The Fall of Adam, Part 1

Voluntary: The giving or acting upon one’s free will toward an anticipated action or conclusion.

Volitionary: The determinative, conscious, decision of one’s will. The actualization of one’s faculty of choice.

It can be stated that theology, ultimately, boils down to definitions. This is why I have begun with the working definitions between voluntary and volitionary. For, if we dove together into the first man’s fall without doing so, we would be in danger of conflating terms and subsequently be unable to understand one another. Here, we will begin to determine an answer to the question: Where does the original sin originate? Does it stem from a wrong desire? Or does it begin with the first wrong act?

The man in the garden.

When one enters into the Garden of Eden, through the Scriptures, they must begin to imagine a world that is utterly unique and foreign to us now. Imagine, if you can, a perfect honeymoon. A beautiful, blissful, and magical beach in the Caribbean. A gentle breeze, soft waves crashing, and everything peaceful. Yet, this perfect honeymoon atmosphere pales in comparison to the Garden of Eden.

Do not imagine though, that the garden was perfect. Too often, one can make the mistake of conflating what the Scriptures say with what one thinks it says. Genesis 1:31 records,

"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”

Now, one might try to equivocate the goodness of the garden with perfection. The Scriptures never claim that Eden was “perfect,” but only it was “tov me-od” (טֹ֖וב מְאֹ֑ד) or “very good.” It is paradise, but it is not a perfect paradise.  Perfection implies something that the Scriptures do not attempt to communicate. Perfection denotes a state or condition that is free from any defection or flaw. One might say, “Does that not describe the garden?” To which we must respond with no. For in this garden is the first man who possessed un-perfected righteousness. William Shedd puts it this way, “The perfection of holy Adam was relative, not absolute. It differed from that of God, who by reason of his omnipotence and infinity cannot fall from holiness…”[1] One might say then, the garden, along with the first man, was relatively perfect. Simply for the fact that sin had not been committed and corruption not yet occurred. If Adam and the garden were absolutely perfect, by reason, it would mean that they could never fall from that state of holiness and goodness. Therefore, the proper conclusion must be that the first man, the garden, and even the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, were very good.

Behold, the first man.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That is man’s stated purpose. A purpose that, for a time, the first man was able to enjoy fully without the hindrance of sin. Why is this so? It is so due to the creator’s willful desire. That God wills to dwell among his creation. Therefore, without the separation of sin, Adam was able to glorify God and fully enjoy him.

The man, formed by the creator God, had no hint of dissension within him at the point of his creation. He was, as stated above, relatively holy. This fact, then, flies in the face of what many have commonly stated that Adam’s desire for the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was sinful. How could this be? Is it not sin to partake in that of which God has explicitly forbidden Adam to partake? It is.

However, as previously stated, the first man prior to his fall possessed no internal desire to voluntarily disobey. As of Genesis 2, there is no sinful nature, no internal inclination to pull away from the decree of God. This seems to be in contradiction to James 1:14-15, where James writes,

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

William Shedd states, “The only subjective susceptibility in Adam which Satan could address was the natural and innocent desire for the fruit of the tree of knowledge considered as ‘good for food and pleasant to the eyes.’ [2] It can only be determined at this juncture that Adam’s desire for the tree, similar to that of the first woman’s, was not innately sinful. Examine again what the Lord’s command to the man was in Genesis,  

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

See here that there is no mention of desire, no mention of wanting for, or longing possession. It is not similar to the heart’s wicked desires that the Lord Jesus speaks of in his Sermon on the Mount where he says,

“…everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)

There is no command to not covet. There is no command to not desire. There is only the command to not eat, and therefore, the man’s volition was to obey God in his command.

A land without deceit.

As we approach the end of Part 1 in this multi-part exploration of the Fall of Adam we have to, for a moment, imagine what it would be like to live in a world where has never been a lie. It is difficult - is it not? To imagine such a world places a strain on the mind because we have grown in a world that has been subjected to the corroding force of sin. Deceit is a matter of fact. But, in C.S. Lewis’ book Perelandra, Lewis thrusts you deep into an unfallen, and untainted world. Ransom, the main character, is sent the Perelandra from Earth on a mission to help save Perelandra. There, in this fictional universe, Ransom encounters an unfallen world, with an unfallen green woman (this world’s Eve-like character). As she encounters her own tempter, Ransom interjects the tempter’s words with his own:

“‘I do not want you to hear him at all,’ said Ransom. ‘He is —’ and then he hesitated. ‘Bad,’ ‘liar,’ ‘enemy,’ none of these words would, as yet, have any meaning for her.” And of the tempter, he says, “There is something he is not telling you. All this that we are now talking has been talked before. The thing he wants you to try has been tried before. Long ago, when our world began, there was only one man and one woman in it, as you and the King are in this. And there once he stood, as he stands now, talking to the woman. He found he alone as he found you alone. And she listened, and did the thing [God] had forbidden her to do. But no joy and splendour came of it. What came of it I cannot tell you because you have no image of it in your mind. But all love was troubled and made cold, and [God’s] voice became hard to hear so that wisdom grew little among them…” [3]

In Part 2

In The Fall of Adam, Part 2, we will examine the deception of Eve, the Serpent’s words, and reach a determination of the original sin of man. All sources cited are noted below.

If you have questions - feel free to contact me via the contact email provided at the bottom of the page.

Next time, The Fall of Adam, Part 2.

[1] William Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 3rd ed. (Phillipsburg, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 2003), 539.

[2] William Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 3rd ed. (Phillipsburg, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 2003), 536.

[3] C.S. Lewis, Perelandra, 97-103