Bittersweet Refinements: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Fall

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

[Romans 3:23 NAS]

According to religious traditions, Adam and Eve fell from our Heavenly Father’s grace when they sinned in the Garden of Eden, and it is as a result of this that we are all physically born into a fallen state of grace.  Hence, the fall of mankind.

In theological terms, the fall of mankind is called the Doctrine of Original Sin.  For it is written: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. [Romans 5:12 KJV]

Be assured that our Heavenly Father calls the Doctrine of Original Sin an abomination.  That is, at least in regards to the way it is presented [Jeremiah 5:21-31].  For He has made it quite clear that there is a difference between falling short of His glory and falling from His grace [Romans 5:6-11].

No, it cannot be denied that there were immediate consequences for Adam’s sin.  For it is written: To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.  Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”  To Adam, he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” [Genesis 3:16-19 NIV]

Neither can it be denied that there are consequences for our own sins—even when there appears to be none.  For it is written: For he who does wrong will receive the consequence of the wrong, which he has done, and that without partiality. [Colossians 3:25 NAS]

Nonetheless, has it not been made abundantly clear that Adam and Eve were still under His grace?  For it is written: The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. [Genesis 3:21 NIV]

Moreover, has it not been also made abundantly clear that we are all under His grace?  For it is written: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [Ephesians 2:8-10 NAS]

No, this is not about Christian Universalism, which basically teaches that all will eventually be saved from eternal damnation.  For the grace that can be found in Christ Jesus must be actually accepted by each individual [John 3:16], but who can do that without the grace of our Heavenly Father to begin with [John 6:44-45]?

Yes, Romans 5:12 needs to be addressed before we move along.  For instead of it saying that it is through the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden [Genesis 2:16-17] that all are automatically subject to the penalty for that sin, which is spiritual death [Romans 6:23], it is saying that spiritual death first entered into this world through his sin, which was the original one.