School of the Foundations of the Christian Faith “The Creator and His Creation.” Lesson 15. The Fall of Man. The school consists of 22 lessons. Founded by the Christian Bible Institute.
The devil, who had rebelled against God, set himself the goal of doing everything possible to make people stop worshiping God and reject His lordship. The devil understood well that people would not reject God the Creator in order to worship His enemy. Therefore, he devised a very cunning and deceitful plan.
How did this happen?
In the third chapter of the book of Genesis, we read the story of the temptation and fall of the first people. In this story, the devil, disguised as a desire for good, approaches Eve and convinces her that God had not revealed the whole truth to them.
Gen. 3:4 – “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. Gen. 3:5 – “For God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Gen. 3:6 Then the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom; she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
This story of the Fall reveals a series of tragic decisions that led to a terrible catastrophe in the life of humanity.
1. Doubting God
First of all, the devil planted doubt about God in humanity.
Genesis 3:4 – “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. Genesis 3:5 – “For God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
In the temptation, the devil confidently offered humanity an alternative view of reality. The phrase “you will not certainly die” is a direct denial of what God had said: “you will surely die.”
Instead of absolute trust in God, the devil planted in the human mind the possibility that there could be another assessment of the fact they were considering—one independent of God. And the human accepted it.
The first step toward humanity’s fall was the claim to independence. Yielding to the devil’s way of thinking, humanity decided to entertain the possibility of viewing reality independently of God!
2. The Right to Determine Good and Evil
The second step in humanity’s fall was agreeing to the devil’s offer to become like God, in order to have the right to determine what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong.
God created humanity with the ability to understand good and evil. But people have no standard for such a determination in themselves. The only possible standard is God!
By telling humanity why the fruit was forbidden, the devil convinced Eve that through this fruit she and her husband would gain the ability to determine for themselves what is good and what is evil.
Genesis 3:5 – “For God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The devil persistently tries to lead humanity out of a position of absolute trust in God. He says that, as a result of the forbidden act, people can possess what belongs only to God.
His first step was to push humanity toward independent thinking. The second step was to convince people that they could not only view things independently, but also possess the right to determine for themselves what is good and what is evil.
Now a person not only breaks free from complete dependence on God but also claims to be the center of his own little world, in which he establishes his own laws and rules.
It is remarkable that this was all the devil said. It is not written that the devil persuaded Eve, threatened her, or used any kind of spells or magic to make her violate God’s prohibition.
3. Misjudging Reality
When Eve began to doubt God and thought she had the right to self-determination, she suddenly saw what she had never seen before!
Gen. 3:6 Then the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom; she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Something serious happened to Eve! She began to see things differently. When she listened to God before, it had always been clear to her that the tree was bad. Apparently, neither she nor Adam had even considered that there could be anything attractive about this tree. The matter was clear to them, and they had no need even to look in that direction.
Now, as soon as Eve began to think that she could view the world independently of God and determine for herself what was good and what was evil, she not only failed to see the danger in the tree and its fruit—she saw it as beautiful, attractive, and pleasing.
She lost the ability to reason correctly. The human “I” had already taken control of her thoughts and actions!
The process did not stop there. As soon as a person places his interests above God’s interests, he begins to think incorrectly, and then his wrong thinking leads to wrong actions.
4. Wrong Actions
The human “I” is not satisfied with reasoning alone. It always demands action. In reality, by depriving a person of standards of truth and leading him to misjudge the facts, the “I” that refuses to submit to God creates a situation in which action becomes inevitable.
Gen. 3:6… she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Here we see the consequences of the Fall in their full expression. It no longer controls only a person’s feelings and mind. It controls their actions and way of life!
Since that time, the human “I” has been God’s main rival in the matter of worship. Instead of seeing God as the center and meaning of life, people began to see themselves in that role.
The passage we are studying adds one more important detail: “and she gave some to her husband, and he ate”
The idolatrous nature of the human “I” always spreads itself! Idolaters always actively spread their influence!
Surely they did not see that they had fallen into great trouble? Did Eve really not understand the consequences of her transgression immediately after eating the fruit? Why, then, did she give the fruit to Adam?
A person who has rebelled against God wants to prove that they are right, so they seek supporters.
Review Questions
- Why did the devil want to tempt humanity?
- What was the devil’s cunning plan of temptation?
- How did the devil carry out his sinister plan?
- List and discuss all the wrong actions of humanity that led to the Fall.
Source: Christian Bible Institute
