Augustine Original Sin - Essay Example

Augustine introduced terms such as peccatum originans or the event of original sin and peccatum originatum or the condition of original sin in humankind. He gave more importance to the work of Christ rather than the first human sin since he considered Christ’s redemption as the core of Christian belief. The meaning of original sin for him is secondary and can only explain the universality of the sin as well as redemption (Wiley 57). Augustine’s view on the original sin is related to moral impotence which caused the conflicts in humanity, specifically the balance of will and passion.

He expressed that original sin is different from personal sin. One is through hostile disposition towards which can be attributed to the original sin. Another is the fact that sin causes death and Adam’s sin caused the humans to die in terms of faith. Thus, forgiveness is required. This is important through not only for original sin but also for personal sins (Wiley 58). Based on Augustine’s view, there is a more structured definition of original sin.