The Second Helvetic Confession: 8.1–6a: Week 10

Chapter VIII—Of Man’s Fall, Sin and the Cause of Sin

The Fall Of Man. 

1. In the beginning, man was made according to the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, good and upright. But when at the instigation of the serpent and by his own fault he abandoned goodness and righteousness, he became subject to sin, death and various calamities. And what he became by the fall, that is, subject to sin, death and various calamities, so are all those who have descended from him.

Sin. 

2. By sin we understand that innate corruption of man which has been derived or propagated in us all from our first parents, by which we, immersed in perverse desires and averse to all good, are inclined to all evil. Full of all wickedness, distrust, contempt and hatred of God, we are unable to do or even to think anything good of ourselves. [3]. Moreover, even as we grow older, so by wicked thoughts, words and deeds committed against God’s law, we bring forth corrupt fruit worthy of an evil tree (Matt. 12:33 ff.). For this reason by our own deserts, being subject to the wrath of God, we are liable to just punishment, so that all of us would have been cast away by God if Christ, the Deliverer, had not brought us back.

Death. 

4. By death we understand not only bodily death, which all of us must once suffer on account of sins, but also eternal punishment due to our sins and corruption. For the apostle says: “We were dead through trespasses and sins...and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy...even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:1 ff.) Also: “As sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned” (Rom. 5:12).

Original Sin. 

5a. We therefore acknowledge that there is original sin in all men.

Actual Sins. 

5b. We acknowledge that all other sins which arise from it are called and truly are sins, no matter by what name they may be called, whether mortal, venial or that which is said to be the sin against the Holy Spirit which is never forgiven (Mark 3:29; I John 5:16). [6a.] We also confess that sins are not equal; although they arise from the same fountain of corruption and unbelief, some are more serious than others. As the Lord said, it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for the city that rejects the word of the Gospel (Matt. 10:14 f.; 11:20 ff.).