WLC - Question 21

WLC - Question 21 Did man continue in that estate wherein God at first created him?

WLC - Answer 21 Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, through the temptation of Satan, transgressed the commandment of God in eating the forbidden fruit; and thereby fell from the estate of innocency wherein they were created.

WLC - Answer 21 (Bob) Our first parents being left the the freedom of their own will, through the temptation of the flesh, merely presented by the serpent, but made effectual by their own hearts, transgressed, and then sinned. The woman was deceived by her flesh to take a position in the lie that she was merely an animal. The man chose to declare his own law of good and evil, making himself equal to God. Having chosen disobedience, a second lesson of God's holiness was given by separating them from the garden and presence of God. The state of innocency was preserved and passed on to infants, who begin life wanting of the knowledge of God, and in need of teaching, nevertheless subject to physical death which is a mere shadow of death with the purpose of reminding us that we are not gods.