HenryWSC 19

Matthew Henry’s Westminster Shorter Catechism Commentary on Question 19

Show Catechism Question

When our first parents had eaten the forbidden fruit, did they become as gods? No: they were like the beasts that perish,

Ps. 49:12

. Did the devil make his words good then? No: for he is a liar and the father of it,

John 8:44

. Did not he put a cheat upon them? Yes: the woman said, the serpent beguiled me,

Gen. 3:13

. Did shame come in with sin? Yes: for they knew that they were naked,

Gen. 3:7

. Did fear come in with sin? Yes: for they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden,

Gen. 3:8

. Was not that their misery? Yes: for fear hath torment,

1 John 4:18

.

Did they lose communion with God? Yes: for he drove out the man,

Gen. 3:24

. Is fallen man unworthy of communion with God? Yes : for what communion has light with darkness?

2 Cor. 2:14

. Is he unfit for communion with God? Yes: for can two walk together except they be agreed?

Amos 3:3

. Could fallen man ever get to heaven by virtue of the covenant of innocency? No: for cherubims and a flaming sword were set to keep that way to the tree of life,

Gen. 3:24

.

Is fallen man under God’s wrath? Yes: for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,

Rom. 1:18

. Are we all so by nature? Yes: we are by nature children of wrath, even as others,

Eph. 2:2

. Are we so by reason of sin? Yes: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience,

Eph. 5:6

. Is there a distance between God and man by reason of sin? Yes: your iniquities have separated between you and your God,

Isa. 49:2

. Is there a quarrel between God and man by reason of sin? Yes: My soul loathed them, and their soul also it abhorred me,

Zech. 11:8

. Is it not said to lie under God’s wrath? Yes: for who knows the power of his anger?

Ps. 90:11

.

Is fallen man under God’s curse? Yes: for cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them,

Gal. 3:10

. Is this curse in force against all wicked people? Yes: the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked,

Prov. 3:33

. Has sin brought a curse upon the world? Yes: Cursed is the ground for thy sake,

Gen. 3:17

.

Is mankind by the fall become liable to the miseries of this life? Yes: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life,

Gen. 3:17

. Are we all by nature liable to these miseries? Yes: for man is born to trouble,

Job 5:7

. Is all the hurtfulness of the creatures the effect of sin? Yes: Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth,

Gen. 3:18

. Is the toil of business the effect of sin? Yes: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, ver. 19. Is pain and sickness the effect of sin? Yes: There is not any rest in my bones, because of my sin,

Ps. 38:3

. Are all our crosses the effect of sin? Yes: our sins have withholden good things from us,

Jer. 5:25

. Should we not therefore bear them patiently? Yes: Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sin?

Lam. 3:39

.

Is all mankind by the fall become liable to death itself? Yes: for so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,

Rom. 5:12

. Was a sentence of death immediately passed upon fallen man? Yes: Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return,

Gen. 3:19

. Do we all deserve death? Yes: the wages of sin is death,

Rom. 6:23

. Is it the natural consequence of sin? Yes: for sin, when it is finished, brings forth death,

James 1:15

. Can any avoid it? No: What man is he that liveth and shall not see death?

Ps. 89:48

. Is it determined? Yes: it is appointed to men once to die,

Heb. 9:27

. Do you expect it? Yes: I know that thou wilt bring me to death,

Job 30:23

. Is sin the sting of death? Yes: the sting of death is sin,

1 Cor. 15:56

. Is the amazing fear of death the effect of sin? Yes: there are those who through fear of death are all their life-time subject to bondage,

Heb. 2:15

. Is the body’s rotting in the grave the effect of sin? Yes: as drought and heat consume the snow-waters, so doth the grave those which have sinned,

Job 24:19

.

Is mankind by the fall become liable to the pains of hell for ever? Yes: for he that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead,

Prov. 21:16

. Ps. 9:17. Can God make a soul forever miserable? Yes: for after he hath killed he hath power to cast into hell,

Luke 12:5

. Is there a state of punishment in the other life? Yes: for we are warned to flee from the wrath to come,

Matt. 3:7

. Is it the desert of sin? Yes: for when God renders to every man according to his works, he will render indignation with wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil,

Rom. 2:8–9

. Will it be the portion of impenitent sinners? Yes: Ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell,

Matt. 23:33

.

Is hell the wrath of an everlasting God? Yes: for the breath of the Lord. like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it,

Isa. 30:33

. Is it the anguish of an immortal soul? Yes: for their worm dieth not,

Mark 9:44

. Is any way of relief open to them? No: Betwixt us and you there is a gulf fixed,

Luke 16:26

. Is their punishment therefore everlasting? Yes: These shall go away into everlasting punishment,

Matt. 25:46

. Should we not every one of us dread it? Yes: for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,

Heb. 10:31

,

Isa. 33:14

.

HenryWSC 19