Charles Grandison Finney on Original sin & the human will
Free will substantially intact; God and man cooperate
The moral government of God everywhere assumes and implies the liberty of the human will, and the natural ability of men to obey God.
THE POSITION
Moral depravity is selfishness, a voluntary choice of self-gratification, and it lies in the will's act, not in a sinful constitution: "It is not a constitutional sinfulness." Adam's sin was the occasion of his descendants' sin, not its necessary cause, and it left them a damaged physical constitution and worse surroundings to form their character in, which are not sinful in themselves. The will stays free and able to obey. In regeneration the Spirit works through the truth, not by a physical change of nature, and the sinner is both passive and active: "The Spirit acts upon him through or by the truth: thus far he is passive. He closes with the truth: thus far he is active."
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned. 13 For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the way that Adam transgressed. He is a pattern of the One to come. 15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many! 16 Again, the gift is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment that followed one sin brought condemnation, but the gift that followed many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! 18 So then, just as one trespass brought condemnation for all men, so also one act of righteousness brought justification and life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
3 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Law student turned revivalist of the Second Great Awakening, licensed and ordained by a Presbyterian presbytery in 1824, later professor of theology and president at Oberlin College. His Lectures on Revivals of Religion argued that a revival is the right use of means and not a miracle. His Systematic Theology built a doctrine of salvation on moral government and on the sinner's natural ability, and denied original sin as a sinful nature, imputed righteousness, and that the atonement paid what sinners owed. This entry rests on that Systematic Theology (1878 edition), the Revival Lectures, one chapter of the Memoirs, three Oberlin Evangelist pieces and one letter.
Cite this page
"Charles Grandison Finney on Original sin & the human will", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/finney/original-sin (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/finney/original-sin).