Sin, Original and Personal
We believe that sin came into the world through the disobedience of our first parents, and death by sin. We believe that sin is of two kinds: original sin or depravity, and actual or personal sin.
We believe that original sin, or depravity, is that corruption of the nature of all the offspring of Adam by reason of which everyone is very far gone from original righteousness or the pure state of our first parents at the time of their creation, is averse to God, is without spiritual life, and inclined to evil, and that continually. We further believe that original sin continues to exist with the new life of the regenerate, until the heart is fully cleansed by the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
We believe that original sin differs from actual sin in that it constitutes an inherited propensity to actual sin for which no one is accountable until its divinely provided remedy is neglected or rejected.
We believe that actual or personal sin is a voluntary violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible person. It is therefore not to be confused with involuntary and inescapable shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes, failures, or other deviations from a standard of perfect conduct that are the residual effects of the Fall. However, such innocent effects do not include attitudes or responses contrary to the spirit of Christ, which may properly be called sins of the spirit. We believe that personal sin is primarily and essentially a violation of the law of love; and that in relation to Christ sin may be defined as unbelief.
There is a sense in which any act that separates us from God can be called sin. This broad concept covers a lot of territory. In fact, practically everything that a human being does that is not specifically an act of devotion toward God is a sin under this view. Christians need a more practical way to think of sin. John Wesley, the founder of our theological tradition, gave us a definition that is helpful to remember. He said, “Sin is a willful transgression of a known law of God.”
By this description, we see that sin is something that happens on purpose. “Willful” means that a person intends to commit the sinful act. “Transgression” means that the act itself goes against proper behavior. Furthermore, the person committing the act must know that what he or she is doing is wrong. And the act itself violates a law that God has laid down. With all those precautions in place, there is no way sin can be an accidental occurrence. Mistakes, errors in judgment, or reactions to negative factors in our lives can be done without our realization, but sin cannot be.