Introduction to the study: Fall of Man
Just about every Christian has heard at least once in their lifetime a sermon about the fall of man. It is actually almost impossible to truly understand why we are sinners and our need for Christ without first being told about the origin of sin. But the fall of man doesn’t only tell us about the origin of sin, but also reveals to us our need for Christ. Furthermore, through careful study of what transpired on that day that changed human history for an eternity, we begin to understand the daily battle we as Christians are subject to from the moment we accept Christ as our personal saviour.
See being born again doesn’t magically sweep the devil off your back. No! The actual opposite happens. His attacks become more vigorous and strategic. But just like the fall of man shows us that we all inherited sin from Adam, it also discloses the traps and snares of the enemy.
I want to encourage you to carefully read the whole of chapter 3 of genesis and meditate especially on those passages that seemed trivial to you in the past. Ask God to reveal to you a message you could have missed or overlooked previously. For no verse is in the Bible for no reason. Each has a specific message ready to be heard by the person open to hear. I intentionally did not try to tell you what I am learning about the first commited sin because I want to encourage you to read these verses and meditate upon them, allowing God to give you a revelation instead of me just influencing what you pick when you read the scriptures. Please feel free to share in the comment section what you learnt as you read the verses in Genesis 3.
In this post, we have been briefly reminded of the story of how sin came into is world and what role our understanding of fall of man plays in our path to salvation. In the next post, we shall study what the fall of man teaches us about our daily battle with the enemy. It will be a pleasure to have you join me as I study and share these series.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hidfrom the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me,and I ate.” 14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;
for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living 21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” – Genesis 3
A Holy Calling 