Chapter VI of the WCF:
CHAPTER VI.
Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of
the Punishment thereof.
I. Our first parents, begin seduced by the subtilty and temptations 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.
II. 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.
III. They being the root of 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 original generation.
IV. 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.
V. 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.
VI. 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.
If people are born in sin, as shown in the quote above, then they are born apart from Christ and hence born lost. If this is the case then God did not save Adam that day he fell into sin. Instead, He just folded His hands and did NOTHING that same day to save his child from drowning in sin. Not a nice picture of our loving Father, the God of love (agape), is it?
A good earthly father, upon seeing his child fall into the water, will do all in his power, even at the peril of his own life, to save his child from drowning, will he not? If an earthly father will, why would our heavenly Father not?
I believe that God saved Adam through Christ (Acts 4:12) that same day he fell into sin, and reinstated him to his pre-fall spiritual status, an act that cost the Father His only begotten Son, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). With Adam in Christ, all his descendants are born in Christ, instead of born in sin.
Did Christ teach that people start out in life NOT lost? In Luke 15, Jesus discussed the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
Notice:
1. Before the sheep got lost, it was with its shepherd. vv4 – 7
2. Before the coin was lost, it was with its owner. vv8 – 10
3. Before the son went lost, he was with his father. vv11 – 24
The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, did not start out lost. So with us sinners. Before we got lost we were initially with God. We were born NOT lost. And to be NOT lost is to be in Christ. Hence, we were born in Christ, instead of born in sin.
Preachers commonly use David's statement to back up their contention that people are born in sin:
KJV Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
In the verse, David tells us he was conceived in sin. But we are not to use this verse to the exclusion of the verse where God Himself told Jeremiah He sanctified him in his mother's womb:
KJV Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee ...
It then follows that if preachers apply David's statement to all people, then God's statement to Jeremiah must be applied to all, as well. Hence, conceived in sin (as David said of himself), but born already sanctified (as God told Jeremiah). And those sanctified, God made perfect forever (Heb 10:14).
Therefore, instead of born in sin, people are born in Christ. And that's good news.
Sadly, we live lives reflecting the lives of the lost. Yet, we have all the reason to rejoice: as in the parables all 3 were found, so with us all. We were all found. And we are back again to our Shepherd, Owner and Father. This is why in the gospel that Christ preached, He calls people to repentance (Mark 1:14, 15), the same call to repentance God issued in the OT (Ezek 18:30), the same call for people to repent that God NOW COMMANDS all men everywhere to do (Acts 17:30). Repentance is a change of mind for that which is good, instead of doing evil, we change our minds and do good. In other words, we have to overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21).
Christ assures overcomers will NOT be blotted out from the book of life and will be seated with Him in His throne, even as He also overcame and sat down with the Father in His throne (Rev 3:5, 21). All not blotted out from the book of life will be ushered to the heavenly portals (Rev 21:27). All blotted out will have their portion in the lake of fire (Rev 21:27).
