Apr 26
19
Baptist Catechism 19
Q. 19. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
A. 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.
*****
We have learned many things about the original condition of man. God made man male and female in his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. We also have learned that God made a covenant with man. It was a covenant of works wherein eternal life was offered to Adam if he obeyed, death being threatened upon disobedience. We have also learned that Adam and Eve broke the covenant by sinning against God, sin being any lack of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. It was the particular sin of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that plunged Adam and Eve into ruin. They fell from an estate of innocence and into an estate of sin and death.
But a very important question remains. What does all of this have to do with us? How does the sin of our first parents impact those of us who live so many thousands of years later? That is the question that Baptist Catechism 19 answers.
Again, the question: “Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?” The short answer is, yes. The longer answer is, “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.
*****
Notice that the answer to question 19 begins with the words, “The covenant”. This reminds us of what we learned back in Baptist Catechism 15. There, we learned about the special way in which God related to Adam after he created him. “When God had created man, He entered into a covenant of life with him upon the condition of perfect obedience: forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.” Here, in question 19, we learn more about this covenant.
*****
In particular, we are taught that the covenant God made with Adam was “not only for himself but for his posterity” too. Posterity means descendants. We must recognize that Adam functioned as a representative for others in the covenant God made with him. So, the eternal life promised to Adam upon obedience would not only be for him but for all who would descend from him. And the death that was threatened upon disobedience would fall, not only upon him but upon all who would descend from him. As I have said, Adam functioned in that covenant as a representative of others. Indeed, Adam represented all of humanity in the covenant God made with him at the beginning.
Perhaps you have heard it put this way: Adam was our federal head. Federalism has to do with representation. Adam represented humanity. If Adam had succeeded, all of humanity would have succeeded in him. When Adam sinned and fell from the estate of innocence and into the estate of sin and death, all of humanity fell in him. He was our head or representative.
The scriptures clearly teach this.
Romans 5:12 says, “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—” (Romans 5:12, ESV). Notice that Paul teaches that sin and death came into the world through Adam and spread to all.
Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 15. “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” Here, Paul mentions another federal head, namely Christ. We will return to this in a moment. For now, please see that there are only two federal heads: Adam and Christ. Human beings are either in Adam (under his representation) or in Christ (under his representation). There is no other option.
The Genesis narrative presents Adam as a federal head or representative. Notice that when Adam sinned, both he and Eve were cursed. They were banished from the garden and the Tree of Life. When they had children, their children were born, not in Eden, but outside of it. Their children were not given access to the Tree of Life but were barred from it from birth. Adam’s children were born in a state of sin and death, and they themselves did sin. In other words, what Paul says in a didactic way, Genesis says through its narrative. Adam represented the whole human race. When Adam broke the covenant of life, he broke it, not only for himself but for all who would descend from him.
*****
This is what our catechism says next. “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.
This principle of representation might sound strange to you, but in reality, it’s very common. The choices of others affect you all the time. Think of the way that the choices of your parents have determined who and where you are today. Think of how the choices of kings and presidents affect a nation. Think of how the choices of a husband affect the wife. On and on I could go. This principle of representation is baked into the natural order of things.
And it is important to see that this principle of representation is central to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please hear me. Without this doctrine of covenantal representation, or federal headship, Christ would be of no benefit to you. How is it that Christ’s death benefits you? Answer: he died as your representative, that is, as your substitute. And how is it that Christ’s resurrection benefits you? How does his rising from the dead bodily nearly 2,000 years ago have anything to do with your rising from the dead bodily on the last day? Answer: he rose as your representative or federal head.
Just a moment ago, I read from 1 Corinthians 15. There, Paul compares and contrasts Adam and Christ. Adam and Christ are very different in some regards. Adam failed, and Christ succeeded. Adam brought sin and death into the world, and Christ brought righteousness and life. But Adam and Christ share something very important in common. They are both federal heads. They lived on behalf of others so that their success would mean success for others, and their failure would mean failure for others. Indeed, Christ, as the second Adam, even died and rose for others, as I have just said.
So how does a person come to be a federal head in this spiritual and eternal sense? Can men take it upon themselves to be representatives of others before God? Certainly not. God appoints men to this. And he appoints them to be federal heads through covenants. It was in the covenant of life made with Adam in the garden that he was appointed to function as the federal head of humanity. And it was in the covenant of redemption made between the Father and Son in eternity that the Son was appointed to become incarnate, to live, die, and rise again in victory to redeem those given to him by the Father.
Thanks be to God, Christ, the second Adam, is the federal head of the New Covenant, the Covenant of Grace. And this is why Paul stresses that we must be found “in him”. What does Paul mean when he says we must be found “in Christ”. He means that we must be united with him. And how are men and women united to Christ? It is only by faith. We are born in Adam, brothers and sisters. All who are born into this world have Adam as their head. In Adam, we inherit sin and the curses of the covenant that he broke. We must be reborn in Christ. This new birth is not natural, but spiritual. It comes through the preaching of the word of God and by the working of the Holy Spirit. It is God, by his Word and Spirit, who makes us willing and able to turn from our sins and to trust in Jesus. It is through faith that we are united to Christ. I’ll let Paul tell you about the benefits that come to us through our faith-wrought union with Christ in the Covenant of Grace, of which he is the mediator and head.
In Ephesians 1:3, Paul blesses God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for blessing “us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:3–14, ESV)
Or to put it more succinctly, “in Adam all die… in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
I’ll conclude by asking you, are you united to Christ by faith? Are you in him? Do you have him as your head and representative in the Covenant of Grace? Or are you still in Adam under that broken Covenant of Works and dead in your sins? I must urge you, friends, to turn from your sins and to belive upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you are in Christ today, I must urge you to abide in him, for apart from him we can do nothing.
*****
Q. 19. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
A. 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.
