‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus’ (Romans 3 vs 23-24)
The fall of man necessitates his redemption from the consequences of the fall because God created man for his glory and praise. The fall of man originated from the disobedience of Adam, the first human creation of God, and Eve, his wife to strictly adhere to the instruction of God. God specifically instructed Adam, saying, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die’ (Genesis 2 vs18). And Adam must have told his wife the commandment of God regarding the consumption of anything that springs from the forbidden tree, because when the crafty serpent came to ask her: Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ ‘The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ The serpent replied: ‘You will not certainly die. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’ (Genesis 3 vs 1-5).
The account of the fall of man is either literal or metaphoric, for it to be taken literally, let us consider the text in Genesis 3:6-7: ”When the woman SAW that the fruit of the tree was good for food and PLEASING TO THE EYE, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 THEN the EYES of both of them were OPENED, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” Obviously this account cannot be taken literally due to the fact that in verse 6, Eve saw (with her eyes, which must have been opened as at that particular time), plus the fact that the account stated that it was pleasing to her eyes, and this was before EATING the fruit. Furthermore in verse 7, we were told that they covered themselves with fig leaves; now was it a coincidence that in the gospel of Mark, Chapter 11:12-25; Jesus Christ cursed the Fig tree and cleared the Temple of those who turned it into a den of thieves and robbers, taking into consideration that after the (2nd and Herod the Great’s refurbished) Temple was knocked down and built in 3 days by Jesus Christ (after Redemption, our bodies became the “Temple”)? So then, if the account in Genesis 3:6-7 was literal, how is it possible for somebody whose eyes were not opened to see that “the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye”?
Eve fell for the trick or the mind games of the devil ‘When’ she ‘saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it’ (Gen 3 vs 6). Their succumbing to the word of the devil is a direct disobedience to God’s word. Their disobedience was they allowed the lust of the eye (‘…pleasing to the eye…’), lust of the flesh (‘…saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food..’) and the pride of life (‘…for gaining wisdom…’) to override their obedience to the word of God. When the serpent said in Genesis 3:5; that man would be like God, knowing good from evil, by eating the fruit, wasn’t man already like God? Since the account of creation in Genesis 1:26 stated: ‘Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So why does man need to eat the forbidden fruit to be like God, when he was already created in the image of God?
Parallel to this was the temptation of Christ by the Devil when Satan took Christ to a vantage point and promised to give Christ everything as far as the eyes can see, in Mathew 4:9; and the devil said, “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” How can Satan give Christ, who according to the gospel of John 1:1-3; In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. Meaning, even angels and demons such as Lucifer were made by Him through Him, so how can Satan give his maker what belongs to his Maker? This can be referred to as mind games. In any case, little did Adam and Eve know that their disobedience has not only separated them from God, but has resulted in their spiritual death, due to the sin of disobedience (Romans 6:23; the wages of sin is death). They lost their glory, power, value and right standing with God; they could no longer fellowship with God through their spirit because their disobedient acts made their bodies and minds to deaden their spirit. Their spirit-man could no longer function in the likeness of the living God: they suddenly acquired a new worldly state of body and mind. Their act of disobedience has translated them into the kingdom of darkness, they were not able to fulfill God’s purpose to live on earth to fellowship with God and to return to heaven after their earthly stay. As God the Holy Spirit stated through Prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 15:22; To obey is better than sacrifice. With disobedience, this necessitates sacrifice, in order to bring life from death.
God, being a merciful God had to put a plan of redemption in place in order to ensure the fulfilment of his initial plan for man which is written in the book of Jeremiah 29 vs 11: ‘For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future…’ Although it was Adam that sinned, but ‘Nevertheless death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come’ (Romans 5 vs 14). This is because Adam, being the first creature of God on earth had everyone in the whole universe in his loins. And that is why, Rom 3 vs 23 clearly states that ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ Consequently, in order to deliver man from sin and damnation, God, Himself had to come down, see Luke 1:35; “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God’, and be born as man (Son of Man) Jesus Christ, to remit our sins, deliver us from the power of sin and the grip of the devil by dying in our place, the ultimate sacrifice: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ and that is why we ‘all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus’ (Romans 3 vs 24). ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive’ (1 Cori 15 vs 22).
We are expected to learn lessons from the experience of Adam and Eve. The crux of their sin that led to the fall of man is disobedience. They failed to abide by the commandment of God because of the lust of the eye, flesh and pride. Though Adam and Eve were man and wife, Adam probably was not aware that fellowship with God is a personal thing: personal relationship with God. Secondly, rather than caution and deter his wife from listening to the tricky enquiry of the serpent, he kept quiet, for the Bible tells us that: ‘She also gave some to her husband, who was with her’, so this information tells us that Adam was with Eve when the devil was luring her to disobey God. Husbands should be courageous enough to advice their wives when they are engaging in wrong acts, and not keep quiet. After disobeying God, Eve lured her husband into committing the same sin because she knew that Adam loved her; and unfortunately, he fell because of his love for her. Another lesson is that women should not take their husbands’ love for granted and lure them into going against the precepts of God. True love between couples edifies and emancipates not enslaves and enchain. In everything we do and say we should always bear in mind that ‘Jesus said… ‘Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little one to stumble. So watch yourselves’ (Luke vs 17:1-3).
In order to maintain a good relationship with God and not fall into sin, we should surrender to Him in every way, according to Proverbs 3:5-6; Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. How do we submit to God? Here are some relevant tips:
We must be obedient to God’s precepts: True love for our God is obedience to his word, for obedience is better than sacrifice. 1 Samuel 15:22 asks: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. We are all familiar with the story of Saul, the first King in Israel, his disobedience made God to reject him as the king and his posterity, the Spirit of God left him, afterwards he was tormented by an evil spirit, and eventually he died. For ‘We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him’, but does not do what he commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did’ (1 John 2 vs 3-6). As such, for our own good, we are obligated to emulate Jesus according to Philippians 2:8, who ‘…being found in appearance as a man, humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-even death on a cross!’; For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy’ (Hebrews 10:14).
We must live by faith: We surrender our lives to God through actual acts of faith. It is significant to note that in several places in the Bible, Holy Spirit tells us that the just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2 vs 4; the righteous person will live by his faithfulness. Romans 1 vs17; Galatians 3 vs 11 and Hebrews 10 vs 38). The just are those who have been freely justified by the redeeming blood of Jesus; however, despite the fact that we have experienced a spiritual rebirth, ‘…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and he rewards those who earnestly seek him’ (Hebrews 11 vs 6). This is because faith evidenced our complete submission to God’s will. When we live according to the instruction given in Proverbs 3:5-6, then our faith is in action. It reads: ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight’. So, you are living by faith ‘If you would direct your heart right and spread your hand to Him’ in anticipation of his guidance regarding every issue of your life (Job 11 vs 13). ‘For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it (Mark 8 vs 35). We can see that it is always better to ‘Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes’ (Ps 37 vs 7); for ‘…though the wicked spring up like grass and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever’ but ‘The righteous’ in faith ‘will flourish like the palm tree, they will grow like a cedar in Lebanon’ (Psalm 92 vs 7 and 12). Faith in God made the disciples to leave everything and follow God, and this is a good illustration of surrendering to God’s will: Peter told Jesus in Mark 10 vs 28, ‘Behold we have left everything and followed you’.
We should not murmur against God: This is a sequel to living by faith, for when we have a resolute and unshakeable faith in God, then we will not murmur against him. Anxiety about providence, about the world, fears about what the world can do to us, grumbling and complains are tokens that we have not actually surrendered to God. When we murmur against our God, and Father, be it hard out or in our hearts because ‘Before a word is on’ our ‘tongue’ the ‘LORD’, knows ‘it completely’ (Psalm 139 vs 4). When we murmur, we are either directly or indirectly judging or quarrelling with God. God knows this, and that is why in Isaiah 45:9, God says: “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker– An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands‘? Our confession should be ‘But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand’ (Isaiah 64:8). Thus. Jesus taught us to pray saying: ‘May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Luke 11 vs 2).
We should dedicate our lives and body to God: When we live in surrender to God indeed, then our dedication manifests through the demonstration of fruitful spiritual acts. Our daily living demonstrates love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5 vs 22-23). On the contrary, a life that is ladened with disobedience cascades sexual immorality, impurity, and wickedness, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, disagreement/rebellion, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like, I warn you,… that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5 vs 19-21). ‘Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship’ (Romans 12:1) ‘and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God’ (Romans 6:13). So as Paul rightly testifies in Galatians 2:20: ‘I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me’, and that should be our believers’ motto that will enable us to maintain our obedience to God and his word.
We should be guided by the Holy Spirit: When a believer has been baptized by the Holy Spirit, he/she is guided by Him; hence the believer is enabled through the Spirit’s guidance to be obedient to God. Romans 8 vs 14 tells us that ‘For those who are led by the Spirit of God (and are obedient to his leading) are the children of God.’ In our successful walk and work with God, Paul recognises the significance of being led by the Spirit, hence, he says: ‘For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…’ (Colossians 1:9), ‘And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation (profitless), but be filled with the Spirit’ (Ephesians 5:18).
The summary of this exhortation on obedience is to listen to Jesus and do accordingly in Matthew 16:24-25; Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Disobedience is a sin, and as Rom 2 vs12-13 states: ‘All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight but those who obey the law who will be declared righteous’. When you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit Himself enables you to obey the Law and most important of law is, love God and man, for there is no law against love, and acts of obedience to God are done out of love; for obedience, even unto death, is better than sacrifice.
We pray that God will give us the grace to be obedient to him always in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Edited by Tflame
