The Fall

In Genesis 3 it is clear that sin entered the world through Adam and Eve. There was nothing poisonous in the forbidden fruit, for all God made was “very good” (Gen 2:17, Gen 1:31). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was so-called because, if Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and eat from it, they were choosing to be their own judge in good and evil.

Satan introduced Post-Modernism here. Eve was invited to interpret God subjectively. The serpent said Eve would be as God, knowing good and evil. Adam and Eve would be wise in their own sight and decide for themselves between right and wrong. They would be their own god (Gen 11:4, Is 14:13, Dan 3:5, 4:30). This was how Jesus was tempted (Matt 4:3). He could make His own way, rather than obey the Father. Jesus chose obedience, not self-will.

As a result of Adam’s sin, self became the centre of man’s nature. This brought separation from God, physical death, sickness and the entire curse we see upon the earth today. Wars are the fault of man, not of God. God pronounced the curse, not Satan and God uses the curse as a catalyst to bring His people to Christ (Rom 8:20).
This means that fossils are not leftovers of animals that existed before the Fall of man. God did not use the process of death and murder to create life by a long cycle of evolution and self-centred survival of the fittest. That would have been inconsistent with His nature. God is good and His creation was very good.

Theistic evolution (the idea that God used evolution to create) is inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. If death did not come through the sin of Adam, there is no need for Christ to come to save us from sin by dying on the cross. Christ died for sin and thus to put death to death. He has the keys of hell and of death and is the resurrection from the dead. It is evident that Adam’s sin resulted in physical and not just spiritual death:

1. Paul spoke of physical death coming from Adam, when speaking of the resurrection of the body in 1st Corinthians 15.

2. Adam’ sin resulted in the curse, which includes death and sickness. The snake “eating” dust, the thorns, thistles, sweat, labour pains increased and the reduced age of man in the years ahead, are all aspects of physical death which followed as the Fall and curse impacted upon all creation (Gen 3:14-19).

3. God slew an animal to clothe Adam and Eve after they sinned. The physical death of the animal was a result of Adam’s sin and foreshadowed Christ’s physical death for our sin. Adam could see in the death of the animals the consequence of his sin. “The soul that sins must die.” (Ezek 18:20).

4. Christ died physically for our sin. “He bore our sin in His body on the tree.” (1 Pet 2:24).

5. Physical death is an enemy of God, so He did not use it to create the world slowly through evolution (1 Cor 15:26).

Some say that autumn leaves died before the Fall, because there were seasons (Gen 1:14). There was the sun, moon and stars, but the seasons mentioned here were only to measure day, night and years. Other seasons, as we know them today (including cold, heat, summer and winter), were not mentioned until after the Flood (Gen 8:22). We do not know what happened in those earlier days, or the biological and horticultural changes that followed and cannot make assumptions.

So God in His power created man and though He did not author sin or tempt Adam, He allowed the temptation, to give man free will. Adam had free will and in no way was his decision to sin controlled by God. It was Adam’s free choice.

God chose to allow Adam to sin so that He could redeem His chosen people to be His church. In this way, salvation would be by God’s free grace. This was God’s plan before creation, since Christ was “crucified from before the foundation of the earth” (Rev 13:8).

Some ask, why does God allow wars and suffering? Because they are the result of man’s sin and this condition has not changed. Why then does not God change this? He has, through sending Jesus Christ and raising Him from the dead, but man does not accept this.

This tendency of shifting blame to God is exactly what Adam did after he fell, “The woman You gave me, gave me to eat…” (Gen 3:12). The Bible so accurately describes human nature.