Q. 12. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created?
A. When God created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.
Q. 13. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?
A. Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.
Q. 15. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?
A. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.
Q. 16. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
A. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.
It has happened in every home in which I’ve lived. It happened when I was a child and happens now as an adult. Somewhere in the house, a chaotic mess appears. It could be toys, books, school papers, art supplies, clothes, or dirty dishes. And the cry goes out, “Who made this mess?!!” And, inevitably, that poor invisible mischief maker named “Not Me” takes the blame.
Up to this point in the Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC), everything appears to be going along swimmingly. There is the glorious triune God, who has revealed Himself in the Holy Scriptures. This God rules over all and ordained whatsoever comes to pass. He created the world all very good, including creating mankind in His own image. And in His work of providence, He is intimately involved in the ongoing care of this world and the people within it.
So, what happened? Because that description doesn’t match with our experience and understanding of the world. Creation is groaning and so much of it doesn’t function properly. Instead of enjoying unbroken fellowship and peace with God as Adam and Eve did in the garden, we are at enmity with Him. That enmity extends to our relationship with others.
At this point, WSC begins to address the “what happened” or “who made this mess” question. The simple answer is Adam is responsible. He was in a covenant relationship with God that required of him absolute obedience regarding the prohibition concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Q.12). In this he failed, freely choosing to eat of that tree (Q.13 and 15). The result of this disobedience was not limited to Adam but affected all those who have descended from him by the ordinary means of procreation (Q.16).
There is much here but I want to focus on two points in particular. First, there is the issue of federalism. This is the idea of one person representing a larger group of people. We see this in our various levels of government in our country. In the same way, Adam represented all mankind and thus all mankind is implicated in Adam’s sin. To many, this doesn’t seem fair. But before we so quickly reject this, we must be reminded that the same principle of federalism is at work in our salvation. That the forgiveness of sins, the declaration of righteousness, and the peace with God flows from the fact that we are in union with and represented by Christ. Read Romans 5:12-21 to see the Apostle Paul’s explanation of this.
The other issue concerns how we face the mess of this world. If we are honest, sometimes it is overwhelming. Too much wickedness, too much pain, too much devastation, too much sorrow. And yet we, as the people of God, are called to evaluate this mess truthfully. So, we call sin, sin wherever we find it, whether growing in our own hearts or flourishing in the world. We deal with people as they truly are, not as basically good, but as those in which the image of God remains but is distorted by the Fall. And we do not believe the lie that people will get progressively better by their own moral efforts.
What a mess, indeed! But be reminded, saints, that the bleakness and darkness of this picture of the world in sin and error is not the final word of God on the matter. Instead, sin and death are but a dark backdrop. And it is against that backdrop that the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ shines in all of its glory and goodness. Growing in our understanding of our sin should not lead us to despair but to a growing love for and devotion to the one who saved us from it. To Christ alone, be the glory!
