On the Fall

COMPENDIUM

The Church teaches that Adam sinned grievously — as the gravity of the offence was impressed upon him by God when He declared the punishment which it would entail — and thereby lost the supernatural life, which cannot exist without love of God, and love of God cannot be where there is rebellion against Him. This original sin of Adam, who was the head of the human race, in whom all men were incorporated, affected the fall of the whole human race, losing for them the supernatural life of grace. Loss of life means death; and, therefore, supernaturally, all men are born dead: "By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned." (Rom. 5:12)

Original sin is not mere absence of supernatural life, but the deprivation of supernatural life. It means the loss of something we ought to have, a loss due to rejection by Adam as head of the race. The chief consequence of original sin as it affects the human race is that everyone born of Adam in the ordinary course of nature is, from the first moment of existence, in the state of mortal sin, a condition contrary to the will of God, and therefore in a state hostile to God. The only exception to this is found in the Blessed Virgin, who, by a singular privilege, and through the merits of her Divine Son, was conceived without guilt or stain of original sin.

By original sin, Adam lost for himself and for the whole human race the preternatural gifts of integrity and immortality, with the loss of integrity resulting in the inordinate inclination to evil, and the loss of immortality resulting in the inevitability of death: "It is appointed unto man once to die." (Heb. 9:27) Original sin did not change human nature nor corrupt it, for there is still union of soul and body, with all their faculties, and everything due to nature; but it lost the added magnificence and vigor which it enjoyed through being elevated and supernaturalized by grace; and, in that sense, it has suffered. As a consequence of the fall from grace, Adam was left with human nature and a supernatural destiny, but with no means by which he could reach it. Heaven was thus closed to the human race, and man could do nothing of himself to reopen it.

CATECHISM

33. Did Adam retain the supernatural life?

The Church teaches that Adam sinned grievously — that is, rebelled against God — and thereby lost the supernatural life.

34. Did this original sin of Adam affect the rest of mankind?

Yes; in Adam, who was the head of the human race, in whom all men were incorporated, the whole human race fell, and lost the supernatural life of grace.

35. Does original sin in man mean merely absence of supernatural life?

Original sin is not mere absence of supernatural life, but the deprivation of supernatural life.

36. What is the chief consequence of original sin as it affects the human race?

The chief consequence of original sin is that everyone born of Adam in the ordinary course of nature - the Blessed Virgin alone excepted - is from the first moment of existence in the state of mortal sin.

37. Did man lose the other gifts which God gave to Adam as complements of the supernatural life?

By original sin, Adam lost for himself and for the whole human race the preternatural gifts of integrity and immortality.

38. Has man's human nature lost anything or suffered through original sin?

Original sin did not change human nature nor corrupt it, but it lost the added magnificence and vigor which it enjoyed through being elevated and supernaturalized by grace; and, in that sense, it has suffered.

39. In what position did Adam find himself as a consequence of the fall from grace?

In consequence of original sin, Adam was left with human nature and a supernatural destiny, but with no means by which he could reach it.