Fall of man
Summary
The disobedience of Adam and Eve in eating the forbidden fruit, resulting in sin, death, and corruption entering human nature and being transmitted to all their descendants.
☩The Biblical Account
God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden with permission to eat from every tree except 'the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,' with the warning 'in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die' (Genesis 2:16-17). The serpent, more subtle than any beast, tempted Eve by denying God's warning and promising that eating would make them 'as gods, knowing good and evil.' Eve ate and gave to Adam, who also ate. Their eyes were opened to their nakedness, and they were expelled from the garden, subjected to death and various curses.
☩Consequences of the Fall
The immediate consequences included spiritual death (separation from God), physical mortality, expulsion from Paradise, the ground cursed for man's sake, toil and sweat in labor, pain in childbirth, and eventual physical death. More significantly, sin and its corruption entered human nature and has been transmitted to all Adam's posterity. 'By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned' (Romans 5:12).
☩Evidence of the Fall
The reality of man's fallen condition is evident in universal human misery: natural disasters, painful childbirth, the struggle for survival, sickness, and death. Morally, it is seen in man's commission of sin, omission of duty, the triumph of sensual appetites over reason, corruption of intellect and conscience, alienation from God, and the universal prevalence of sinful behavior across all nations and ages. This fallen state necessitated God's redemptive plan through the 'second Adam,' Christ, who restores what was lost.
Related Verses14 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Fall of Man," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.Richard Watson, "Fall of Man," in A Biblical and Theological Dictionary (John Mason, 1831).
- 3.Charles Buck, "Fall of Man," in A Theological Dictionary (Charles Buck (London), 1802).