What is original sin?

Original sin is the fallen condition inherited by every human person from Adam, our first parent, whose sin of disobedience deprived humanity of original holiness and justice. It is not a personal fault we commit but a state of deprivation transmitted with human nature, leaving us inclined to sin and in need of Christ's redemption, applied fully through Baptism.

The Fall and Its Consequences

Scripture teaches that Adam and Eve, our first parents, were created in a state of holiness and friendship with God, but through disobedience to God's command they lost this original grace for themselves and for all their descendants (Genesis 3:6-7). St. Paul explains that through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death passed upon all men, in whom all sinned (Romans 5:12).

This does not mean each person personally commits Adam's sin, but that human nature itself was wounded, losing the original holiness and justice with which it was endowed. Every human being now enters the world subject to ignorance, suffering, the domination of death, and an inclination to sin called concupiscence (CCC 405, 418).

A Sin Contracted, Not Committed

The Church teaches that original sin is transmitted to all human beings by propagation, not imitation, and is present in each person as his own (CCC 419). It is called sin only in an analogous sense: it is a sin contracted rather than committed, a state rather than an act (CCC 404). Unlike personal sin, it does not involve personal guilt for Adam's act, but it does deprive the soul of sanctifying grace and leaves human nature weakened, though not entirely corrupted (CCC 405).

Christ, the New Adam

The doctrine of original sin illuminates our need for a Redeemer. As St. Paul contrasts, if by the offense of one, many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift, by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many (Romans 5:15). Christ, the new Adam, restores what was lost and gives even greater grace than Adam forfeited (CCC 388-389).

Baptism is the ordinary means by which the guilt of original sin is remitted and sanctifying grace restored to the soul, uniting the believer to Christ's death and resurrection (CCC 977, 1263). The Church has always baptized infants precisely because of this teaching, entrusting them to the grace and love of God from their earliest moments (CCC 1250).

The Immaculate Conception, a Singular Exception

The Blessed Virgin Mary was, by a singular grace and privilege granted in view of the merits of her Son, preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin from the first moment of her conception (CCC 490-491). This exception underscores rather than contradicts the universality of original sin's effects on the rest of humanity.