Theology D

Question 1

What is the chief end of man?

Answer 1

Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. (WSC 1)

Question 2

What is the supreme activity of man? (Catechism: “What does God require of man?”)

Answer 2

The duty which God requireth of man, is obedience to his revealed will. (WSC 39)

Question 3

What does the Bible teach about the creation of human beings?

Answer 3

God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. (WSC 10)

After God had made all other creatures, he created man male and female; formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground, and the woman of the rib of man, endued them with living, reasonable, and immortal souls; made them after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it, and dominion over the creature; yet subject to fall. (WLC 17)

Question 4

In what way is man created in the image of God?

Answer 4

God made man “after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness…” (WSC 10)

Question 5

Are all men in the image of God? If so, to what extent?

Answer 5

• Yes, to the extent that they possess the characteristics listed above and realizing that all men, share in the fallen state which has corrupted (though not destroyed) that image

“Whosoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” (Genesis 9:6)[post-fall; post-flood]

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. “ (James 3:1)

Question 6

How does the doctrine of the image of God influence debates about gender roles?

Answer 6

• They are equally the image of God.

“God created man in his own image, in the image ofGod he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26,27)

Part of being in the image of God includes gender differences and complements. Both male and female are made in the image of God in a unique way, and thus are equal in dignity and worth as human beings. On the other hand, neither male nor female fully reflects the image of God without the other. Thus, there is a necessary complimentary relationship between the genders.

Question 7

Where did man’s soul come from? When?

Answer 7

Man’s soul came directly from God, and immediately at his creation.

“…he created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls” (WCF 4.2)

Question 8

What is sin? (See WSC 14) Include Scripture proofs.

Answer 8

Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. (WSC 14)

“Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. “ (1 John 3:3,4)

“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. “ (James 4: 17)

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. “ (James 2:10)

“All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’” (Galatians 3:10)

“Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord. “ (Leviticus 18:5)

Question 9

Discuss the guilt of sin and the corruption of sin.

Answer 9

“Guilty” is my status before God because of my sin, “corruption” is the twisted nature I inherited that caused me to be guilty.

• Guilt is a judicial or legal concept describing one’s relationship to the law-in this case God’s law. Guilt is the state of deserving condemnation or being liable to punishment because the law has been violated.
• Corruption has to do with our moral condition.

“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.” (WCF 6.4)

“This corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated; and although it be, through Christ, pardoned, and mortified; yet both itself, and all the motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.” (WCF 6.5)

Question 10

Define and discuss original sin (include Scripture proofs).

(Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?)

Answer 10

Original sin is the effect of Adam’s sin on the lives of all of his descendents.

“The sinfulness of that estate where into man fell consists in the guilt of Adam ‘s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions that proceed from it. “ (WSC #18)

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men. because all sinned…For 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: 12,19; see also second half of the chapter)

” For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die. so in Christ all will be made alive. “-1 Corinthians 15:21,22

Question 11

How can original sin be reconciled to the canons of justice, either human or divine?

Answer 11

The covenant was made with Adam and all his descendants, therefore Adam’s sin was the transgression of all men. This transgression requires of it the payment of the penalty of death. Thus, original sin is not only reconcilable with the perfect justice of God, his justice actually requires it.

“The covenant being made with Adam as a public person, not for himself only, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in that first transgression. “ (WLC #22)

Question 12

Is there any good remaining in a fallen, sinful man? Explain.

Answer 12

No. The fall has so corrupted and permeated all of man’s being that nothing he does is not in some way effected by that fall.

“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 transgression. “ (WCF 6.4)

Question 13

In what ways does man sin?

Answer 13

• In that man does not perfectly conform to the righteous requirements of the law, but rather
transgresses that law, he sins.

“Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. “ (WSC #14)

Question 14

What are some of the consequences of sin?

What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

Answer 14

“All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself; and to the pains of hell forever. (WSC#19)

Question 15

Is the will of man free? Explain.

Answer 15

Man’s will is free. Before the Fall, Man was free to choose good, and also able to choose evil. After the Fall, his will was free, only here, he could no longer choose good. When one believes in Christ, he does so because the Spirit enables him to choose good once again. However, a man still chooses to believe. One day, in glory, man will be free only to choose good, not evil.

“God has endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil. “(WCF 9.1)

“Bu1 I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. “ (Matthew 17:12)

“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. “ (James 1:14)

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live. “-Deuteronomy 30:19

Question 16

Was Adam’s will (before he sinned) free? Explain (include Scripture proofs).

Answer 16

Yes. Adam’s will had the ability both to chose good and evil.

“Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom, and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to god; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it. “ (WCF 9.2)

“Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God. “ (WSC #13)

“And the Lord God commanded the man, you are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. “ (Genesis 2:16-17)

“This only have I found: God made men upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.” (Ecclesiastes 7:29)

Question 17

Can a sinner do anything good? Explain (include Scripture proofs).

Answer 17

No (The confession defines “good” deeds as those which are glorifying to God).

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. “ (Romans 3:10,11)

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. “ (Isaiah 64:6)

Question 18

Is a sinner’s will free to believe? Explain (include Scripture proofs).

Answer 18

A sinner’s will is not free to believe unless it is regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

“Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying
salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto. “ (WCF 9.3)

“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. “(1 Cor. 2: 14)

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “ (1 John 3:19,20)

Question 19

Does a believer have free will? Explain (include Scripture proofs).

Answer 19

Yes, a believer has the ability to choose good, as God’s grace enables him.

“When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he frees him from his natural bondage under sin; and, by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so, as that by reason of his remaining corruption, he does not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but does also will that which is evil. “ (WCF 9.4)

“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. “ (Romans 6: 18)

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and results in eternal life. “ (Romans 6:22)