The Doctrine of the Fall

We’re featuring a new resource today, Life Walk With Marlene. She writes,

This blog is about my experiences, thoughts and feelings on my journey called living the Blessed life. It is about the ups and downs along the way. The Blessed life is about knowing the Author of life. God alone shows the Way to living the good life that He intended for His creatures since the beginning of time. Travel with me and let us discover together the way to a truly happy life.

Click the title below to read this one at source.

The Fall of Man

Fall: The Semblance of Man to God, Knowing Good and Evil

For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)[1]

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever. (Genesis 3:22)[2]

Man was created in the likeness of God to have a relationship with Him, to be His representative in creation. Why then was he faulted for becoming like God – knowing good and evil? Is this “likeness” similar to what God first intended it to be? Is it not a part of the inherent character of God to discern good from evil?

I believe it is not for “knowing” per se that man was faulted. Rather, it was his act of disobedience to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Previously, God instructed Adam

Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)[3]

Adam and Eve disobeyed God and fell into “shame.” They became aware of their nakedness and covered their bodies with fig leaves. Their eyes were opened. They knew guilt and hid themselves when God came looking for them.

Knowing good and evil brings forth shame and guilt. A baby who knows neither right nor wrong feels not shame or guilt. In the previous section, conscience was mentioned as part of the character of God (His image and likeness). Conscience is linked to knowing good and evil. Man became aware of good and evil because he disobeyed God’s command not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The shame in their newly awakened consciousness of their own nakedness speaks to a deeper shame of their own sinful state. Adam’s fear and hiding “because I was naked” (v.10) was a confused cover for a fear and conviction of sin.[4]

The second reason for man being found guilty for knowing good and evil like God is found in the context of the serpent tempting Eve. Genesis 3:4-5 recounts

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.[5]

The serpent deceived Eve by pointing out how God lied when He warned Adam that eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil would lead to death. The serpent also implied that God did not want man to be like Him knowing good and evil; God did not want to share this “power” of discernment, which belongs to Him alone. Essentially, the serpent was convincing the woman to be “like God” – on the same level as God in the context of pride and power, at the expense of disobeying God’s command. The image of God in man, originally to be man’s glory as he “reflects” God’s glory, is “marred” because man seeks to be like God, thereby, “replacing” God.

What about Genesis 3:22? God seems to be saying that knowing good and evil, like Him (in the plural sense), is “not good” for man. What does “knowing” in this context mean?

The Hebrew term for “knowing” in this verse (verse 5, also) is not unique to this passage or chapter; it’s the same word “yada” used elsewhere, some 960 times in the Hebrew scriptures.[6]

“Yada” can mean to learn, to perceive, to discern, to distinguish, to know by experience, to recognize, to consider, to be acquainted with, and other fairly ordinary definitions of the word listed in

How did Adam and Eve get to know evil when all God has created since day one is good? They knew good because it was all that they “experienced” before their disobedience. Adam knew of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He was told “not” to eat from it for he will surely die if he did. (Gen. 2:16-17)[7] Adam may have inferred the existence of “evil” as 1) something tantamount to deviation from God’s law or directive, and 2) something he was to avoid knowledge about. (Related: Good Ignorance: Handling the Knowledge of Evil) Therefore, Adam knew of evil as a theory until he knew or “experienced” evil in his disobedience.

How about God? If experiential knowledge is the kind of knowledge Adam and Eve gained from disobedience, can we then conclude that God also has/d experiential knowledge of Good and Evil?

The Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of Us, knowing good and evil.”[8]

As God is the paradigm of “Good,” how can it be possible for Him to have personal, experiential knowledge of Evil? Adam came to know by experience, specifically his experience of doing evil – evil being privatio boni, the privation (lack, absence) of good. Adam came to know evil when he did the opposite of good, which was obeying God. On the other hand

God’s omniscience allows Him to know all truths, including what is good, which is rooted in His own nature. And being a God of reason, He knew from eternity past that the absence of good would be evil. Therefore, it is not necessary for Him to know this truth by experience – either seeing it in others or doing it Himself – the latter being impossible. Adam, a non-omnnicient being, could only know evil by either seeing it in others or doing it himself – the latter being the unfortunate reality. In short, Adam became like God in that he knew evil, having come to know it by doing evil. God also knew evil, but by His perfect knowledge of all truth, including the necessary truth that evil is the absence of good.[9]

Implications and applications: Knowing good and evil is part of God’s image and character. Man’s knowledge of good and evil holds him accountable to follow His Creator, so that he will and can live his life in the goodness of God’s image. Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command and took it upon themselves, wanting to “be like God” – all knowing. This sin is pride. The antidote to pride is humility.

Humility is foundation to all other virtues man should learn to live his life. It sounds paradoxical that man, created in God’s image, with “royal splendor” and dignity, should take pride in his status, yet attempt to remain humble in the same image. Humility is not about self-abasement. It is acknowledging that whatever we have comes from God. It is about dependence on God and not on ourselves. Being in God’s image is to be humbly dignified, totally aware that we are God’s creature – a mere reflection of His glory, and not take His glory upon ourselves in our egocentricity.

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[1] New American Standard Bible.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Godandneighbor. “How could Adam and Eve Sin Before Knowing Good and Evil?” God & Neighbor (2012) [home page on-line]; available from http://godneighbor.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/how-could-adam-and-eve-sin-before-knowing-good-and-evil/#comments; Internet; accessed 21 September 2013.
[5] New American Standard Bible.
[6] Godandneighbor.
[7] New American Standard Bible.
[8] New American Standard Bible.
[9] Godandneighbor.

The Fall: The Christmas Story Continues . . .

by Clarke Dixon

Last week we saw how the story of Christmas really has its beginnings way back at Creation. God’s desire from the outset was to be with us, and Christmas is a big part of that happening. As we look to cover the Christmas story from beginning to end, we do not even get out of Genesis chapter 3, or out of the Garden of Eden for that matter, before we see something else critical to the Christmas story. The Fall is part of what Christmas is about. Let us focus in on God’s promise to the serpent:

The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:14-15 emphasis mine

Here we have a promise of struggle. This not really about humans and snakes, this is about humanity’s struggle with evil. Snakes provide a good metaphor for this struggle. A strike to a snake’s head could be fatal. But so too, could a snake’s strike to a human’s heel. We are not sure at the time the promise is given who will be victorious, and who will end up dead.

The odds don’t look to be in our favour, especially given the fact that evil won the first battle when we had our best advantage. We had home field advantage in the Garden of Eden. We had everything, including the amazing presence of God Himself. But we had to have that one fruit. Things do not go our way throughout the pages of the Old Testament either. The history of God’s people, Israel, is a history of trying and failing, getting up and falling, again and again. And consider world history. Though there are bright moments, evil seems all too often to have the upper hand. Given the capacity of humanity to end all life through nuclear warfare, the odds have never been more in the favour of evil winning the war. Who will win in the end, the offspring of Eden, or the offspring of the serpent? It seems like a war humanity has not been winning and cannot win. However, Christmas points us to a clear winner!

Christmas points us to a clear winner when the angel speaks to Joseph.

She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

Mary will bear a son. Jesus is therefore is a candidate for being the “offspring,” or “seed” of Eve. But how can this one man conquer evil when no other man before has? How can this man do what has been impossible for every person before him right back to Adam and Eve, namely, lead a sinless life? And never mind leading his own sinless life, how will he also deal with the sins of others? Though being born of Mary and therefore the offspring of Eve, Jesus is so much more. The next verses make this clear:

All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” Matthew 1:22-23

While this seems to be a war humanity cannot win, this particular seed of Eve has an advantage! He is God with us.

Christmas points to a clear winner when the angel speaks to Mary.

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. Luke 1:30-31

Born of Mary, and so the offspring of Eve. But again, so much more:

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. . . . The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. Luke 1:32-35

The war will be won with this man, a man of holy divinity, on our side!

While we are thinking of Mary, we should note here how the promise of Genesis 3:15 pertains to the offspring of Eve, and not Adam. Note also, how Jesus is born of Mary, but not to Joseph. Here is a hint, though just a hint, way back in Genesis, of the virgin birth of Jesus.

In addition to Christmas there are two other events that point to a clear winner. 

Christmas leads to Easter. The death and resurrection of Jesus points to victory. Paul confirms this for us in Romans 8 when he speaks of evil not being able to knock God’s person down. Satan is the accuser, the one most likely to condemn, pointing the fingers  and declaring “unworthy sinners! You will never be victorious over evil for you are evil.” Hear what Paul has to say:

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Romans 8:31-39

While Satan may be the accuser, God is the judge. God has already demonstrated His love for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus, by giving His life for us, has already declared that He is on our side. Paul goes on about the potential of evil to knock us over and down:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:35-37

In the face of much evil, we are more than conquerors, not because we are able of ourselves to get the upper hand over evil, but “though him who loved us.” No expression of evil in the world can gain the victory and separate us from the love of God:

38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38

Advent is a time of expectant waiting. The second advent of our Lord points us to the clear winner:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, . . . .  And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Revelation 20:1-3, 10

The last book of the Bible, Revelation, recalls the struggle promised in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The serpent’s head is crushed. Evil is utterly defeated.

Looking out at our world we may wonder if humanity can ever win the struggle against evil. Christmas points us to a clear winner. Easter points his to a war already won. The coming Day of the Lord, the second advent of Christ points to every battle finished.

At Christmas we celebrate the incarnation of God as the answer to the prophetic question asked in Genesis 3:15; “will humans ever win this struggle against evil?” Evil struck the heel of Eve’s offspring when the forces of evil conspired together to put Jesus to death. But in dying and in being raised to life, Jesus has crushed the serpent. We have a clear winner. Christmas points the way to victory. We have the opportunity to become “more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

All Bible references are from the NRSV

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Read this post at its source and then look around the rest of Sunday’s Shrunk Sermon

Were Adam and Eve Tempted By a Snake, or Tempted By Satan?

Last summer at The Meeting House, Canada’s largest multi-site megachurch, author Philip Yancey suggested that perhaps it would have been better if God had told Adam and Eve, “Don’t eat the snake.”

Back to our title question…

Okay, at first I didn’t get all the nuances of this question, but apparently some of us have different understandings about this aspect of the Genesis story. Clark Bunch — who is a frequent commenter at Thinking Out Loud — raised this a few days ago, with a link to Answers In Genesis. But knowing the “click record” here, I decided to include both Clark’s comments and the AIG article. You know the saying, “Copying from one source is plagiarism; copying from two sources is research.”  But then again, that’s how we roll here; except that C201 readers are very strongly encouraged to click to read things at source; so that would mean starting at Clark’s blog, The Master’s Table, where this appeared as Was The Serpent in the Garden of Eden Satan?

Most people believe that Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden as a serpent and tempted Eve to commit sin.  Some point out, however, that the Genesis account does not directly identify the serpent as Satan, and others will actually argue againstthe serpent being Satan.  So am I knowing and willfully opening this potential Pandora’s box?  Oh yeah.

I suggest beginning with a read of Genesis 3.  In verse 15, God speaks of enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.  This makes little sense if God is speaking to a mere serpent.  But if the seed of woman is a veiled reference to the Son of Man, i.e. Jesus who is the Christ, then this is the first prophesy of the Messiah.  My readers already know I believe this to be true.  If Genesis 3 is the first mention of a future salvation, then the serpent must be Satan, the Devil, whom Jesus will ultimately defeat and cast into the lake of fire.

The next thing I wish to do is acknowledge Troy Lacey and the website AnswersinGenesis.org.  This article is the most concise listing of the scriptures making this case that I’m aware of.  Lacey begins with Genesis 3 as I have above.  He then goes to Ezekiel 28, and includes linkage to some back story on how this passage may be interpreted.  If you conclude that Ezekiel 28 address the fall of Satan from glory and his future demise, then notice verse 13 that says “you were in Eden.”  No kings alive during Ezekiel’s time (nor any human being besides Adam and Eve) could have been in the Garden of Eden.  Like many Bible prophesies, Ez. 28 refers to events that are both near and far in fulfillment.  The prophesies listed are only somewhat fulfilled in the destruction of the actual prince and king but describe the already and future demise of Satan.  Similarly with Isaiah 14.

Finally, the Revelation refers to Satan three times as a serpent.  (Lacey links each occurrence, be sure to read his article.)  Rev. 12:9 offers the best support that Satan and the Garden serpent are one in the same:

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

The Bible never says the devil was the Genesis 3 serpent; but Satan is called the ancient serpent in Revelation.  Notice the ancient serpent/devil/Satan, whatever name he is known by, is the deceiver of the whole world.  At the time of outcast from Eden, Adam and Eve were the whole world.  And after being cast from Heaven the earth, this plane of existence, has been home to Satan.  When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden he knew that it was already the dwelling place of Satan and his angels.

Was the serpent in the Garden of Eden Satan?  I believe it was.  Does the Bible say so?  I believe it does; what do you think?

~Clark Bunch

Next, for those of you didn’t click the link in the above, here’s the AIG piece, Feedback: Who Was The Serpent?

In your [July 15] feedback you wrote “according to the scriptural record only God, Adam, Eve, Satan, and the two Cherubim placed there to guard it were ever in Eden.” I have read Genesis and it does not say anything about Satan or a being known as Lucifer being in the Garden of Eden. There was a serpent but except for the fact that it talked there is nothing in a plain reading of Genesis to indicate that this serpent was anything but a snake that was clever and could speak. A talking animal would have to be regarded as somehow involved with the supernatural but nowhere in Genesis does it say that Satan or Lucifer disguised themselves as a serpent or took the form of a snake to trick Eve. When God found out what had happened he did not punish Satan or Lucifer.  ~S. K.

Dear S.K.,

You are correct when you say that the book of Genesis does not mention the name or title “Satan,” nor does it specifically state that Lucifer or any demonic being controlled the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Having said that, however, we can ascertain who this serpent was (or rather who was controlling and speaking through this serpent) from other passages of Scripture, and from the context of Genesis 3 itself. As mentioned in the feedback article, Lucifer and Sin, Ezekiel 28:13 states that the being addressed was listed as being in Eden, the Garden of God. If this passage is talking about Satan, as I argued in that previous article, then there is a clear reference to Satan being in the Garden of Eden. Since Satan was a created being, and since Eden was guarded by cherubim after the Fall, he must have been in Eden between his creation and the Fall of man. Many scholars believe, based on Job 38:7, that all the angels, including Lucifer, were created on or before Day 4 of creation week along with the Sun, Moon and Stars, only two days before the creation of Adam and Eve.

Secondly, Satan is called a serpent, not once but three times in the book of Revelation (Revelation 12:9, 12:15, 20:2). When combined with Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 11:3, the identification of the serpent in Genesis 3 with Satan is unmistakable. Revelation 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3).

We see an obvious parallel here with Genesis 3. Revelation 12:9 says that Satan is called “that serpent of old,” that he was punished (cast out), and that he presently deceives the whole world (remember that Adam and Eve were even the “whole world” of humanity at the time of the Fall). Revelation 20:2–3 also calls Satan a serpent and speaks of his punishment again. This time he will be bound and thrown into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years, so that he will not be able to deceive the nations. Satan’s work of deception began in the Garden of Eden and has continued worldwide ever since then. Only Christians can escape Satan’s deceptions by simple and pure devotion to Christ (i.e., trusting and obeying His Word by His Spirit).

Finally, in Genesis 3:14-15 we read of God’s curse upon the serpent and the promise of a Savior from the seed of the woman.

So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

The prediction of enmity (hatred and warfare) between the seeds (in some sense offspring or descendant) of the woman and of the serpent makes no sense if the serpent was merely a physical animal. The seed of the woman is a future male child. If only serpents and natural human descendants are in view here, then that means that snakes are doomed to go around biting men in the heels and then getting their heads crushed. Given the verses in Revelation and 2 Corinthians, this obviously is not the intent of the prophecy.

Orthodox Christians have always understood this to be the first prophecy of the Messiah, who would be the savior of the world. Satan did bruise Jesus on the heel (so to speak), by moving men to crucify Him. But it was only a temporary wound, for He rose from the dead. But the same act by which Satan thought he had defeated Jesus Christ, was the very act by which Jesus destroyed the power of Satan, and His resurrection was the proof and seal of that victory. One day the full results of that victory will be realized when Satan’s head will be crushed in the sense that he will be cast into the Lake of Fire where he will be tormented day and night, forever (Revelation 20:10).

He condemned all snakes to crawl on their bellies but if all created “kinds” have not changed since creation they must have been doing that anyways, so mankind were the only ones punished.

Creationists do not say that the original created kinds have not changed since Creation. It is clear from Scripture and from the study of living things that God implanted a great capacity for change and adaptation in the DNA of created kinds. We see this, for example, in the great variety within the cat and dog kinds or the variety within mankind. So there is great variation within each kind but one kind does not change into a different kind. Cats reproduce cats, dogs reproduce dogs and people reproduce people. But Genesis 3 also makes it clear that because of God’s curse on all of creation, the serpent was physically changed (to crawl on his belly), the woman was changed physically (increased pain in childbirth), and both man and woman were changed physically so that their bodies began the process of decay leading to eventual death. Given that God also cursed the other animals (Genesis 3:14), they undoubtedly were changed physically in some ways also, e.g., some herbivores became carnivores sometime after the Fall.

So, Genesis 3 is teaching us about Satan’s deception of Eve, the sin of Adam, God’s judgment of the whole creation, and His first promise of the coming Messiah to overcome the work of Satan and the sin that infects us all, inherited from Adam. That freedom comes to us when we turn from our sin and put our trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. If you haven’t done that, I would urge you to find out more and do so.

~Troy Lacey