WESTMINSTER LARGER CATECHISM #23
Commentary by Dr. Chuck Baynard
Q23. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
Answer: The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and
misery.
References: Rom. 5:12; Rom. 3:23
Estate - n. (4) a period or condition of life. (6) condition
or circumstances with respect to worldly prosperity, social
status or rank. (7) archaic. Pomp or state. (9) obs.
To establish in or as an estate. Selected definitions from
"Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the
English language," 1989, Random House, New Jersey.
" When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return
to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall
return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall
return to your former estate." (Ezekiel 16:55 AV)
Two Hebrew Words are translated into English as
"estate:" "kad-maw" meaning the former state
or beginning origin and "kane" meaning office or place.
As can be seen from the passage above, the context for the word
"kad-maw" is clear, and so it is in most all places
this word is used in the OT. However "kane" is more of
a place or social position and is the usage the Divines had in
mind in this statement and its usage can also be readily seen
from context as the next verse in Ezekiel will show if you care
to keep reading there.
Excuse the departure into exegesis here, but the choice of the
word estate by the divines, though we don’t see this exact
word in Scripture with relation to the fall of man as such is
important. Not given in the definition at the beginning is the
more common English use of this word whereby it deals with either
property owned, as in an "estate" in the country, or in
inherited properties, whereby that left by one to their posterity
is their "estate." This usage has not changed from the
days of the Divines until now. I feel we need to grasp the full
breadth this word has and its translation from the original
languages, as well as it complete usage throughout history, to
understand exactly what "estate" man fell into.
Since we are dealing with mankind as a whole, and since we
began to establish in question twenty-two the "federal
representation" of original sin, we can now see the
connection whereby as the estate of Adam was sin, it is also
passed through our natural inheritance from Adam as our first
father. In this case we are dealing with state or place and not
property. This was also normal practice in the world as far back
as we have recorded history, to include biblical history whereby
one born to the King was a prince and held the estate (place) of
such and this place (social position) was passed from generation
to generation the same as property.
I believe between the two statements in twenty-two and three
we have established the fact that original sin did in fact flow
from the fall in the garden then, both by legal representation
(imputed) and also just as surely through natural generation.
Either view is acceptable and in my opinion valid. I prefer the
federal principle because the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness being the remedy for sin precedes our adoption as
children into the family of God, it is more consistent in my
opinion then to see the same process in the beginning of our
sinful estate. Though in the fall it is possible both were there
and in parallel, time wise. We will see the Divines choose the
natural generation route in question twenty-six.
Now that we have established man in his "estate" of
sin, we see another great truth before us in this statement that
explains a lot of the suffering and misery in this world. If
righteousness (without sin) is love, joy, peace, and a myriad of
other very desirable traits and conditions in the estate of
mankind, then it flows naturally from this that sin or
unrighteousness must be manifested as sadness, hate, turmoil, and
all the things that are undesirable in the estate of mankind. It
is the restoration of these inner conditions the fruit of the
Spirit works in the adoption (Gal 5:22). The curse remains, and
the circumstances around the "new" man are still filled
with the chaos caused by the fall, but the estate of the redeemed
is more like that at creation, before the fall.
Because of the curse, and the natural estate of mankind since
the fall is one of sin and misery, and at any given time in
revealed history the unregenerate have far out numbered the
elect, the over all effect upon both nature and man must be one
of war with God, unrest, fear, and chaos rather than order and
peace. Sin has an affect upon everything, and the actions of the
unregenerate have their affect on the regenerated too, and often
cause the elect to stumble.
As we continue to try and see the effect upon the TULIP
throughout this study, here we again see petal one being clearly
revealed. Perhaps without belaboring the point, we can also by
now begin to see that the five petals are interwoven so as to
form the complete flower, and the more firm petal one becomes,
the more the others must be of necessity. I think by the end of
this study in the Larger Catechism we will have firmly
established all five, and anyone having seriously looked into the
words of the Divines will deny the possibility of so called three
or four pointers, who would clip one or more petals from our
beloved TULIP. This cannot be done and remain consistent in our
hermeneutic (The method used to interpret Scripture). So here we
will leave petal one, the total depravity of man, exposed, with
the other four flowing from this estate of mankind as the only
consistent revelation of God’s plan of redemption.
We might sum up this section so far then as mankind being
created sinless, whom in the fall by his own hand, deserved the
punishment given, and the change in his estate, which he has then
passed though natural generation to all his posterity. We may now
also see why the Divines chose the proof texts they did for this
question, which testify to the result that all have sinned,
rather than sin as their former estate in Adam, as the Hebrew
language would seem to indicate. "Into what estate"
refers to the present condition, not the former position, and the
text chosen is more than applicable.
--
November 1997
