WLC 22

Q22. Did all mankind fall in that first transgression ?

The covenant being made with Adam as a public person, not for himself only, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in that first transgression.

Proof texts

• Acts 17:26 — [26] And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
• Gen. 2:16-17 — [16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, [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.”
• Rom. 5:12-20 — [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 — [13] for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. [14] Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. [15] But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. [16] And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. [17] For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. [18] Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. [19] For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. [20] Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
• 1 Cor. 15:21-22 — [21] For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

For discussion

1. The Assembly cited Acts 17:26 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
2. 4 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
3. WSC Q13 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
4. WCF 6.1 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q13 · WCF 6.1 · HC Q3 · BC 4.1 · BC 4.2 · 1689 6.1 · 1689 6.2 · 1689 6.3 · 1689 6.4 · 1689 6.5