Original Sin

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What is Original Sin?[edit]

Original Sin is when God's first two created humans, Adam and Eve, rebelled against Him in the Garden of Eden. This is the "fall of mankind" or more commonly referred to as the birth of the "sin nature". The "sin nature" meaning that all humans from Adam and Eve are born with God's ability to know good and evil. This becomes the spiritual death of all humans in that it separates us from God. Even though both Adam and Eve were equally at fault, this was God's original plan from the beginning of creation. [refer to "Sin-Nature"]

• In Genesis 2:15-17 "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (from New International Version) this is where God issues the command. Even though this was only given to Adam, the next few verses explain God's creation of Eve and her relationship to Adam. This makes Eve just as responsible as Adam for this particular command.
• In Genesis 3:1-7 we have Lucifer (later called Satan) convincing Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and eventually both do so.
• In Genesis 3:8-13 God is brought into the picture questioning what Adam and Eve had just done. It gives the impression that God was unaware of what they did, when in reality He knew exactly what they had done.
• In Genesis 3:14-19 God administers the punishment to the 3 for their sins.
• The next major event to happen is found in Genesis 3:21 "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." (from New International Version) giving us a clear picture that because of their sin an animal was sacrificed. This is where the first blood was shed because of sin.
• To cap it off, in Genesis 3:22 "And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. ..." (from New International Version) we see that God is referencing Himself as the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) and that humans have now achieved a characteristic of God "knowing good and evil".

Matthew Henry's Commentary of Genesis 3:1-5

The game therefore which Satan had to play was to draw our first parents to sin, and so to separate between them and their God. Thus the devil was, from the beginning, a murderer, and the great mischief-maker. The whole race of mankind had here, as it were, but one neck, and at that Satan struck. The adversary and enemy is that wicked one.

(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Wycliffe Bible Commentary of Genesis 3:1

The method of deceit the serpent employed with Eve was to distort the meaning of God's prohibition and then hold it up to ridicule in its new form. The tempter feigned surprise that God should be guilty of issuing such a command. Then he sought to break down the woman's faith by sowing in her mind doubts, suspicions, and false pictures of the Almighty and his motives. It was a deliberate attempt to reflect on God. When faith fails, the sure foundation of moral conduct collapses. It is only a small step from unbelief to sin and disgrace.

(from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)

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