1. Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:13; 2 Cor. 11:3). This their sin, God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory (Rom. 11:32).
Although Genesis does not mention Satan by name in the account of the temptation in the Garden, the Confession is right to place him there. The devil, the apostle John tells us, was sinning from the beginning, and was involved in the murder of Abel. He also says in the Revelation that the devil was “that ancient serpent.” Placing the biblical data together, including the incident with bronze serpent, we may conjecture that before he fell, the devil was one of the seraphim, a heavenly winged serpent, a great dragon.
He seduced our first parents into an eating of the forbidden fruit, which corresponded to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It was good to eat, pleasant to look on, and would make one wise. God permitted this to happen, having a more glorious result and end in mind than would have been achieved had He prevented the sin. That glorious end was His own glory. Two of the most glorious attributes of God—justice and mercy—would have gone unrevealed in a world without sin.
2. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion, with God (Gen. 3:6–8; Eccl. 7:29; Rom. 3:23), and so became dead in sin (Gen. 2:17; Eph. 2:1), and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body (Tit. 1:15; Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10–18).
Because of this sin, Adam and Eve fell from their original state of righteousness and fellowship with God. The end result of their sin was just what God had promised—the day you eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the Garden you shall surely die—and so the human race came to live in death. Some Christians call this state “total depravity,” but this is misleading, making it sound like “absolute depravity.” But the meaning of this doctrine is not that men are infinitely wicked, but rather that men are actually dead. We consequently have total inability with regard to saving ourselves, or preparing ourselves to be saved. Every aspect of man is fallen, wholly defiled in “all the parts and faculties” of the soul and body. In other words, there is no place within a man where that man could “stand” in order to get a grip on himself, to pull himself out of sin. The phrase “wholly defiled in all” captures the sense of this doctrine.
3. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed (Gen. 1:27–28; 2:16–17; Acts 17:26; Rom. 5:12, 15–19; 1 Cor. 15:21–22, 45, 49); and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation (Ps. 51:5; Gen. 5:3; Job 14:4; 15:14).
The first Adam bestows the same kind of things which the second Adam does—here we see what falls in those categories corresponding to justification and sanctification. The guilt of Adam’s sin was reckoned to the entire race. In other words, we have had the unrighteousness of his disobedience imputed to us. At the same time, we have also inherited (in a most practical way) the fact of death, and the corruption of our nature. This is passed on to everyone to who is descended from Adam and Eve.
4. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good (Rom. 5:6; 8:7; 7:18; Col 1:21), and wholly inclined to all evil (Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Rom. 3:10–12), do proceed all actual transgressions (James 1:14–15; Eph. 2:2–3; Matt. 15:19).
From the nature of the tree proceeds the nature of the fruit. Because we have inherited this corruption of nature from Adam, our actions are naturally corrupt. Taking this in natural order, the first problem is what we are in Adam, the second problem is what I am because of Adam, and the third problem is what I do.
5. This corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated (1 John 1:8, 10; Rom. 7:14, 17–18, 23; James 3:2; Prov. 20:9; Eccl. 7:20); and although it be, through Christ, pardoned, and mortified; yet both itself, and all the motions thereof, are truly and properly sin (Rom. 7:5, 7–8, 25; Gal. 5:17).
The reason Christians continue to struggle with sin within themselves is because this corruption of nature remains even in those who are converted. Our prior condition was one of reigning sin. The condition of believers now is that of subdued (albeit remaining) sin. By nature, the believer still retains his Adamic corruptions. However, because of the new creation in Christ, those sins and inclinations are both pardoned and mortified. However, they remain in and with us, and they remain sin. The false ideal of sinless perfection in this life is consequently a lie. Those who believe in sinless perfection in this life should practice what they profess, and that would require abandoning this lie.
6. Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto (1 John 3:4), doth, in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner (Rom. 2:15; 3:9, 19), whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God (Eph. 2:3), and curse of the law (Gal. 3:10), and so made subject to death (Rom. 6:23), with all miseries spiritual (Eph. 4:18), temporal (Rom. 8:20; Lam. 3:39), and eternal (Matt. 25:41; 2 Thess. 1:9).
We are condemned and guilty not only for what we do, but also for what we are. The sin imputed to us is ours, and the sin we commit is ours. Sin is defined by the law of God, and not by what our nature enables us to perform or avoid. Because we are thus constituted sinners, we are under the wrath of God and the curse of the law. The result of this for us is death and all misery. The miseries which come upon us are spiritual, temporal and eternal.
