# Sayings of St. John Chrysostom on Ancestral Sin

> By one man’s disobedience many were made (sinners).” There is nothing unreasonable in the fact that one person committed sin and became mortal, and that those descended from him became mortal in the same condition…

*2026-10-13T10:24:56Z*

![“There is nothing unreasonable in the fact that one person committed sin and became mortal, and that those descended from him became mortal in the same condition. But how can it follow that through the disobedience of this man (Adam) another person becomes a sinner?” — St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Rom. 5:19](/uploads/sites/1274e232-e31c-46f4-a48b-27b854406479/media/evidence-ae61a3ed-300c-4f66-bfe8-55c79b1199cf-en-square.png?w=1080&h=1080)

### St. John Chrysostom says in “Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Rom. 5:19”:

By one man’s disobedience many were made (sinners).” There is nothing unreasonable in the fact that one person committed sin and became mortal, and that those descended from him became mortal in the same condition. But how can it follow that through the disobedience of this man (Adam) another person becomes a sinner? Such a person does not even deserve punishment, if he did not commit the sin of himself, personally. So what does the word “sinners” mean here? It seems to me that it means that they are liable to punishment, and condemned to death

### Who is St. John Chrysostom?

Born c. 347 AD, reposed 407 AD. St. John, Patriarch of Constantinople, was called John Chrysostom, or John of the Golden Mouth, in recognition of his eloquence, his rhetoric, the beauty of his style and phrasing, the power of his words, and the effect of his sermons in meaning and form. St. John Chrysostom, priest of Antioch and Archbishop of Constantinople, is also described in the liturgical services with many attributes, for he is: the first preacher of the whole world, who kept his mind pure from the passions and became like God after being tested by trials like gold in the fire

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Source: https://abba.fadymondy.com/en/blog/saint-john-chrysostom-on-the-original-sin