Original sin

===Scriptural background and early development===
[[File:Michelangelo Buonarroti 022.jpg|upright=1.3|thumb|right|[[Michelangelo]]'s painting of the sin of Adam and Eve from the [[Sistine Chapel ceiling]]]]

[[Judaism]] does not see human nature as irrevocably tainted by original sin,{{sfn|Pies|2000|p=xviii}} while for the [[Apostle Paul]], Adam's act released a power into the world by which sin and death became the natural lot of mankind.{{sfn|Boring|2012|p=301}} Early Christianity had no specific doctrine of original sin prior to the 4th century.{{sfn|Obach|2008|p=41}} The idea developed incrementally in the writings of the early Church fathers in the centuries after the New Testament was composed.{{sfn|Wiley|2002|pp=37–38}} The authors of the [[Didache]], the [[Shepherd of Hermas]], and the [[Epistle of Barnabas]], all from the late 1st or early 2nd centuries, assumed that children were born without sin; [[Clement of Rome]] and [[Ignatius of Antioch]], from the same period, took universal sin for granted but did not explain its origin from anywhere; and while [[Clement of Alexandria]] in the late 2nd century did propose that sin was inherited from Adam, he did not say how.{{sfn|Wiley|2002|pp=38–39}}

The biblical bases for original sin are generally found in the following passages, the first and last of which explain why the sin is described as "original":
* Genesis 3, the story of the expulsion of [[Adam and Eve]] from the [[Garden of Eden]];<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3}}</ref>
* Psalm 51:5, "I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me";<ref>{{bibleverse|Psalm|51:5}}</ref>
* Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 5:12–21, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned..."{{sfn|Vawter|1983|p=420}}<ref>{{bibleverse|Romans|5:12–21}}</ref>

Genesis 3, the story of the Garden of Eden, makes no association between sex and the disobedience of Adam and Eve, nor is the serpent associated with [[Satan]], nor are the words "sin," "transgression," "rebellion," or "guilt" mentioned;{{sfn|Toews|2013|p=13}} the words of Psalm 51:5 read: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me", but while the speaker traces their sinfulness to the moment of their conception, there is little to support the idea that it was meant to be applicable to all humanity.{{sfn|Alter|2009|p=181}} While Paul in Romans writes that "through one man (i.e., Adam) sin entered into the world," his meaning is not that God punishes later generations for the deeds of Adam, but that Adam's story is representative for all humanity.{{sfn|Boring|2012|p=301}}