Theology That Matters

Original Sin: In the book of Genesis we see that at the beginning humans were created in the image of God, male and female. This image allowed them to reflect God’s character, His love, justice, mercy, grace and much more. Being in God’s image means that Adam and Eve where to image God into all of the earth. This is a supernatural grace that is given to accomplish all that it means to be made in God’s image. St. Thomas Aquinas calls it, “Original Righteousness.” He explains it like this, “Man was originally constituted by God in such a condition that his body was completely subject to his soul. The faculties of the soul were subject to reason without any rebelliousness and man was subject to God. In consequence of the perfect subjection of the body to the soul, no passion could arise in the body that would in anyway conflict with the soul’s dominion over the body. Therefore neither death nor illness had any place in man.” In this original righteousness Adam and Eve were innocent and could neither d