2. Mankind, in the state of innocence, had the freedom and power to will and to do what was good and pleasing to God, but was nevertheless changeable, so that they might fall from this state.
3. By the fall into a state of sin, mankind has wholly lost all ability to will or to do any spiritual good accompanying salvation. A person in his natural state is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself or to prepare himself for it, being altogether averse to the good, and dead in sin.
(WCF 9.2-3)
In WCF 9.1, we saw that humans were never created to be pre-programmed robots. No, we were created for a plan and a purpose and then we had a choice in obeying or disobeying our creator’s commands (see Gen 1-2; Matt 17:12; Jam 1:14; Deut 30:19). Therefore, though God is unchangeable (Ex 15:18; Dan 6:26; Eph 3:11), we humans are most certainly able to change, and through the fall, most certainly have. The Confession points this out by saying, ‘Mankind, in the state of innocence, had the freedom and power to will and to do what was good and pleasing to God’. In other words, we were created in perfect relationship with God, and had the chance for that relationship to never change. That was a very real possibility because of the way that we were made. We had life and death set before us, and Adam and Eve were very much able to choose (and continue to choose) life by obeying, and thus have everlasting life in the presence of God (Gen 2:16-17; 3:2-3). That was because the will was not corrupted by sin, and able to freely do God’s instructions without the hindrance of sin (Ecc 7:29; Gen 1:26).
And so what changed? Well if you read the first few chapters of your bible, you’ll soon discover a character that some how slithered his way into Adam and Eve’s lives to present them with a new proposition. His tempting offer came way of convincing our first parents that God’s ways weren’t all they were cracked up to be and that there was another way to live their lives; namely by their own rules (Gen 3:1-5). You might know the story; they saw, they ate, they fell (Gen 2:16-17; 3:6). And because humans (as it’s been noted already) were able to change, they fell from that first state of innocence in the eyes of God, and lost their grip on everlasting life, thus sin and death entered the human story (Gen 2:17; 3:19; Rom 5:12).
So what does that have to do with us now? Well, according to scripture, because we are ‘of the seed of Adam’, we are born - not in a state of being willing and able - but in a state of spiritual death; totally unable to either choose God or to continually obey His commands, and thus we are born under the curse with no way to save ourselves (Rom 5:6; Rom 8:7; Jn 15:5). The Confession puts it like this, A person in his natural state is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself or to prepare himself for it, being altogether averse to the good, and dead in sin (WCF 9.3)
There is good news in all of this and North African theologian Augustine is helpful here. He states that the human story from our time in the garden to the new creation can be understood as follows: Able to sin, able not to sin. Not able not to sin. Able not to sin. Unable to sin. Confused? Read it through a few times (and say it slowly to yourself if need be) because Augustine’s phrase shows us both the plight and the hope of God’s chosen people simultaneously. You see before the fall we had a choice and after the fall (notice it), we still had a choice - that was never taken away, but what we were able to choose did - and that’s because sin blinds, kills, stupefies and destroys freedom. Left up to ourselves, we could only continue to choose death, but this is the thing, because of the grace, love and mercy of God, He has given us ears to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, and not just the ability to hear, but the ability to once again choose life. The bible states, ‘if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved’ (Rom 10:9). How can we do that? Well not by anything in and of ourselves, but by God working behind the scenes on our wills, so that we might choose life, and choose it freely (Jn 6:44,65; Eph 2:2-5; Tit 3:3-5).