly designated by Paul by the term sin
(Gal. 5:19); while the works which proceed from it, such as adultery,
fornication, theft, hatred, murder, revellings, he terms, in the same
way, the fruits of sin, though in various passages of Scripture, and
even by Paul himself, they are also termed sins.
The defining doctrinal statement of the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent
(1545–1563), while not pronouncing on points disputed among Roman
Catholic theologians, opposes Protestantism in stating that "whereas all
men had lost their innocence in the prevarication of Adam [...]
although free will, attenuated as it was in its powers, and bent down,
was by no means extinguished in them."
The Council also condemned the teaching that in baptism the whole of
what belongs to the essence of sin is not taken away, but is only
cancelled or not imputed, and declared the concupiscence that remains
after baptism not truly and properly "sin" in the baptized, but only to
be called sin in the sense that it is of sin and inclines to sin.
In 1567, soon after the close of the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V
went beyond Trent by sanctioning Aquinas' distinction between nature
and supernature in Adam's state before the Fall, condemned the equating
of original sin with concupiscence, and approved the view that the
unbaptized could have right use of will. The Catholic Encyclopedia
states, "Whilst original sin is effaced by baptism concupiscence still
remains in the person baptized; therefore original sin and concupiscence
cannot be one and the same thing, as was held by the early Protestants
(see Council of Trent, Sess. V, can. v)."
Modern theologians
Søren Kierkegaard, Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr
thought that the doctrine of original sin is not necessarily linked to
some act of disobedience by the first human beings; rather, the Fall
describes every human person's existential situation. Karl Barth
rejected the concepts of original guilt and original corruption for
being, as he thought, deterministic and undermining human
responsibility; instead, he advanced, as noted by Loke, "an alternative
conception of Original Sin (Ursünde) which rests upon the idea
that God sees, addresses, and treats humanity as a unity on account of
the disobedience that is universal."
For Barth, Adam did not pass on sin as corruption. In response to
Augustine's problem of the inexplicability of original sin, Loke
responds that God is not the first cause of evil, rather created
libertarian agents who freely choose evil are the first causes of evil.
In the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, original sin is the absence of original holiness and justice into which humans are born, distinct from the actual sins
that a person commits. The absence of sanctifying grace or holiness in
the new-born child is an effect of the first sin, for Adam, having
received holiness and justice from God, lost it not only for himself but
also for humanity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church sets forth the Roman Catholic doctrine of original sin in brief.
By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness he had received from God, not only for himself but for all humans.
Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature
wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness
and justice; this deprivation is called "original sin".
As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers,
subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and
inclined to sin (this inclination is called "concupiscence").
Anselm of Canterbury
wrote that "there is a difference between the sin of Adam on the one
hand, and the sins of children on the other: one is the cause and one is
the effect."
Following this, Roman Catholic doctrine sees the original sin of a
child as distinct from the fault of Adam, but rather as one of its
effects. The effects of Adam's sin according to the Catholic
Encyclopedia are the following.
Death and suffering: "One man has transmitted to the whole human
race not only the death of the body, which is the punishment of sin,
but even sin itself, which is the death of the soul."
Concupiscence or inclination to sin: baptism erases original sin but the inclination to sin remains.
The absence of sanctifying grace in the new-born child is also an
effect of the first sin, for Adam, having received holiness and justice
from God, lost it not only for himself but also for humanity. Baptism
confers original sanctifying grace, lost through the Adam's sin, thus
eliminating original sin and any personal sin.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that every human person born on earth is made in the image of God.
Within man "is both the powerful surge toward the good because we are
made in the image of God, and the darker impulses toward evil because of
the effects of Original Sin".
Furthermore, it explicitly denies that guilt is inherited from anyone,
maintaining that instead humanity inherits its own fallen nature. In
this it differs from the Reformed position that each person actually
inherits Adam's guilt, and teaches instead that "original sin does not
have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants
[...] but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil,
persist in man".
This view, that human beings do not bear guilt for the sin of Adam, is
also held in Eastern Orthodoxy. The Roman Catholic Church teaches, "By
our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over
man, even though man remains free."
The Roman Catholic Church has always held baptism to be for the
remission of sins including the original sin, and, as mentioned in Catechism of the Catholic Church,
infants too have traditionally been baptized, though not held guilty of
any actual personal sin. The sin that through baptism is remitted for
them could only be original sin. Baptism confers original sanctifying
grace that erases original sin and any actual personal sin.
The first comprehensive theological explanation of this practice of
baptizing infants, guilty of no actual personal sin, was given by
Augustine of Hippo, not all of whose ideas on original sin have been
adopted by the Catholic Church—the church has condemned the Protestant
interpretation of Augustine characteristic of Luther and Calvin which
involves total depravity, or a complete loss of freedom to will rightly.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that "by
yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this
sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen
state. [... Original] sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense:
it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" - a state and not an act." This "state of deprivation of the original holiness and justice[...] transmitted to the descendants of Adam along with human nature" involves no personal responsibility or personal guilt on their part (as stated in para. 405 of the Catechism).
Personal responsibility and guilt were Adam's, who because of his sin,
was unable to pass on to his descendants a human nature with the
holiness with which it would otherwise have been endowed, in this way
implicating them in his sin. The doctrine of original sin thus does not
impute the sin of the father to his children, but merely states that
they inherit from him a "human nature deprived of original holiness and
justice", which is "transmitted by propagation to all mankind".
In Roman Catholic theology, the meaning of the word
"concupiscence" is the movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to
the operation of the human reason. The apostle St Paul identifies it
with the rebellion of the "flesh" against the "spirit". "Concupiscence
stems from the disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles man's moral
faculties and, without being in itself an offence, inclines man to
commit sins."
Salvation of infants
Augustine believed that unbaptized infants go to hell as a consequence of original sin. The Latin Church Fathers who followed Augustine adopted his position, which became a point of reference for Latin theologians in the Middle Ages.
In the later medieval period, some theologians continued to hold
Augustine's view. Others held that unbaptized infants suffered no pain
at all: unaware of being deprived of the beatific vision,
they enjoyed a state of natural, not supernatural happiness. Starting
around 1300, unbaptized infants were often said to inhabit the "limbo of infants". The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
declares: "As regards children who have died without Baptism, the
Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her
funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that
all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which
caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,"
allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have
died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to
prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy
Baptism." But the theory of Limbo, while it "never entered into the dogmatic definitions of the Magisterium[...] remains[...] a possible theological hypothesis".
Post-conciliar developments
Soon after the Second Vatican Council, biblical theologian Herbert Haag raised the question; "Is original sin in Scripture?" According to his exegesis, Genesis 2:25 would indicate that Adam and Eve were created from the beginning naked of the divine grace,
an originary grace that, then, they would never have had, and much less
would have lost due to the subsequent events narrated. On the other
hand, while supporting a continuity in the Bible about the absence of preternatural gifts (Latin: dona praeternaturalia), with regard to the ophitic event, Haag never makes any reference to the discontinuity of the loss of access to the tree of life. Genesis 2:17 states that, if one ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
one would surely die, and the adverb indicates that, by avoiding this
type of choice, one would have the possibility but not the certainty of
accessing to the other tree. Therefore, in 1970 Latin American biblical
scholar Carlos Mesters wondered if "Eden [is] golden age or goad to
action", protology or eschatology, nostalgia for an idealized past or hope for something that has yet to happen as it is claimed by Revelation 2:7 and Revelation 22:2.
Some warn against taking Genesis 3 too literally. They take into
account that "God had the church in mind before the foundation of the
world" (as in Ephesians 1:4 as also in 2 Timothy 1:9, "...his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." In his 1986 book 'In the Beginning...', Pope Benedict XVI referred to the term "original sin" as "misleading and unprecise".
Benedict does not require a literal interpretation of Genesis, or of
the origin of evil, but writes, "How was it possible, how did it happen?
This remains obscure. Evil is not logical. Only God and good are
logical, are light. Evil remains mysterious. It is presented as such in
great images, as it is in chapter 3 of Genesis, with that scene of the
two trees, of the serpent, of sinful man: a great image that makes us
guess but cannot explain what is itself illogical."
Protestantism
Lutheranism
Article 1 of the Formula of Concord, an authoritative statement of Lutheran doctrine, teaches that original sin "is a root and fountain-head of all actual sins."
There are two elements of original sin in Reformed theology: original guilt and original pollution.
The term "guilt" refers to a "relation to the penal sanction of the
law", or the obligation to satisfy God's justice due to a willful
violation of his law. In covenant theology, Adam is regarded as the federal head of the human race, and so by his sin and Fall, the guilt of his sin is imputed to all his descendents, as Louis Berkhof states, drawing from Romans 5:18–19,
"God adjudges all men to be guilty sinners in Adam, just as He adjudges
all believers to be righteous in Jesus Christ. This is what Paul means,
when he says: 'So then as through one trespass the judgment came unto
all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness the
free gift came unto all men to justification of life. For as through the
one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the
obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous,' Rom. 5:18, 19."
The Fall also resulted in an "original pollution", which involves the
absence of original righteousness and the presence of an active
disposition towards sin. The pervasive nature of this pollution in the
human race is emphasized with the term "total depravity", that is, the
notion that the corruption of original sin extends to every part of
man's nature, and that there is nothing in man which can vindicate him
before God.
The effect of total depravity is "total inability", which means that,
although fallen man may perform natural, civil and externally religious
goods or virtues, yet he cannot do any act which pleases God and he
cannot even begin to love God rather than himself.
The Reformed conception of free will is that fallen man does
indeed retain the faculties of the soul such as reason, conscience and
freedom of choice, yet, he has by nature an irresistible desire to
commit sin, and cannot will the highest good, which was part of his
original moral constitution. In his fallen state, man commits many actual sins (Latin: peccatum actuale)
which "does not merely denote those external actions which are
accomplished by means of the body, but all those conscious thoughts and
volitions which spring from original sin." This reflects the Reformed conflation of concupiscence with sin proper.
Anglicanism
The original formularies of the Church of England
also continue in the Reformation understanding of original sin, which
is evident in Article 9 ("Of Original or Birth-sin") of the Thirty-nine Articles.
Original Sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians
do vainly talk;) but it is the fault and corruption of the Nature of
every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam;
whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his
own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary
to the spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it
deserveth God's wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth
remain, yea in them that are regenerated; whereby the lust of the flesh,
called in the Greek, phronema sarkos, (which some do expound the
wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire, of the
flesh,) is not subject to the Law of God. And although there is no
condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the Apostle
doth confess, that concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of
sin.
However, more recent doctrinal statements permit a greater variety of understandings of this doctrine, such as the 1938 report Doctrine in the Church of England.
Man is by nature capable of
communion with God, and only through such communion can he become what
he was created to be. "Original sin" stands for the fact that from a
time apparently prior to any responsible act of choice man is lacking in
this communion, and if left to his own resources and to the influence
of his natural environment cannot attain to his destiny as a child of
God.
Original sin standeth not in the
following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the
corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of
the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original
righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that
continually.
Methodist theology teaches that a believer is made free from original sin when they are entirely sanctified.
We believe that entire
sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which
believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought
into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love
made perfect. It is wrought by the baptism with or infilling of the
Holy Spirit, and comprehends in one experience the cleansing of the
heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit,
empowering the believer for life and service. Entire sanctification is
provided by the blood of Jesus, is wrought instantaneously by grace
through faith, preceded by entire consecration; and to this work and
state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.
Quakers
Most Quakers (also known as the Religious Society of Friends), including the founder of Quakerism, George Fox, believe in the doctrine of inward light, a doctrine that states that there is "that of God in everyone". This has led to a common belief among many liberal and universalist Quakers affiliated with the Friends General Conference and Britain Yearly Meeting,
based on the ideas of Quaker Rufus Jones among others, that rather than
being burdened by original sin, human beings are inherently good, and
the doctrine of universal reconciliation, that is, that all people will eventually be saved and reconciled with God.
However, this rejection of the doctrine of original sin or the
necessity of salvation is not something that most conservative or
evangelical Quakers affiliated with Friends United Meeting or Evangelical Friends Church International
tend to agree with. Although the more conservative and evangelical
Quakers also believe in the doctrine of inward light, they interpret it
in a manner consistent with the doctrine of original sin, namely, that
people may or may not listen to the voice of God within them and be
saved, and people who do not listen will not be saved.
Seventh-day Adventism
Seventh-day Adventists believe that humans are inherently sinful due to the fall of Adam, but they do not totally accept the Augustinian/Reformed understanding of original sin, taught in terms of original guilt, but hold more to what could be termed the "total depravity"
tradition. Seventh-day Adventists have historically preached a doctrine
of inherited weakness, but not a doctrine of inherited guilt. According
to Augustine and Calvin, humanity inherits not only Adam's depraved
nature but also the actual guilt of his transgression, while Adventists
look more toward the Wesleyan model. In part, the Adventist position on original sin reads thus.
The nature of the penalty for
original sin, i.e., Adam's sin, is to be seen as literal, physical,
temporal, or actual death – the opposite of life, i.e., the cessation of
being. By no stretch of the scriptural facts can death be spiritualised
as depravity. God did not punish Adam by making him a sinner. That was
Adam's own doing. All die the first death because of Adam's sin
regardless of their moral character – children included.
Early Adventist pioneers (such as George Storrs and Uriah Smith)
tended to de-emphasise the morally corrupt nature inherited from Adam,
while stressing the importance of actual, personal sins committed by the
individual. They thought of the "sinful nature" in terms of physical
mortality rather than moral depravity.
Traditionally, Adventists look at sin in terms of willful
transgressions, and believe that Christ triumphed over sin. Though
believing in the concept of inherited sin from Adam, there is no
dogmatic Adventist position on original sin.
The Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine RiteEastern Catholic Churches'
version of original sin is the view that sin originates with the Devil,
"for the devil sins from the beginning (1 John iii. 8)". The Eastern Church never subscribed to Augustine of Hippo's
notions of original sin and hereditary guilt. The church does not
interpret "original sin" as having anything to do with transmitted guilt
but with transmitted mortality. Because Adam sinned, all humanity
shares not in his guilt but in the same punishment.
The Eastern Churches accept the teachings of Church Father John Cassian, as does the Roman Catholic Church,
in rejecting the doctrine of total depravity, by teaching that human
nature is "fallen", that is, depraved, but not totally. Augustine
Casiday states that Cassian "baldly asserts that God's grace, not human
free will, is responsible for 'everything [that] pertains to salvation' –
even faith".
Cassian points out that people still have moral freedom and one has the
option to choose to follow God. Colm Luibhéid says that according to
Cassian, there are cases where the soul makes the first little turn,
while Augustine Casiday says that, in Cassian's view, any sparks of
goodwill that may exist, not directly caused by God, are totally
inadequate and only direct divine intervention ensures spiritual
progress. Lauren Pristas says that "for Cassian, salvation is, from beginning to end, the effect of God's grace".
Eastern Christianity accepts the doctrine of ancestral sin:
"Original sin is hereditary. It did not remain only Adam and Eve's. As
life passes from them to all of their descendants, so does original
sin."
"As from an infected source there naturally flows an infected stream,
so from a father infected with sin, and consequently mortal, there
naturally proceeds a posterity infected like him with sin, and like him
mortal."
The Orthodox Church in America
makes clear the distinction between "fallen nature" and "fallen man"
and this is affirmed in the early teaching of the church whose role it
is to act as the catalyst that leads to true or inner redemption. Every
human person born on this earth bears the image of God undistorted
within themselves.
In the Eastern Christian understanding, it is explicitly denied that
humanity inherited guilt or a fallen nature from anyone; rather,
humanity inherits sin's consequences and a fallen environment: "while
humanity does bear the consequences of the original, or first, sin,
humanity does not bear the personal guilt associated with this sin. Adam
and Eve are guilty of their willful action; we bear the consequences,
chief of which is death."
Restorationist denominations
Jehovah's Witnesses
According to the theology of Jehovah's Witnesses,
all humans are born sinners, because of inheriting sin, corruption, and
death from Adam. They teach that Adam was originally created perfect
and sinless, but with free will; that the Devil, who was originally a perfect angel, but later developed feelings of pride and self-importance, seduced Eve
and then, through her, persuaded Adam to disobey God, and to obey the
Devil instead, rebelling against God's sovereignty, thereby making
themselves sinners, and because of that, transmitting a sinful nature to
all of their future offspring.
Instead of destroying the Devil right away, as well as destroying the
disobedient couple, God decided to test the loyalty of the rest of
humankind, and to prove that they cannot be independent of God
successfully, but are lost without God's laws and standards, and can
never bring peace to the earth, and that Satan was a deceiver, murderer,
and liar.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that all humans possess "inherited
sin" from the "one man" Adam, and teach that verses such as Romans
5:12–22, Psalm 51:5, Job 14:4, and 1 Corinthians 15:22 show that
humanity is born corrupt and dies because of inherited sin and
imperfection, and that inherited sin is the reason and cause for
sickness and suffering, made worse by the Devil's wicked influence. They
believe Jesus is the "second Adam", being the sinless Son of God and the Messiah,
and that he came to undo Adamic sin; and that salvation and everlasting
life can only be obtained through faith and obedience to the second
Adam.
They believe that "sin" is "missing the mark" of God's standard of
perfection, and that everyone is born a sinner, due to being the
offspring of sinner Adam.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) rejects the doctrine of original sin. The church's second Articles of Faith reads, "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression." The church's founder Joseph Smith
taught that humans had an essentially godlike nature, and were not only
holy in a premortal state, but had the potential to progress eternally
to become like God.
Latter-day Saints take this creed-like statement as a rejection of the
doctrine of original sin and any notion of inherited sinfulness.
Thus, while modern members of the LDS Church will agree that the fall
of Adam brought consequences to the world, including the possibility of
sin, they generally reject the idea that any culpability is
automatically transmitted to Adam and Eve's offspring. Children under the age of eight are regarded as free of all sin and therefore do not require baptism. Doctrine and Covenants 137:10 states that children who die prior to age eight are believed to be saved in the highest degree of heaven. The LDS Church's Book of Moses states that the Lord told Adam that "thy children are conceived in sin" (Moses 6). Apostle Bruce R. McConkie stated that this means that the children were "born into a world of sin".
Swedenborgianism
In Swedenborgianism, exegesis of the first 11 chapters of Genesis from The First Church
involves the view that Adam is not an individual person. Rather, he is a
symbolic representation of the "Most Ancient Church", having a more
direct contact with heaven than all other successive churches.[127] Swedenborg's view of original sin is referred to as "hereditary evil", which passes from generation to generation.
But as to hereditary evil, the case
is this. Everyone who commits actual sin thereby induces on himself a
nature, and the evil from it is implanted in his children, and becomes
hereditary. It thus descends from every parent, from the father,
grandfather, great-grandfather, and their ancestors in succession, and
is thus multiplied and augmented in each descending posterity, remaining
with each person, and being increased in each by his actual sins, and
never being dissipated so as to become harmless except in those who are
being regenerated by the Lord. Every attentive observer may see evidence
of this truth in the fact that the evil inclinations of parents remain
visibly in their children, so that one family, and even an entire race,
may be thereby distinguished from every other.
It cannot be completely abolished by an individual man, but can be
tempered when someone reforms their own life, and are thus held
accountable only for their own sins.
There are evils in man [that] must
be dispersed while he is being regenerated, that is, which must be
loosened and attempered by goods; for no actual and hereditary evil in
man can be so dispersed as to be abolished. It still remains implanted;
and can only be so far loosened and attempered by goods from the Lord
that it does not injure, and does not appear, which is an arcanum
hitherto unknown. Actual evils are those that are loosened and
attempered, and not hereditary evils; which also is a thing unknown.
[...] It is to be observed that in the other life no one undergoes any
punishment and torture on account of his hereditary evil, but only on
account of the actual evils [that] he himself has committed.
Although primarily associated with Roman Catholicism, the Immaculate Conception (the doctrine that Mary was conceived without original sin) is confessed in some form in several major Christian denominations.
Roman Catholicism
The Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary
is that Mary was conceived free from original sin: "the most Blessed
Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular
grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus
Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of
original sin".
The doctrine sees her as an exception to the general rule that human
beings are not immune from the reality of original sin. As Mary was
conceived without original sin, this statement opens to the fourth
Marian dogma of the Assumption of Mary to Heaven in body and soul, according to the unchangeable dogmatic definition publicly proclaimed by Pope Pius XII.
The Assumption to Heaven, with no corruption of the body, was made
possible by Mary's being born without the original sin, while, according
to Aquinas, other persons need to wait for the final resurrection of the flesh in order to get the sanctification of the whole human being.
Eastern Orthodoxy
The view of Eastern Christianity varies on whether Mary is free of all actual sin or concupiscence. Some Patristic sources imply that she was cleansed from sin at the Annunciation, while the liturgical references are unanimous that she is all-holy from the time of her conception.
Lutheranism
Martin Luther agreed with the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, as is evident in the following quote.
[Mary] is full of grace, proclaimed
to be entirely without sin. God's grace fills her with everything good
and makes her devoid of all evil. God is with her, meaning that all she
did or left undone is divine and the action of God in her. Moreover, God
guarded and protected her from all that might be hurtful to her.
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