The Riddleblog

Most Americans operate on the sincere but misguided assumption that deep down inside people are basically good. When we compare ourselves to others, we might be able to measure up pretty well. Sure, there are some who we might begrudgingly admit are better people than we are, but still, we usually do pretty well in most of our self-comparison tests made against others.

The problem with assuming that people are basically good is that it completely ignores the fact that ours is a fallen race, under the just condemnation from God, awaiting the well-deserved sentence of death and eternal punishment. The reality is that on judgment day God is not going to compare me to someone else, who is a fallen sinner like I am. Instead, God will measure me against the standard of his law (specifically, the Ten Commandments), which is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12). And when God measures me using the standard of his law, it will become all too clear that like everyone else descended from Adam, I cannot meet God’s standard of absolute and complete obedience to his commandments. I am a sinner. I am guilty before God. I am under the sentence of death. How did this happen?

For most folks, this dilemma immediately raises the question of fairness. Is it fair for God to judge me against a standard I cannot possibly meet? The answer would be “no,” if we were to look at this question in a vacuum without any biblical context. The Bible teaches that Adam was not only the first human (from whom all humans are biologically descended), but that Adam was created holy, without sin, and with the ability to obey God’s commands. Adam was placed in Eden for a time of probation under the covenant of works with its condition, “do this (not eat from the forbidden tree) and live,” or “eat from the tree and die.” Adam chose the latter, bringing down the covenant curse of death upon the entire human race. Many people agree with Ben Franklin’s famous adage that the only two things in life which are inevitable are death and taxes, both of which I might add, stem from human sin. Yet, the fact remains, death is not natural to the human race. Death is the consequence of the fall of Adam.

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An Exposition of Article Fifteen of the Belgic Confession -- Original Sin

There is nothing worse than standing by a casket containing the earthly remains of someone we love. Death is the ultimate enemy of humanity. Contrary to the sentiments of our culture, death is not natural and all the talk of celebrating the departed’s life does not change the grim reality of death one iota. We all dread that phone call in the middle of the night bringing horrible news. Our hearts skip a beat when a newsflash brings word of a national calamity, such as we experienced on the morning of September 11, 2001. Then there is the end of a marriage, the loss of a job, serious illness, injury or accident, an argument with a friend, a loss of temper, an adulterous thought . . . All of these things–from the most consequential to the least consequential–have something very important in common. They are all consequences of Adam’s act of rebellion against God in the Garden of Eden.

While discussing original sin may sound positively medieval and thought of as so much silliness by our contemporaries, original sin is one of the most important topics we can ever address. In Adam’s fall, sinned we all. We cannot escape the horrible consequences of that first sin. From our own sinful thoughts, to our own sinful actions, from those calamities which impact our families, friends and neighbors, to those events which effect nations and vast numbers of the earth’s inhabitants, all of these things are the result of human sin, the consequence of Adam’s rebellion in Eden. Sin does not stem from human finitude. The world which God made is not defective in any way. Rather, Adam acting on our behalf, plunged the entire human race into sin and death when he broke the commandment of God. It is Adam who introduced the principles of sin and death in the world. This is why Christianity is not a philosophy or system of ethics. Christianity is centered in God’s redemption of his people and the redemption of the world he has made. One day God will indeed make all things new and undo the effects of human sin. Until then, we live in a fallen world.

To read the rest, click here: Article Fifteen of the Belgic Confession: Sufficient to Condemn the Whole World

Belgic ConfessionKim RiddlebargerNovember 12, 2021Original Sin, Adam's Fall, Consequences of Adam's FallComment

An Exposition of Article Fourteen of the Belgic Confession: "Because Adam Transgressed"

After God created all things in six days, he rested on the seventh day, gloriously enthroned to rule over all that he had made. According to the Genesis account, after God saw that all he had made was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), he then pronounced his divine benediction upon creation. But the high point of the creation account occurs on the sixth day, when God creates the first man, Adam, from the dust of the earth to rule over the world as God’s vice-regent. The Bible is teaches that Adam is the biological head of the human race, the first human from whom all men and women biologically descend, and that Adam also stands as the federal head of the human race, acting as our representative before God during the time of probation in Eden. It was in this capacity as our biological and federal head that Adam broke God’s commandment not to eat from the tree and thereby plunged himself as well as all of his descendants (us) into sin and misery.

Having set forth the doctrines of creation and providence in Articles Twelve and Thirteen, our confession turns to the creation and fall of Adam in Article Fourteen, before describing the consequences of Adam’s fall upon the entirety of our race in Article Fifteen, which deals with original sin. The creation of the first man from the dust of the earth is the crowning jewel of the creation account. Even though God’s creation of all things visible and invisible out of nothing ex nihilo–an act which gives all things their form and purpose–has already been discussed in Article Twelve, the Confession now devotes a separate article to the creation of Adam and his fall into sin. The creation and fall of Adam sets the tone for all of the material discussed in Articles Sixteen through Twenty-Six of our confession, which collectively deal with the various aspects of our redemption from sin and which play out against the backdrop of Adam’s fall as set forth in Articles Fourteen and Fifteen. We can neither fully understand nor remotely appreciate the greatness of God’s grace in saving us from the guilt and power of sin, unless we are clear about the consequences of Adam’s rebellion against God.

To read the rest, click here: An Exposition of Article Fourteen of the Belgic Confession: "Because Adam Transgressed"