actual sin

American  

noun

Theology.

1. any sin committed by an individual of their own free will, as contrasted with original sin.

---

actual sin British  

noun

1. Christianity any sin that a person commits of his own free will and for which he is personally responsible Compare original sin

---

Etymology

Origin of actual sin

First recorded in 1450–1500

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

actual sin

Between 1983 and 2013, Felton published more than a dozen books, with the collective message that clutter was, if not an actual sin, at least a failure of self-understanding.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 8, 2014

By the dogma of the immaculate conception, Roman Catholics regard the Virgin Mary as a unique human person, by virtue of being without original or actual sin.

From Time Magazine Archive

This excluded not merely actual sin, but all possibility of sin and, accordingly, all real moral struggle.

From An Outline of the History of Christian Thought Since Kant by Edward Caldwell Moore

In the case of adults, Baptism saves from both original and actual sin, both birth sin and life sin.

From The Church: Her Books and Her Sacraments by E. E. Holmes

But the actual sin of Adam is distinct from original sin which he transmitted to his posterity.

From Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Aquinas Thomas