God created man upright and perfect and gave him a righteous law, which which would have led to life had he kept it and threatened death if he broke it.1 Yet Adam did not live long in this honor. Satan used the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, and by her, seduced Adam. Adam, without any compulsion, willfully transgressed the law of their creation and the command given to them in eating the forbidden fruit.2 God was pleased to permit this according to his wise and holy counsel, having purposed to direct it to his own glory.
By this sin our first parents fell from their original righteousness and communion with God. We fell in Adam, and by this, death came upon all.3 All became dead in sin4 and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.5
By God’s appointment they were the root of all mankind. Adam stood in the place and stead of all mankind. The guilt of his sin was imputed and their corrupted nature passed on to all future generations descending from them by ordinary reproduction.6 All are now conceived in sin7 and by nature children of wrath,8 the servants of sin, the subjects of death,9 and all other miseries: spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus sets them free.10
All actual transgressions proceed from this original corruption11 by which we are utterly unwilling to do good, disabled from doing good, made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil.12
The corruption of nature, during this life, remains in those who are regenerated.13 Although it is pardoned and mortified through Christ, yet both this corrupt nature and all actions arising from it are truly and properly sin.14
- Genesis 2:16–17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “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 3:12–13 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ↩︎
- Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. ↩︎
- Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. ↩︎
- Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Romans 3:10–19 As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ↩︎
- Romans 5:12–19 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 1 Corinthians 15:21–22, 45, 49 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive…Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit…Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. ↩︎
- Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Job 14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. ↩︎
- Ephesians 2:2–3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ↩︎
- Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. ↩︎
- Hebrews 2:14–15 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 Wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. ↩︎
- James 1:14–15 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. ↩︎
- Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. ↩︎
- Romans 7:18,23 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out…but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. 1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ↩︎
- Romans 7:23–25 But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ↩︎
