5:12 10 Wherefore, as by l one man m sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, n for that all have sinned:
(10) From Adam, in whom all have sinned, both guiltiness and death (which is the punishment of the guiltiness) came upon all.
(l) By Adam, who is compared with Christ, and similar to him in this, that both of them make those who are theirs partakers of that which they have: but they are not the same in this, that Adam derives sin into them that are his, even into their very nature, and that to death: but Christ makes them that are his partakers of his righteousness by grace, and that to life.
(m) By sin is meant that disease which is ours by inheritance, and men commonly call it original sin: for so he calls that sin in the singular number, whereas if he speaks of the fruits of it, he uses the plural number, calling them sins.
(n) That is, in Adam.
5:13 11 (For until o the law sin was in the world: but sin is not p imputed when there is no law.
(11) That this is so, that both guiltiness and death began not after the giving and transgressing of law of Moses, is evident in that men died before that law was given: for in that they died, sin, which is the cause of death, existed then: and in such a way, that it was also imputed: because of this it follows that there was then some law, the breach of which was the cause of death.
(o) Even from Adam to Moses.
(p) Where there is no law made, no man is punished as faulty and guilty.
5:14 12 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over q them that had not sinned after the r similitude of Adams transgression, 13 who is the figure of him that was to come.
(12) But that this law was not the universal law, and that death did not proceed from any actual sin of everyone particularly, it appears by this, that the very infants which neither could ever know nor transgress that natural law, are nonetheless dead as well as Adam.
(q) Our infants.
(r) Nor after the manner of sin of those who are older, following their lusts: but yet the whole posterity was corrupted in Adam when he knowingly and willingly sinned.
(13) Now that first Adam corresponds to the latter, who is Christ, as it is afterward declared.
“Original Sin.”
I’m not so sure about this. Here’s the case that the Geneva makes: death is the result of sin. Babies die, but they aren’t old enough to (a) know about the law, and (b) transgress the law. Therefore, babies have a particular type of sin that stains their souls before they can even do anything, and that’s why they die. Because death is the result of sin.
But is it?
Animals die. Do they sin? Is their death the result of sin?
The consistent position is that babies are stained with original sin, and so sometimes they die. But the grace of God covers that sin, even before they have asked, and thus they are granted salvation and heaven.
I guess I just don’t see the need to have “original sin” as a disease that is inherited throughout the bloodline of man. When Jesus says, “Who sinned, that this man is blind? Him or his parents?” The proper answer could be “neither.” Why are we still paying for Adam’s sin?
The statement, “All men sin” can be true without having to rely on original sin to make it true.