WCF 6.4

Westminster Confession of Faith

6.4. Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment thereof

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.

Proof texts

Rom. 5:6 — [6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom. 8:7, Rom. 7:18 — [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.
Col. 1:21 — [21] And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
Gen. 6:5 — [5] The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen. 8:21 — [21] And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.
Rom. 3:10, 11, 12 — [10] as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; [11] no one understands; no one seeks for God. [12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
James 1:14, 15 — [14] But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. [15] Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Eph. 2:2, 3 — [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Matt. 15:19 — [19] For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

For discussion

The Assembly cited Rom. 5:6 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
9 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
WSC Q18 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
WSC Q19 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q18 · WSC Q19 · WLC Q25 · WLC Q26 · WLC Q27 · WLC Q21 · WSC Q13 · BC 4.1 · BC 4.2 · HC Q3 · 1689 6.1 · 1689 6.2 · 1689 6.3 · 1689 6.4 · 1689 6.5 · SD 6.1 · IAR 4.5 · SC60 2.2 · SHC 2.3 · SHC 2.4

Leader's notes

A Commentary on the Confession of Faith (A.A. Hodge): These Sections teach us what were the consequences of the first sin to the descendants of its authors. In doing so our standards affirm — 1st. That Adam was both the natural and federal head of all mankind. Conf. Faith, ch. vii., § 2, and L. Cat., Qs. 22, 25, and S. Cat., Qs. 16, 18. 2d. That consequently the guilt or liability to the penal consequences of that sin was imputed, charged to the account of, and at their birth actually inflicted upon all men. 3d. That consequenMy the moral corruption which results from the penal withdrawing of God's Holy Spirit in the case of our first parents, is necessarily conveyed to all those of their descendants who are…

An Exposition of the Confession of Faith (Robert Shaw): These sections point out the consequences of the sin of our first parents in regard to their posterity. These consequences are restricted to those " descending from them by ordinary generation." This restriction is obviously introduced in order to exclude our Lord Jesus Christ, who, as man, was one of the posterity of Adam, but did not descend from him by ordinary generation. The genealogy of Christ is traced up to Adam (Luke iii. 38), but his human nature was supernaturally framed in the womb of the Virgin, by the power of the Holy Ghost. — Luke i. 35. In his birth, therefore, as well as in his life, he was " holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sinners." But…