DEPRAVITY AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE FALL OF MAN

INTRODUCTION

Man, as created, was good. God created man in His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Well, then, if God created man good, how comes it that all men now are bad? How did sin pass into all mankind? What caused this stupendous change from good to bad? These are the questions that this paper is going to address as we are progressing. The history of the Fall of man is recorded in Genesis 2 and 3. The record of Adam’s temptation and fall must be taken as a true historical account, if we are to understand the Bible at all as a revelation of God’s purpose of mercy.

The doctrine of “original sin” has been associated with the book of Genesis.

THE CONCEPT/ DOCTRINE OF DEPRAVITY

Depravity is a doctrine derived from the concept of original sin. It teaches that, as a consequence of man’s fall, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin as a result of their fallen nature and, apart from the irresistible or enabling grace of God, is completely unable to choose by themselves to follow God, refrain from evil, or accept the gift of salvation as it is offered.

The concept of “original sin” founded in Catholicism as well as Protestantism, generally relies on the belief that human sin and all its components- death, materiality, and finitude- first occurred during the “fall” when the first man and woman (Adam and Eve) disobeyed God and ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil. As a result of their disobedience, Adam and Eve are believed from that moment on, to have been doomed to a state of sinfulness.

As the descendants of Adam and Eve, humans were then doomed to inherit that sinful nature, and atone for the crime that Adam and the woman had committed.

AN INDEPTH ANALYSIS OF THE FALL OF MAN

Aside the two Genesis accounts of creation, the first four chapters of the first book of the Bible have dealt with the inception and explanation of humanity’s “fallen” nature. The account in Genesis 3 which is considered as the point of the inception of “original sin.” Genesis 3 is pertinent to this inquiry because it details God’s command to Adam and Eve as well as the infamous exchange between the serpent and the woman and its cataclysmic aftermath.

Though Genesis 3 pertains to the Fall of Adam and the woman, it begins with important information about another one of God’s creatures: the serpent. The serpent is the first character at the beginning of the chapter and the text quickly makes it clear that “the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made” (Gen.3:1).

This abruptly becomes evident when the serpent asks the woman if God actually told her not to eat from any of the trees in the garden.

She responds that, though God told them to eat from any of the trees in the garden “God [also] said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die” (Gen.3:3). It is interesting that God suggests death as a consequence of eating from the tree that is in the middle of the garden in light of how God later deals with Adam and the woman since they do not die at first. Yet it is also significant aspect of the passage that there is no mention of “sin”. Though it is unclear whether Adam and the woman are immortal at this stage, death seems to be the main concern of the text.

It is this concern that the serpent latches onto when he assures the woman that “You will not surely die” (Gen 3:4), a clever half-truth that can be spotted later when Adam’s death is recounted in Genesis 5:5. Instead of promising the woman that she will live forever if she eats from the tree, the serpent explains to her that “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, Knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:5).

The fact that the serpent emphasizes this last point is the most telling and troublesome for the “original sin” interpretation of the story. By promising the woman that she will know the difference between good and evil, the serpent insinuates that she and Adam lack any ability to judge the difference at the time. Therefore, it is hard to argue that Adam and the woman knew that it was evil to eat from the tree when it appears that they did not have the concept of such knowledge, which is in addition to the fact that the serpent was a fellow creature in the garden whom they had no reason to distrust.

MAN’S TOTAL DEPRAVITY – A CONSEQUENCE OF THE FALL

After the creative events recorded in Genesis 1 and 2, Genesis 3 records what theologians call “the Fall.”

“The essence of man’s first sin was his disobedience to the only divine command he had received: not to eat of the tree of knowledge. The consequences of his actions are both physical- toil, pain and death- and spiritual- alienation from God.”  (Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary Volume I, Genesis 1-15).

The consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin goes beyond them to all of humanity, we inherit a sinful nature. The first transgression of man resulted in the total depravity of human nature.

Berkhof states, “The contagion of his sin at once spread through the entire man, leaving no part of his nature untouched, but vitiating every power and faculty of body and soul. This utter corruption of man is clearly taught in Scripture, Gen. 6:5; Ps.14:3,Rom.7:18. Total depravity here does not mean that human nature was at once as thoroughly depraved as it could possibly become. In the will this depravity manifested itself as spiritual inability.” (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology).

Every human inherits this corruption; we are all tainted with iniquity from the time we are created.

David says:

“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)

The apostle Paul states:

“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature” (Romans 7:18) and “to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds andconsciences are corrupted.” (Titus 1:15)

As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote, “If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.” (The Gulag Archipelago).

Although Theologians insist that the image of God in humanity has not been annihilated because of sin. Wayne Gruden wrote: “After the fall, we are still in God’s image- we are still like God and we still represent God- but the image of God in us is distorted; we are less fully like God than we were before the entrance of sin.” (Grudem, Systematic Theology).

The image of God gives humanity the “cultural mandate.” But how does the Fall affect humanity’s ability to accomplish this mandate?

Sin corrupts or pollutes the imago Dei, but humans are still capable of doing those things we are mandated to do- to “be fruitful,” “increase in number,” “fill the earth, “subdue it,” and to “rule” over the rest of creation.

Humans still procreate and create communities in order relate to fellow humans, but they cannot relate to God at all or to other people very well without the grace of god through Christ.

Humans still rule over the non-human creation, but they do so with selfish intent, often exploiting the goodness of God’s creation.

Humans still work, but their work is marked by “painful toil,” “thorns and thistles,” and “the sweat of the brow” (Genesis 3:17-19).

SOLUTION TO DEPRAVITY- THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE FALL OF MAN

God obviously knows that it was necessary to allow the fall of man. In His foreknowledge, infinite wisdom, and Sovereignty, all things will work together for good and for the glory of God.

Answering a question from His disciples about “a man blind from birth,” “Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this was so that the works of God might be manifested in him.” – John 9.

Commenting on these words, John Charles Ryle (Evangelical Anglican) well remarked:

“A deep and instructive principle lies in these words. They surely throw some light on that great question, the origin of evil. God has thought fit to allow evil to exist in order that he may have a platform for showing his mercy, grace, and compassion.

If man had never fallen, there would have been no opportunity of showing divine mercy. But by permitting evil, mysterious as it seems, god’s works of grace, mercy, and wisdom is saving sinners have been wonderfully manifested to all his creatures.

The redeeming of the church of elect sinners is the means of “showing to principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of God” (Ephesians 3:10).

Without the Fall, we should have known nothing of the Cross and the Gospel.”

CONCLUSION

Although humans’ sinful nature would remain, Christ’s death and resurrection were believed to be the solution to this problem.