Lesson One – The Fallen Human Condition
What Happened?
We will return to the story of creation for a moment, as it was only a short time after Adam received God’s breath of life that death became a reality. According to Archbishop Ussher 1 of the 17th century the creation of the world is dated October 23, 4040 BC. Ussher was Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin and did extensive work on the biblical timeline. He further concluded that Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden on November 10, 4004 BC. If this is accurate, and man was created on the sixth day, the couple’s stay in the garden was less than two weeks. What a catastrophe!
The biblical account of Satan’s assault on God’s creation was him deceiving Eve in telling her that God had actually lied to her about His instruction – not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
“And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’
” Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ ” (Gen. 3:1-4)
Not only did Eve believe the lie, but she acted and ate from the tree. And then, convinced her husband Adam to do the same. The consequences devastating, and would affect all of their descendants. It was a direct and deliberate act of disobedience to God’s instruction, and His warning of the consequences:
“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘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.’ ” (Gen. 3:16-17)
This is the event that has been given the term “The Fall of Man.” With Adam’s death also came the death of all of mankind. So what does this mean, as billions of humans have lived since? This is a death of the spirit, meaning it has lost the life that Adam so enjoyed in his communion with God. The divine order that we looked at in a previous lesson has been broken, and been replaced with confusion.
Let’s now take a lesson from Sam. What does this look like?
Man’s spirit was originally the highest part of his entire being to which soul and body were to be subject. Watchman Nee describes this very well:
“Under normal conditions the spirit is like a mistress, the soul like a steward, and the body like a servant. The mistress commits matters to the steward who in turn commands the servant to carry them out. The mistress gives orders privately to the steward; the steward in turn transmits them openly to the servant. The servant appears to be the lord of all, but I actuality the lord over all is the mistress.”
We saw previously the Adam chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. While in Eve’s case, she was deceived, Adam knew full well what he was doing and therefore was consigned death by his creator. This death was a death of the spirit, meaning he lost his ability to know his creator or recognize His master’s voice. The fruit of the knowledge of good and evil uplifts the human soul and suppresses the spirit. All of man’s doings therefore are confined to the natural realm of the created, unable to be united to God’s supernatural and uncreated life.