8. The Fall of Mankind

Chapter 8
The Fall of Mankind.

Adam and Eve were given authority and dominion over every living thing upon the earth, which included Satan and his demonic followers.  Mankind, meaning Adam and Eve had the dominion and authority to keep Satan under control.  Remembering that there were two trees in the garden, they were given the choice of which tree to eat from.  Obedience or disobedience - life or death.  Satan, in his cunningness looked for every opportuity to tempt mankind wherever it looked like he was vulnerable.  He found it in Adam toward Eve.

Satan Deceived Eve Not Adam

The command of God to not eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was given to Adam.  Scripture clearly indicates that Eve was not even created until after the command of God was given to Adam.  As such, Adam then had the responsibility to fully instruct Eve on the command of God (Gen 2:17-18). 

The word "wife" means "help mate," and the word "husband" mean "mate." That means the "help mate" is meant to “ help the mate.” Eve was meant to help Adam steward the earth, using the authority that God gave both of them.

Submission

Submission seems to be an ugly word in today’s modern society. God’s design however is perfect; for He knew all along how orderly systems should run. It is human beings who have fouled up and misinterpreted God’s order of submission.

Scripture points out that Eve was aware of the command of God to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil for she repeated the command back to the serpent.  Did she not fully understand or was she was simply easily persuaded by the serpent to go against the command of God? Whichever it was, the serpent, disguised as Satan was able to deceive Eve into thinking that it was a good thing for her and Adam to have knowledge of good and evil, and when it would happen, they supposedly would become just like God, and would not die (Gen 3:1-5). 

Adam’s Lack of Use of His Authority

It is interesting to note that Adam was standing right next to Eve when Satan used his deceptive powers over her. As head over the marriage union, Adam did not exercise his authority to tell his wife to stop listening to the serpent.  Scripture indicates that he just stood there and said nothing as she ate of the forbidden fruit, then she handed it over to him and he gladly ate of it himself. Both were deceived, and neither was blameless (Gen 3:6).

Adam and Eve Lost It All

Adam and Eve actually became the first people to be born again; however, they became born again from life unto death.  As a result of listening to and obeying Satan the deceiver, their eyes became open to the knowledge of good and evil and they became spiritually dead. Their new sinful nature gave them a new god.  Adam and Eve gave up their stewardship, dominion, and authority over the earth.  As a result of sin operating in the earth, God ordained that his creation, now under the obedience of Satan, along with all that dwelt upon it would be cursed.  God could not allow sin upon the earth to continue forever as was offered to Adam and Eve when He created them in His image.  The human race became subject to sickness, injury, and death.  Being subject to sin and its consequences, man began fighting for himself, against his fellowman, and over everything upon the earth.  Even Adam and Eve's first child (Cain) murdered his younger brother (Abel).  The effects of sin covered the whole earth, bringing on natural disasters, such as "earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, drought, and extremes of heat and cold."(1)  With that one act, Satan regained control over the earth. 

Because Adam and Eve listened and obeyed the voice of Satan, they could no longer commune and walk with God because they were now spiritually dead.  God's commandment given to Adam and Eve to not eat of the Tree of Good and Evil brought upon the consequences He had warned against - "they would surely die." That one act changed the course of mankind upon the earth.

People have this mentality that it is Adam and Eve's fault that sin came into the world.  One thing to know is that if Adam and Eve obeyed God, then Cain and Abel were under the same temptation as they were to disobey God.  Sooner or later, someone would disobey God and eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Sin nature then would enter in!  Again, God is giving mankind a free will to obey or disobey Him.  And again, God is looking for those who are faithful to Him until the end.

Man Hid From God

God found Adam and Eve hiding in the garden, and knew they were hiding from Him.  While it was His desire that they remain innocent and obedient, so evil had no entrance into their hearts, He gave them a "free will" to choose.  They disobeyed, and as such, made their choice. The moment they ate of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil they died spiritually, losing their communion with God.  Sin had entered into their hearts and they now possessed a sin nature. Mankind now had the ability see good and evil, which included their sin against God. As such, they hid themselves. They knew they had sinned, and discovered they were both naked and became ashamed. Before the fall, in their innocence, nakedness brought no shame. When God asked them what had happened, Adam blamed Eve for the eating of the forbidden fruit, and Eve blamed the serpent; however, both were equally as guilty (Gen 3:7-13). 

The Curse Upon the Serpent

Sin had come to rule over God’s beautiful creation. Therefore, as was promised, God had to deliver the consequence of sin, which were in the form of curses.  The first curse came upon the serpent because he was the one responsible for instigating the fall (Gen 3:14).  Today, most people despise and have great fear for serpents, regardless of whether they are venomous or not. They are also considered to be the lowliest of creatures upon the earth.

The First Prophecy in Scripture

In the next verse of Scripture God gives His first prophecy to Satan of a coming One Who would later defeat him (Gen 3:15).  Here God warned Satan (shown as a serpent), telling him that a time would come when the seed of a woman, namely Mary, would have a son. Her seed, or son, would be the one that he should fear. This son would be the Christ, the Messiah, Who would one day be sent by God to save people from their sins – the sins brought about by Satan himself. God was warning Satan that no matter how hard he may try to destroy this seed, this seed will destroy him.

While mankind lost their dominion and authority over Satan, they chose to be deceived by him.  While a time would later come when the "seed of a woman," meaning Jesus Christ would come, this seed could not be deceived, and would definitely defeat him.  Satan was now on a time lease when he would be destroyed.

The Curse Upon the Woman

God put a curse upon the woman for listening to and obeying the serpent. Regardless of how confused or deceived she might have been over understanding God’s command to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, she was still responsible to obey God. Because she did not, she too was now under a curse.

Let’s look at God’s chain of command – God’s carefully created order.

• God, as the ultimate authority, gave the command to Adam to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
• Adam was the head of that marriage union. He was responsible before God to tell his helpmate, or wife, what God had commanded. By Scripture we know that Eve did know because she told the serpent she knew she would die if she ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Sadly, the serpent convinced her she was confused on what God said.
• As the helpmate, or wife, Eve was first responsible to God and then to her husband. Eve violated both commands.
• Adam, on the other hand, listened to his wife and went against God’s commands, and ate of the forbidden fruit.
• Both Adam and Eve had authority over every living thing that crept upon the earth, and that included the voice of the serpent. Both disobeyed God and listened and obeyed the serpent.

God had to reiterate to Eve her role as help mate, or wife, to her husband. She was not the head of the marriage – her husband was the head. Because she chose to violate the command of God, spoken through her husband, her pain in childbirth would be great. God would also put an inner longing in her to obey her husband, as well as her husband would have a desire to have leadership over her Gen 3:16). 

The Curse Upon the Man

God had given Adam the responsibility over the marriage union. He was the head of the marriage, and he violated his responsibility. Adam had warned his wife, but he still chose to do what she wanted instead of listening to God. Eve was standing right there with Adam when Satan beguiled her, and when she saw that the fruit was good to eat, she ate it and gave it to him. He then ate of the fruit with her together.  The curse now had to come on Adam as well (Gen 3:17-19). 

The Curse Upon the Earth

Along with the curse put upon man, God also cursed the earth - the earth He recently had re-created. Along with the death of man also came the death of animal and vegetative life upon the earth. In other words, they too were forbidden to eat of the fruit of the tree that would sustain life.  Death would bring thorns and thistles and would need to be tilled. It would no longer be like the beautiful garden that God had created. Out of sweat, man would now have to till the earth to bring on new life.

Death to All

Physical death to both Adam and Eve were eminent. When it would happen, however, would simply be a matter of time. When that time came, both Adam and Eve's physical body returned back to the dirt of the earth. God formed mans' body from the earth, and to the earth he would return.  Their spirit/soul; however, would live on forever.

The Tree of Life

If Adam and Eve were allowed to continue to continue to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life in their sinful nature, they would never die. Their sinful nature would grow and become more evil because sin begets sin. That would also mean that any and all off-spring would also live forever in their sin nature as well if allowed to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life.  We can only imagine what would have happened if every human being since Adam and Eve were kept alive in their sin nature and allowed to life forever? The evil that is in this earth today of over seven billion people would be nothing compared to all 45 billion plus people who has ever lived during these past 6000 years. God had to stop sin from multiplying and continuing on forever.

Forced to Flee

God forced Adam and Eve out of His beautiful Garden of Eden and placed cheribum angels with flaming swords to guard the gates of the garden. Never again could man get near that garden to reach the Tree of Life. Their life source had ended (Gen 3:22-24).  
It was only a matter of time when the full manifestation of sin had its end results in the sin nature of mankind and brought upon physical death. Because the Tree of Life was denied, Adam and Eve were now on a progressive decaying process of their mortal bodies. Physical death was eminent for them as well as any and all of their offspring.

Click here to view Chapter #9 - God Regretted Created Mankind"

End Notes

(1)  MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Hebrews , pg. 57.  Moody Press.