#760 1689 Confession Fall of Mankind Part 2

6:4 All actual transgressions arise from this first corruption. By it we are thoroughly biased against, and disabled and antagonistic towards all that is good, and we are completely inclined toward all that is evil.

14But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. 15Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. 16Do not be deceived, my beloved  brothers.… James 1: 14-16

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. 20These are what defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile him.”… Matthew 15: 18-20

6The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace, 7because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s Law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.… Romans 8: 6-8

20and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross. 21Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds. 22But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—… Colossians 1: 20-22

6:5 During this life, this corruption of nature remains in those who are regenerated. Even though it is pardoned and put to death through Christ, yet both this corruption of nature and all actions arising from it are truly and actually sin. 

17In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.… 

…20And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.…

23But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.…Romans 7: 17-25

19Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city. 20Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. 21Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.… Ecclesiastes 7: 19-21

7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.… 1 John 1: 7-9

16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to one another, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.… Galatians 5: 16-18

In Moses time they received the law, with the commandment do this and you shall live, and it seemed quite reasonable to them. So now we know, now we practice the law, but what the law did was reveal sin, and sin confronted by the law rebels. The law itself is powerless against sin, it is a moral statement of what God considers wrong. It is a boundary line, do not cross here, but for anyone who sees the law it is also a challenge to our carnal minds. We sin because we are sinners, sin was there after the fall, everyone was born into sin, but the law magnifies it in two ways.

• It defines sin: We all have an idea of right and wrong, even those that find that statement troublesome, or say there is no moral right or wrong because they don't believe in a Holy Creator, a righteous Judge, an absolute moral standard, still live by the ideals of right and wrong. After all, they do think I am wrong. God's law reveals that we all have sin, it shows in detail what sin is, what it does and promises a just reaction. It brings light where we would rather live in darkness.
• It magnifies the depraved state: The law confronts sin, and for those that try to live by the law it becomes clear that they still sin, to which men react in different ways. Some decide to clean the outside of the cup, appear good based on the perception of other men, or in comparison to other men. Some reject the law altogether, as the Bible says, call evil good and good evil. Both are delusional reactions. Both share in this, that the law does not stop sin, and it uncovers a resentment towards a God that looks upon a corrupt heart. God's word never returns void though, and the effects of sin are so deep that the law draws out the true intents of the heart. When confronted with the law, sin rises against the law, pride demands it's way still, and the fruit of the forbidden tree looks even sweeter. Excuses flow, feelings rule, and all the more we want what God has said not to take. 

i. In his book Confessions, the great theologian of the ancient church Augustine described how this dynamic worked in his life as a young man: “There was a pear tree near our vineyard, laden with fruit. One stormy night we rascally youths set out to rob it and carry our spoils away. We took off a huge load of pears – not to feast upon ourselves, but to throw them to the pigs, though we ate just enough to have the pleasure of forbidden fruit. They were nice pears, but it was not the pears that my wretched soul coveted, for I had plenty better at home. I picked them simply in order to become a thief. The only feast I got was a feast of iniquity, and that I enjoyed to the full. What was it that I loved in the theft? Was it the pleasure of acting against the law? The desire to steal was awakened simply by the prohibition of stealing.”

i. “It was the custom of ancient tyrants, when they wished to put men to the most fearful punishments, to tie a dead body to them, placing the two back to back; and there was the living man, with a dead body closely strapped to him, rotting, putrid, corrupting, and this he must drag with him wherever he went. Now, this is just what the Christian has to do. He has within him the new life; he has a living and undying principle, which the Holy Spirit has put within him, but he feels that everyday he has to drag about with him this dead body, this body of death, a thing as loathsome, as hideous, as abominable to his new life, as a dead stinking carcass would be to a living man.” (Spurgeon)

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#759 1689 Baptist Confession The Fall of Mankind Part 1

6:1 God created humanity upright and perfect. He gave them a righteous law that would have led to life if they had kept it but threatened death if they broke it. Yet they did not remain for long in this position of honor. Satan used the craftiness of the serpent to seduce Eve, who then seduced Adam. Adam acted without any outside compulsion and deliberately transgressed the law of their creation and the command given to them by eating the forbidden fruit. God was pleased, in keeping with His wise and Holy counsel, to permit this act, because He had purposed to direct it for His own glory. 

…16And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” 18The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”… Genesis 2: 16-18

12And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.” Genesis 3: 12-13

2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily.… 2 Corinthians 11: 2-4

6:2 By this sin our first parents fell from their original righteousness and communion with God. We fell in them, and through this, death came upon all. All became dead in sin and completely defiled in all the capabilities and parts of soul and body. 

…22And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.… Romans 3: 22-24

11Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned. 13For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law.… Romans 5: 11-13

14and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of men who have rejected the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.… Titus 1: 14-16

4The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and afterward as well, when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown. 5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. 6And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.… Genesis 6: 4-6

…8He will be like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease to produce fruit. 9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure— who can understand it? 10I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.… Jeremiah 17: 8-10

10As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.…

Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The venom of vipers is on their lips. 14Their mouths are full of cursing and of bitterness. 15Their feet are swift to shed blood;…

16ruin and misery lie in their wake; 17and the way of peace they have not known. 18There is no fear of God before their eyes.”… 

19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the Law. For the Law merely brings awareness of sin. 21But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets.… Romans 3: 10-21

6:3 By God's appointment, they were the root and the representatives of the whole human race. Because of this, the guilt of their sin was accounted, and their corrupt nature passed on, to all their offspring who descended from them by ordinary procreation. Their descendants are now conceived in sin and are by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, and partakers of death and all other miseries - spiritual, temporal, and eternal - unless the Lord Jesus sets them free. 

14Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the way that Adam transgressed. He is a pattern of the One to come. 15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many! 16Again, the gift is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment that followed one sin brought condemnation, but the gift that followed many trespasses brought justification.…
17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive an abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! 18Therefore, just as one trespass brought condemnation for all men, so also one act of righteousness brought justification and life for all men. 19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.… Romans 5: 14-19

21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ the first fruits; then at His coming, those who belong to Him.… 1 Corinthians 15: 21-23

45So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.… 1 Corinthians 15: 45-47

As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man. 50Now I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.… 1 Corinthians 15: 48-50

Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge. 5Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. 6Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.… Psalm 51: 4-6

3Do You open your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You? 4Who can bring clean out of unclean? No one! 5Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,… Job 14: 3-5

2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3We all lived among them at one time in the cravings of our flesh, indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath. 4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,… Ephesians 2: 2-4

19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20For when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness. 21What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.… Romans 6: 19-21

Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham.… Hebrews 2: 14-16

9For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God 10and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead— Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath. 1 Thessalonians 1: 9-10

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