Dictionary Article

Transition from a condition of moral innocence and favor with God to a condition of being condemned to death, which occurred in the history of humankind with Adam’s eating of the forbidden fruit.

The narrative of Creation in Genesis 1 and 2 affirms the distinctiveness of both man’s nature and task. Man (used in this article as a generic term for male and female human beings) was created in the image of God for the purpose of communion and fellowship with God. As God’s representative, he was given dominion on the earth to cultivate and use its resources for the glory of God.

In addition to the cultural mandate, man also received a specific command. He was authorized to use the vegetation of the Garden of Eden for food, but he was expressly forbidden to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The purpose of this command was to introduce into the human consciousness the radical antithesis between good and evil and to confirm man in the service of the Creator. As a faithful and loyal servant, man was to enjoy all the blessings bestowed by his Father in heaven and at last be led into the fullness of eternal life with God.

Man was made a living creature, as were the animals, but the core of his life was to be union and communion with God. Fellowship with God was to become Adam’s conscious possession, in contrast to the animals that know neither the possibility of sin nor conscious communion with God. In full awareness of the evil of the alternative, man was to serve God willingly and lovingly. His life before God was therefore to be religious rather than instinctive.

The purpose of God in giving the command not to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was to establish humans in the ways of righteousness and faith, but Satan used the command as an occasion to tempt man to rebel against God. Although there was no evil for man in being tempted, it was evil for Satan to tempt man to sin. This means that there was evil in the universe prior to the fall of man. It was the apparent purpose of Satan to subject man to himself, and through man to extend his kingdom of darkness over the earth. The fall of man and the subsequent program of redemption must be understood in the context of the cosmic conflict between God and Satan, in which the ultimate triumph of God is assured. Satan approached Adam by way of Eve, using the serpent as his instrument to entice them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The difference between good and evil was not concealed from man prior to the fall, though man’s experiential knowledge was only of the good. Adam was to receive instruction concerning the nature of this distinction and the consequences of eating or not eating only from God. As he had received life in the beginning from his Creator, so now he was to live in obedience to every word that proceeded from the mouth of God. The purpose of the temptation was to urge independence from God. Satan called into question the truth of God and challenged his authority. He led man to think that he could determine for himself the difference between good and evil and that he could control the consequences to his own advantage. It was the temptation for man to be a god to himself.

Adam fell when he yielded to the temptation of Satan and, together with his wife, ate of the forbidden fruit. The act of rebellion was an act of disobedience, disloyalty, faithlessness, and unbelief. As the command not to eat summarized and brought to a focus all that was involved in righteousness before God, so the transgression epitomized radical apostasy from God. Undivided obedience to God gave way to whole-souled rebellion and complete revolt: the authority of God was repudiated; the goodness of God was doubted; the wisdom of God was disputed; and the truth of God was contradicted. A whole new complex of affections and emotions took possession of the heart and mind of man.

The immediate effects of the fall are visible in the loss of boldness and joy in the presence of God and the emergence of fear and shame. They are visible also in the alienation of Adam and Eve from God. This is exemplified in the curse in relation to man, but more pointedly in the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden. The Garden was the dwelling place of righteousness, the sphere of union and communion between man and God. Expulsion was inevitable once the communion was severed by unrighteousness. As God had warned, the consequence of sin was death. Since death intervenes at every point where there is life, it works itself out also in the dissolution of the body in the grave.

Contemporary Understanding of the Fall

Within contemporary theology of all confessional varieties, there is widespread denial of the historicity of the biblical account of the fall. It may be granted that the Genesis account is told as history continuous with subsequent history and that within the worldview of the writers of the Bible the account is alluded to as history. But it is argued that moderns can receive the story of the fall only as myth. This view has its source in the development of an evolutionary view of human origins coupled with a negatively critical evaluation of the literary history of the Genesis account.

Although the historicity of Adam is often abandoned, there is usually an attempt to appreciate the “truth” conveyed by the myth. For example, it is said that every person is Adam, and that everyone living is a sinner as far back as he or she can remember. Others see in the myth not a fall but an ascent to conscious and independent responsibility. Sin is thought of as necessary to religious maturity in the same way that exposure to competition from opponents strengthens the prowess of an athlete.

Because of the way the Bible parallels Adam and Christ (Rom 5:12-19; 1 Cor 15:22), a mythological understanding of Adam leads to a mythological understanding of Christ. As Adam becomes a symbol for the universality of sin and death, so Christ becomes simply a symbol for the inherent righteousness and redemption of all men.

The modern isolation of the message from the history of Genesis 1–3 violates the integrity of the account without offering a valid explanation for the universality of sin and death. Christian doctrine holds that sin entered the world through a specific man, Adam, and was overcome by Jesus Christ, another man, by his death and resurrection.

The consequences of the fall are not limited to Adam and Eve but extend to all those descended from the first pair by natural generation, because there is a unique relation of solidarity existing between Adam and the rest of the race. Some theologians accent the generic connection between Adam and his descendants, while others focus on the covenant relationship of Adam as the head and representative of his posterity. The consequences of Adam’s transgression for the human race are the imputation of his sin to all his descendants, their consequent liability to death, and their inheritance of a depraved nature.

The results of the fall are also manifest in the cosmos as the curse works itself out in the resistance offered to the accomplishment of the original cultural mandate. Only with the pain and danger attendant upon childbirth is the world populated, and only with arduous, toilsome labor are the food, clothing, and shelter necessary to sustain life provided.

However, the fact that death does not descend immediately upon man after the fall as final judgment is indicative of God’s saving purpose for man. Adam does not hear the curse of death pronounced until he has heard the promise of a Savior (Gn 3:15).

After Genesis 3, the Bible only infrequently refers to the fall of man, but this historical event is the indispensable presupposition of all that follows. The thrust of the Bible is toward the future—the widening effects of sin and the unfolding of God’s remedy.

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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary