The word of the day is “death.”  What is at the bottom of human sinfulness?  The Western church answers unequivocally, “original sin.”  Attributed to Augustine (354-430 AD), this doctrine holds that the sin of Adam and Eve infected human nature with incurable sinfulness.  Since the Garden, the guilt of Adam has been passed down throughout the human race.  Thus, in today’s reading of Romans 15:17-6:2, we read, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin…”  (OSB Romans 5:13).  Yet this answer to the origin of sin depends on the translation and the perspective that accompanies it.  Today we will encounter the Eastern counter view to the Western teaching of how the sin of Adam…

The word of the day is “death.”  What is at the bottom of human sinfulness?  The Western church answers unequivocally, “original sin.”  Attributed to Augustine (354-430 AD), this doctrine holds that the sin of Adam and Eve infected human nature with incurable sinfulness.  Since the Garden, the guilt of Adam has been passed down throughout the human race.  Thus, in today’s reading of Romans 15:17-6:2, we read, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin…”  (OSB Romans 5:13).  Yet this answer to the origin of sin depends on the translation and the perspective that accompanies it.  Today we will encounter the Eastern counter view to the Western teaching of how the sin of Adam…