Calvary Chapel affirms that Adam's fall introduced sin and spiritual death into the human race. All people are born with a sinful nature — a propensity toward sin and alienation from God — as a consequence of the original transgression. This is why all people are in need of the redemption offered in Christ.

While Calvary Chapel does not develop a particularly systematic doctrine of original sin, its expository teaching consistently affirms human fallenness, the universality of sin, and the resultant need for divine grace. This shapes its evangelistic emphasis: all people are lost and in need of the Savior.