The Tragedy of the Fall of Man

1. Before the fall

     When God made Adam and Eve, they were holy, just as the Lord is holy. They lived in the presence of God, enjoying His blessings, and were pleased to live, to the glory of the Lord, under His authority and according to the rules established by Him. They had no hostility toward God in their hearts, no conceit, but love, reverence and submission. They gloried in the LORD God and obeyed Him. Therefore they experienced no adversity but prosperity, happiness and health, and fulfilled their responsibility as God's stewards with great joy, ease and satisfaction. There was no disunity between God and them but unity. They enjoyed a life of peace, joy, love and abundant blessings in the glorious presence of God the Eternal; they had fellowship with God and enjoyed the rest of God’s creation as well. 

     Moreover, the relationship between the man and the woman was peaceful, free of conflict and opposition. There was harmony, mutual respect, intimacy, and trust between the man and the woman – “the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25). Lastly, the relationship between men and the rest of creation was good, and they perfectly fulfilled their role as God’s stewards, ruling “over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28) as God Himself would. Man was God’s faithful deputy regent on earth, for he ruled over the earth to the glory of the Lord and gloried in Him; he ruled with uprightness and perfectly cared for God’s creation. Therefore God’s favor rested upon him, for he was holy in all his conduct. But this blissful life in the glorious presence of the Most High was swiftly forfeited by man, when he deferred to Satan’s lies and rejected God’s rules and authority. 

2. Human rebellion: Man’s defection from God’s rules and authority

3. The impact of human rebellion

4. The pervasive effect of the fall

5. The reversal of the curse