An Help for the Ignorant, WSC Question 16
By John Brown of Haddington
Exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism
QUEST. 16. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
ANSW. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.
Q. What was the effect of Adam’s eating the forbidden fruit?
A. He fell by it, Romans 5:12.
Q. Who fell with him?
A. All his natural feed.
Q. Why fell they with him?
A. Because they sinned in him in his first transgression, Romans 5.
Q. How were they in him when he sinned?
A. As their natural parent, and as their covenant-head.
Q. If Adam had stood, would all his natural seed have stood with him?
A. Yes, Romans 5:12.
Q. Whether would Adam’s obedience, or their own, have founded their legal claim to eternal life?
A. Adam’s obedience: and their own obedience to the law as a rule would have been part of their happiness.
Q. Why did not Christ as man, being a son of Adam, fall with him?
A. Christ was none [not] of Adam’s natural feed descending from him by ordinary generation, nor represented by him as his covenant-head, Jeremiah 31.
Q. Wherein did the first Adam, and Christ the second Adam, agree?
A. Both represented men in a covenant with God.
Q. Wherein did the first and second Adam differ?
A. In dignity of person, the covenant they pertained to, and number and nature of these they represented.
Q. How did they differ in dignity of person?
A. The first Adam was a living soul, a mere man, and fallible creature; but the second Adam is a quickening head, a God-man, eternal, almighty, and unchangeable.
Q. How do they differ in the covenant they pertain to?
A. Adam was representative in the covenant of works, but Christ is representative in the covenant of grace.
Q. How do they differ in the number they represented?
A. Adam represented all mere men, Christ represents only elect men, Romans 5:12, 19.
Q. How do they differ as to the condition of those they represented?
A. Adam engaged only for innocent persons, Christ engaged for dead and guilty sinners.