An Help for the Ignorant, WSC Question 14
By John Brown of Haddington
QUEST. 14. What is sin?
ANSW. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
Q. How do you prove that there is any sin in the world?
A. The scriptures, our consciences, and the outward calamities of life, clearly prove it.
Q. How does the scripture prove it?
A. It declares that all men have sinned, Romans 3:10-23.
Q. How does our conscience prove it?
A. By often filling us with shame and dread of God’s vengeance when we break his law, Genesis 3 and 4; Romans 2.
Q. How do the outward calamities of life prove it?
A. An infinitely good God would not afflict the work of his hands, if he was not offended by sin, Lamentations 3.
Q. By what rule and standard must we judge of the sinfulness of qualities or actions?
A. By the law of God.
Q. Can irrational creatures, who are under no law, sin?
A. No; where no law is, there is no transgression.
Q. How many ways do rational creatures sin?
A. By want [lack] of conformity to, or transgression of God’s law.
Q. What mean you by want of conformity to God’s law?
A. Our not having that purity of heart, and holiness of life, the law requires, Romans 7:14.
Q. What mean you by transgression of God’s law?
A. The doing what it forbids, 1 John 2:4.
Q. Why is this called transgression of the law?
A. Because hereby we pass over the limits God has fixed for our conduct in his law.
Q. How many things are considerable in every sin?
A. Four; its filth, demerit, guilt, and strength.
Q. What is the filth of sin?
A. Its contrariety to the holiness of God’s nature and law, whereby it renders the sinner ugly and abominable in his fight.
Q. What is the demerit of sin?
A. Its deserving infinite wrath at the hand of God.
Q. Can the demerit and filth of sin ever be separated?
A. No, by no means, Romans 6:23.
Q. What is the guilt of sin?
A. Its actually binding over the sinner to punishment, Ezekiel 18.
Q. Are the filth and guilt of sin naturally connected?
A. Yes; every blot of sin naturally binds over to wrath.
Q. Whence [From what] does that proceed?
A. From the justice of God, and sentence of his law, Psalm 11; Galatians 3.
Q. Can the free grace of God separate the filth and guilt of sin?
A. Yes, with respect to the persons on whom they are found, Romans 7:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Q. Who ever had guilt lying on him without being polluted?
A. Christ, when our sins were laid on him.
Q. Who are polluted with sin’s filth, without being bound over to punishment?
A. Believers.
Q. How was this separation of sin’s filth and guilt effected?
A. Christ and his elect being made one in law, all their guilt was laid over on him.
Q. For what end was this separation made?
A. For the speedy and full destruction of sin.
Q. How is sin destroyed by this means?
A. In order of nature Christ first takes away sin’s guilt by his satisfaction in his own person, and then by his Spirit purges away its filth in us.
Q. What is the strength of sin?
A. Though sin, in respect of its guilt, has a condemning strength; yet the strength of sin most properly consists in that mighty force our indwelling lusts have to push us on to actual transgressions, notwithstanding of great opposition from conscience, and the Spirit, word, and providence of God.
Q. To what issue does this activity of sin tend?
A. To fix [harden, strengthen] and bring forth more sin, and increase our bondage to it.
Q. What is the principal means of the strength of sin?
A. The pure and holy law of God, 1 Corinthians 15:56.
Q. How can the law be the means of sin’s defiling strength?
A. Sin is irritated, and occasionally stirred up by its precepts; but especially its curse fixes sinners under the dominion of sin, as the principal branch of their punishment.