Introduction

In the last article, we considered the covenant made with Adam. In the next few articles, we will consider how Adam broke that covenant, in addition to reflecting on the effects it had upon the world and his natural offspring.

Body

Question 16

Q. 16. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

A. 16. Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created by sinning against God (Genesis 3:6-8, 13; Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Exposition

1. Our first parents were left to the freedom of their own will.

Man, as reasonable creatures made in God’s image, has the power to choose. This freedom to choose is retained in all four states: creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.

The freedom of man’s will is not independent or absolute, but decreed, created, and sustained by the God who alone has independent and absolute freedom. Man was not forced to good or evil. Moreover, there was nothing intrinsic in the nature of man as a creature made in God’s image that required or moved him to choose anything. The will and actions of man in no way contradicts the divine decree, nor divine providence. Instead, the will and actions of man are upheld by them.

The catechism takes up man as he was at creation, meaning man was able to sin and able not to sin. It says that “our first parents were left to the freedom of their own wills.” The truthfulness of this statement is implied by the Genesis narrative. God could have prevented Satan from entering the garden, but He did not. Moreover, God could have supplied Adam with grace beyond his nature to empower him against the temptation of Satan. Again, He did not. Man was tested by God through the temptation of Satan by virtue of God leaving man to his own creaturely freedom.

As Adam stood by, Eve observed the fruit—saw it was good to eat—and partook of it. Adam, likewise, partook of the forbidden fruit. In those moments, they chose to forsake the God who made them and provided for them. Could God have stopped it? Yes. However, He did not.

2. Our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created.

That man fell from the estate is also clear from the Genesis narrative. Man, and his wife, were naked and unashamed. Their communion with God was without terror or disruption. This glorious state was no more after they, of their own will, partook of that which God had forbidden. Upon doing so, man saw his own nakedness and was ashamed. Adam and Eve heard God and hid from Him. Moreover, Solomon encourages us to “See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). 

3. Our first parents fell by sinning against God.

Sinning against God caused man’s state of godly bliss to come to an end. God commanded man to not eat of the forbidden tree, and threatened death for disobedience (Genesis 2:16-17). Man ate of the forbidden tree, and death came immediately (Genesis 3:6-12). Spiritually speaking, man died as evidenced by the fact that spiritual life comes through communion with God. Physically speaking, man began to die as evidenced by the eventual demise universally experienced by divine image bearers (Gen. 5:1-32).

Uses

1. You are not able to please God apart from grace.

2. You cannot save yourself any more than Adam could save himself.

3. The Covenant of Works is broken, so the law makes no one righteous.

4. We must look to the second Adam.

Question 17

Q. 17. What is sin?

A. 17. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God (1 John 3:4).

Exposition

It should be noted that this question and answer deals mainly with sinful acts and attitudes, but does not expressly address sin as a power, corruption, or solution. That will be discussed under a later question.

What is the Law of God?

The Law of God are those commands or rules given by God. The Law comes in two kinds: natural and positive.

Natural laws are those rules that direct created things towards their created ends.

Positive laws are culturally situated laws put in place by legitimate authorities, whether they be human or Divine. These laws are not known intuitively or known by making observations, but are stipulated or established by legitimate authorities.

Where is the Law of God found?

The moral law of God is written upon man’s heart as created by God in His image (Romans 2:14-15), but is further affirmed and summarized within special revelation (particularly the Bible; e.g., Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:1-21; Matthew 22:37-40). The positive laws of God are found in Scripture alone.

1. Sin is any want of conformity unto the law of God.

God requires that a person must conform to His Law both internally and externally.

Internal conformity is confirmed by the Lord Jesus when He says, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:39). That means the law of God requires that our desires be attuned to His revealed will. As Jesus says, “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). 

External conformity is confirmed by John when he writes, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Paul, elsewhere, requires that our words conform to God’s law. He writes “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

In a word, God requires that we conform to His law with our whole person, including our thoughts, actions, and words. Sin is any failure to conform to God’s Holy Law.  

2. Sin is any transgression of the law of God.

God requires that a person must do as He commands and avoid what He prohibits.

Yahweh condemns Judah for not doing what He had commanded when declaring, “Hear, O earth, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it” (Jeremiah 6:19). Elsewhere, God warns of their coming doom because they have rebelled against His law. Hosea records, “Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law” (Hosea 8:1).

Uses

1. Only a violation of God’s law, or one’s own conscience, is sin. Therefore, do not elevate one’s preferences or conscience to the level of God’s Law. The Law of God alone is what is required of all men and women.

2. See your need for Christ. Apart from Him, sin reigns over you.

Question 18

Q. 18. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

A. 18. The sin whereby our parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6, 12).

Exposition

Our parents fell because they ate the forbidden fruit.

We find this to be true in Genesis 3. God had said in the previous chapter, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Genesis 3:6 states, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” It is a result of this sinful action that God issued the curses upon the man. This is most clear in the curse given to the man when God says, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:17-19).

Uses

1. Everything God requires of you must be done.

2. Never give Satan a hearing.

3. Keep watch over your desires.

Conclusion

Here are the questions we have covered.

Q. 16. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

A. 16. Out first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created by sinning against God (Genesis 3:6-8, 13; Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Q. 17. What is sin?

A. 17. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God (1 John 3:4).

Q. 18. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

A. 18. The sin whereby our parents fell from the estate wherein they were created was their eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6, 12).

These questions and answers should make us long for a Redeemer who succeeds where Adam failed, and where we continue to fail. Moreover, since we Christians know that Redeemer is Jesus, we should be grateful for Him and cleave to Him all our days. May God help us to do so.