By Robert Wurtz II
'The Fall of Man'
Man is comprised of spirit, soul, and body. When Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day they were naked and not ashamed. It can be reasoned from scripture that their covering was literally the glory of God that existed because of the communion they had with God on an ongoing basis. We read that Moses' face glowed with the luminance of God when he was on Mount Sinai and there is no reason to think that the same effect would not have been continually upon Adam and Eve when they were in full communion with God. God told them that in the day they eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they would surely die. Death in scripture does not mean annihilation it means SEPERATION. When you die your soul and spirit separate from the body. The second death is eternal separation from God. When they took the fruit of the forbidden tree they suffered immediate separation from God (death) spiritually. This meant that they now could not properly worship God and commune with Him, because true worship is done in spirit and in truth which can NOW, after the fall, only come about in the life of a person who has been regenerated and renewed by the Holy Spirit. The glory departed because of sin and their eyes were at the same time opened to discern the shame associated with nakedness. They hid themselves because they saw they were naked. Nakedness is shameful all throughout scripture and when a person is stripped to be naked in public it is an act of great humiliation. This does not mean that the body itself is evil- for it was created to be good. The problem is the loss of innocence that opened the eyes and the departure of the glory. This required a 'replacement' or covering in the eyes of God. That covering could not merely be some fig leaves, but must be the covering of an innocent party. For us that covering must be the white robes of the righteousness of Christ. In Adam and Eve's case God brought them skin coverings and established the requirement of blood sacrifice of a spotless lamb for their covering. The skins covering Adam and Eve showed that something innocent has died to cover their nakedness. Abel accepted this pattern and Cain rejected it.
Not only was their nakedness revealed, but also their nature was corrupted as sin was introduced into them. This is known theologically as the doctrine of ORIGINAL SIN. This expression is frequently used in a twofold sense, to denote the imputation of Adam's first sin to his posterity, and also that native depravity which we have derived by inheritance from our first parents. Most Jews reject the concept of original sin. One thing is certain, God ensured that Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden lest they would eat of the Tree of life and live forever. He posted angels with flaming swords to keep the way of the Garden entrance. God did not want man living for eternity as his natural enemy unable to rightly commune with Him. Knowing in advance that man would sin God made the penalty of sin DEATH. And at physical death ALL contracts are off. Slaves are free from their masters as husbands and wives are free from their spouses. At physical death men and women who are regenerated (born again) are freed from the final effects of sin that are in some way still mysteriously attached to the body. Everyone has a SIN NATURE (the 'flesh' GK. sarx) that must be dealt with no matter if you are born again or not. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. That makes no sense if we do not still have a sin nature after regeneration. It is there and will be there until this corruption puts on incorruption and this mortal immortality. This is why Paul said 'Oh wretched man that I AM.' Not I WAS. He knew that he had to walk in the Spirit and bring his BODY into subjection lest when he had preached to others he himself would become ADOKIMOS. That word is translated in the KJV as castaway, but is otherwise translated as REJECTED (as in rejected nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned) once and the remaining 6 times as REPROBATE.
Dealing with our sin nature until we die is the plight of all believers. Adam and Eve and Jesus were tempted or tested by Satan from 'without' (externally) because they had no sin nature. WE are continually tempted from within- as the sin nature is always present in some strength. We died to the 'old man' at salvation, so that we were free to be espoused to Christ- and we did this by FAITH and signified it by water baptism. Recon yourselves therefore dead to sin and alive to God. When we die we will be resurrected later on with a Spiritual body that is free from original sin. God will then lead us (as it were) back to the Tree of Life (See final chapters of Revalation) and we shall live forever perfected in Christ. The whole story comes full circle. The issue at hand is dealing with the "flesh" while we are alive. The key to this is found in not "feeding" the sin nature with sin or any manor of portrayal of sins. this causes the flesh that was buried with Christ in baptism to come forth to wreak havoc in our lives.
