Psalm 51:5

Context

The superscription of Psalm 51 states that David composed it after he had lain with Bathsheba and caused the death of her husband Uriah, when the prophet Nathan came to him and confronted him with his sin (2 Samuel 12). David appeals to God's mercy (vv. 1–2) and acknowledges his sin (vv. 3–4). In verse 5 he confesses that his sin was not a momentary lapse but had been present from his birth. He then pleads to be made clean (vv. 7–12). It is one of the foremost penitential psalms.

Interpretation

• As a basis for the doctrine of original sin: Since Augustine, the Western church has read this verse, together with Romans 5:12, as a basis for the doctrine of original sin, which holds that because of Adam's sin all people are in a state of sin from birth. Building on this, the Reformed tradition holds that human nature is thoroughly corrupted by sin (total depravity). The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Lutheran confessions also affirm original sin.
• The Catholic reading: The Catholic Church also teaches original sin, but it understands original sin as a wound to human nature and holds that it is washed away in baptism. The Catholic Church also holds the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, according to which Mary was preserved from original sin from the moment of her conception. This doctrine bears on the universality of the verse and is a point on which Catholic and Protestant views diverge.
• The Eastern Orthodox reading: The Orthodox Church holds that humanity inherits death and an inclination toward sin from Adam, but it often distances itself from the Western understanding that Adam's guilt itself is inherited.
• As poetic hyperbole: Some scholars regard the verse less as a doctrinal statement than as the deep confession of a person overwhelmed by guilt—a poetic way of saying that he had been a sinner from the very beginning. On this view, the verse by itself is an insufficient basis for establishing the doctrine of original sin.

Debates and Issues

Most interpreters agree that the verse does not mean that sexual intercourse or childbirth is in itself sinful. Nor is it commonly read as implying that David's mother was guilty of some particular sin. Pelagius's teaching that human beings are born without sin and that there is no original sin was condemned as heresy in the ancient church (see Pelagianism). The verse is also cited, together with Psalm 139:13–16, in bioethical discussions as support for the claim that the unborn child is a personal being from conception.

Related Passages

• Romans 5:12–19
• Psalm 58:3
• Ephesians 2:3
• Job 14:4
• 2 Samuel 12:1–13