Theology D. Humankind WLC 14-17, WSC 8-10

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)
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Question 2

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

Answer 2

• Obedience to God’s revealed will.

“The duty God requires 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 #lO)

“After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image, having the law of God written in their hearts and power to fulfill it; and yet under a possibility of transgressing being left to the liberty of their own will which was subject unto change. Beside this law written in their hearts, they received a command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; which while they kept, they were happy in their communion with God, and had dominion over the creatures.” (WCF 4.2)

Question 4

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

Answer 4

• Man is endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness.
“God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. with dominion
over the creatures. “ (WSC #10)
“… and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. “ (Ephesians 4:24) “… and having put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge on the image of its Creator. “ (Colossians 3: 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 or 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

Our soul is inherited from our parents-mediate origin. (Buswell).
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God creates each new soul immediately-without second causes. (Berkhof).

Question 8

What is sin? (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 guilt of sin and the corruption of sin.

Answer 9

• 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).

Answer 10

• The effects of Adam ‘ s sin on the lives of all his descendants
.
“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

WLC #29
• 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?

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 (include Scripture proofs).

Answer 15

• Created: possible to sin
• Fallen: not possible not to sin
• Redeemed: possible not to sin
• Glorified: not possible to sin

“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.
“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

Not without the regeneration of 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, 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)