This Article is a Companion to Week 3 of our Catechism. Our hope is that this will guide you family as your read and learn together.
How was is supposed to be?
In short, not like this.
When God created our first parents he made them and everything around them good (Genesis 1.31). The Bible and the catechism use the language of “Image“. Being made in God’s image. Do we look like him? Are we a picture of God-ness? We are like smaller gods? How can that be? This is the usual way of think about being made in God’s image and it is badly misunderstood.
To be made in God’s image should simply be understood to mean that we were made exactly the way that he meant for us to be made in.
This includes being right, righteous, and ready. Nothing separating us from uninterrupted forever relationship with God.
Well that does not Seem Fair
How did everything get so messed up? Just blame your parents right? That is both the popular thing to do and strangely enough is part of the truth in this situation.
“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…Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 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.”
This is hard to hear but you are not a sinner because you sin. You sin because you are a sinner.
This makes a very big difference. If you are a sinner simply because you sin, well then stoping sinning. You can stop can’t you?
No you cannot just stop because you are in fact a sinner. Now the truth is you would not have known this unless God himself revealed it to you through his Word. You would keep trying to make yourself better and better and better and then you would write off your imperfections as “just your personality” and then push forward. Basically denying your sinfulness. Or you are going to give up on trying to get better and just wallow in your sin. Call it all normal.
You have inherited the sin of your first parents and you bring your own sin to the party as well.
Now you may want to ask the question, what is the paradise business? Paradise has always been one of the words used to describe the final place of completeness and peace, the place where we will always be in God’s presence. Otherwise known as Heaven.
Prone to Evil, Not as Evil as we could Be
“But look at my little baby–so perfect–so sweet–such a little angel.“
These would be the words of a new parent who is about to find out what human nature is really like. They may even one day change that “little angel“ to “little devil“ when they discover the naughty things their children get up to.
But this may not be enough to convince someone that their child isn’t good enough to be accepted by God.
The argument might be that they have done wrong sure but they are not the worst person. We can also get busy finding someone that we are better than. Someone that we can look at and claim to be more sinless than. But all of that would be missing the point of fallenness. It does not mean that we are all mass murderers and causers of the greatest injustice and limitless unrighteousness.
Rather we are so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good (that can save us) and we are always leaning toward all evil. Which is exactly why we need to be made new by the Spirit of God.