The Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
A.
All mankind by their fall
lost communion with God,[1]
are
under His wrath and curse,[2] and so made liable to all miseries in this life,—
to death itself,—and to the pains of hell
for ever.[3]
[1] Isaiah 59:2; Genesis 3:8, 10, 24; [2] Genesis 3:17; Ephesians 2:2–3;
Galatians 3:10;
[3] Ezekiel 18:4; Psalm 9:17; Romans 6:23; Matthew 25:41, 46
The misery of the estate into which men fell comprises three parts: (1) what he lost; (2) what he is brought under; and (3) what he is made liable to.
Firstly, man lost communion with God. This refers to the fact that fallen man
is no longer able to have the gracious presence and favour of God, together with
the sweet fellowship that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden of Eden. “God is
light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn 1:5); and is “of purer eyes than
to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Hab 1:13). For this reason
when Adam and Eve fell, they hid themselves and tried to cover themselves.
Because God is our chief good; and enjoyment or communion with God is our chief
end and felicity, this loss is the greatest loss and misery.
Secondly, man is brought under God’s curse and wrath. Because of sin, man can
no longer expect God’s favour and blessing. Rather he is subject to God’s curse
and wrath (Eph 2:2–3).
Thirdly, man is made liable to (a) all miseries in this life; (b) physical
death; and (c) eternal torment in hell. The miseries in this life are of
physical as well as spiritual nature. Physically, man is subject to sicknesses,
pestilence, wars, calamities, accidents, broken relationships, etc. Spiritually,
he is subjected to spiritual hardening and blindness so that he is easily led by
Satan’s falsehood. Physical death, as a liability on account of sin, acts as a
means to end the time of probation for man—as a kind of cut-off point before
judgement (Heb 9:27). Note: because Christ who needs not have died, having no
sin, had died on behalf of believers, the believer’s death is no more to be
taken as a liability for sin, but as a means to translate the soul to glory and
a means to separate the soul from the body of sin until it is reunited with the
body raised glorious and incorruptible on the last day.
As regards the pains of hell, note that all transgressions against an infinite
God are of infinite heinousness and so worthy of infinite, eternal punishment
(see Jonathan Edwards, “The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinner,” Works 1.669b). This punishment can be
viewed from two angles: (1) the punishment of loss—i.e., of eternal banishment
from the comfortable presence of God; and (2) the punishment of sense—i.e., of
eternal torment of the conscience as it constantly beholds the face of an angry
God (Heb 10:31; Mk 9:44—the worm may be taken figuratively to refer to the
reproach of the conscience); and of eternal affliction of the body of death
which is resurrected at the last day (Mt 25:41; Dan 12:2; Rev 20:13).