What is original sin?
In short: Original sin is the fallen state that every human being inherits from Adam: a deprivation of original holiness and justice, not a personal act of wrongdoing. It is the root wound that explains why humanity is inclined toward evil and in need of redemption.
When the Church speaks of original sin, she is not accusing you of something you did. The term names two distinct but related realities: the original act of disobedience by Adam and Eve in the Garden, and the wounded condition that every human being inherits as a result. Understanding the difference between the act and the inherited state is the key to understanding this teaching clearly.
God created humanity in friendship with him, destining us for a share in his own divine life. But the first human beings, tempted by the devil, chose to set their own will above God's command. As the Catechism puts it: 'Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command' (CCC 397). In that act, original holiness was lost — not only for Adam and Eve, but for all of human nature after them. Scripture records the immediate fallout: fear, shame, broken relationships, hostility with creation, and the entrance of death into human history (CCC 399-400).
The inherited condition — what we are born into — is what the Church calls 'original sin' in the strict sense. It is not a personal fault or a personal crime. The Catechism is precise: 'original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants. It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice' (CCC 405). We did not commit it; we contracted it. Human nature, deprived of the grace it was created to carry, arrives wounded: subject to ignorance, suffering, death, and an interior pull toward sin that tradition calls concupiscence (CCC 405). This is why even newborn infants who have committed no personal wrong are baptized — not to accuse them, but to heal what they have inherited (CCC 403).
How is this state transmitted? The Catechism acknowledges the mystery here honestly: 'the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand' (CCC 404). What faith does reveal is that Adam received original holiness 'not for himself alone, but for all human nature.' When he fell, he transmitted to his descendants a human nature 'deprived of original holiness and justice' — a state, not an act (CCC 404). St. Paul captures the solidarity of the human family in this fallen condition: 'sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned' (Romans 5:12; CCC 402).
Far from being a counsel of despair, the doctrine of original sin is ordered entirely toward hope. Paul immediately balances the Adam narrative with the Christ narrative: 'Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men' (Romans 5:18; CCC 402). Original sin explains why a Redeemer was needed and why the Incarnation is not a surprise correction but the fulfillment of a plan that reaches all the way back to the Garden. The Church even sings of the fall as a felix culpa — a 'happy fault' — precisely because, as the Easter liturgy proclaims, it 'gained for us so great a Redeemer' (CCC 412).
The practical stakes of the teaching are high. The Catechism notes that ignorance of humanity's wounded, sin-inclined nature 'gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals' (CCC 407) — the error of assuming that human institutions or human effort alone can perfect humanity. Baptism removes original sin, restoring the life of grace; but the tendency toward sin remains, summoning every Christian to ongoing spiritual battle (CCC 405, 409). If you want to explore the sacrament that heals this wound or learn about the saints who lived its reversal most radically, find a Catholic Mass near you, discover confession times in your area, or read about the saints who show what redeemed humanity can look like.
What the Catechism says
Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness.
Scripture portrays the tragic consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and Eve immediately lose the grace of original holiness. They become afraid of the God of whom they have conceived a distorted image - that of a God jealous of his prerogatives.
All men are implicated in Adam's sin, as St. Paul affirms: 'By one man's disobedience many (that is, all men) were made sinners': 'sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned.' The Apostle contrasts the universality of sin and death with the universality of salvation in Christ. 'Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.'
Because of this certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even tiny infants who have not committed personal sin.
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. It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. and that is why original sin is called 'sin' only in an analogical sense: it is a sin 'contracted' and not 'committed' - a state and not an act.
Although it is proper to each individual, original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants. It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin - an inclination to evil that is called concupiscence.
The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails 'captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil'.
In Sacred Scripture
- Romans 5:12 — Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men — the Pauline foundation for the doctrine of universal inheritance of original sin, quoted in CCC 402.
- Romans 5:18 — As one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men — the Adam-Christ parallel central to CCC 402.
- Genesis 3:1-24 — The narrative of the fall: the temptation, the disobedience, the immediate loss of original holiness, and the expulsion from the Garden — the historical event behind the doctrine.
- Genesis 2:17 — 'In the day that you eat of it, you shall die' — the divine prohibition that the first sin violated, quoted in CCC 396.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is original sin a personal sin I committed?
No. The Catechism is explicit: original sin 'does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants' (CCC 405). It is a condition — a deprivation of original holiness — that we inherit by being born into a human nature wounded by Adam's fall. We contracted it; we did not commit it (CCC 404).
Does original sin mean human nature is totally corrupt?
No. The Church teaches that human nature has been wounded, not destroyed. CCC 405 states that 'human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin.' The image of God remains in every person; it is obscured and weakened, but not erased.
How does Baptism relate to original sin?
Baptism removes original sin by imparting the life of Christ's grace and turning a person back toward God. This is why the Church baptizes even tiny infants who have committed no personal sin (CCC 403, 405). The consequences of original sin — suffering, death, and the inner pull toward sin called concupiscence — remain after Baptism and are the arena of the Christian's ongoing spiritual battle, but the sin itself is erased.