Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

Christ, and much less by mere pardon. Man’s sins are inherently ill-deserving even after
he is justified. Guilt in this sense cannot be transferred from one person to another. The
usual sense, however, in which we speak of guilt in theology, is that of reatus poenae. By
this is meant desert of punishment, or obligation to render satisfaction to God’s justice
for self-determined violation of the law. Guilt in this sense is not of the essence of sin,
but is rather a relation to the penal sanction of the law. If there had been no sanction
attached to the disregard of moral relations, every departure from the law would have
been sin, but would not have involved liability to punishment. Guilt in this sense may
be removed by the satisfaction of justice, either personally or vicariously. It may be
transferred from one person to another, or assumed by one person for another. It is
removed from believers by justification, so that their sins, though inherently illdeserving,
do not make them liable to punishment. Semi-Pelagians and the older
Arminians or Remonstrants deny that original sin involves guilt. The guilt of Adam’s
sin, committed by him as the federal head of the human race, is imputed to all his
descendants. This is evident from the fact that, as the Bible teaches, death as the
punishment of sin passes on from Adam to all his descendants. Rom. 5:12-19; Eph. 2:3; I
Cor. 15:22.
b. Original pollution. Original pollution includes two things, namely, the absence of
original righteousness, and the presence of positive evil. It should be noted: (1) That
original pollution is not merely a disease, as some of the Greek Fathers and the
Arminians represent it, but sin in the real sense of the word. Guilt attaches to it; he who
denies this does not have a Biblical conception of original corruption. (2) That this
pollution is not to be regarded as a substance infused into the human soul, nor as a
change of substance in the metaphysical sense of the word. This was the error of the
Manichæans and of Flacius Illyricus in the days of the Reformation. If the substance of
the soul were sinful, it would have to be replaced by a new substance in regeneration;
but this does not take place. (3) That it is not merely a privation. In his polemic with the
Manichæans, Augustine not merely denied that sin was a substance, but also asserted
that it was merely a privation. He called it a privatio boni. But original sin is not merely
negative; it is also an inherent positive disposition toward sin. This original pollution
may be considered from more than one point of view, namely, as total depravity and as
total inability.
c. Total depravity. In view of its pervasive character, inherited pollution is called total
depravity. This phrase is often misunderstood, and therefore calls for careful
discrimination. Negatively, it does not imply: (1) that every man is as thoroughly
depraved as he can possibly become; (2 that the sinner has no innate knowledge of the
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