(6) Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof

One of the first questions friends ask parents of newborns is, "Does she look like mom or dad." Often it's hard to say; children share traits with both their parents.

Children share more than their parents' looks. They share their nature. "When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth" (Gen. 5:3). That sentence is both happy and sad. Seth was a gift from God, a new start. But Seth was born to a sinner; the likeness he now shared with his father was marred. And so has the human story continued.

To know ourselves we need to understand what happened to our first parents when they tried to make their own way in the world contrary to God's truth.