Chapter 2
The Fall of Man and the Results
  In our first lesson, we dealt with the chapters in Genesis which cover the period from the creation to the fall of Adam and Eve. In this lesson, we will deal with the nature of man's sin and the results that followed man's fall.
  To many of us in the past, these chapters have been just a portion of history, or worse still, a part of literature related to mythology - lifeless and uninteresting. We have studied them out of a sense of duty to gain essential knowledge. However, as we study them in the light of our Redemption in Christ, they actually become alive to us. In them is portrayed the drama of joy and sorrow, faith, doubt and tragedy which centers around man and his God.
  We see in these chapters, Love's preparation for man, and our heavenly Father's joy in creating man in His own image, and His eagerness to make man His under-ruler, by giving him authority and responsibility as set forth in Genesis 1:26-28 and Psalm 8. In this great drama of creation, the father nature of almighty God is revealed even in the Old Testament story.
  After the fall, and during the reign of Spiritual Death that followed man's sin, in which Satan ruled in the hearts of men, the knowledge of God and His love became lost. Not until the coming of Christ was God revealed as a Father. God and Satan with man in the middle - it was a perfect setting for a tragedy!

The Nature of Man's Sin
  This is the old problem that has confronted theologians in every generations. What was the nature of man's original sin? It could not have been broken law, for there had been no law given as we understand the term from its connection with the law of Moses. What kind of sin was it that impelled the incarnation and the sufferings of Calvary?
  Having found that man was invested with such far-reaching authority, that he possessed an intellect of such a caliber as to be the companion of Deity, and that he had in his hands the joy and sorrow of God, we can understand now the awesome nature of the sin he committed.

High Treason
  The sin of Adam was High Treason. God had conferred upon him the authority to rule the world. This worldwide dominion was the most sacred heritage God could give to man. (Genesis 1:28 & Psalm 8:6)
  Adam turned this legal dominion over into the hands of God's enemy, Satan. This sin is unpardonable; High Treason has so been considered in every age. Adam's transgression was done in the white light of absolute knowledge. He was not deceived by Satan. He understood the steps that led to the crime. His wife, Eve, was deceived, but Adam became the Benedict Arnold of eternity. 1 Timothy 2:13-14 He knew God; he knew Satan; he knew the result of the unthinkable crime he committed.
  Genesis 3:1-7 Eve's deception by Satan was due to her unbelief in God's Word. Satan, through the Serpent, first questioned God's Word, and then openly contradicted it. The question arises relative to the serpent being equipped with organs of speech, and being able to communicate with Eve as he did. We need to remember that in the providence of God, all things are possible, for the scripture record conveys the fact that a donkey was used by God to rebuke a disobedient prophet, and in Christ's day a herd of swine were possessed by demons and ran into the sea and were drowned!

Adam's Treason Recognized by Christ
  We have come to one of the most interesting features in the plan of Redemption, i.e. Satan's dominion over creation. We have shown how Satan obtained this authority; let us now note some facts in regard to it.
  The careful student of the Scripture will notice the perfect justice of God; He did not take advantage over Satan. Adam had legally conferred to Satan the authority with which God had vested him. Had God not been perfectly just, He would have dispossessed Satan and punished man. Instead of that, His grace made provision for humanity's redemption, thus showing that His love is based upon perfect justice.
  When Jesus began His ministry, it will be remembered, directly after He was baptized He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.
  Luke 4:6-7 During the temptation, the Devil led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the inhabited world in a moment of time. And the Devil said unto Him: "to thee will I give all this authority and the glory of them; for it hath been delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will give it. If thou therefore wilt worship before me, it shall all be thine."
  Now mark, Satan comes to Jesus and declares to Him that the authority and glory of the inhabited earth has been delivered to him, and that he can give it to whomsoever he wills!
  If the Devil lied to Jesus, and Jesus did not know it, Jesus was not the incarnated Son of God. If the Devil lied to Jesus and Jesus knew he lied, it was not a genuine temptation.
  We believe that the Bible is true and that this was a genuine temptation. It is apparent from the scripture record that Jesus recognized that Satan had authority and dominion over the kingdoms of the human race, which he could transfer at his will to whomsoever he wished. Satan said, "It hath been delivered unto me." We know that this authority was not given to Satan by God. The God and Father of the human family would never confer to His enemy dominion over the man He had created.
  Satan tempted man in the garden because of his bitter hatred toward God. Knowing what man meant to God our Father, it became Satan's object to separate the union between man and God and bring God's family in bondage to himself and thus destroy man. He knew that this would cause God the greatest suffering. Yet Satan in his malignant character could not foresee that God would suffer by His own will for this man until He brought him back to Himself.
  The sufferings, physical and spiritual, of Calvary reveal the triumph of God over His enemy Satan. Christ did not yield to this temptation; thus love conquered and triumphed over Satan.

RESULT OF MAN'S SIN
Entrance of Death
  It was the thwarting of God's plan. Adam's sin of High Treason brought the entrance of Spiritual Death into the life of humanity. Romans 5:12 gives us a picture of spiritual death awaiting an entrance into the spirit of man. Man's sin is the door that throws open his spirit to the entrance of this dread nature.
  Most of our teaching in regard to the fall of man has centered in the entrance of physical death. We have seen in our last lesson that the real man is the spirit, and that he was to walk in fellowship with God, a spirit being. It is into this spirit of man, created in the image of God, that death entered. By the term: "Spiritual Death" we do not mean that man ceased to be a spirit being. Spiritual death is not a state of non-existence. It is a state of existence alienated from God.
  There are three kinds of death that are mentioned in the Bible: Physical Death, Spiritual Death and the Second Death.
  Physical death is a violent and unnatural thing, the separation of man's spirit and soul from his body. Spiritual death (Ephesians 2:1-5; Genesis 2:17; Ephesians 4:18) is more violent and unnatural to humanity, the separation of man's spirit from the Spirit of God. The second death is an eternal separation of man from God, in a state of existence where the nature of God is no longer and shall never be accessible to man (Revelation 20:11-15).

Spiritual Death - a Nature
  Spiritual death is in reality a nature. The real powers today are spiritual. God is a spirit (John 4:24); Satan is a spirit (Ephesians 6:12); man is a spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Man, a creation in the image of God, a higher being, is dependent upon a higher power than he for his spiritual life. He must partake of either God's nature or of Satan's nature.
  John 5:26 God is a spirit and His nature is life. Satan is a spirit also and his nature is death. (Ephesians 2:1-5) It was spiritual death, this nature of Satan, that laid hold of man's spirit. There are two words that open the Bible; they are the words "Life" and "Death". Without an understanding of these two words, we cannot have a coherent conception of God and His revelation to man, the Bible.
  The primal death that entered at the fall of man was spiritual death. Adam had been given his choice. (Genesis 2:9, 16 & 17) The Tree of Life would have united God with man, the tree of knowledge of God and Evil united man with Satan.

A Two-fold Death
  When man had been given authority over the universe, God warned him, telling him that if he disobeyed, he would surely die. (Genesis 2:17) "In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." A more literal translation reads: "In dying, thou shalt die." This reveals a two-fold death. The moment Adam committed High Treason, he died spiritually, but he did not die physically for 930 years. Spiritual death came to the earth first. It manifested itself in the physical by destroying it. Physical death is just a manifestation of its parent, spiritual death. After man had died spiritually, his body became mortal, subject to death, doomed to die.
  Spiritual death became universal. (Romans 5:18) All humanity was identified with Adam in his spiritual death. Adam, the parent of man, the head of God's creation, had died spiritually. He had failed in his responsibility as the custodian of God's joy. Man to whom he will give birth will possess the same nature. Spiritual death was transmitted and became the nature of all mankind. This the apostle Paul preached and believed. (Ephesians 2:1) Romans 5:12 declares that DEATH passed upon all men. Romans 5:17-19 says: "By the trespass of one, many were made sinners." Romans 5:15 declares: "By the trespass of one many died." God's dream was shattered, man whom he had created for fellowship was dead spiritually and in union with Satan.

The Nature of Spiritual Death
  We have seen that spiritual death is as much a substance, a force, a fact, as life. The difference is that Spiritual Death emanates from the Devil, while Life emanates from God.
  Satan was originally in heaven with God, one of those spirits who stood next to the very throne itself, but he turned against God. As he did, his nature changed.
  We recognize that in the world there are two spiritual forces working, and that they are contrary to each other. Love-Hatred; Joy-Sorrow; Faith-Doubt; Good-Evil; etc. These conflicting forces could not come from the same source. All that is holy, good, and beautiful heads up in life that which emanates from God. All that is evil, bad, and corrupt heads up in spiritual death which emanates from Satan.
  We understand that out of the nature of God flows love, joy, and peace. Out of Satan's nature flows hatred, lust, murder, and every unclean and evil force in the world.
  There is no understanding in our minds of the conditions and problems of humanity without knowing that spiritual death, the nature of Satan, reigns in the spirit of fallen men. It is very clear that when spiritual death entered the life of Adam, that his spirit underwent a complete change. Man was actually born again when he sinned. He was born of Satan. He became a partaker of a Satanic nature. He becomes a child of Satan.
Read: 1 John 3:10-11; John 5:24; 1 John 3:13-15; Ephesians 2:1-5.
  Spiritual death, this hideous monster, seized the sovereignty, the dominion, the lordship, over creation. Romans 5:17 says, "For by the trespass of one death reigned." Death literally assumed a personality. By the act of Adam's High Treason, death began to reign as Lord. It is in reality the reign of Satan.
  Hebrews 2:14 speaks of Satan's holding authority and dominion in the realm of spiritual death. A more literal translation of Romans 5:17 would read: "For if by the trespass of one death made use of one to seize the sovereignty."
  Romans 5:21 of the same translation reads: "Sin reigned as king in the realm of death." Here we have the truth stated clearly. Death, the nature of Satan, has seized the sovereignty, and God's creation is under its dominion.


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