Editing Original sin (section)

===Scriptural background and early development===
For the [[Apostle Paul]], Adam's act released a power into the world by which sin and death became the natural lot of mankind, a view which is evident in [[2 Esdras]], [[2 Baruch]] and the ''[[Apocalypse of Moses]]''.{{sfn|Boring|2012|p=301}} Paul uses much of the same language observed in 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch, such as Adam-death associations. He also emphasizes the individual human responsibility for their sins when he described the predominance of death over all "because all have sinned" ({{bibleverse|Romans|5:12}}).{{sfn|Toews|2013|pp=38–47}} 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 late 1st- or early 2nd-century ''[[Didache]]''<nowiki/>'s seemingly exclusive preference for adult baptism offers evidence that its author may have believed that children were born sinless. The authors of the [[Shepherd of Hermas]] and the [[Epistle of Barnabas]], also from the late 1st or early 2nd centuries, assumed that children were born without sin. However [[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":
* {{bibleverse|Genesis|3}}, the story of the expulsion of [[Adam and Eve]] from the [[Garden of Eden]];
* {{bibleverse|Psalm|51:5}}, "I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me";
* {{bibleverse|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}}
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}} In the 4th century, Augustine would use texts such as {{bibleverse|Romans|5:16-18}} to justify his theory of original sin as originating in ''propagation'' since Adam rather than being merely ''imitation'' of Adam as [[Pelagius]] claimed ("And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.").<ref>[https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf105/npnf105.x.iii.xv.html ''A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants'', Book 1, Chapters 15 and 21.]</ref> However, [[Pelagianism|Pelagians]] and modern interpreters such as M. Eugene Boring argue that Paul's 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}}[[File:Giovanni Francesco Barbieri - Saint Paul.jpg|thumb|[[Paul the Apostle]] (<abbr>c.</abbr> 5 – c. 64/65 AD), early Christian evangelist whose writings are taken as foundational for the doctrine of original sin.|left]]