Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

IV. Sin in the Life of the Human Race
A. ORIGINAL SIN.
The sinful state and condition in which men are born is designated in theology by
the name peccatum originale, which is literally translated in the English “original sin.”
This term is better than the Holland name “erfzonde,” since the latter, strictly speaking,
does not cover all that belongs to original sin. It is not a proper designation of original
guilt, for this is not inherited but imputed to us. 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. We should guard against the mistake of thinking that the term in
any way implies that the sin designated by it belongs to the original constitution of
human nature, which would imply that God created man as a sinner.
1. HISTORICAL REVIEW. The early Church Fathers contain nothing very definite about
original sin. According to the Greek Fathers there is a physical corruption in the human
race, which is derived from Adam, but this is not sin and does not involve guilt. The
freedom of the will was not affected directly by the fall, but is affected only indirectly by
the inherited physical corruption. The tendency apparent in the Greek Church finally
culminated in Pelagianism, which flatly denied all original sin. In the Latin Church a
different tendency appeared especially in Tertullian, according to whom the
propagation of the soul involves the propagation of sin. He regarded original sin as a
hereditary sinful taint or corruption, which did not exclude the presence of some good
in man. Ambrose advanced beyond Tertullian by regarding original sin as a state and by
distinguishing between the inborn corruption and the resulting guilt of man. The free
will of man was weakened by the fall. It is especially in Augustine that the doctrine of
original sin comes to fuller development. According to him the nature of man, both
physical and moral, is totally corrupted by Adam’s sin, so that he cannot do otherwise
than sin. This inherited corruption or original sin is a moral punishment for the sin of
Adam. It is such a quality of the nature of man, that in his natural state, he can and will
do evil only. He has lost the material freedom of the will, and it is especially in this
respect that original sin constitutes a punishment. In virtue of this sin man is already
under condemnation. It is not merely corruption, but also guilt. Semi-Pelagianism
reacted against the absoluteness of the Augustinian view. It admitted that the whole
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