Jun 24
2
Baptist Catechism 22
Q. 22. What is the misery of that estate whereunto man fell?
A. All mankind, by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. (Gen. 3:8,24; Eph. 2:3; Gal. 3:10; Rom. 6:23; Matt. 25:41-46; Ps. 9:17)
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Questions 16 – 22 of our catechism are about the fall of man from the estate of innocency into the estate of sin and misery. We have learned what sin is. We have learned what Adam’s first sin was. And we have been taught that it was not Adam alone who fell into sin, but all humanity with him. Humanity now exists in a state of sin and misery. Question 21 of our catechism asks, Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereunto man fell? And answers: The sinfulness of that estate whereunto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it. Here in Baptist Catechism 22, the focus turns to the misery of the estate whereunto man fell.
Question 22 is last on the topic of man’s fall into sin, and it is the heaviest of them all. It asks, What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell? In other words, what miseries, afflictions, and torments came upon the human race when Adam fell into sin? Answer: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, 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 for ever.
Notice, five miseries are mentioned. It should also be noted that each one of these miseries is remedied through faith in Jesus Christ.
The first misery mentioned is the loss of communion with God. To commune with God is to enjoy a close and right relationship with him. Adam and Eve enjoyed sweet communion with God in the garden. They walked with God. They were at peace with him. They enjoyed his presence. Sin ruined that. Genesis 3:8 describes something that happened after man sinned. It says, “And [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” Prior to man’s fall into sin, God’s presence in the garden-temple would have been pure pleasure. After man’s fall into sin, God’s presence was a terror to the man and the women, for no longer were they right with him. They were now rebels and traitors. Their communion with God was broken. At the end of Genesis 3, we see that God cast the man and the women out of the garden. Earlier I referred to the garden as a temple, for that is what it was. It was a holy place set apart from the rest of creation wherein Adam and Eve enjoyed the presence of God as they worshiped and served him.
The loss of communion with God is the first misery mentioned, one, because it is the first misery Adam and Eve experienced. When God approached them as he had done before, they were, for the first time, overwhelmed with a sense of shame and dread. They had sinned against God. They were now enemies of God. Two, this is the first misery mentioned because it is most fundamental. Our biggest and saddest problem is that we are, by nature, enemies of God and alienated from him. Do you remember Westminster Shorter Catechism 1? Question: What is the chief end of man? Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. Our biggest and saddest problem — our chiefest misery — is that we are unable to glorify God and to enjoy him because of sin.
This is the problem that Jesus Christ came to fix. Listen to Colossians 1:21-22. There Paul speaks to Christians, saying. “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [Christ] has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…” (Colossians 1:21–22, ESV).
The second misery mentioned is the misery of falling under God’s wrath and curse. God’s wrath is on sinners because he is holy and just — he cannot not punish sin (see Romans 3:21-26). God’s curse has fallen on sinners. What curse? The curses of the covenant of life or works that were revealed to Adam in the beginning. God said, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). The curses of the covenant fell upon humanity when Adam sinned.
Christ came to save those who trust in him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:9-11 says, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by [Christ’s] blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Christ has rescued his people from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for them. Galatians 3:13-14 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ — so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” Those united to Christ by faith are rescued from the curse of the law. These are given the blessing of Abraham instead. This is true of the Jew and also the Gentile.
The third misery mentioned are the miseries of this life. Life in the fallen world is filled with difficulty, suffering, trials, tribulations, and tears. You can see this clearly throughout the Bible. The miseries of life appear for the first time in the curse that God pronounced upon Adam and Eve as recorded in Genesis 3:16-19. The curses pronounced there clarify what was meant by the words, “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Adam and Eve did eventually die (in fact, the Scriptures tell us they lived a very long life). But they entered into a state of death — the estate of sin and misery — on the very day they ate of the forbidden tree.
Christ came to deliver his people from the miseries of life. How so? In two ways: One, God uses the miseries of this life for good in the lives of his people. The trials, tribulations, and tears of life are redeemed by Christ and used for good. Romans 8:28 teaches this. There we read, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” And this is why the Christian can obey the command of James 1:2-4, which says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” In this way, the miseries of this life have been redeemed by Christ. God promises to use them for our good. The Christian must know that life’s miseries are not meaningless or purposeless. Two, Christ has redeemed us from the miseries of this life in that he will bring his people safely into the new heavens and earth where sin and suffering will be no more. Revelation chapters 21 and 22 provide us with a beautiful picture of the new heavens and earth. You should read that section of Scripture sometime soon. By the way, when you do, you should look out for imagery drawn from Genesis 1 and 2. It is in Revelation 21:3-4 that we hear the Apostle John say, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’” Can you see that Christ came to redeem us from the miseries of this life?
The fourth misery mentioned is death itself. Perhaps you have noticed this pattern: everyone who lives dies eventually. Human beings are strange creatures. They know this to be true, but they often live as if it will never happen to them. The pattern is observable in the world. People live and eventually, they die. And the pattern is observable in Scripture, too. In fact, this pattern is stressed in Genesis 5. There is a phrase that is repeated over and over again in that text. So and so lived for this many years, and he died, and he died, and he died. It’s as if God is saying, you had better wake up to the fact that the “wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That is Romans 6:23.
Christ came to rescue his people from death. This does not mean that God’s people will not experience physical death. No, God’s people will die, too, unless alive when Christ returns (see 1 Thessalonians 4:17). Christ has rescued us from death in two ways. One, in Christ we have eternal life. Those with faith in Christ go to be with the Lord in the soul when they die physically. Baptist Catechism 40 will have more to say about this. And on the last day, the bodies of those united to Christ by faith will be raised and reunited with the soul to live forever and ever. Baptist Catechism 41 has more to say about this. In this way, Christ has rescued us from death. Two, he has freed us from the fear of death even now.
This is what Paul the Apostle rejoices over in 1 Corinthians 15:53-57. There we read, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality…” He is here speaking of the resurrection day. “… then shall come to pass the saying that is written…” He then refers to Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14, saying, “‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Why is Christ able to give this victory to those who are united to him by faith? Because he defeated death for us as the second and greater Adam by tasting death for us and rising again on the third day.
The fifth misery mentioned is the eternal torments of hell. Do the Scriptures teach that those who die in their sins and apart from Christ will be punished forever and ever in hell? Yes, indeed. Jesus taught this as recorded in Matthew 25:41: “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says, “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might…” Revelation 20:14-15 portrays hell as a lake of fire, saying, “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
People, even many pastors today, don’t like to talk about hell. I don’t like to talk about either, but it is a truth that must be told. The truth is, this is one of the miseries Christ came to save his people from. Immediately after the picture of hell found in Revelation 20:14-15, we find a vision of the new heavens and earth. Christ came to save his people from hell and to bring them safely into the new heavens and earth which he has earned through his obedient life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection.
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Conclusion
Q. 22. What is the misery of that estate whereunto man fell?
A. All mankind, by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.
With this dark backdrop of man’s sin and misery set into place, we are now in a position to consider the good news about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ the Redeemer, and that is what we will do as we move forward.
