31 - THE FALL OF MAN

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. Romans 5:12

INTRODUCTION

One of the most tragic days in the history of the world was when sin was introduced to humanity. Before that day, the creation was approved, as God saw that "it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). God had planted a beautiful garden, or park, with Adam and Eve the sole human residents who lived in harmonious community with nature, God, and each other. But one day all of that changed.

Satan entered the garden to tempt man to rebel against the stipulations given by God. Satan did not appear as a sinister character but rather as something with which both Adam and Eve were familiar, a serpent. In his own cunning way, Satan conversed with Eve, causing her to compromise her loyalty to God. He began by making God’s demands sound extreme and then seeking to show Eve how harmless it was to eat the fruit. When she ate and shared it with Adam, the evil purpose of Satan had been accomplished.

Satan began by placing doubt in the woman’s mind concerning the word of God and then brought her to the point of outright disobedience. When Eve began to entertain the thought that perhaps God was somewhat extreme and perhaps God did not understand what was best for her, she opened the door of her mind to the lie of Satan. That moment of weakness resulted in the fall of all mankind, with all its consequences.

Understanding the nature of the Fall of man is imperative to appreciate our salvation and to live the Christian life. As we realize what Christ has done in overcoming the consequences of the Fall, we will appreciate our relationship with God even more. By realizing how man fell in the beginning, we can better combat temptation when it comes in our own lives. THE CAUSE OF THE FALL When God began to question Adam and Eve concerning their sin (Genesis 3:11-13), they passed off the responsibility to someone else. Adam blamed Eve; she in turn blamed the serpent. But the Bible teaches that man sinned, fully aware of his actions. "Adam was not deceived" (1 Timothy 2:14). Thus the entire race fell because he deliberately chose by an act of his own will to disobey God and fulfill his own desires instead. Those desires were encouraged by the temptation of Satan, who provided the occasion for the entrance of sin into the world.

Today, temptation is one of the chief functions of Satan and his demons. Though all people are tempted differently according to their own weaknesses, Satan’s temptations followed certain patterns. John spoke of temptation in three categories when he wrote, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (1 John 2:16). If we were to look objectively at our own lives, we would find that all temptation that causes us to sin comes from one of these three sources. Satan has a devious strategy that has been successful for evil purposes, so he has not changed it. When he tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, he appealed to all three sources of temptation. He used the same strategy when he tempted Christ. Throughout the pages of Scripture we find those who have fallen into sin as a result of one kind of temptation or another. If Jesus "was in all points tempted like as we are" (Hebrews 4:15), then we can assume that we will also be tempted in one or more of these areas. The lust of the flesh. The word "lust" means desire, so the first area of temptation had to do with the desires of the body. Satan appealed to the lust of the flesh to cause Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. It was not until "the woman saw that the tree was good for food" (Genesis 3:6), that she ate and gave to her husband. Satan took something good, what appeared to be harmless fruit, and used it to appeal to the human desire to eat. Neither the fruit nor the desire to eat was inherently evil. Adam and Eve sinned when they disobeyed the clear command of God. Our parents violated the one prohibition: "Thou shalt not eat of it" (Genesis 2:17). Satan appealed to the same desire for food when Jesus was hungry after a forty-day fast by saying, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread" (Matthew 4:3). While it would not have been wrong for Jesus to eat when he was hungry, it would have been wrong for him to abuse his power to succumb to the temptation of Satan. We are tempted to sin in the same manner. Satan will try to get us to satisfy the desires of our bodies in the wrong manner. As an illustration, the physical desire for sex is a human trait that is not evil until it is satisfied in the wrong manner. The lust of the eyes. The second area of temptation that motivated Eve to eat the fruit was "that it was pleasant to the eyes" (Genesis 3:6). A second characteristic of humanity is to have dreams or desires. Man constantly seeks to improve his surroundings and himself. Man’s desire for excellence and advancement is reflective of his Creator, in whose image he was created. Therefore, the appearance of the fruit appealed to Eve’s desire to have something she did not possess. Just as the lust of the flesh is not evil in itself, so it is not sinful to desire things. But sin entered the human race when man’s desire was contrary to the command of God. Satan was not successful when he attempted to appeal to the "lust of the eyes" as he tempted Jesus. "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them" (Matthew 4:8). Satan thought that the sight of the kingdoms would cause Jesus to yield; Jesus used the Word of God to combat temptation. Unlike Eve, Jesus could not be persuaded to doubt the integrity of the Word of God. The pride of life. The third temptation was an appeal to the basic self-worth, self- acceptance, and self-preservation of man. Man was created as an independent/dependent being. He was created separate from God, yet an autonomous being who is dependent on God. God in his wisdom gave man the ability to protect, preserve, and perpetuate himself. Satan appeals to the basic self-interest of humanity by showing Eve a tree to be desired to make one wise. "She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" (Genesis 3:6).

It seems almost ironic that Satan was able to use man’s interest in self-improvement to destroy everything man desired. Again, Satan was not successful in tempting Christ. Satan quoted a psalm out of context to challenge Christ to perform an unnecessary spectacular miracle (Matthew 4:6). This direct attack on the character of Christ was to induce him to act from motives of self-interest outside the will of God. Jesus did not listen to Satan’s attack. While it may have been easier to allow his angels to protect him, Jesus would ultimately and conclusively prove his deity while redeeming lost humanity through his death, burial, and resurrection. Again he was able to use Scripture to combat the devil.

HOW SATAN TEMPTED

Strategy         Eve (Genesis 3:6)         Christ (Matthew 4:1-11)

1. Lust of flesh 1. Good for food 1. Stones for bread 2. Lust of eyes 2. Pleasant to 2. Glory of

            eyes                 kingdoms

3. Pride of life     3. Desired to make         3. Prove his deity

one wise with a miracle The fact that Christ overcame temptation while our first parents gave in to it can be directly attributed to Christ’s reliance on the Scriptures. Eve had indicated willingness to doubt the direct command of God. Jesus, in contrast, rested his entire defense on Scripture. To answer each temptation, he stated, "It is written" (Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:7, Matthew 4:10). THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL The fall of man represents far more than just the sin of one man and woman. When one throws a rock in a quiet pond, the initial splash is followed by a continuous sequence of ripples. Likewise, the Fall of man influenced the entire world and in turn affects us today. When Adam and Eve disobeyed, God judged their sin. They immediately experienced the full force of God’s judgment. After they died, the consequences of their Fall have rippled throughout the human race.

Immediate results of sin. Because of the widespread involvement of various beings, many were immediately judged. These included the serpent, man, woman, and the earth itself. When Satan tempted Eve, he was embodied in a serpent. He did not form himself like a serpent nor take on qualities of a serpent but a serpent was used as a vehicle for the tempter. Satan used an actual serpent, so God cursed the serpent for his active part in the temptation. "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life" (Genesis 3:14). The actual physical form of the serpent was changed as a consequence of the Fall. We cannot ignore the fact that most people have an unusual fear of snakes, even those that are nonpoisonous.

God also judged Adam for his sin. God introduced a new emotion into his experience- sorrow (Genesis 3:17). He was to continue to have dominion over the ground, but now he would till a cursed ground. His labor would be multiplied and he would find himself working harder and producing less. Physical death also was introduced into the human experience. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19). Apparently Adam also lost the complete dominion he earlier possessed over the animals (Romans 8:18). Man would still rule the beasts of the earth, but with far more difficulty. Some animals would attack and kill man, other animals would resist him, and still other animals would be too dumb to heed man’s direction.

Eve also was cursed for her part in the Fall. "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiple thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over you" (Genesis 3:16). Eve in particular, and women in general, live with two results of the Fall. First, they would have a natural inclination to their husband which would in some occasions lead to conception. And, second, they would have increased pain in childbirth.

Long-range results of the Fall. Adam, the federal head of the human race, was also the seminal head. The word seminal implies that all life existed in Adam and that everyone existed embryonically or existed in seed within the head of the human race. Today we trace our ancestry back to Adam. We were all in the loins of Adam when he sinned, just as Levi "was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchizedec met him" (Hebrews 7:10). In that sense, every member of the human race played a part in the Fall of man. When Adam sinned, we were actually sinning with him. The language of Romans 5:12 explains that we participated in Adam’s sin: "As by one man sin entered the world ... for that all have sinned." This includes the federal headship of Adam over the human race. In this aspect, Adam’s vote for our sin is similar in comparison to a congressman who might represent us in the legislature and by his vote obligate us for certain indebtedness. It also implies we were present with him as he voted. Therefore, it is consistent that the race experiences the consequences of the Fall„

Because of the Fall, every man received a sin nature at birth. It is now more natural for man to sin than not to sin. That sin nature results in physical death for the human race born into condemnation. The sin of Adam has infected the nature of the entire race.

Every influence that Adam passed on to humanity, Christ overcame for the race. Because there is a sin nature in every man, Christ offers a new nature to those who experience his salvation (2 Corinthians 5:17). His death is a substitute for ours and through the cross the repentant sinners receive new life. Jesus claimed "that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). While the race is "condemned already" (John 3:18) because of Adam’s sin, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Jesus Christ came as the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45) to lead a new race of those who were born again into his kingdom (John 1:13; John 3:3). Writing to the Romans, the apostle Paul outlined something of a comparison between Adam and Christ and their respective "races."

Romans 5:12-21 Adam Christ 1. Sin entered 1. Grace entered 2. Offense transferred 2. Free gift offered 3. Condemnation 3. Justification 4. Death reigns 4. Righteousness reigns 5. Disobedience 5. Obedience 6. Makes men sinners 6. Makes men righteous 7. Sin abounds 7. Grace abounds 8. Death 8. Eternal life

Sin, and all the accompanying consequences of sin, entered the human race as a result of the historic Fall of Adam in the garden of Eden. It was in another garden many years later that a group of women found an empty tomb, to learn Jesus had risen from the dead (Matthew 28:6). That accomplishment demonstrated the ability of Jesus to undo all that Adam had bound up and to provide much more than a return to Adam’s innocence. The listing of Christ’s accomplishments by Paul to the Romans represents only a portion of all Jesus did on the cross. God is now able to provide men with personal salvation (Hebrews 7:25) and an eternal home in heaven (John 14:3). Someday the consequences of the Fall will be completely overcome and done away with. The final chapters of the Bible describe for us a world which represents a vivid parallel with the world God gave man before the Fall (cf Genesis 1:1-31; Genesis 2:1-25 with Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-21). Those who know Christ as Savior can look forward to a day when the Fall of man will no longer affect our lives.

CONCLUSION That day is not yet here. We still live in a world in which the devil is engaged in tempting us to evil: We must learn to gain victory over temptation as Jesus did. Peter warns, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour-" (1 Peter 5:8)

DAILY READINGS Monday: Romans 5:12-21 Tuesday. Genesis 3:1-13 Wednesday: Genesis 3:14-24 Thursday: Genesis 4:1-15 Friday: Genesis 4:16-26 Saturday: Genesis 6:1-8 Sunday: 1 Timothy 2:1-15