What do people mean when they refer to original sin?


Original sin is a term we use to refer to the sin of Adam and Eve and the truth that it is passed on from person to person, through birth.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned....

(Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.

And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment, which came from one offense, resulted in condemnation, but the free gift, which came from many offenses, resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ)....

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.
(Rom. 5:12, 14-17, 19)
Even if a person could live a perfect life, which is impossible, he or she is still stained with the sin of Adam.

The only way to be free from that sin is by accepting Jesus as your Savior. The blood of Jesus will wash original sin away and cleanse you forever.

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