Tranducianism of Original Sin: Guilt vs Consequence

Tranducianism, Original Sin & Inherited Guilt vs Inherited Consequence

Traducianism / Original Sin

Traducianism is a mainstream Christian theological doctrine concerning the origin of the soul. This doctrine holds that the immaterial aspect of the soul and its nature is transmitted through natural generation along with the material aspects of the body and its nature at the moment of conception. In other words, human propagation involves both the material and immaterial aspects: an individual’s soul is derived (propagated and inherited) from the soul of one or both parents. Psalm 51:5 ESV: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me”. This does not mean that the act of conception is sinful, else God would not have commanded that man be fruitful and multiply. It is however widely thought that the immaterial aspect of the soul and its nature is derived from the male parent only, thus explaining how since the fall of Adam, sin has been transmitted to all his posterity and likewise how Christ being born to a human female parent, was born without sin.

Traducianism therefore is a fancy word for the Scriptural truth that a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. It means that since the original sin, all of Adam’s posterity at the moment of conception is corrupted by sin. Just as darkness cannot exist in the presence of light, neither can that which is corrupted with sin, exist in the presence of our pure, perfect, and holy God. We are not sinful because we sin, but instead we sin because we are sinful, and so ever since the advent of the original sin committed by Adam, all of Adam’s posterity are corrupted with a sinful (sin filled) nature at the moment of conception and thus separated from God.

Imputed / Inherited Guilt

While TULIP holds to Traducianism, it goes beyond the teaching that the sin nature of the soul has been inherited by Adam’s posterity but also claims that the guilt of original sin committed by Adam, has been transmitted / inherited and thus imputed upon Adam’s posterity. The concept of inherited guilt (AKA Imputed Guilt / Mediate Imputation) originated with the writings of the theologian, Augustine. However, these writings did not appear until Augustine had formed his teaching of total depravity in direct opposition of Pelagian heresy. While Augustine is considered a great theologian of his time, he as a man was not beyond, nor was he without making some critical biased and interpretational errors that to this day are widely accepted and that have significantly influenced both Protestant and Roman Catholic theology in regard to the doctrine of Original Sin.

Augustine’s Error

The critical interpretational errors Augustine made regarding Original Sin and Imputed Guilt were not limited to but include his using and quoting the Latin version of Romans 5:12 VUL, which in Latin reads “in quo omnes peccaverunt” and means “in whom all have sinned”. Therefore, Augustine read and understood “in whom all have sinned” to imply that all humanity sinned in Adam himself and thus inherited his guilt. 

The problem, however, is that the Latin version was translated from the original Greek texts, which read “eph ho” and meant “because”. Thus, the original Greek version of Romans 5:12 LXX, read: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all have sinned”. Thus, indicating that death spread to all people because each person sinned, not because Adam’s guilt was transmitted to his descendants. This distinction is crucial: Scripture teaches that humanity inherits mortality -death – and a fallen nature from Adam, but individual guilt is tied to one’s own sins, not to the sins of one’s ancestors. 

Augustine, then took his misinterpretation of Romans 5:12 and paired it with 1 Corinthians 15:22: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive”, giving him what he needed to support his concept of imputed guilt. However, Augustine failed to account for Deuteronomy 24:16, 2 Kings 14:6, Ezekiel 18:19, Ezekiel 18:20 or Ezekiel 18:17.

Inherited Consequence

Alternatively, the theology of Inherited Consequence teaches Scriptures contextual truth that all people inherit the consequence of Adam’s sin, such as a corrupted material (body) nature and a corrupted immaterial (Soul) nature, as well as a cursed and fallen world. However, and unlike TULIP, inherited consequence teaches that it is not the guilt of Adam’s sin, nor is it the guilt of the parents nor the guilt of the nations sins that are visited upon their offspring, Ezekiel 18:20 ESV: “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself”. Instead it is by the parent’s sinful actions that the consequences of the parent’s sinful actions as well as the consequence of the nation’s sinful actions are visited upon their children, Exodus 20:5 ESV: “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me”. Paying careful attention to the term “visiting the iniquity”, the English word “iniquity” is identified in Strong’s Concordance as H5771 (“avon”) and defined as “perversity”, “depravity”, as in the “consequence of or punishment for iniquity”, and thus Exodus 20:5 read as “visiting the consequence of iniquity of the fathers …” is far more contextual with Ezekial 18:20.

Inherited Consequence holds to Scriptural truth of Traducianism, in that since advent of original sin committed by Adam, we are conceived in sin and thus born in sin. In the same manner one cannot be a little bit pregnant, we are not conceived nor are we born a little bit sinful, but instead we are conceived and born completely depraved in both our material and immaterial nature, sinful, a slave to sin with the propensity to sin. Thus, as per Inherited Consequence, people are not imputed with the guilt of Adam’s sin but instead, as a consequence of Traducianism (Adam’s sinfulness), we are conceived with a sinful nature. We become guilty at an age of accountability and thus fall under God’s condemnation for our own sins of commission and omission, Romans 7:9 ESV: “I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died”. While it is important to understand the difference between inherited consequence and imputed guilt as it pertains to the original sin, age of accountability (Judgement and Punishment), it is equally important to understand that regardless of inherited consequence or imputed guilt, that which is of a corrupt (sinful) nature cannot exist in the presence of that which is of a pure nature without being consumed or having been redeemed.  This topic is further explored in salvation of infants, and or children who die or who have become mentally incapacitated. 

NOTE: It should be noted that there is yet another theology called Creationism theology that was held by many early church fathers. This theology differentiates the origin of the soul from the origin of the body and in pointing to some verses contained in Scripture (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Isaiah 42:5; Zechariah 12:1; Hebrews 12:9), it teaches that God creates each individual soul at the moment it is needed, and thus the separation of soul and body is maintained. The weakness of Creationism is that it has God continually creating new human souls, while Genesis 2:2-3 indicates that God ceased creating. Also, since the entire human existence, body, soul, and spirit, are infected by sin, it raises the question, if God creates a new soul for every human being, how is that soul then infected with sin?