The Fall is the thing that makes humans evil and sinful. When we fell, we stopped being sinless and innocent in God’s sight, and became evil in the eyes of a holy God. In human history, this happened when Eve and Adam ate the fruit God told them not to eat. The Fall also brought death into the world; only sinful creatures can sicken, suffer, and die.
The book of Genesis shows us that humanity was created in the image of God to have friendship and fellowship with God. We were given control over the earth to cultivate and use its resources for the glory of God. We were also told not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil-a command that gave humans the ability to knowingly disobey God; without this ability, we would not have been able to serve God in a mature way, but would have been like the animals, who obey God without thinking. By obeying these commands, humans would be able to enjoy all the blessings God gives and to live forever with God. Satan, however, used the command to tempt Adam and Eve to rebel against God.
It appears that Satan wanted to make humans his slaves and extend his dark kingdom to the Earth, ruining a part of God’s creation. Satan approached Eve, taking the form of a serpent, and enticed Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve then tempted Adam. The difference between good and evil was not concealed from man prior to the fall, though man’s experiential knowledge was only of the good. Adam was to receive instruction concerning the nature of this distinction and the consequences of eating or not eating only from God. As he had received life in the beginning from his Creator, so now he was to live in obedience to every word that proceeded from the mouth of God. The purpose of the temptation was to urge independence from God.
Satan called into question the truth of God and challenged his authority. He led man to think that he could determine for himself the difference between good and evil and that he could control the consequences to his own advantage. It was the temptation for man to be a god to himself. By rebelling against God, Adam and Eve showed disloyalty, faithlessness, and unbelief, all in one act. In this way, undivided obedience to God gave way to total rebellion and complete revolt. With its entire soul, humanity rejected God’s authority; doubted God’s goodness; argued with God’s wisdom; and spoke against God’s truth. A new way of thinking, feeling, and reacting took possession of the human heart and mind—a new, bad way.
After this, Adam and Eve’s feelings of boldness and confidence before God disappeared. They felt ashamed in God’s presence and alienated from God. They were cursed and sent out of the Garden of Eden, and doomed to die. These consequences extend beyond Adam and Eve to their descendants—the entire human race. Theologians argue about the exact nature of the relationship between Adam and Eve and the rest of the human race, but it is agreed that their sin causes all humans to be born with a sinful nature. The tasks given to Adam and Eve—to reproduce and use the earth for the glory of God-were also made painful and difficult by the fall. Bearing children, once easy, is now hard work, and only with hard work are food, clothing, and shelter provided. But there is hope.
Adam does not hear the curse of death until he has also heard, from God, the promise of a Savior (Genesis 3:15). After Genesis 3, the Bible only mentions the fall of humanity on occasion, but it is the beginning and the foundation of all that follows. The Bible focuses on the future—the widening effects of sin and the unfolding of God’s remedy for it.
