Question regarding Original Sin?

[Matt86]

This question comes because someone asked me it, and I was stumped with regards to answering it!

Does the fact that Original Sin still exists contradict the fact that Christ’s passion renewed all of creation and defeated sin once-and-for-all?

If Christ was completely victorious as the New Adam, why does sin still exist in any form?

I’ve a feeling the answer to this would be in a similar vein to questions like ‘why do we still die?’

But I’m struggling to provide a good answer!

 

[edwest2]

Jesus died as a sacrifice so that sins may be forgiven.

bible.cc/romans/4-25.htm

bible.cc/1_peter/2-24.htm

But He told us that sin/offenses would continue.

bible.cc/luke/17-1.htm

As far as Original Sin, we are all born with it.

“… the documents of the teaching authority of the Church proposed with regard to original sin which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam in which through generation is passed onto all and is in everyone as his own”

---

"Since the New Testament era, the Catholic Church has always understood baptism differently, teaching that it is a sacrament which accomplishes several things, the first of which is the remission of sin, both original sin and actual sin—only original sin in the case of infants and young children, since they are incapable of actual sin; and both original and actual sin in the case of older persons.

"Peter explained what happens at baptism when he said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). But he did not restrict this teaching to adults. He added, “For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him” (2:39). We also read: “Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16). These commands are universal, not restricted to adults. Further, these commands make clear the necessary connection between baptism and salvation, a connection explicitly stated in 1 Peter 3:21: “Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Peace,
Ed

 

[grannymh]

This question comes because someone asked me it, and I was stumped with regards to answering it!

Does the fact that Original Sin still exists contradict the fact that Christ’s passion renewed all of creation and defeated sin once-and-for-all?

If Christ was completely victorious as the New Adam, why does sin still exist in any form?

I’ve a feeling the answer to this would be in a similar vein to questions like ‘why do we still die?’

But I’m struggling to provide a good answer!

Here is some basic information about Original Sin which you can use as you discuss sin with your friend. We all know what personal sin is so you can explain the difference.

Original Sin is not a thing which still exists. It is called “sin” only in an analogical sense: it is sin “contracted” and not “committed” – a state and not an act on the part of Adam’s descendents. Although Original Sin is transmitted by propagation, it does not have the character of a personal fault. Rather, it is a state of deprivation of original holiness. Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, erases original sin, but the consequences persist as man now has a wounded nature.

Original Sin shattered the original relationship between humanity and divinity. This relationship was not one of equals. That is why Jesus Christ, True God and True Man, is the only one who could restore this precious relationship. There is still the battle where we have to defeat temptations to personally sin. But Christ, within the Catholic Church, gives us the grace via the seven sacraments to win over Satan. Christ is with us, especially in the Catholic Eucharist where He is truly present.

Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, paragraphs 396 -409

 

[fhansen]

This question comes because someone asked me it, and I was stumped with regards to answering it!

Does the fact that Original Sin still exists contradict the fact that Christ’s passion renewed all of creation and defeated sin once-and-for-all?

If Christ was completely victorious as the New Adam, why does sin still exist in any form?

I’ve a feeling the answer to this would be in a similar vein to questions like ‘why do we still die?’

But I’m struggling to provide a good answer!

From the Catechism:
**405 Although it is proper to each individual,295 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”. 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.
**
By Baptism, our first act or response in faith to God’s grace, we’re made righteous, as righteous or innocent as Adam was made. But Adam fell, and we can still fall after being raised to newness of life, after becoming justified, too.

The purpose of this life is for us to struggle with sin, with that attraction to lesser, created things above an attraction to God first above all else, in order to find out, like Prodigals, just how good home is, how much we need God, so we’ll come running back to Him from our exile. The knowledge of good and evil, combined with grace/revelation, can help drive us to make the choice for only the ultimate Good. It’s a good fight, as St Paul said, but a hard battle, as the Catechism says. It’s designed to refine us, to bring a greater good out of the evil we all encounter, that we all know, in this world.

**412 But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? St. Leo the Great responds, "Christ’s inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon’s envy had taken away."307 And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "There is nothing to prevent human nature’s being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, ‘Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more’; and the Exsultet sings, ‘O happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a Redeemer!’"308
**