The Fall of Man and Original Sin

Genesis 3:1-7

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Our adversary the devil and satan is out to corrupt God’s work, especially men and women as he did in the very beginning of our creation.  He is still cunning and deceptive, twisting what God says by questioning it, denying it, taking a away from it, or even adding more to it than what God intended.  With Eve, he began with directly questioning if God indeed said what He had to Adam and so to her about eating from any tree in the Garden, omitting the prohibited tree to get Eve to repeat her understanding of the entire command.  She got it right, but did not call the tree of the knowledge of good and evil by name, but only as the tree in the midst of the garden.  She then added that not only could they not eat it or die, but not even touch it, which sounds like a good preemptive measure, but was not what God actually said (Genesis 2:17).  The emphasis also changed from ‘you will die’ to ‘lest’ you die, as if adding an uncertainty if death would absolutely occur.  Satan took hold of that error and multiplied it by asserting that they would not (certainly) die, and blasphemed God by accusing Him of lying and holding back a secret that they would eat, still live, and then be like God Himself in knowing what is good and what is evil.  These definitions of life and death are God’s, not for man to discover apart from His word to them and to us.  Taking of this tree seemed to promise what God should be giving, and they neglected obedience to wait on His timing and granting permission to partake of that fruit that is God’s alone to give, not ours to immaturely take (Hebrews 5:14) with the pride of the devil urging us on.  Eve took the bad advice and began looking at it, seeing the fruit as good food, not prohibited, because of the lie she believed.  Her eyes found it pleasing and desirable when God’s command was changed, and she wanted to be wise and all knowing of good and evil as if to be equal with God.  She ate it.  Adam then took the fruit she handed to him afterwards, and he ate also.  Then that knowledge which they were not yet prepared for by God made them see their nakedness as something shameful because of ungodly desires instead of the godly design, and they were ashamed enough to cover themselves and hide when God approached.  They hid from the very presence of their Creator in the garden He made for them in the bodies he made them with; they failed to see the good and saw the evil in their condition, for they did not wait for their senses to be trained to discern good and evil by God’s instruction in His time and in His way.  Their shortcut by evil advice opened sin into their hearts and minds, which sin they passed to all their children as a kind of spiritual DNA which we all inherit as their descendants.  This is the fall of man and the original sin of disobedience to God and His word, with the promised consequences of death for each one of us without exception apart from Him.