MAN'S DISOBEDIENCE: REJECTION OF GOD'S WORD
Sin and its damning consequences were introduced in the Garden of Eden through the act of one man. Adam sinned, and his sin was the conscious rejection of the word given to him by his Creator. God, simply and explicitly, instructed Adam not to eat, but Adam, deliberately and willfully, ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Through his disobedience Adam brought upon the earth and its inhabitants a sinful state, a guilty position before God, and thus the potential for great personal evil. By eating he brought corruption and condemnation upon himself and his descendants.
From a state of righteousness to one of depravity and death was the instantaneous transformation experienced by Adam when he succumbed to the wiles of the tempter rather than demonstrating allegiance to his Maker, with the subsequent state of Adam becoming the inheritance of each individual descended from him.
Adam and the race were so identified that his deed was the deed for the race, and the consequences for him became the consequences for the race; what became true of Adam is thus true of every person born from him. It is so because it has been determined by God to be so.
Consideration will be give to the following topics:
God's Command
Probation
Adam's Rebellion
Pattern of Rebellion
The Speaking Serpent
Confrontation with God
By One Man
Interpretations of Adam's Act
Two Men: Adam and Christ
The Principle of Identification
Death
Reflections on Physical Death
Depravity
Guilt
Shame
Initial Religion
Refused Responsibility
Curses
Universality of Sin
Creation's Groan
Outside Eden
Darkened Image
The Natural Man
Condemnation and Wrath
Return to: Sin
For Quotes related to Sin, see: Quotes - Sin
For overview of THEOLOGY, see: Site Map - Theology