The Death of Man

Often we hear comments from people that are to the effect that man is basically good. People have come a long way from the biblical doctrine of original sin and its impact upon the human race. The fact is that man has fallen so far from his original state that he is beyond hope without the intersession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man is naturally corrupt. This corruption can be cleansed with the blood of Christ's atoning sacrifice.

Guido de Bres wrote the Belgic Confession in the early days of the Reformation (1561). Here is what he said concerning the fall of man:

We believe that by the disobedience of Adam original sin has been spread through the whole human race.
It is a corruption of all nature-- an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother's womb, and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. It is therefore so vile and enormous in God's sight that it is enough to condemn the human race, and it is not abolished or wholly uprooted even by baptism, seeing that sin constantly boils forth as though from a contaminated spring.
Nevertheless, it is not imputed to God's children for their condemnation but is forgiven by his grace and mercy-- not to put them to sleep but so that the awareness of this corruption might often make believers groan as they long to be set free from the "body of this death."