Volume 2 Lesson 2: Origin of Evil and The fall of man

Origin of Evil and The fall of man

Sin brings Separation from God

Separation from God
(From Forerunner Commentary) Genesis 3:7-10
Genesis 3:7-10 illustrates how no one is ever quite the same after sinning with knowledge. Notice Adam and Eve's sin occurs after God had instructed them (Genesis 2:16-17). Nobody had to tell them they had done wrong—they knew! Now they looked at things differently than they had before; a sense of wrong rushed in on them immediately. Just moments before, all had been friendly and joyful. All of nature seemed obedient to their every wish, and life was good. Suddenly, however, they felt guilt and fear, and it seemed as if every creature in the Garden had witnessed their act and condemned them. Feeling exposed, they sought to hide, illustrating that separation from the purity of God began immediately. The virtue of their innocence began to lose its luster.

David writes in Psalm 40:11-13:
Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD; let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me!

Sin creates a sense of estrangement from God, leaving a tarnishing film on a person's mind. Paul reminds Titus, "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled" (Titus 1:15). Sin perverts the mind so that one does not look at life in the same way as before. Jeremiah 6:15 describes a sickening end to repeated sin:

"Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time I punish them, they shall be cast down," says the LORD.

Some children are adorable because we love to see the beauty of their innocence. But what happens on the trip to adulthood? Sin alters the way a person looks at life and the world. With maturity, people become distrustful, sophisticated, competitive, cosmopolitan, cynical, suspicious, sarcastic, prejudiced, self-centered, and uninvolved. It is sin that drives people apart and creates fear.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Elements of Motivation (Part Seven): Fear of Judgment

1.       With whom did sin originate? 1 john 3:8

2.       How does the bible speak of the fall of Satan? Rev 12:7-9

3.       Who else was involved in this rebellion? Same scripture and Jude 6; 2 Peter 2:4

4.       What did Jesus say of the devil? John 8:44

5.       How did Satan appear to Eve in order to deceive her? Gen 3:1-5

6.       For whom did God prepare the lake of fire? Matt 25:41

7.       What original sin resulted in the fall of man? Gen3:6

8.       As a consequence of this sin how many have become sinners? Rom 5:12

9.       What was the immediate result of sin? Gen 3:7,10

10.   What curse fell upon womanhood? Gen 3:16

11.   What curse fell upon man? Gen3:17-19

12.   What curse came upon the ground? Gen 3:17,18; 4:11, 12

13.   What curse was pronounced upon the serpent? Gen 3:14,15

14.   What did God do to prevent Adam from living forever as a sinner? Gen 3:22,24

15.   Did God place man on the earth without any governing laws? Gen 2:15-17

16.   What did God say would be the result of disobedience? Gen2:17; Rom 6:23

17.   What judgment fell upon the antediluvian world? Gen 6:5-7 ; 7:21-23

18.   How will God destroy the world the second time? 2Peter 3:10-12 ; Mal 4:1,3

19.   Is there any hope for the ones who obey God? Gen3:15 ;Rom 3:24,25 ; Jn 3:16

20.Will God’s plan for this world and for man finally be realized? Rev 21: 1; 22:1-5;2 peter 3:9,13

Genesis 3:22
Exile is a form of punishment that God has used from the very beginning. Here in Genesis 3, in the book of beginnings, we have the first instance of exile imposed by God Himself. It was exile from the Garden of Eden, from all that was wonderful and good that God had created, the perfect environment in which He had placed Adam and Eve. They could never go back. God placed an angel with a flaming sword that would turn whichever way any man juked to get back. If it were still there, it would deny us "paradise" even now.

This context shows three reasons we can glean to determine why God uses exile. The first one is evident—it was punishment for their sins. Adam and Eve took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil when God said they should not take of it. That is sin, breaking a direct command of God. Exile was the punishment.

What else can we glean? What did their exile do? It separated them from access to Him. So, secondly, exile separates man from God. He does not want to be separated from us, but because of sin, it happens. It must happen because He does not like sin in the least. So this is a kind of corollary to the first point. Sin brings exile, and sin causes separation from God.

The third point must be read into it, but it is obvious from God's intent and the way God is. God imposes exile to spur repentance because it should be the natural inclination of men who have known God and all the glorious things that we can have in His presence to return to His good graces.
In summary, the first point is exile occurs because of sin. The second point is exile happens because sinners must be separated from God. And the third point is God uses exile as a goad to motivate sinners to repent.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
How to Survive Exile