Human Fall

From New World Encyclopedia
The Fall of Man depicted by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling

The Fall of Man, also called simply The Fall, is a theological doctrine describing the change of humankind's state from sinlessness to depravity. In Christian tradition, the Fall took place when Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit and were expelled from the Garden of Eden, as recorded in the biblical book of Genesis.

Although the "Fall" per se is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament, the expulsion from Eden recorded in Genesis 3 serves as the foundation of the Christian writings of Saint Paul regarding what later came to be known as the doctrine of Original Sin, as taught especially by Saint Augustine. Various Christian traditions hold somewhat differing viewpoints regarding the extent to which the Fall affected human nature.

In Islam and Judaism, the events of Genesis 3 constituted the first human sin, but not the Fall, in the traditional Christian sense. Other religions and mythologies also describe a first sin or fall from grace. Bible critics theorize that the story of Adam and Eve may be derived from old near eastern myths in which the woman and the serpent were life-giving deities rather than the originators of sin. The Fall of Man is a central theme in Unificationist tradition, which holds that Adam and Eve were originally meant to become True Parents to mankind, but fell as a result of a premature sexual union outside of God's blessing.

Biblical account

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The creation of Eve

According to Genesis 2, God created the first man, Adam, and placed him in the Garden of Eden. He caused all kinds of trees to grow in the Garden, including two special trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told Adam that he was free to eat of any tree in the garden, but not of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. "In the day you eat of it, you will die," God warned (Gen. 2:17). Seeing that Adam was alone, God then created Eve out of his rib (Gen. 2:22).[1] Adam names the animals and calls Eve "woman." They are both "naked and unashamed."

For an unspecified period of time, Adam and Eve obey the one commandment they have been given, to refrain from eating of the forbidden fruit. However, one day, a serpent comes to Eve and seduces her into partaking of it. "God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened," he tells her, "and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The serpent shows Eve that the fruit is "good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom," so she eats it. She then gives some of the fruit to Adam, and he, too, eats. Adam and Eve immediately realize that they are naked, and become of ashamed of this, using fig leaves to cover their sexual organs.

Soon, God walks through the Garden looking for Adam and Eve, but he cannot find them, because they are hiding from Him. God calls out to Adam: "Where are you?" (Gen. 3:9) Adam responds, "I heard your voice, and I was afraid, because I was naked." God then replies: "How did you know you were naked? Did you eat of the fruit of the tree I told you not to eat of?"

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Adam toils after the Fall.

Adam admits his disobedience but blames it on Eve, and Eve in turn blames it on the serpent.

As a result of these events, God curses all three of the characters in the drama: the serpent must crawl on his belly and eat dust; the woman must suffer increased pain in childbearing and be ruled by her husband; and the man must now labor for his food instead of eating freely of what grows in the Garden, for the land too is cursed.

God recognizes that the serpent's prophecy has come true: "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:21) To prevent Adam from also partaking of the Tree of Life and living forever, God casts him out of the Garden, posting cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the entrance.

Christian views

Depiction of the original sin. Illuminated parchment, Spain, circa 950-955 C.E.

Saint Paul is often credited for propounding the first definite doctrine of the Fall. "For as in Adam all die," he wrote, "so in Christ all will be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22) Although earlier Jewish writers had alluded to similar themes, the human inability to obey God's Law is a frequent and central theme in Paul's writings.

Catholic and Orthodox teaching hold to this basic Pauline doctrine of the Fall, as do most Protestants. There are differences of opinion, however, as to how drastically the Fall affected human nature. The formal doctrine of Original Sin, as articulated by Saint Augustine, holds that the Fall resulted in a fundamental change in human nature, so that all descendants of Adam and Eve are born in sin, which is transmitted through sexual intercourse. Humans are thus basically depraved and can only be redeemed by divine grace. The Eastern tradition generally took a somewhat more optimistic view holding that human nature was not totally depraved, while agreeing that without the Church and its sacraments, salvation is impossible. The Western tradition firmly rejected the even more optimistic view of Peliagianism, which taught that the Christian believer could attain spiritual perfection through moral efforts.

The Protestant Reformation, in its early stages, reaffirmed the strict Augustinian viewpoint, criticizing the Catholic Church for teaching that "works"—such as confession, fasting, penance, and indulgences—could produce salvation from sin, rather than "grace alone." Reformers such as John Wesley and his Methodism provided a greater role for human efforts in transforming one's character into a more Christ-like one. Contemporary Protestants hold a variety of views on the issue. Mainstream liberal theologians tend to interpret the Fall allegorically rather than historically. Some recent movements such as Christian Science and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints reject the doctrine of the Fall altogether.

Other Interpretations

Judaism

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Adam and Eve driven out of the Garden of Eden

Traditional Judaism, like Christianity, interprets the biblical account of Adam and Eve as historical, but does not interpret it as a Fall of Man in the sense that it fundamentally changed human nature. The rabbinical traditional holds the the tendency to evil, called the yetzer harah, was part of the original nature of creation. Thus, the disobedience of Adam and Eve was simply the "first sin." It did not result in Original Sin in the sense of a depraved nature passed on generationally. Quite simply, because of Adam's actions, he and his wife were removed from the Garden, and were forced to work, suffer pain in childbirth, and die. However, even after expelling them, God provided that men who honor God and follow His laws would be rewarded, while those who acted wrongly would be punished.

Nevertheless, it is not altogether correct to say that the Fall had no place in Jewish tradition or the theology of the Talmudists. A definite notion of the Fall is absent from the Old Testament, however, and begins to appear only in the late Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha.[2] Anticipating Saint Paul, 2 Esdras 3:21 states: "The first Adam fell into sin and guilt, and, like him, all that were born of him." According to the Talmudic rabbis, the sin of Adam had certain grievous results. The Shekinah left earth after his fall (Gen. R. 19); he himself lost his personal splendor and gigantic stature; all men were doomed to die. Some rabbis viewed the Fall as sexual. Through the illicit sexual intercourse of Eve with the serpent, the nature of her descendants was corrupted (Shab. 146a).

Islam

Like Judaism, Islam rejects the Christian doctrine of original sin and sees the sin of Adam and Eve as having more limited effects than in Christian tradition. The Quranic account of the fall is recounted in Surahs 2:35-39 and 7:20-27. It reports that Adam was originally created as God's vice regent of the Earth. The angels were commanded to bow to him, and Adam was permitted to live in the Garden with his wife and eat what he wished. But Satan caused Adam and his wife to sin, so that God removed them from the Garden. Sura 7:22 says:

So he (Satan/Shaitan) misled them with deception; and when they tasted the tree, their wickedness became apparent to them, and they rushed to cover themselves with the leaves of the paradise; and their Lord called to them: "Did I not forbid you from that tree, and tell you that the devil is your clear enemy?"

However, Islamic tradition holds that after the first couple sinned, they repented and became true followers of God. Indeed, thereafter, Adam became a prophet and lived without any subsequent sin.

Felix Culpa (the fortunate fall)

One interpretation of the doctrine of the Fall is that it was necessary or predestined in order that humans might benefit from God's grace. "O felix culpa!" wrote medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas, [3] meaning that this loss of innocence was a fortunate because of the good that would come from it, such as the birth and incarnation of Christ, his death, Resurrection, and Second Coming, Judgment Day and the eventual hope of Heaven. In the traditional Latin Mass and during the Easter Vigil the priest declares: O felix culpa quae talem et tantum meruit habere redemptorem—"O blessed fault that earned us so good and great a Redeemer."

The forbidden fruit

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

A key question in interpreting the Fall of Man is the meaning of the forbidden fruit. The fruit is often identified as an apple, although the Bible does not mention it as such. Other identifications include grape, fig, wheat, pomegranate, or citron. Most commentators, however, hold that the the exact identity of the fruit is secondary to the issue of obedience. In this view, the Fall did not occur as a result of body chemistry, but was a spiritual change that happened as a result of Adam and Eve's rebellion.

Others, including some early Christian sects and rabbinical sages, considered that the Fall was the result of sexual intercourse between Eve and the Serpent, usually understood to symbolize Satan. In the Infancy Gospel of James,[4] for example, quotes Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary, as seeing Mary's illegitimate pregnancy as tantamount to Eve's fall, saying:

Who has done this evil thing in my house, and defiled the virgin? Has not the history of Adam been repeated in me? For just as Adam was in the hour of his singing praise, and the serpent came, and found Eve alone, and completely deceived her, so it has happened to me also.[5]

Other early Christians held to a doctrine known as encratism, later declared to be a heresy, which taught that sex is forbidden to those who hope to attain spiritual perfection. An objection to this view is that Adam and Eve were blessed by God to "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28), implying that God intended for them to engage in sexual relations.

In the present era, some in the Greek Orthodox tradition hold that God originally intended Adam and Eve to multiply without sex.

The Unification Church agrees with those who believe the forbidden fruit was sex, but teaches that Adam and Eve were meant to be blessed in marriage by God after they had grown to spiritual maturity. They fell when they engaged in a premature sexual act after Eve was tempted sexually by the Archangel Lucifer in the spiritual world. Thus they learned about the sexual relationship from Satan, not God.

Other traditions

Ancient Greek mythology held that Man was immortal during the Golden Age, until Prometheus (the serpent), brought them fire to help them live through the cold. The gods punished Men allowing Pandora to release the evil (death, sorrow, plague) into the world due to her curiosity.

In some traditions of Gnosticism, the serpent is praised for bringing knowledge to Adam and Eve, and thereby freeing them from the control of the Demiurge, who created the physical world of illusion and evil. In this view it was not the true God, but the evil Demiurge who banished Adam and Eve, because man was now a threat.

In classic Zoroastrianism, mankind is created to withstand the forces of decay and destruction through good thoughts, words and deeds. Failure to do so actively leads to misery for the individual and for his family. This is also the moral of many of the stories of the Shahnameh, the key text of Persian mythology.

Critical views

Biblical critics point out Genesis contains two accounts of the creation of man and woman, which they believe were once two distinct versions. The view of Gen. 2-3 seems to contradict the story of Gen. 1 in several important respects. For instance, in the first chapter, man and woman are created at the same time, and this comes after the creation of trees and animals. In Genesis 2, Adam is created before the trees and animals; and Eve is something of an afterthought, formed after none of the animals is found to be an adequate "helpmate" for Adam. Moreover, there is no Fall in the first account. The creation is not just "good," but "very good," and the account ends as God rests after blessing man and woman and giving them complete dominion over the earth. The second account, on the other hand, does not give Adam dominion, but forbids him to partake of the tree "in the midst of the Garden." The Garden itself is far from idyllic, containing not only a tree whose fruit brings death, but a dangerous serpent that seduces mankind into disobedience. This account, instead of ending with a blessing, closes with a curse, making even the Tree of Life taboo.

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The bronze serpent of Moses

Mythologists such as Joseph Campbell and others hold that the Fall of Man sets earlier near eastern mythologies on their heads. In these earlier legends, the female personage in the Garden was a mother goddess who shared freely with her children of the fruit of the Tree of Life. Moreover the serpent was her animal, and it too was a symbol of life. Hints of this remain in Hebrew tradition, as Eve is called "The Mother of All Living," an epithet reminiscent of the Great Mother.[6] The bronze serpent created as a healing icon by Moses (Numbers 21), meanwhile, may be none other than the life-giving serpent of more ancient semitic and Egyptian myths. Indeed this symbol was reportedly venerated in Jerusalem as late as the reign of King Hezekiah, (2 Kings 18), a time when the Yahweh-only ideology came to the fore. It may have been in this period that the story of the Divine Lady and her life-giving Serpent was transformed into that of Eve, the first sinner, and the evil snake that tempted her against God's will.

Notes

  1. The story of Gen. 2 is seen by many scholars as distinct from the account of Gen. 1. In the first account God (called Elohim) creates the trees and animals first, and then creates man and woman, who are not named. In the second account, God (called Yahweh)creates Adam first, then causes the trees to grow, then creates the animals, and then Eve from Adam's rib.
  2. Some argue that the laments of Job 3:3 and Jeremiah 20:14—cursing the day of these prophets' births—constitute a doctrine of Origin Sin, but these laments relate to particular circumstances in the prophets' lives, not to a sense of having been conceived in sin.
  3. Summa Theologica, "III, 1, 3, ad 3", [1]. www.newadvent.org. Retrieved August 9, 2007.
  4. Also called the Protoevangelism of James, a second-century work that was widely read in the early church.
  5. Infancy Gospel of James. www.newadvent.org. Retrieved July 28, 2007.
  6. Baring, Anne and Cashford, Jules, the Mother of All Living. womenpriests.org. Retrieved July 28, 2007.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Blocher, Henri. Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle, IVP Academic, 2001. ISBN 978-0830826056
  • Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology, Penguin (Non-Classics); Reissue edition, 1991. ISBN 978-0140194418
  • Cassuto, Umberto, From Adam to Noah, Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1978. ISBN 965-223-480-X (A scholarly Jewish commentary.)
  • Cross, Frank Moore. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, Harvard University Press, 1973. ISBN 978-0674091764
  • Dever, William G., Did God Have A Wife? Archaeology And Folk Religion In Ancient Israel, William. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005. ISBN 0802828523
  • Harrison, Peter. The Fall of Man and the Foundations of Science, Cambridge University Press; 1 edition, 2007. ISBN 978-0521875592
  • Pagels, Elaine. Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, Vintage Books, 1989. ISBN 978-0679722328
  • Wily, Tatha. Original Sin: Origins, Developments, Contemporary Meanings, Paulist Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0809141289

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