Adam and Eve - The Fall of Man

I would like to thank my very dear friends Caz Taylor and Dan Greenblat for there help and insite into God's word in creating this article.

It’s no longer an OPTION!

We have all sinned.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

A great majority feels that sin falls into one of the big categories like murder, lying, stealing, adultery, etc. The truth is that even the simplest negative thought about another person is sin! Speaking badly about someone is sin, and the list goes on and on. So why do we sin?  Why do we do the things we do? Well, it all begins with Adam. God’s plan for Adam and you was to have an eternal life of joy, peace, happiness and a personal one on one relationship with Him. As we see in the book of Genesis, God created us to be like Him and to rule over everything on the earth.

Genesis 1:26-27

26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth."

“Let Us,” is God referring to Himself as The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. This is also known as the Trinity. Now the word rule here does not mean to control, it means to work and take care of. (Genesis 2:15)

27 So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.

When God created man, everything was perfect. I mean to tell you that if you’re created in the image of God, then you have to be perfect, since God is perfect. I want you to really think about this. If God created you in His image, do you think he would leave out a part that is not like Him? God did not say let’s make man in Our image except for this or that. Now a lot of us get confused here as to the actual creation. We tend to think that the creation was the physical form of our bodies. But we were created in the image of God as a spirit. The physical form of our body didn’t come until later, (Genesis 2:7) when God formed the man from the dust of the ground. It’s important to note however that you were created in the image of God, and not created as a god.

So now you’re probably wondering, if I’m perfect, then why do I still do the things I do? Well the answer is in Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God. God commanded Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, even though Eve came to Adam with the fruit.

Genesis 2:16-17

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,  for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

God didn’t say you might die, He said “You will die.” Pretty plain and simple you would think. Eat and die or don’t eat and live! Most of us would say, “I wouldn’t have eaten from that tree.” But let’s take a closer look at the circumstances behind what Adam did.

Genesis 3:1-7

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Crafty is defined in the dictionary as: Cleaver at achieving one’s aims by indirect or deceitful methods. What’s interesting here is to see that the serpent went to the woman first and not directly to Adam, since the goal was to get Adam to disobey God. To do this the serpent needed to use someone very close and dear to Adam, and that was Eve. This is important because Satan operates against us this very same way. He uses others to get to us. He even uses those that are close to us.

The question “Did God really say,” from the serpent might have sounded to Eve like “Give me a break,” or “You’ve got to be kidding.” The serpent asked this not only to see what her response would be, but to cast doubt of God’s truthfulness and encourage Eve to substitute her own wisdom above God’s clear rule. Now notice the woman’s reply. She was holding her ground in what God had said. This was not what the serpent wanted to hear.

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

Now the serpent needed to be more convincing, so the serpent try’s to convince Eve that they would not die, but that they would be more like God.

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

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened.” Was God hiding something from them? “And you will be like God.” Wait a minute, weren’t they already like God? (Genesis 1:26) Did God leave out something when He created them? Think about the perfect relationship they had with God, and how great everything was. Being like God to them probably meant more loving, caring, understanding and more wisdom, since this is what they were experiencing from God. They possibly thought this would be very pleasing to God? Wouldn’t this bring them even closer to God and make Him very happy with them? Do you see the deception here? God had specifically told them not to eat from that tree, which meant that they had to trust in what God was telling them, even if they didn’t understand why. But the serpent convinced her that they were not who they thought they were, and that God really didn’t mean what He had said.

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

They were both convinced that this was a good thing, so they ate the fruit. The serpent had completed his task, knowing that this was a direct rebellion against God.

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

From the moment they ate, both realized the mistake they had made. They had been deceived by the serpent and were ashamed of what they had done. From that moment everything changed. The perfect relationship with God had been ruined, tarnished, destroyed and ended.

So you’re probably wondering why God put the tree there in the first place?  Without that tree everything would have been great, right? Wrong! To understand this you have to know what love really is. Love is an action it’s not a feeling.  A lot of people think that love is a feeling you have for someone. Like that feeling you get when you first met the love of your life. But the truth is that love is the action you have towards that person. Love is doing everything possible for that someone even when things aren’t going right. Love is not trying to control someone into doing what you want, but it’s giving that person the free will to choose. In order to have love, you must have free will. In order to have free will, you must have choices. The choice here was the tree. God wanted them not to eat from it because they loved Him, not because He was controlling them. Can you see the difference?

God didn’t overwhelm and burden them with a long list of things not to do. He only gave them one thing not to do and that was not to eat from that tree. This is important because you need to understand that God will never ask you to do anything more than you can handle. Although the relationship with God had now ended because of what they did, God had a plan. And later we will see that God’s plan to restore our relationship with Him will again require us to do only one thing!

The bad news:

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Their first mistake they made was to hide. Don’t we all seem to hide when we know we’ve done something wrong? But there is no hiding from God.

9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

God was looking for them. He wanted to spend some time with them. But they were hiding because of what they had done. When God called out to Adam he had no choice but to answer.

10 He answered “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

Notice here that Adam didn’t say they were hiding because they ate from the tree, but he was hiding because he was naked. This was his second mistake he made by testing God to see what He knew about the situation.

11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

God confronted Adam since the only way he could have known he was naked was to have eaten the fruit. Now Adam’s third mistake was that instead of taking the responsibility for what he had done, he blamed Eve.

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me – she gave me some of the fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then God confronted the woman, and she blamed the serpent.

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Do you see a pattern here? When you make a mistake, do you take the responsibility for your actions or do you blame someone or some other circumstance?

Then came the moment they didn’t want. What was God going to do? Adam and Eve chose their course of action, which was disobedience, and then God chose His. As a Holy God, He could only respond in a way consistent with His perfect moral nature. He could not allow sin to go unchecked; He had to punish it. So God first confronted the source!

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.”

God started His punishment with the source, which was Satan. Being cursed above all the livestock and all the wild animals throws Satan below everything. “You will crawl on your belly,” This form of punishment was degrading, humiliating and difficult. Try crawling around your house on your belly and you’ll see that it’s not fun at all. And eating dust, well that speaks for itself. Imagine doing this the rest of your life.

“And I will put enmity between your offspring and hers” Enmity is "the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something."  Offspring figuratively means “the product or result of something.” Now because the serpent caused Adam to sin, the blood in their bodies was no longer pure and holy. From that moment on, everyone would be born with that blood, passed down through the generations, which is the product or result of that sin. (Satan’s offspring) Now hers (her offspring) was referring to Mary’s son Jesus, which will be the product or result of God plan to restore His relationship with us. You see even though God was punishing this sin, He was also preparing to reverse the results of it. Take note that nothing will stand in the way of God!

“He (Jesus) will crush your head, and you (Satan) will strike His heel.” God plan included Satan’s final defeat. A “strike on the heel,” refers to Satan’s repeated attempts to defeat Christ during his life on earth. He will “crush your head,” refers to Satan’s defeat when Jesus rose from the dead. You see a strike on the heel is not deadly, but crushing your head is.

16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you,”

“He will rule over you,” charges the man with the responsibility of taking care of the woman. This doesn’t mean that the man is dominating or controlling. Adam allowed Eve to influence his decision and eat the fruit, therefore man is now charged with controlling himself. This is not an equality issue between men and women, but actually more of the overall punishment including the man, since prior to this God had taken care of both of them.

17 To Adam He said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

The ground from which Adam was formed (Genesis 2:7) was now also cursed because of what Adam had done. When we sin the ripple effect goes beyond us. We have no idea of how many others it actually affects. Take an example of adultery. You would think that it only affects the two involved, however, it also affects the children, the parents, the brothers, the sisters, the friends and the list goes on and on. God had to punish all things that related to this sin including the ground; nothing involved was excluded from the punishment.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

“It will produce thorns and thistles.” Have you every noticed a piece of property that isn’t taken care of? The weed’s are growing and choking out everything. Weeds seem to grow without any water and they flourish everywhere. Now to get that property to look great and produce food it takes a lot of hard work.

19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Farming is one of the hardest jobs around. Most of us don’t want to get out in that field and pick the fruits and vegetables. Although man has invented some great machinery to help farmers harvest their crops, the bottom line is that even to this very day, it’s still “by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food,” hard work. Now I know someone is saying, I don’t have to grow my food, I go to the store and buy it. You still have to work to get the money to buy it, don’t you?

God formed the man from the dust of the ground, (Genesis 2:7) and “since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Nothing unholy or sinful can ever be with God. God’s plan to restore our relationship with Him cannot include this body, which you (spirit) live in. Why? Because of Adam’s sin your body is and always will be unholy and sinful! Remember you were created in the image of God (spirit) and then formed from the dust of the ground (body).

The punishment was complete, and even though Adam and Eve didn't know it, so was the restoration!

21 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”

Why was God’s first act after pronouncing punishment to clothe Adam and Eve? After God had given His punishment, God show’s us how loving and caring He really is. God could have turned away and said, now you’re on your own, but instead God “clothed them.” He was still taking care of them. This is the kind of love God has for you. No matter what you’ve done, He still loves and cares for you. No matter what you’ve done, He still wants to be with you.

The Good News:

From that day forward we see that man now has a sinful nature. In order to be with God we cannot have any form of sin in us. So how do we eliminate this sin? The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death! (Romans 6:23) This means that in order to eliminate sin, a price (wages) had to be paid, which is death. But if you paid the price with death you would be dead. And if you’re dead you couldn’t be with God. So who was going to pay that price? The price had to be paid by someone who was willing to give up his life for all of us. That someone was Jesus, the Son of God! (John 3:16) When Jesus died on the cross, all sins were paid for, including yours. Because Jesus died on that cross and paid the price for all sins, everyone has the opportunity to return to that perfect relationship with God. But it’s not automatic. You have to choose to return to that relationship. Remember that tree and free will? Another tree has now been placed in front of you; it’s the tree of life! (Deuteronomy 30:19) “This day I call heaven and earth as witness against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”  You see as a spirit created in the image of God, your spirit is going to live forever, it’s just a matter of where. Will you live with God in Heaven? Or will it be in what we call Hell? The choice is yours!

So you’re probably wondering, how do I choose life, what do I have to do? Well the truth is there’s nothing physically you can do to earn this. There isn’t any act of kindness, goodness or any other works you can do to get this. In order to return to this relationship with God, you simply have to do accept it! Because you see, it’s a free gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8-9)“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so no one can boast.” Not by works since it’s a free gift!

So how do you accept this free gift? The Bible tells us in (Romans 10:9-10) That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Remember God only gave Adam and Eve one thing not to do? To restore your relationship with God, He is asking you now to do only one thing and that is to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. (Romans 10:9-10) Remember you are going to live forever it’s just a matter of where. If you were to die tomorrow are you certain that you’re going to Heaven? If your answer is I don’t know or I’m just not sure then I invite you to remove all doubts and except God’s gift. To do this you need only to pray the following prayer out loud (confess with your mouth) and (believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead) and you will be with God in Heaven for eternity. You will be saved! If you feel God tugging on your heart to do this, it’s because He loves you and wants to be with you. Will you answer His call and pray this prayer now?

Prayer: Say out loud

Father God, I love you and I am so thankful for all you have done for me, in Jesus Christ.

Father, I do believe that Jesus is your Son, He was crucified and You raised Him from the dead.

And I declare right now, with my own heart and with my own mouth,

Jesus! You’re the Lord of my life, You are my Savior and You are my God.

Therefore, everything that I am and all that I have I yield to Your lordship. Have your way in me,

I give you my life!

Father, You are my very own Father now, Thank you, for including me in Your family.

I’ll serve You, I’ll follow You, and I’ll worship You All the days of my life!

In Jesus name, Amen

If you prayed this prayer be assured that your name was instantly written into the book of life and you will spend eternity in Heaven with God. Welcome to God’s family!

Now things in your life are about to change. As you begin your new walk with God, He will draw you close and start teaching you about His love and His ways. If you are not part of a church I strongly suggest you find a church that is in line with your new understanding. A church that preaches Jesus as the Son of God! If you need help in finding a church close to you please contact us and let us know the area you live in and we will give you some suggestions.

May God richly Bless and take care of you. We all love you!

Article by Ed Krusiewig