Are most people good by nature?
How strongly do you agree with this statement? “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.” The recent Ligonier survey conducted in the UK showed, disturbingly, that 63% of evangelicals agreed with this statement (an even worse result than in 2018, when the survey was previously run, when 48% of evangelicals agreed). According to the Bible, this statement is false both in that everyone sins a lot, and also in that everyone is sinful, not good, by nature. Some of the commentary on the 2026 Ligonier survey has noted that almost a third of the evangelicals in the sample had started attending church for the first time only in the past 1–2 years. While it is encouraging that people are newly discovering Christianity and are committed to certain core Christian beliefs, it is cause for concern that there are such gaps in their knowledge of such basic doctrines as the Bible’s teaching on sin. How can newcomers to the faith be better informed about the Bible’s teachings? One tried and tested method is by catechising — asking the right questions not so much to test people’s knowledge as to guide them in the right answers. Samuel Rutherford wrote his own catechism, around the same time as the Westminster Shorter Catechism was produced, in which he takes us through the main teachings of the Bible. The following updated extract shows Rutherford’s questions and answers on the doctrine of sin.
A definition of sin
What is sin?A breach of the law of God (1 John 3:4).
How many evils does sin leave behind it, after it is committed?
Four. The offence of God (called a wearying of God). The defiling of the soul. The guilt of sin. The punishment of sin.
What is the guilt of sin?
It is the debt and obligation of sin, whereby the sinner lies under God’s justice to be punished, like an evil-doer who is in the judge’s court book under process, or the debtor whose name stands in the bond after he has borrowed many sums of money.
What should we learn from this?
To be like wise debtors, who take little on, and deal with their debts promptly.
Where sin came from
Who sinned first?The devil, who then tempted Eve to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, and she tempted her husband Adam.
Was God any cause of that sin?
No. The Lord made man the kind of creature that could, if he wanted to, have obeyed God.
Can Satan force us against our will to sin?
No. He tempts us, and knocks at our door from the outside, but it is our will and lust that opens the door. Satan is the midwife that helps the birth, but our will and lust is father and mother to all our sins.
What part do we have in Adam’s sin?
Because the covenant was made with Adam and with us all in him, therefore we are guilty of his sin, and for that cause are deprived of God’s image, and inclined to all evil, and unable to any good.
