Belgic Confession, Article 15: The Doctrine of Original Sin
This excerpt from Article 15 of the Belgic Confession presents the Reformed doctrine of original sin, teaching that Adam's disobedience corrupted all human nature and constitutes grounds for condemnation apart from God's gracious forgiveness. The confession emphasizes that while sin's corruption remains in believers even after baptism, God's sovereign grace covers this depravity for His elect, a rejection of Pelagian errors that characterized the Reformation's recovery of biblical teaching on human nature.
Article 15: The Doctrine of Original Sin We believe that by the disobedience of Adam original sin has been spread through the whole human race.30It is a corruption of the whole human nature— an inherited depravity which even infects small infantsin their mother’s womb,and the root which produces in humanityevery sort of sin.It is therefore so vile and enormous in God’s sight that it is enough to condemn the human race, and it is not abolishedor wholly uprooted even by baptism,seeing that sin...