Doctrine Thursday (3)

So today I'm going to skip around a little bit. Some of the questions I'm going to post are thought provoking. A lot of the reason why I do this every Thursday is that it helps me process things to type them out. As I type, I think. As I think, I pray. It's good for me. So yes, there it is, folks. I do this more for me than for you. Sorry. But with that in mind, I'm justifying skipping around otherwise this week would be novel-length...and that would be no good at all.

Ok so this week from the Shorter Catechism:

10. How did God create man? God created man, male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. (See: Genesis 1:27-28, Ephesians 4: 24)

Remember this post, not so long ago, where I confessed my confusion about being made in the image of God? It's no coincidence that I read through this question and its corresponding verses today. God answers our questions and responds to prayers!

14. What is sin? Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the Law of God. (See: Luke 10:31, Luke 22:61)

Sin is always so difficult, or awkward at the very least, to define. I love this answer because it's short, to the point, and makes sense. Basically there are two types of sin: not doing what He commands and doing what He forbids.


16. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression? The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind - descending from him by ordinary generation - sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression. (See Romans 5:18-19, 1 Corinthians 15:22)

So all humans (except Jesus who was fully God AND fully man) are affected by the fall. None of us are exempt. No one is better than another.


18 and 19. Wherein consists the sinfulness and misery of that estate whereinto man fell? The sinfulness of that estate consists of the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, AND all of the actual transgressions which proceed from it. All mankind by their fall also lost communion with God and are under His wrath and curse and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. (See: Ezekiel 18:4, Genesis 3:17, Psalm 9:17)

This one has a lot of rabbit holes that you can go down. I'm going to avoid that. It's enough to process in itself.