What misery did the fall bring upon mankind?
The fall brought upon mankind the loss of communion with God, his displeasure and curse; so as we are by nature children of wrath, bond slaves to Satan, and justly liable to all punishments in this world, and that which is to come.
When Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden of Eden, this was no subtle clue as to the change in relationship between God and mankind. This climactic “kicking out” began with a related change – “fear”, as we see in these passages:
“They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)
“He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’” (Genesis 3:10)
“So He {God} drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden, He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24)
Death, in the removal of Adam and Eve from the garden and presence of God, was one among many aspects of this curse of God. The curse of death was not a surprise, as if Adam and Eve were uninformed about its potential reality – “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it, you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17) This is the context of this New Testament summary statement by Paul, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
In this sense, pay day came when Adam and Eve sinned. Their pay – “get out”, leave the garden and leave the presence of God. Leave the cultivated, wonderful blessing of garden life and dwell outside in the wilderness – the raw, untamed and inhospitable world. Once again, Paul has this in mind as he describes the course of our life apart from God in this world. “…you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others also were.” (Ephesians 2:2–3)
The death that Adam and Eve experienced was multifaceted and all related. Their bodies were subject to death in ways they had not previously been affected. Death of the body would come eventually but separation from God was immediate. The soul of man, united to the body of man was also subject to death/separation and from which we see the principle effect, fear and nakedness.
Calvin remarks about this advent of fear,
But as unbelievers transfer the government of the world from God to the stars, imagining that happiness or misery depends on their decrees or presages, and not on the Divine will, the consequence is, that their fear, which ought to have reference to him only, is diverted to stars and comets. Let him, therefore, who would beware of such unbelief, always bear in mind, that there is no random power, or agency, or motion in the creatures, who are so governed by the secret counsel of God, that nothing happens but what he has knowingly and willingly decreed.
John Calvin, ICR Book 1 chapter 16.
This is an interesting insight by Calvin. Fear, the right emotional response towards a righteous God whom we have sinned against, is transferred to other things as if those other things are not in God’s providential care. Our wrongly placed fears must find their proper object in the God who we ought to fear instead. Somehow we ironically and sinfully find it more comforting in a distorted and twisted way, to fear people, events and things which ultimately are controlled by God’s providence.
The problem, the chief problem of mankind, is God. He is also the chief end of mankind. Irony!? In some respects, yes, and also Grace! Irony and Grace, which can only be reconciled in the One who mediates between enemies to make us more than friends – indeed to make us family.
A family of Father, Son and adopted sons (children) in the Spirit. Dr. Ridderbos has this to say,
The new relationship between God and men, at the root of which lies justification, which can be considered as reconciliation and is effected by Christ’s substitutionary work as Mediator (atonement, ransom), finally finds expression in the important concept adoption of sons.
From this original significance of sonship as the special covenant relationship between God and Israel it is also to be explained that Paul alternately and in very much the same sense speaks of “children of God” and “children” or “seed of Abraham” (Rom. 9:7, 8; Gal. 3:26, 29; 4:6, 7, 28, 29). It is this peculiar privilege of Israel as nation that, in conformity with the Old Testament promises of redemption (cf. 2 Cor. 6:16–18), passes over to the church of the New Testament and there receives a new, deepened significance.
Sonship is not to be approached from the subjective experience of the new condition of salvation, but rather from the divine economy of salvation, as God foreordained it in his eternal love (Eph. 1:5), and realized it in principle in the election of Israel as his people. It took effect “when faith came” (Gal. 3:25, 26), that is to say, when the new order and dispensation of salvation became effective.
Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An outline of his theology
It ought to be the case that the redeemed recognize wholly that their redemption is a complete work of God alone. Part of the ensnared reality of sin is that it lies to us and makes us believe we somehow hold the keys of salvation in our own hands. Paul, writing to Timothy says the opposite: “The Lord’s bond-servant …with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:24-26) This is why Jesus would say, “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels…’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41,46)
To know God is good. To be known by God is better and is salvation for all whom He gives to His Son.
To be known by Him means He, His Spirit and His Son have acted on your behalf and secured you in their care. They have taken you out of Adam into the presence of the 2nd Adam, Christ, and back into the favor of His garden presence which was lost from the start. One day, these present realities will be consummated and Heaven and Earth will be once again united, not in Adam, but in Christ our 2nd and better Adam.
Leave a Reply