Doctrine of Sin
(Harmatiology)
We teach that when Adam and Eve disobeyed God they brought both sin and death into the world. Man was suddenly and tragically separated from God. He was spiritually dead to God and under the just judgment of God. He was also facing physical death and eternal damnation, where he would suffer the wrath of God throughout all eternity. (Genesis 3:1-24; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Romans 5:12-14; Second Corinthians 11:3; Romans 6:23a)
“Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin, God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory’’ (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #1).
“By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of the soul and body’’ (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #2).
We teach that all humans have inherited a sin nature from Adam and Eve. All men are in Adam, all are corrupted by Adam’s sin (Jesus Christ being the only exception), and all humans are sinful to the core of our being. Sin permeates our heart, mind, and will. We sin because we are sinners to the core. We are totally depraved and there is no part of us that has not been touched by sin. (Romans 5:12-21; Psalm 51:5; First Corinthians 15:21-22; Romans 3:10-12; Galatians 3:10; Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20)
“They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed; and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation’’ (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #3).
We teach that all humans come into this world dead to God, separated from God, and under the just judgment of God. We are sinners by nature (it comes “natural” to all of us), and we are sinners by God’s divine declaration. Because we are inherently corrupt, we want nothing to do with God. We will not choose God because we cannot choose God. We live in hostility towards God and the Bible declares that we are enemies of God. Man is hopelessly lost and is facing the eternal, just wrath of God. Thus, man is in desperate need of God’s sovereign, saving grace. (Ephesians 2:1-3; Second Thessalonians 1:9; Matthew 25:41; First John 1:8-10; First John 3:4; Romans 3:10-12, 23; Romans 8:6-8; Romans 6:23)
“From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions’’ (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #4).
“Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth, in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with all miseries spiritual, temporal, and eternal (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #6)
“Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin, God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory’’ (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #1).
“By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of the soul and body’’ (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #2).
We teach that all humans have inherited a sin nature from Adam and Eve. All men are in Adam, all are corrupted by Adam’s sin (Jesus Christ being the only exception), and all humans are sinful to the core of our being. Sin permeates our heart, mind, and will. We sin because we are sinners to the core. We are totally depraved and there is no part of us that has not been touched by sin. (Romans 5:12-21; Psalm 51:5; First Corinthians 15:21-22; Romans 3:10-12; Galatians 3:10; Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20)
“They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed; and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation’’ (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #3).
We teach that all humans come into this world dead to God, separated from God, and under the just judgment of God. We are sinners by nature (it comes “natural” to all of us), and we are sinners by God’s divine declaration. Because we are inherently corrupt, we want nothing to do with God. We will not choose God because we cannot choose God. We live in hostility towards God and the Bible declares that we are enemies of God. Man is hopelessly lost and is facing the eternal, just wrath of God. Thus, man is in desperate need of God’s sovereign, saving grace. (Ephesians 2:1-3; Second Thessalonians 1:9; Matthew 25:41; First John 1:8-10; First John 3:4; Romans 3:10-12, 23; Romans 8:6-8; Romans 6:23)
“From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions’’ (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #4).
“Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth, in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with all miseries spiritual, temporal, and eternal (Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 6, #6)