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Sin - Original Sin


Louis Berkhof states that original sin is “The sinful state and condition in which men are born…This sin is called ‘original sin,’ (1) because it is derived from the original root of the human race; (2) because it is present in the life of every individual from the time of his birth, and therefore cannot be regarded as the result of imitation; and (3) because it is the inward root of all the actual sins that defile the life of man.”[1]  Charles Hodge defines original sin as “The corruption of our whole nature.”[2]

The first result is man’s total depravity. Charles Ryrie states, “Total depravity does not mean that everyone is as thoroughly depraved in his actions as he could possibly be, nor that everyone will indulge in every form of sin, nor that a person cannot appreciate and even do acts of goodness; but it does mean that the corruption of sin extends to all men and to all part of all men so that there is nothing within the natural man that can give him merit in God’s sight.”[3]

The second result is that man has an innate sin nature. Ryrie states, “The sin nature, which all people have by birth, is that capacity to do those things (good, neutral or bad) which do not commend us to God.”[4] It corrupts our whole nature; our intellect (2 Cor. 4:4; Rom. 1:28), our conscience (1 Tim. 4:2), our will (Rom. 1:28), our heart (Eph. 4:18), and our total being (Rom. 1:18-3:20).[5]

[1] Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, combined edition, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), p. 244.
[2] Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 3 vol., (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 2:227.
[3] Charles C. Ryrie, Survey of Bible Doctrine (Chicago: Moody, 1972), p. 111.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.

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