The Rule of Obedience Revealed to Adam: Westminster Larger Catechism Q92

In the previous question, the Westminster Larger Catechism taught us that “the duty that God requires of mankind is obedience to his revealed will.” That answer naturally leads to the next question: What did God first reveal as the rule by which mankind was to obey him? Question 92 asks, “What did God reveal to the first man as the rule of his obedience?” The answer is, “The rule of obedience revealed to Adam in his state of innocence, and to all mankind in him, was the moral law, in addition to the special command not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

This takes us back to the beginning. Before sin entered the world, Adam was created by God, placed before God, and called to live under God’s good authority. He was not left to his own devices. He was not free to define good and evil for himself. From the beginning, man’s life was ordered by the rule of obedience that God revealed.

The Rule of Obedience and the Purpose of Man

Genesis 1:26–27 tells us that God made man in his own image: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Then Scripture says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Adam’s obedience did not begin with a cold command. It began with creation. Man was made by God, for God, and in the image of God. His life had a God-given purpose before it ever had a sinful problem.

The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith teaches this same truth when it says that God created all things “for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness” (2.2). Creation exists to display the glory of God. That includes mankind. We were not made for self-rule, self-glory, or self-definition. We were made to know God, glorify God, and live before him in faithful obedience.

This is also why the opening question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is so helpful: “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” That was true before the fall, and it remains true now. Adam was created to glorify God and enjoy fellowship with God through faithful obedience. Obedience was not a barrier to joy. It was the path of joy.

This means the rule of obedience was not opposed to Adam’s happiness. It was the path of his happiness. Obedience belonged to the purpose for which he was made. Man flourishes when he lives according to God’s design. That is still true. Sin has corrupted us, but it has not changed why we exist. We were made to reflect God’s character, enjoy fellowship with God, and submit to God’s will. The rule of obedience is not a prison. It is the good order of life under our Creator.

The Rule of Obedience Included the Moral Law

The catechism says that “the rule of obedience revealed to Adam in his state of innocence, and to all mankind in him, was the moral law.” God’s moral will did not begin at Mount Sinai. The Ten Commandments gave clear written expression to the moral law, but the moral law itself is rooted in the character of God and in the way God made mankind.

Paul teaches this in Romans 2:14–15. Speaking of Gentiles who did not possess the written law as Israel did, he says they “show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness.” Even after the fall, human beings retain some awareness of right and wrong. The conscience may be twisted, suppressed, misinformed, or hardened, but it still testifies that man is a moral creature living before a moral God.

The 1689 Confession makes the same point when it teaches that God gave Adam “a law of universal obedience written in his heart” and also “a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (19.1). Adam knew God’s moral will. He was created upright. He did not begin with a darkened mind or a rebellious heart. That makes the fall especially tragic. Adam did not sin because God had been unclear. He sinned against the God who had revealed his will.

The Rule of Obedience Included a Special Command

The catechism also says Adam was given “the special command not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:17 records the command clearly: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

This command was specific, plain, and serious. Adam could eat from the trees of the garden, but one tree was forbidden. God placed before him a clear test of obedience.

The issue was not that the fruit was evil in itself. The issue was that God had spoken. Adam was called to obey because God’s word is sufficient, God’s authority is righteous, and God’s goodness is trustworthy.

This is where obedience is always tested. Will man live by the word of God, or will he decide good and evil for himself? Will he receive God’s command as life, or will he treat it as a limitation to escape? Adam’s sin began when he turned from God’s revealed rule of obedience. He listened to another voice. He questioned God’s goodness. He acted as though God’s command could be weighed, challenged, and set aside.

We may not stand before the same tree, but we face the same basic temptation. We are tempted to believe that obedience restricts joy, that God’s commands are unreasonable, and that we can safely define good and evil for ourselves.

The Rule of Obedience Points Us to Christ

Romans 10:5 says, “For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.” The principle is simple: perfect obedience leads to life. Adam was placed under a rule of obedience that required full, personal, exact, and continual obedience. Had he obeyed, he would have lived. But he did not obey. In Adam, mankind fell into sin and death.

This helps us understand both the seriousness of sin and the glory of Christ. Adam failed where obedience was required. But Christ, the last Adam, came to obey where Adam disobeyed. Jesus loved God perfectly. He honored God’s law completely. He resisted temptation faithfully. He submitted to the Father fully. Then he bore the curse due to lawbreakers, so that sinners might receive life in him.

The law shows us what God requires. Our sin shows us that we have failed. Christ shows us that salvation comes not through our obedience as the ground of acceptance, but through his obedience, death, and resurrection.

Living Under the Rule of Obedience Today

Question 92 reminds us that obedience did not begin after sin. Obedience belongs to creation. God made mankind for his glory, in his image, and under his revealed will. Adam’s fall did not erase that duty. It revealed our guilt and our need for grace. For the Christian, God’s rule of obedience is not a means of earning salvation. We are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But grace does not make obedience unnecessary. Grace restores us to the life for which we were made.

We obey now as those redeemed by Christ. We obey because God is our Creator, Christ is our Savior, and the Spirit is at work within us. We do not obey to become God’s children, but because in Christ we are God’s children.

Adam received the rule of obedience in innocence. We receive God’s revealed will as sinners saved by grace. And as we look to Christ, we learn again that God’s commands are not cruel. They are holy, righteous, and good. They lead us away from death and teach us to walk in the way of life.

Soli Deo Gloria