Blog Archives: November 2017

Question 13: Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created? Answer: Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God. This great tragedy is recorded in Genesis 3:6-13. "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of ...

Question 12: What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created? Answer: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death. A covenant is a bond between God and man in which God initiates a relationship with man by speaking to him, setting laws, and promising rewards and punishments in accordance with these laws. Without God's sovereign initiative ...

Question 11: What are God's works of providence? Answer: God's works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions. The work of creation lasted for the first six days of history; the works of providence have lasted every day since. When God rested on the seventh day he did not cease from work entirely, but only from the work of creation (Gen. 2:1-3). As Jesus said, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." (John 5:17) It could not be otherwise; not one ...

Question 10: How did God create man? Answer: God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. It has been said that man is both noble and cruel. These two ideas correspond to the two most important things that the Bible tells us about our nature: first, that we are made in God's image; second, that we are sinful. However, only one of these two was present at creation, in which God made all things good. That was our nobility our creation in God's image. ...