Lesson Two – The Fallen Human Condition
Man’s Dilemma
Sam now finds it difficult to determine God’s will, or even his own spirit’s lead. Confusion has set in and now he relies on his outside world for direction. His soul and body will now influence most of his behavior. The “mistress” has been shunned with the steward and the servant now in control – Satan has achieved his purpose; all of Adam’s descendants will be infected with the folly of what comes from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
We saw earlier that a person’s will is an attribute of his soul, along with his mind and emotion. Adam chose to disobey God’s instruction of his own volition. He became emotionally involved in what Eve offered him and decided (the mind) to rebel. The entire process was carried out through the part of Adam’s make up called the soul. Why? Because it is the soul which chooses to sin, and sin separates man from the knowledge of God. This is man’s dilemma.
Adam lived by the breath of life becoming spirit in him. By the spirit he sensed God, knew God’s voice, and communed with God. He had a very keen awareness of God. But after his fall his spirit died. Henceforth Adam’s spirit (as well as the spirit of all of his descendants) fell under the oppression of the soul and the two parts became closely united. While they are intimately knit they plunge man into a psychic world where everything is done according to the intellect of feeling. What instinct it has in knowing and serving God is paralyzed.
Our Lord referred to this condition as being “of the flesh”. The apostle Paul spoke often using this term. We will explore the term flesh along with another term “carnal”, and how these terms relate to man’s dilemma in the next lesson.