3.1.2

Original Sin & God's Grace

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Original Sin

Original sin is the doctrine that all humans are born in a state of sin. Original sin is not an action, but it is part of our nature.

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Origins of original sin

  • Original sin says we are born corrupt, damaged, broken and disharmonious.
  • It begins with the sin of Adam and Eve, but is now passed on through sexual intercourse down the generations.
    • St. Augustine wrote that ‘from the bad use of free will, there originated the whole train of evil, which . . . conveys the human race from its depraved origin, as from a corrupt root’.
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Sex after the Fall

  • Since the Fall, every act of sex is tainted with lust.
  • Sex is infected with concupiscence, and so the results of sex, children, are also tainted.
    • ‘. . . even infants, not personally in their own life . . . have all broken God’s covenant’.
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Original sin & humanity

  • Since we all suffer from original sin, we all have a weakened and divided will, often working at odds with our body.
  • As St. Paul writes, ‘I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but the very thing I hate.’ (Romans 7:15)
  • So, our selfish appetites can gain control over us.
  • This can be either in the form of sexual lust, or the selfish desire for earthly things.
    • St. Augustine argued that ‘we will what we love’, and since what we now love is our own satisfaction, that is what we pursue.
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Original sin & society

  • The effects of original sin are also seen in our societies.
  • Our friendships have become poisoned by selfishness.
  • We have become corrupt and selfish, and this is a danger to other people.
    • The lack of harmony is a problem for society since we only think of ourselves, and not the needs of the population.
  • St. Augustine argued that we need strong, forceful political leadership to establish boundaries.
    • This would enforce control over human behaviour.

God’s Grace

St. Augustine argued that God's grace allows us to overcome sin and achieve the greatest good.

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The Grace of God

  • St. Augustine wrote that ‘from the bad use of free will, there originated the whole train of evil, which . . . conveys the human race from its depraved origin, as from a corrupt root’
    • He continued by saying that the only way to be freed from the consequences of original sin was ‘by the grace of God’. (City of God).
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Grace & free will

  • St. Augustine uses the analogy of weighing scales.
  • Our ‘captive free will’ is weighted in favour of sin, but grace can remove the weights.
    • Grace can liberate our free will and thus restore our ability to make the right decisions.

Jump to other topics

1Philosophy of Religion

1.1Ancient Philosophical Influences: Plato

1.2Ancient Philosophical Influences: Aristotle

1.3Ancient Philosophical Influences: Soul, Mind, Body

1.4The Existence of God - Arguments from Observation

1.5The Existence of God - Arguments from Reason

1.6Religious Experience

1.7The Problem of Evil

1.8The Nature & Attributes of God

1.9Religious Language: Negative, Analogical, Symbolic

1.10Religious Language: 20th Century Perspective

2Religion & Ethics

3Developments in Christian Thought

3.1Saint Augustine's Teachings

3.2Death & the Afterlife

3.3Knowledge of God's Existence

3.4The Person of Jesus Christ

3.5Christian Moral Principles

3.6Christian Moral Action

3.7Development - Pluralism & Theology

3.8Development - Pluralism & Society

3.9Gender & Society

3.10Gender & Theology

3.11Challenges

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