JANUARY 27 - Is It Still Worth Believing That All People Are Sinners?

To say that all people are sinners means more than just saying that everybody makes mistakes. It is rooted in an important doctrine of Christianity called the doctrine of original sin.

This is the United Methodist doctrine on original sin, found in two separate statements from The Book of Discipline:

• Original sin...is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually.

and

• We believe man is fallen from righteousness and, apart from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is destitute of holiness and inclined to evil. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. in his own strength, without divine grace, man cannot do good works pleasing and acceptable to God. We believe, however, man influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit is responsible in freedom to exercise his will for good.

Key Scripture Verses:

ROMANS 3:22b-23 (nrsv). There is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

1 JOHN 1:8 (nrsv). If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.

ROMANS 7:22-23 (nlt). I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.


To dig deeper, explore these sermons of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism:

ORIGINAL SIN - by John Wesley

ON SIN IN BELIEVERS - by John Wesley


The early church struggled with a teaching called Pelagianism - that denied the doctrine of original sin - it was eventually condemned as a heresy. Pelagianism is defined as "the belief that original sin did not taint human nature (which, being created from God, was divine), and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without divine aid."

Read here for more information about Pelagianism.