Original Sin

The Wesleyan Church teaches that all people have inherited a sinful nature from Adam through natural generation. This is called 'inbred sin' or 'original sin'—not merely the guilt of Adam's transgression (which Christ removes at justification) but a bent toward sin, a carnal nature that inclines the will toward disobedience. This depravity is universal; all humans are born with this sinful tendency.

While prevenient grace diminishes and restrains this depravity, making faith possible, justification does not eradicate inbred sin. Instead, entire sanctification—the second work of grace—cleanses the believer from this carnal nature, destroying the root of willful sin and filling the heart with holy love. This is a distinctive Wesleyan anthropology: the human person is not totally unable to respond to grace, but possesses a capacity for faith that prevenient grace restores. After entire sanctification, the person may still commit sins of ignorance or infirmity but is freed from willful transgression.