If Adam and Eve were dreamers they must have wakened up and found themselves in the midst of a more wonderful universe than they ever could have dreamed. They were the highest created order of this universe and the delight of God. We’re all descendants of this highest order and are naturally going to try to understand our own origin as well as that of all the things around us.
It’s a very normal thing to want to know where we came from. Every child sooner or later wants to know. You mothers, suppose you’re sitting in your living room with a committee of ladies who are interviewing you for the chairmanship of the Society for the Promotion of Proper and Ethical Conversation of your town. It’s a position that you very much want and you’re on your best behavior. Very quietly your five year old comes into the room, stands politely directly in from of your chair and waits for you to ask what she wants. For the first time in her life she speaks slowly and distinctly with each syllable audible as she asks, “Mommy, where did I come from?” Real quickly you tell her that God made her and brought her to you as a baby, and with your silent prayer that the subject won’t be brought up again until her daddy is present and can explain this to her, she disappears to her room.
The Bible clearly teaches the creation of man in Genesis. Anyone who tries to answer the question apart from Scripture proves that man has no certain information about his origin apart from the Bible. It’s the only place we can expect to find a complete and accurate account. Evolution is the only explanation that man has to offer and it’s in contradiction to the Bible’s doctrine of creation. It would take a lot more blind faith to accept evolution than it does the fact that God created all things.
The Bible states that God created animals “after their kind” (Genesis 1:21-25). In contrast with animals He created man in His Own image and likeness and God also breathed into man the breath of life (Genesis 2:7) which is the ultimate act of creation (Genesis 1:26-27).
This distinction puts man above all other forms of life. We have a soul so we are immortal creatures and we have an intellect, emotions, and a will.
Man’s creation involved two things, the material, “dust,” and immaterial, “the breath of life.” They’re referred to as the “outward man” and “inward man.” 2 Corinthians 4:16; “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” They’re also called “this treasure” and “the earthen vessel” in 2 Corinthians 4:7; “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
The Bible tells us that our soul and spirit continue forever. The body returns to the dust from which it was formed, but the spirit goes to God who gave it; Ecclesiastes 12:7; “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Matthew 10:28 states that man can kill the body but not the soul. “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:”
God created man in the eternal state, just as He did the angels and Satan, but man sinned and that brought in physical death. The body of man is the dwelling place of man’s soul and spirit until he dies. The body of both the saved and the unsaved will be resurrected, even though decayed in death, but the resurrections are different.
The bodies of the believers will be transformed and glorified forever at the coming of Christ for His church. Romans 8:11; “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Philippians 3:20-21; “ For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body,”
The Bible plainly tells us how sin entered the universe. In ages past, before man was created and at a time not recorded for us to know, sin first entered the universe with the rebellion of some of the angels led by Satan. 2 Peter 2:4; “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;---”
Genesis 3:6 records the fall into sin by Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
Let’s look at sin from three aspects: Adam before the fall, Adam after the fall, and the effect of the fall on the human race.
The Bible calls the first man Adam and his helpmate, the first woman, Eve. Together they constituted the whole human race before the fall and were free from sin. Adam and Eve, like all the works of God, were "very good" (Genesis 1:31), and pleasing to their Creator.
Their spiritual state was innocence which was freedom from sin, but their character was not one of holiness. God’s character is holy, making it impossible for Him to sin.
Man possessed a complete personality and the capacity to make moral decisions but, in contrast with God who can’t sin, both men and angels could sin. Sin entered angelic creatures when Satan sinned and sin entered the human race when Adam and Eve sinned.
We aren’t told the length of time Adam and Eve were in an unfallen state, but is was long enough for them to have fellowship regularly with God and to name the animals and tend the Garden of Eden. My own personal opinion gathered from intonations in Scripture is that, since Adam and Eve were created in an eternal state, they may have been in the Garden quite a long time. Remember, God doesn’t count time like we do. I believe Adam’s 930 year life span was counted from the time they were cast out of the Garden of Eden and their bodies became subject to the wear and tear of this world.
Man didn’t originate sin, Satan and his angels sinned first. Ezekiel 28:15. “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” The angels who joined Satan in sinning are described as those who "kept not their first estate" in Jude 6. Satan influenced man to sin, but that is not an excuse for man.
According to the record in Genesis 3:1-6, Satan appeared as a very beautiful and attractive creature which was a serpent. God had given Adam and Eve only one prohibition, they weren’t to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:17, "But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This simple restriction tested Adam and Eve’s desire to obey God.
Satan approached Eve like this; Genesis 3:1; "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Satan implied that God was holding back something good and was being less than loving to them. Eve’s answer, found in Genesis 3:2-3; "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."
Eve fell into Satan's trap by leaving out the word "freely" in God's permission to eat of the other trees of the garden, and she also left out the word "surely" in God's warning.
The natural tendency of man is to minimize God's goodness and to magnify His strictness. These characteristics are familiar to the human experience ever since Eve. Satan jumped on the omission of the word "surely" in regard to the penalty and said, Genesis 3:4-5; "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
Satan is the master deceiver and he directly challenged the words of God and expressly denied the certainty of the punishment. It was true that eating the fruit would open their eyes to know good and evil, but what Satan didn’t tell them was that they would have the power to know good from evil without the power to do the good.
Genesis 3:6, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
In 1 John 2:16 we’re given the familiar pattern of temptation along three lines. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” It’s seen here. The fruit was good for food and appealed to the "lust of the flesh." The fact that it was "pleasant to the eyes" appealed to "the lust of the eyes." The power of the fruit to make them wise appealed to "the pride of life."
Eve was deceived into eating the fruit and Adam followed her example although he wasn’t deceived.
1 Timothy 2:14, And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”
Satan later followed this pattern in his temptation of Christ.
Now let’s look at Adam after the fall. When Adam and Eve sinned the earth became subject to a lot of far-reaching changes along with mankind.
Mankind became subject to both physical and spiritual death. God had said, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." [Genesis 2:17]. God’s word was fulfilled. Adam and Eve immediately passed into a state of spiritual death, separated from God spiritually. Sin also introduced their bodies to the process of age and decay and eventually they would suffer the penalty of physical death, which separates the body from the soul.
Satan didn’t fare well either. God judged Satan to crawl on the ground as a serpent. There would also be warfare, described in Genesis 3:15, between God and Satan as it relates to the human race, and God said, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This foretold the battle between Christ and Satan, in which Christ died on the cross but death couldn’t hold Him. This is what is meant by the expression "Thou shalt bruise his heel." Satan's ultimate defeat would come through the seed of the woman who "shall bruise thy head," meaning Satan would suffer a deadly and permanent loss of all his power. The seed of the woman refers to Jesus Christ Who would conquer physical and spiritual death as well as Satan through His death and resurrection.
A special judgment also fell on Eve and all women who would follow her. She would experience pain in giving birth to children and would be required to submit to her husband. Genesis 3:16. “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
The fact that people would eventually die necessitated that the woman continue to bare more children or the human race would die out.
A special curse fell on Adam, it was the hard labor of bringing forth the necessary food for his continued existence. The soil was now cursed with thorns and thistles. Genesis 3:17-19. “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Creation itself was changed by man's sin. Romans 8:22. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”
Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden and began to experience the sorrow and struggle that have characterized the human race ever since. The first physical death recorded is the murder of their second son by his older brother.
Man is still under the penalty of physical death and spiritual death. Physical death is separation of the body from the soul; spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God.
Spiritual separation is called the second death and is the condition of the unsaved. It’s result is eternal separation from God, banished from His presence forever in hell.
Adam and Eve’s sin had an immediate effect on them. They became spiritually dead and needed redemption. They now had a sin nature and all the human race would experience this same nature and it’s adverse effect on living conditions for mankind.
Another important scriptural doctrine came into being when Adam sinned, the doctrine of imputation. God charged Adam with sin and consequently all his descendants would be charged with the responsibility that came about with Adam's first sin.
To impute means to attribute, transfer, or assign, usually in regard to the blame for something bad, but it can also be for something good. It always denotes action on the part of the superior party of the parties involved.
Three definite imputations are set forth in Scripture:
(1) Adam’s sin is imputed, by God, to you and me; Romans 5:12. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"
(2) When Christ went to the cross and died for our sins, God imputed those sins to Christ;
2 Corinthians 5:21. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
(3) Through that act, the righteousness of God is imputed to those who believe, and this is done by God Himself; Romans 3:22. “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:” Romans 4:3. “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Romans 4:8. “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Romans 4:21-25. “And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” 2 Corinthians 5:21, previously quoted, also applies here; “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
God transferred the penalty for man's sin to Christ on the cross. Isaiah tells us that “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Also, Peter wrote, in 1 Peter 2:24. “ Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
The wonderful part is the transfer, or imputation, of the righteousness of God to the believer. There is no other ground of justification or acceptance with God. With the imputation of the believer’s sins to Christ we become a new creation in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” The believer is "in Christ" and becomes a part of the righteousness of God.
God has imputed this tremendous responsibility, the righteousness of God, to the believer!
We are sinners by imputation and God’s judgment is on the whole human race whether or not we committed the sin Adam did. The facts and acts of the old creation were actually transferred to those who are by nature "in Adam." This is grounds for divine judgment but the imputation of the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus is grounds for our justification.
It’s natural that man is going to throw out a disclaimer here that we’re not responsible for Adam's sin. The fact remains that Adam, as the federal head of our race, represented us and God has stated that Adam's one sin is directly imputed to each member of our race and the sentence of death is on every one of us. Romans 5:12.“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Nobody ever had to teach their kids to sin. We sin because we’re born sinners. We don’t become sinners by sinning, we sin because we are sinners by nature.
The effect of sin is universal but so is the offer of divine grace. Romans 5:15. “But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”
God’s judgment absolutely has to rest on anyone outside of Christ for these three reasons; because of imputed sin, because of our inherited sin nature, and because of our own personal sins. These are God’s holy judgments and can’t be compromised. The only escape from judgment is salvation through Jesus Christ. The good news is that Christ died for our sins.
We’re born under the penalty of physical death as well as spiritual death. Physical death is separation of the soul from the body. Spiritual death is the eternal separation of the soul from God and banishes that soul to the confines of hell, and from God’s presence forever.
Matthew 25:41. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” and verse 46: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
Only the salvation offered by our Lord can remove us from these terrors that are imputed to us as the descendants of Adam.
Romans 10:9-10; That if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Acts:10:43: To him give all the prophets witness,
that through his name whosoever believeth in him
shall receive remission of sins.