Westminster Confession, Chapter 6
Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof
Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety 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.
Scripture references for paragraph 1
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Genesis 3:1313Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
2 Corinthians 11:33I 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.
Romans 11:3232For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.
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 faculties and parts of soul and body.
Scripture references for paragraph 2
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Genesis 3:6-86When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
7And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.
8Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Ecclesiastes 7:2929Only this have I found: I have discovered that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
Romans 3:2323for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Genesis 6:55Then 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.
Jeremiah 17:99The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Romans 3:10-1910As 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.”
13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
14“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery lie in their wake,
17and the way of peace they have not known.”
18“There 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.
Titus 1:1515To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
Genesis 2:1717but 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.”
Ephesians 2:11And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
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.
Scripture references for paragraph 3
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Genesis 1:27-2827So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
Genesis 2:16-1716And 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.”
Acts 17:2626From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
Romans 5:1212Therefore, 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.
Romans 5:15-1915But 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!
18So then, 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.
1 Corinthians 15:21-2221For 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.
1 Corinthians 15:4545So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:4949And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so also shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man.
Genesis 5:33When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son in his own likeness, after his own image; and he named him Seth.
Job 14:44Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!
Job 15:1414What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
Psalms 51:55Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
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.
Scripture references for paragraph 4
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Romans 5:66For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 7:1818I 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.
Romans 8:77because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Colossians 1:2121Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
Matthew 15:1919For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
Ephesians 2:2-32in 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.
3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
James 1:14-1514But 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 full-grown, gives birth to death.
Genesis 6:55Then 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.
Genesis 8:2121When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
Romans 3:10-1210As 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.”
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.
Scripture references for paragraph 5
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Proverbs 20:99Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?
Ecclesiastes 7:2020Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
Romans 7:1414We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
Romans 7:17-1817In 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.
Romans 7:2323But 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.
James 3:22We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.
1 John 1:88If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 1:1010If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.
Romans 7:55For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.
Romans 7:7-87What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
8But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
Romans 7:2525Thanks 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.
Galatians 5:1717For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
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.
Scripture references for paragraph 6
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
1 John 3:44Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness.
Ephesians 2:33All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
Romans 2:1515So they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them
Romans 3:99What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.
Romans 3:1919Now 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.
Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Galatians 3:1010All who rely on works of 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.”
Lamentations 3:3939Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
Romans 8:2020For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope
Ephesians 4:1818They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
Matthew 25:4141Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
2 Thessalonians 1:99They will suffer the penalty of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might,
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