2. Of the Fall of Man

We believe and confess, according to the holy Scriptures, that these our first parents, Adam and Eve, did not remain long in this glorious state in which they were created, but that, seduced by the subtlety and deceit of the serpent and by the envy of the devil, they transgressed the high commandment of God and became disobedient to their Creator; through which disobedience sin has come into the world, and death by sin, which has thus passed upon all men, because all have sinned, and so they brought upon themselves the wrath of God and condemnation; for which reason they were driven out by God from Paradise, or the pleasure garden, to till the earth, in sorrow to eat of it, and to eat their bread in the sweat of their face, until they should return to the earth from which they were taken; and that they, therefore, through this one sin, became so ruined, separated, and estranged from God, that neither through themselves, nor through any of their descendants, nor through angels, nor men, nor any other creature in heaven or on earth, could they be raised up, redeemed, or reconciled to God, but would have had to be eternally lost, had not God, in compassion for His creatures, made provision for it, and stepped in with His love and mercy. [n47-1] Genesis 3, verse 6; Fourth Esdras 3, verse 7; Romans 5, verses 12 and 18; Genesis 3, verse 23; Psalm 49, verse 8; Revelation 5, verse 9; John 3, verse 16. [n47-2]