BC 4.1

4.1. The Creation and Fall of Humanity

We believe that God created human beings from the dust of the earth and made and formed them in his image and likeness- good, just, and holy; able by their will to conform in all things to the will of God. But when they were in honor they did not understand it (Ps. 49:20) and did not recognize their excellence. But they subjected themselves willingly to sin and consequently to death and the curse, lending their ear to the word of the devil. For they transgressed the commandment of life, which they had received, and by their sin they separated themselves from God, who was their true life, having corrupted their entire nature. So they made themselves guilty and subject to physical and spiritual death, having become wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all their ways. They lost all their excellent gifts which they had received from God, and retained none of them except for small traces which are enough to make them inexcusable. Moreover, all the light in us is turned to darkness, as the Scripture teaches us: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." (John 1:5) Here John calls the human race "darkness." Therefore we reject everything taught to the contrary concerning human free will, since humans are nothing but the slaves of sin and cannot do a thing unless it is given them from heaven. (John 3:27) For who can boast of being able to do anything good by oneself, since Christ says, "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me"? (John 6:44) Who can glory in their own will when they understand that "the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God"? (Rom. 8:7) Who can speak of their own knowledge in view of the fact that "those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit"? (1 Cor. 2:14) In short, who can produce a single thought, knowing that we are not able to think a thing about ourselves, by ourselves, but that "our competence is from God"? (2 Cor. 3:5) And therefore, what the apostle says ought rightly to stand fixed and firm: God works within us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. (Phil. 2:13) For there is no understanding nor will conforming to God's understanding and will apart from Christ's involvement, as he teaches us when he says, "Apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

Proof texts

• Gen. 2:7 — [7] then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
• Gen. 3:19 — [19] By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
• Ecc. 12:7 — [7] and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
• Gen. 1:26-27 — [26] Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” [27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
• Eph. 4:24 — [24] and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
• Col. 3:10 — [10] and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
• Gen. 3:16-19 — [16] To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” [17] And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; [18] thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. [19] By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
• Rom. 5:12 — [12] Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned —
• Gen. 2:17 — [17] but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
• Eph. 2:1 — [1] And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
• Eph. 4:18 — [18] They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
• Ps. 94:11 — [11] the LORD — knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.
• Rom. 3:10 — [10] as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
• Rom. 8:6 — [6] For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
• Rom. 1:20-21 — [20] For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. [21] For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
• Eph. 5:8 — [8] for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
• John 1:5 — [5] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
• John 8:34 — [34] Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
• John 3:27 — [27] John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.
• John 6:44 — [44] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
• Rom. 8:7 — [7] For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
• 1 Cor. 2:14 — [14] The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
• 2 Cor. 3:5 — [5] Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,
• Phil. 2:13 — [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
• John 15:5 — [5] I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

For discussion

1. The Assembly cited Gen. 2:7 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
2. 25 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
3. HC Q3 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

HC Q3