The Fall of Man

    "And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

    If we would understand anything about the grace of God and the workings of grace for and in elect sinners, we must understand something about the fall. Genesis 3 is one of the most important chapters in all the Word of God. Here the foundation is laid upon which all gospel truth is built. If you trace all the rivers of truth back to their source, you will find their source in Genesis 3. Here the revelation of the great drama of redemption begins, that drama of redemption which is being acted out upon the stage of human history. In this one chapter of inspiration...

    •The present fallen, ruined condition of our race is explained.

    •The subtle devices of the devil are disclosed.

    •The utter inability of man is recorded.

    •The effects of sin are displayed.

    •God’s attitude toward fallen man is set forth.

    •Man’s pride and self-righteousness are demonstrated.

    •God’s gracious provisions for fallen sinners are proclaimed.

    •And the necessity of a mediator is revealed.

    There is no understanding of the rest of the Bible until Genesis 3 is understood. If we go wrong here, we will err in our interpretation of all the rest of the Word of God. If, by the Spirit of God, we can grasp the message of Genesis 3, we will not greatly err in the rest of the Book.

    This much is evident - If Genesis 3 is true, (and it is!), then both the scientists and the sociologist of our day are wrong. The evolutionary scientists tell us that man is slowly, but surely evolving into a perfect being, that though he began very low he has climbed very high. God tells us that he made man perfect, but he has ruined himself. God tells us that he made man very high, but he has fallen very, very low.

    The sociologists, psychologists, educators, and philosophers have been telling us for a hundred and fifty years, that man’s problem is his environment. Religious leaders tell us that man has great potential. His problems are outward. God tells us that our problem is our heart. The fact is, man is a fallen, depraved creature, under the wrath and curse of the holy Lord God, in need of redemption, regeneration, and grace. That is the message of Genesis 3.

    The first six verses of this chapter reveal the sin and fall of our father Adam, and of all the human race in him (Rom. 5:12). Man is not an independent, self-governing creature. He did not make himself. He owes his being to God. Man was made to serve God, to glorify his Creator by his obedience to him. As a symbol of God’s sovereignty and of man’s responsibility, a tree was planted in the midst of the garden which man was not permitted to use for himself (Gen. 2:16-17).

    The only restriction placed upon man’s liberty was the fruit of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” This tree symbolized the relationship in which man stood to God. Adam was created as an intelligent, responsible creature, subject to the rule of God, the Creator. But soon he became a self-seeking, self-willed, self-centered, self-serving rebel. How did this happen? I cannot here give exposition of these verses. That is not my purpose. But there are three things that need to be understood.

    1. Satan tempted, beguiled, and deceived our mother Eve.

    Satan knew how God created Adam and how that he made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. He knew that Eve was the weaker vessel. And he knew Adam’s love for Eve. Therefore, he set his sites on Eve. He was confident that if he could get Eve, Adam would fall. With great subtlety, the old serpent beguiled the woman. The steps that led to her ruin were these.

    First, she heeded the voice of the tempter. Instead of saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” Eve quietly listened as the wicked one assaulted the Word of God. The door was opened when she began to discuss and debate what God had revealed with one who denied it. Second, Eve then began to make additions to the Word of God. Tampering with God’s Word is always fatal. It is just as evil to add our words to God’s as it is to diminish his. Eve said, “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it” (Pro. 30:5-6). Third, the woman proceeded to alter God’s Word - God said, “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Eve said, “lest ye die” or, “we might die.” Fourth, she altogether disregarded God’s Word. She began by questioning the Word. And she soon disregarded it altogether. This is the way sin entered into the world - “The will of God was resisted. The Word of God was rejected. The way of God was deserted” (A.W.Pink).

    In verses 4-5, Satan cast doubt upon the Word of God, the justice of God and the goodness of God. In verse 6, Eve saw, she coveted, and she took. She saw. Perhaps Satan took a bite of the fruit. She desired the wisdom, and freedom, and superiority that Satan promised. She took. She took that which belonged to God alone.

    2. Then Eve gave the fruit to Adam (v. 6).

    As we have seen, Eve was deceived; but Adam was not (1 Tim. 2:13-14). Adam willfully, deliberately rebelled against the express command of God. Because of his love for Eve, he defied God. He willingly plunged himself and all his posterity into enmity against God and spiritual ruin, rather than lose Eve.

    3. When Adam sinned against God, we all became sinners and died spiritually.

    We were all separated from God (Rom. 5:12). Adam was a representative man, a covenant head. He represented all the human race. We all fell through the sin and fall of our father Adam. How thankful we ought to be for this wise arrangement of things by our God.⁴ As an old writer said long ago, “O blessed fall!” Had there been no fall, there would always have been the possibility of one. Had there been no fall, we could never have known the wonders and beauties of redeeming love and saving grace (1 Pet. 1:12). Had there been no fall, we could never have been brought into union with God in Christ, the God-man. Since we fell by a representative, there is hope that we might rise again by a Representative (Heb. 2:16).

    The record of the fall, given in Genesis 3, is the only plausible explanation for the condition of the human race. Original sin is revealed here. It is verified everywhere. How else can anyone explain the universality of sin, the universality of sickness and sorrow, and the universality of death? These things are universal because we all have our being from one man, Adam. We all sinned in him. We all died in him. And we all received our nature from him.

    Here Satan appears for the first time in the Bible. We learn of his prior existence, his original glory, and his terrible fall in Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:12-19, and Revelation 12:7-11. Words cannot be found which are strong enough to adequately describe the crafty deceit, subtlety, and power of this creature, the devil, Satan, the serpent, the dragon of hell (Jude 9). He is too wise for us to out wit him, without divine wisdom. He is too powerful for us to overcome him, apart from Christ. He is too subtle for us to recognize him, apart from the Spirit of God and the Word of God. In this third chapter of Genesis, the Lord reveals three things to us about Satan. Be wise and understand them.

    1. The primary sphere of Satan’s activity is in the spiritual, religious realm.

    Contrary to popular opinion, it is not Satan, but the natural depravity of the human heart that leads men and women into adultery, fornication, blasphemy, drunkenness, witchcraft, etc. (Mk. 7:21-23; Gal. 5:19-21). Satan’s chief aim is to get between us and God. He seeks to keep man from his Maker. His goal is to keep us from trusting Christ. The way he does that is by inspiring confidence in ourselves. He seeks to usurp the place of God, to make God’s creatures his own subjects. His work consists of substituting his own lies for the truth of God. Beware! You will find Satan at work, not in brothels, bars, and dark alleys, but in churches, pulpits, seminaries, and religious activities (Eph. 4:10-12; 2 Cor. 11). Satan goes to church every Sunday. Satan has preachers. Satan tries to get men to perform righteousness, a righteousness of their own, to keep them from trusting Christ alone for righteousness. Satan will give faith, peace, and assurance. His ambition is not to keep men from being religious, and even moral. His ambition is to keep eternity bound sinners from trusting Christ.

    2. The method of Satan’s approach to our souls is the perversion of Holy Scripture and appeals to the flesh.

    He throws doubt upon God’s Word (v. 1). He substitutes his own word for God’s (v. 4). He casts a slur upon the attributes of God (v. 5). He appeals to our flesh (v. 5). He appeals to our bodily senses -- the eye. He appeals to our fleshly emotions -- the desires. He appeals to our intellect – our proud desire to be thought wise. He appeals to pride – that vile pride that makes men desire to be “as gods.”

    3. But our adversary, the devil, shall be destroyed by the power of God (Gen. 3:15).

    At Calvary our Lord Jesus Christ destroyed the devil’s usurped dominion over the nations of the world (John 12:31; Rev. 20:1-3). He who deceived the nations was bound by the crucified Christ, who now gathers his elect out of every nation, people, tribe and tongue. In the new birth, in converting sinners by his almighty grace, the Son of God enters into the hearts of chosen sinners by the power of his Spirit, binds the strong man, takes his house, and spoils his goods (Eph. 2:1-4). In the day of judgment, our blessed Savior shall, at last, crush the serpent beneath our feet (Rom. 16:20).

    As soon as Adam sinned against God, he began to suffer the consequences of his transgression. “The eyes of them both were opened” (v. 7). Their eyes were not enlightened, but opened. They acquired no advanced knowledge, nothing pleasant, or profitable. Their eyes were opened to distressing, evil things. Satan has deceived our race. We lost communion and fellowship with God. We are all (since the sin and fall of our father Adam) without God, without life, without light, without Christ, and without hope by nature (Eph. 2:11-13). “They knew that they were naked” (v. 7). They felt things they had never known or felt before. They lost their innocence. Guilt engulfed them. Shame embarrassed them. Fear terrified them. Hatred arose within them (v. 12). “They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons” (v. 7). The fallen pair began to try to quieten their consciences, cover their nakedness, and get rid of their shame. Then, “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God” (v. 8). When they heard God’s voice, they ran. When they were exposed, they excused themselves (vv. 12-13). Thus it has been with the sons and daughters of Adam from that day to this.

    Adam and Eve were cursed of God. The woman was cursed (v. 16). The man was cursed (v. 17-19). They were driven from the presence of God (vv. 22-24). They died spiritually; and we died in our father Adam (Col. 2:12; Eph. 2:1-4). They began to die physically; and the seeds of death are passed from father to child, generation after generation. They were sentenced to die eternally; and all the sons and daughters of Adam are born “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:4).

    Genesis three shows us the fall of man, the subtlety of Satan, and the ruin of our race, in Adam; but it does not leave us there. This chapter also shows us something of the gracious character of our God. Here we are given great reasons for praise and gratitude to the Lord our God.

    Here is the first call of grace (v. 9). The voice Adam heard was not the voice of a policeman, seeking a criminal. It was the voice of a Father’s love, seeking a son who was lost. It was a call of divine justice that cannot overlook sin. It was a call of divine love that cannot be quenched. It was a call of divine grace that cannot be resisted ( 1 John 4:19).

    Here is the first gospel sermon (v. 15). The preacher was God himself. The audience was a pair of guilty, helpless sinners. The subject was redemption by Christ. It speaks of conflict, enmity, and war between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman (Rev. 12). It speaks of God’s sovereign election and predestination, separating the sons and daughters of Adam into the seed of the serpent and the seed of Christ. This first gospel sermon speaks of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 4:4-6), his death, having his heel bruised by the serpent, and his victory in death crushing the serpent’s head. In a word, this first gospel sermon promised redemption, grace, and salvation by the substitutionary sacrifice of God’s dear Son at Calvary (2 Cor. 5:21).

    Here is the first portrayal of redemption by Christ (v. 21). The guilty pair, under the sentence of death, stood before God. A sacrifice of blood was made -- an innocent lamb. Adam and Eve were stripped of their fig leaf aprons by the hand of God himself. The only way any sinner will ever give up his imaginary righteousness is for God himself to strip away our fig leaf aprons. Then, the Lord God made a covering , without human aid, and put it upon the fallen pair. Like sinners in the experience of God’s saving grace, Adam and Eve were totally passive. God did everything. They did nothing (Eph. 2:8-9; Lk. 15:22; Isa. 61:10).

    Here is the first description of man’s lost condition (v. 24). The fallen pair were driven from the garden, separated from God. They were barred from God by the sword of justice. They were utterly incapable of returning to God. But God, in great mercy, love, and grace, found a way to bring fallen, ruined, helpless sinners back to himself (John 14:6; Zech. 13:7-9; Heb. 10:19-22).