Doctrine of Man (Part III)

Robert E Becker

Doctrinal Series • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Detailing Man's state before and after the fall, as well as our state after salvation

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Introduction

Genesis 1:27 KJV 1900

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Body

General Composition

Genesis 2:7 KJV 1900

7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Three parts

Spirit

Soul

Body

Man’s State before the Fall

Our Knowledge

Genesis 2:19-20 “19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.”

Adam was able to name every living creature in all of God’s creation

Names were more than simply tags, but always referred to one’s character and destiny in ancient times

This infers Adam had some insight into the nature and relative purpose of each kind of animal

Genesis 1:28 “28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Adam was given the awesome task of taking charge of God’s earth

This would have given Adam incredible insight into the inner workings of every aspect of creation

Atmospheric phenomena

Interactions between kinds

Mineral deposit and other natural resource placement and usage

Geological phenomena

Our Moral State

Genesis 1:31 “31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

Ephesians 4:24 “24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

Adam was created in such a manner that he was a partaker of God’s holiness and righteousness

Quite more than merely being created in a state of innocence

More, he was created in a state of holiness and righteousness

Genesis 3:8-9 “8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?”

Sin had not yet separated us from a Holy and Righteous God

We were in close to God in proximity and in relationship

Our Psychological State

Adam seems to have been created with several drives, or impulses

Self-Preservation (or a fear of death) - Genesis 3:3 “3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Hunger (or a desire to eat) - Genesis 1:29 “29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”

Procreation - Genesis 1:28 “28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Also Genesis 2:24 “24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

The desire for Ownership - Genesis 2:15 “15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

The desire to Dominate - Genesis 1:28 “28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Understand in its original context, this is a good thing and part of God’s plan for mankind

Presently we have the tendency to abuse this to our hurt due to our fallen natures

Consequently this innately good desire must always be controlled by the Spirit of God in us

Our Social State

Genesis 2:18 “18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

Man is a social creature

Adam had continual fellowship with God in the garden

When God gave him Eve, he had continual fellowship with her as well

When Adam sinned he became alienated from a Holy God, and it drove a wedge of suspicion between Adam and Eve as well

Genesis 3:12 “12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”

Our Occupational State

Genesis 2:15 “15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

Even in a state of perfection, idleness was not tolerated

It turns out Adam was not only a zoologist, but he was also a horticulturist.

The garden was given to them by God, but its beauty, and harnessing the garden’s productivity, would only come through the work of Adam.

Creative occupation is God’s original intent for us, and absolutely essential if we are to experience fulfillment.

Work became “toil” only after the fall

Our Physical State

Genesis 2:16-17 “16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Adam was created with the potential of immortality

Death was always a possibility, but only if he disobeyed the commandment of God

While in obedience to God he was physically perfect

No genetic errors

No diseases

No injuries

No lapses of memory

No fatigue

No blemishes or unsightly markings of any kind

Perfectly beautiful

Genesis 3:24 “24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

After the fall, death was no longer just a possibility, but an absolute certainty.

This lasted until the Last Adam, Jesus Christ, came and removed the sting of death.

To Sum up

Adam was created in God’s image, Holy and Righteous

He was placed in an ideal environment with a fulfilling occupation.

He was provided Divine companionship and marital bliss.

As long as he obeyed God, he was immortal.

And yet, despite all these blessings and benefits, he decided he could do it better!

Have you ever thought the grass is greener over there, only to discover you had it really good where you were?

He lost … EVERYTHING!!! Not just for him, but for the entire human race.

The Fall of Man

This is at the heart of the gospel message, that God loved us so much He was willing to suffer on a cross in our place to purchase us back and to rescue us from our fallen state.

We believe that man was created in the image of God, before Whom he walked in holiness and purity, but that by voluntary disobedience and transgression, he fell from the Eden of purity and innocence to the depths of sin and iniquity, and that in consequence of this, all mankind are sinners sold unto Satan, sinners not by constraint but by choice, shapen in iniquity and utterly void by nature of that holiness required by the law of God, positively inclined to evil, guilty and without excuse, justly deserving the condemnation of a just and holy God.

— Foursquare Declaration of Faith

Although Adam was placed in a perfect environment and was given everything he would ever need, he rebelled. The question just has to be asked, “If God knew Adam would disobey Him, then why would He set all this up in the first place?”

Man’s Probation

Its Purpose

Man was created in God’s image

We have intelligence, emotion and will

We are also free moral agents

God’s desire is that we will choose to obey Him, but to do that, we need an alternative choice

The garden in this sense becomes a place of probation, a place of testing

This test was based on a clear commandment; the law of God containing two parts:

The Positive - consisting of glorious and eternal provision

The Negative - consisting of a clear prohibition

If Adam and Eve were created with holy natures, how could they sin?

The difference between holy natures and holy characters

Nature - Created with this

Character - Develops over a lifetime and is the result of testing in which a choice is made

Good choices develops good character

Bad choices develops bad character

God desires the worship and service of beings with holy characters.

Its Character

This command, this law that God gave to Adam, was personal, not moral

Eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not inherently immoral or evil.

Adam’s fall consequently was the result of disobedience, not the result of an immoral act

Similar in scope to Abraham’s test with Isaac

Mosaic law - Moral law vs. Ceremonial law

Moral law reflects God’s character and is therefore inherently moral in nature

Ceremonial law does not reflect God’s character and so the morality of these commandments are not self-evident, but become a matter of submission and obedience to God

Thus the fall of Adam was not due to an immoral act, but due entirely to an act of pure willful disobedience.

Its Reasonableness

Understand that God does not do things without keeping our best interest in mind

If Adam would have obeyed, he would have possessed holy moral character and would have risen to a higher level of fellowship with God

Perhaps we see just a hint of this possibility in the life of Enoch. He was able to develop holy moral character even while possessing an Adamic nature

God would have subjected Adam to this only if it was necessary for his highest good

Adam disobeyed, and from his disobedience God provided a way to redeem us from our fallen state

God is not the author of sin, He did not cause Adam to fall because God gave Adam every good reason to obey.

God brought a miraculous redemption, a perfect and powerful victory out of our greatest weakness and failure.

So we see that whatever the result of Adam’s choice, God was prepared to lead us to a final state superior to the original Edenic state.

The Temptation of Man

The Agent of Temptation

Satan was the one who entered the garden in the guise of a serpent to speak with Eve

Revelation 12:9 “9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Genesis 3:1 “1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

Says “more subtile than any beast of the field”, not “than any other beast of the field”.

The Temptation’s Motives

Adam and Eve were created holy and righteous, but seem to have had certain basic instincts, or impulses which they needed for their well-being

Self-preservation, acquisition, desire for food, desire for love, etc.

Before the fall, their drives were balanced and controlled, but could have formed a base upon which temptation could be built

Genesis 3:6 “6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

These were not inherently evil desires

They became evil because they represented disobedience to the express commandment of God

However Satan could not appeal to her desires until he first caused her to doubt God

A question that was meant to get Eve to doubt God’s goodness

Genesis 3:4 “4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:”

This was meant to get Eve to doubt God’s truthfulness

Genesis 3:5 “5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Now that doubt has germinated, the appeal to desire is effective

Scholars have debated whether the identity of the basic sin is self, doubt, or pride, but it’s probably all three that contributed to Adam and Eve’s destruction.

The Fallen State of Man

The Interpretation of the Fall

Are we to take the original creation account, the creation of Adam and Eve and their subsequent fall as literal, or as figuratively?

Liberal and neo-orthodox theologians generally interpret the first eleven chapters of Genesis as a myth. An allegory.

I would argue for a literal interpretation. Here’s why.

Nowhere in the Bible is the story of Adam interpreted symbolically.

If these were meant to be interpreted allegorically, there would be numerous spiritualized interpretations

There is however, only one interpretation we find in scripture, and that is literal

There is no indication of a shift between allegory to history between Genesis 11 and Genesis 12.

Noah is regarded by Genesis as being as much of a real person as Abraham is.

Parallels between Adam and Christ are made by the Apostle Paul.

Since Jesus is a historical person, it is very unlikely that He would be an antitype of a nonhistorical character

In two separate genealogies recorded later in scripture, the name of Adam is listed along with other obviously historical characters.

Adam is included in the genealogy of Jesus Christ along with David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.

Real geographical locations are included in the story of Adam such as Assyria and the river Euphrates

The fallen condition of man is very real and literal.

It can hardly be said we fell into sin because of a mythical event.

Our incredible scientific progress compared to our nonexistent moral progress

The Results of the Fall

Genesis 3:14-15 “14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Judgment was pronounced upon the serpent

This once upright and beautiful creature would forever after be doomed to crawl on its belly

“Eating dust” is a term referring to utter humiliation.

Isaiah 65:25 “25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, And the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: And dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.”

Satan will eat dust during the Millennium Reign, but will be harmless

Genesis 3:16 “16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

Judgment was pronounced on the woman

Woman’s lot in pagan countries all through history has been an exaggerated example of this

Only in Christian countries and cultures have women experienced even a measure of redemption

Genesis 3:17 “17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;”

Judgment was pronounced upon the man

Note that judgment was not upon labor itself, but that it would now be coupled with wearisome toil

Fear of crop failure, fear of unemployment, labor strife, bankruptcies, competition, technological advancement makes older technologies obsolete, etc.

The ground would not be as productive as before, and fierce competition would be introduced in the form of thorns and thistles.

Matthew 7:16-17 “16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.”

Jesus uses them to contrast good fruit as a symbol of evil

The Consequences of the Fall

Adam and Eve felt a sense of shame and guilt. They were suddenly aware that they were naked.

This shame and guilt led immediately to fear and dread when they heard the voice of God.

This led to alienation from the presence of God - they sought to hide from Him!

They wanted the experiential knowledge of good and evil, which they were led to believe would make them divine

What they got however, was a knowledge of evil, with good being now out of reach

Death

Psalm 90:8-12 “8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: We spend our years as a tale that is told. 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, Yet is their strength labour and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. 12 So teach us to number our days, That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Adam and Eve did not die immediately physically. In fact Adam lived 930 years. But the process of physical death had started in his body in that moment

They died spiritually instantly

Three types of death

Physical

This is when the spirit is separated from the physical body and the body returns to dust

Spiritual death

Ephesians 2:1-3 “1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”

This is when we are separated from God.

We are born spiritually dead and are by nature separated from a holy and a righteous God

This is why we must be “born again”

Ephesians 2:4-6 “4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”

Eternal death

This is the condition of those who are spiritually dead, who depart this earthly life without being born again of water and of spirit.

Conclusion

1 Corinthians 15:21–22 KJV 1900

21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

The end result of our disobedience was death, but through the Last Adam, Jesus Christ, all can be made alive

This will be the topic of our (final) lesson on the Doctrine of Man: Our state after salvation.

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