DWoG 5 The Fall of Mankind

Today, we are discussing a sad story. It’s the story of how our world became broken, chaotic, and full of death. Last time, we talked about how God made our world good and full of life. So, what happened? How did our world go from full of life to full of death? The answer is in the Bible.



Fullness of life can only be found in the Community of the Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If creation is cut off from God, it loses access to divine life and perishes, like a flower cut from its stem without water or a branch cut from a fruit tree. Without connection to its life source, it withers and dies. To experience a fulfilling life, one must uphold and respect God's order and principles. When these conditions are ignored, chaos and death follow. This is what happened to God’s creation due to the actions of mankind. All of creation was separated from God and began to wither and die. This brings us to Genesis 3 and the Fall of Mankind.



God made mankind in His image and invited them into a relationship, giving them the freedom to respond based on their love for Him. God, in His sovereignty, chose to love mankind and invited mankind to love Him back freely. Humans were also invited to be His co-workers in sustaining creation by sharing God’s life-giving love with the world. Humans were meant to guide creation in worshiping God correctly, bringing everything into God's Life and Love. This meant two things: humans would care for creation in a way that allowed nature to experience God’s love, and they would build up the world so that God would be glorified and honoured by their work.



God gave the first human pair, Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden as an expression of His love. In Eden, God, mankind, and nature were in harmony, and they had the unique opportunity to share in God’s divine life. Eden was the optimal place for maintaining the fullness of life for all of creation.



However, God wanted Adam and Eve to freely love Him, so He gave them freedom of choice. This meant that the relationship with God and the sharing of His fullness of life with creation depended on mankind’s willingness to love God back and to share in His goodness and love. The honoured position God gave mankind came with the responsibility of leading creation to honour and worship God. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve failed in this responsibility, acting out of selfishness and pride.



In Genesis 3, we read that God set conditions for a harmonious life in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were free to eat from all the trees except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It wasn’t that God didn’t want them to know things, but He wanted them to use knowledge for good, not selfish or evil purposes. Knowledge should always be used to give glory to God, not to humans as if they are their own gods. It should bring creation into fuller life in God, not bring death and destruction.



God told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would die. But one day, Satan, in the form of a snake, tempted Eve to eat from this tree. Satan told Eve that God lied and that eating from the tree would make them like Him, gods in their own right. Eve ate and gave some to Adam, who also ate. In that moment of self-glorification, everything fell out of alignment with God. Instead of honouring God as their Creator, Adam and Eve chose to set themselves up as their own gods. Instead of sharing God’s love, they became selfish.



Adam and Eve immediately realized they were naked and became ashamed. With all relationships broken, they became vulnerable to nature and even God Himself. Instead of turning to God for help, they tried to sustain and protect themselves, making clothes from leaves. They misused nature to beautify themselves rather than glorifying God. Before eating the forbidden fruit, their nakedness was protected within God’s love. But now, out of alignment with God and nature, they acted independently from God instead of re-aligning with Him. That’s why they made their own clothes instead of asking God for help.



The worst part of the story is that because of Adam and Eve’s misconduct, they became afraid of God. When God came to walk with them, they tried to hide. Instead of turning to God, they turned further away. When they could hide no longer, they blamed each other, the snake, and even God. Can you see how all relationships changed? Because of Adam and Eve’s selfish choices, sin entered creation, bringing chaos and death. Nature was cursed; God sacrificed animals to make clothes for Adam and Eve. The harmony between mankind and nature was replaced by tension. God also punished Adam and Eve by closing the Garden of Eden to them. They would no longer have the easy, harmonious life God intended. The Fullness of life was no longer accessible.



Adam and Eve’s sin was not honouring God – not orienting creation towards God but towards themselves. They did not actively will the good of others but their own good at the cost of others. Mankind was made for union with God, but Adam and Eve chose to live outside of this union, with tragic and far-reaching consequences still felt today.



This is the story of how our world became broken, sick, and full of death – often called The Great Fall or The Fall of Mankind. Adam and Eve’s selfishness grew into hatred, leading to murder, destruction, and open rebellion against God.



With The Great Fall, mankind, and nature - because of mankind, became like a branch cut off from its life source. It would take a miracle to turn things around and bring the fullness of life back. It would require another act of God to restore life to a broken world. But that is a story for another time.