By Sharon Amari
The Fall is when Adam disobeyed the commandment of
God by yielding to the temptation of Satan in the Garden of Eden. How could Satan be successful in
tempting Adam and Eve in a supposedly perfect world? Was man solely responsible
for the Fall? Were the consequences of the Fall too harsh?
The
Temptation of Man
Satan accomplished his task by successfully tempting
Eve. He made her doubt God’s love,
goodness and wisdom. In addition, he made God a liar and untrustworthy and
therefore made Eve disbelieve God’s words. He also presented her the forbidden fruit in a tempting and
very appealing way. Eve looked at the forbidden tree with sinful desire and
lusted after that knowledge of good and evil. In summary, we can say that the
doubt of the divine goodness, wisdom and love, the disbelief in God’s word and
the coveting of the divine prerogatives all led man to disobey and break God’s
command. Therefore the Fall was a
complete moral revolt against God’s sovereignty, authority and will.
There are many practical applications for us
today. Once we hold God’s
Word in contempt, “we shake off all reverence for him.” Faithlessness opens the door to
ambition, pride and lust. Adam
would have never opposed God’s authority if he had not disbelieved God’s
Word. Faith and trust in God’s
word is the key here. Once we lose faith in God’s word, we fall into
disobedience and rebellion.
The fact that man fell to the temptation of Satan
demonstrates that sin was already present in the universe prior to the
fall of man. John Murray notes
that though Satan tempted man to sin, this temptation was the occasion
of man’s fall and not the cause.
He adds that no external power or influence can cause a rational being
to sin. The sin of Adam “was a
movement of defection and apostasy and transgression in Adam’s heart and mind
and will, and for that movement he was responsible and he alone was the agent
and subject.” (Collected Writings of John Murray, Volume II, P. 67)
Therefore, man was solely and wholly
responsible. God gave man the
power to make choices. Though
there was no necessity arising from his physical, moral or environmental nature
that he should sin, yet man chose to do so. John Laidlaw writes: “It arose with
an external suggestion, and upon an external occasion, but it was an inward
crisis” (The Biblical Doctrine of Man, p. 142.)
Satan tempted man and Christ with similar
temptations. Satan tempted Eve with the desire of the eyes and flesh. We read
in the text that the “woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was
a delight to the eyes…” In addition, he tempted her with the pride in
possessions of power and status: “… and that the tree was to be desired to make
one wise.” The result was that she
fell into the temptation and “she took of its fruit and ate and also gave some
to her husband who was with her and he ate.”
Contrary to man, Jesus did not yield to the
temptation of the devil. The tempter tempted him with the desires of the flesh
by telling him to turn the stone into bread and with the pride of possessions
by showing him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Yet Jesus stood
the test and did not fall into temptation. It is true that Satan’s schemes are
to tempt us with the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the
pride in possessions as we read the following in 1John 2:16: “For all that is in the world -
the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions -
is not from the Father but is from the world.”
But there was actually a difference between the
temptation account of Jesus and that of Adam. Adam was placed in a perfect setting. He had everything he needed. He was not
hungry nor lacking anything. Yet despite the perfect setting and condition he was
living in, he failed and fell into the temptation. Jesus on the other hand was very hungry since he did not eat
for 40 days. He was weak and tired.
In addition, the tempter came to Jesus at a time when He was about to
start his earthly ministry. Throwing
himself down to the temple and then be rescued would have been a good start to
establish his name and fame. Yet
despite his weak condition, his hunger and his ministry status at that point,
Christ stood the test and did not yield to the temptation. What a difference!
Another contrast to Adam’s and Christ’s temptation is
that Christ kept his faith in God’s word.
Adam and Eve doubted God’s Word, yet Christ used God’s Word as the means
of overcoming Satan’s temptations.
When Satan tempted Christ to turn the stone into bread, Jesus replied: "It
is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God.'" When Satan tempted Jesus to throw himself from
the temple, Jesus answered: “Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord
your God to the test.'" And finally, when Satan tempted Jesus to worship
him, Jesus said: "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship
the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'" In every single
temptation, Jesus affirmed his faith in God’s words. On the other hand, Adam’s
lack of faith in God’s word was what led to his fall.
God
commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. He clearly stated that the
moment they eat from that tree, they will surly die. Adam and Eve broke God’s
commandment by disobeying God and eating from the forbidden tree. The consequence
of their sin was death with all its aspects: spiritual, physical and
eternal. We see that this single
sin has produced guilt, depravity and death not only to Adam but to the whole
human race and thus changed the entire character and condition of man kind
throughout all times. This is very
apparent in the human condition today. Humans are mortal beings who are spiritually
dead apart from Christ. Paul
writes, “By nature all are children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3). This verse shows that
all humans had a corrupt nature. Here, the word “nature” doesn’t refer to the
nature as it was originally created by God since God cannot be the author of
corruption and death, but as it was defected and ruined in Adam. We read in Romans 5:12 the following: “Therefore, just as
sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men because all sinned.”
Were the penalties of their sin harsh? No doubt they
were, but here are some considerations to keep in mind:
1. God is the creator and the owner of man and of the whole universe. “The ultimate and absolute ground of supremacy is creating, and of inferiority, being created (Murphy, Commentary on the book of Genesis Pg. 116.) Therefore, God has the right to command and the right to set the penalty for breaking the command.
2. God warned Adam in advance about the
consequences. Therefore nothing came by surprise so we cannot label God as
unjust. The simple fact that He
warned Adam and Eve tells us that he is a just judge.
3. It shows us God’s Holiness. The fact
that it was a harsh penalty tells us how holy God is and how intolerant of sin
He is. His eyes are so pure that they cannot behold sin.
4. The fact that it came to be true tells
us that God keeps his words. He
takes his words seriously and so should we.
5. It shows us the horrifying nature of
the sin Adam and Eve committed.
Murphy (Commentary on the book of Genesis Pg. 116) wrote: “To disobey
the command of God, imposed according to the dictates of pure reason, and with
the authority of a Creator, from the vain desire of being like him, or
independent of him in knowledge, can never be anything but an offence of the
deepest dye.” The real and obvious
motive of the transgressor was the desire of knowledge and likeness to
God. It was not simply eating the
fruit of the tree for pleasure but to attain what the serpent promised Eve: the
power and wisdom to become like God.
Paul writes in Romans 6:23 the following: “For the wages of sin is
death.” Like wages, death is a fitting return, a just recompense for our sins.
In
spite of the harshness of the penalty, we still see God’s mercy and love in the
narrative account:
1. God could have eliminated the entire human race, yet because of his mercy and love, and for the sake of His glory, he allowed it to continue. Eve will still bear children, but with much pain. The land will still produce for Adam, but he has to work very hard to live and survive.
2. We see from the beginning that God
already had put together a plan of redemption that began to unfold. We read in Genesis
3:15 the following sentence pronounced on the serpent- the devil: “I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring1 and
her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” I believe that this refers to Christ.
We have seen that humans are lost and in complete
darkness. They are not just in darkness, but they love darkness rather than
light, as we read in John 3:19, their deeds are evil; Not only they live in
darkness and love it, they reject the true light which is Jesus. We read in John 3:20 the following: “For everyone who does wicked
things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be
exposed.” They want to continue sinning and not
be exposed.
Man is a completely miserable creature. Both man’s soul and mind are corrupt. He is perverted in every part. This is the case of humans by “depravity of nature.” The will of man is held bondage by sin and therefore it cannot do or desire to do good. Thus man sins “of necessity, but without compulsion.” Any movement towards doing “good” is really the beginning of conversion to God. Calvin summarizes it as follows: “Therefore simply to will is of man; to will ill, of a corrupt nature; to will well, of grace.” The grace of God through Christ is the only sole remedy to free man from this miserable state,