Lord’s Day 4
Q9. But does God not treat us unfairly by requiring in his law what we cannot do?
No, for God made us able to do it. But we, at the instigation of the devil, by willful disobedience robbed ourselves and all our descendants of these gifts.
Scripture Proofs — King James Version
Genesis 1:31
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Ephesians 4:24
“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Genesis 3:13
“And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
1 Timothy 2:13–14
“For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”
Romans 5:12, 18–19
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. … Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
Modernized Commentary — Zacharias Ursinus (1616)
There is an objection embedded in this section of the Catechism, one that human reason naturally raises against what the preceding question has established: if man is so corrupt that he cannot do anything good before his regeneration, then God seems to be acting unjustly and pointlessly by demanding perfect obedience from him in the law. The objection can be stated more precisely as follows: whoever requires or commands the impossible is unjust. God requires perfect obedience from man in His law, and man cannot perform it. Therefore, God appears to be unjust. Our reply to this objection is as follows: requiring the impossible is unjust only if certain conditions do not apply, specifically, if the one making the demand never gave the ability to fulfill it in the first place; if the person required to fulfill it did not willingly bring his own inability on himself; and if the requirement, which the person can no longer meet, is not the kind of requirement designed to lead him to recognize and grieve over his own incapacity. None of these conditions apply to God. By creating man in His own image, God gave him the full ability to render the obedience He rightly requires in His law. Therefore, if man threw away that ability through his own fault and free choice, placing himself in a condition where he can no longer render full obedience to God's law, God has not thereby forfeited His right to demand the obedience man is still bound to give. God is therefore just in punishing us, both because we discarded this good by breaking His commandments, and because He had already warned that punishment would follow any violation of His law.
Objection.
1. But we did not bring this sin on ourselves.