1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 6.2 The Death of Mankind

The Text
The Chapter
The Confession

The Text

Romans 7:24 (CSB) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.

The Confession

Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all

Romans 3:23 (CSB) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

Despite the clear warning from God on the consequences of sin, no one could have been prepared for the chaos and destruction and the breaking of the chaos.

I wonder what around Adam and Eve unfolded, unraveled, and even disintegrated around them. Events like disintegration, destruction, and chaos were not even in their vernacular.

all becoming dead in sin

Romans 5:12 (CSB) Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.

God warned of death but not what they have experience. Their spirits departed them because of sin. For:

1 Samuel 16:14 (CSB) Now the Spirit of the LORD had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the LORD began to torment him,

Just as the Spirit of God left Adam--the one who held dominion over the earth--so too did the Spirit of God leave Saul--who held dominion over all of Israel. But in the same sense, when the King of kings, who now holds dominion all over creation,took on all of our sins upon the cross, his spirit left him.

Matthew 27:50 (CSB) But Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.

What did Adam and Eve felt, who were perfectly righteous in the sight of God, as sin entered in? I imagine the pain and torment and death was in a similar vein as the perfectly righteous Christ being crucified on the cross.

and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body

Titus 1:15 (CSB) To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience are defiled.

Genesis 6:5 (CSB) When the LORD saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time,

Jeremiah 17:9 (CSB) The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?

Romans 3:10–19 (CSB) as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment.

The reckoning. For all of mankind's glorious, it is marred and stained and defiled by sin and death. It is always a zero-sum game with mankind. For the good we do in our own power, there has to be something taken away from somewhere else. Exploitation for profits. Oppression for power. Death for a supposed life. These are just some of the effects of sin.

And here is another layer of sin: most of humanity accepts it as normal. This is completely fine. There is no need to question anything. But then trauma and tragedy strikes. And we are awaken to the death and destruction and sin of our existence.