Paradise Lost

A Summary of the 3rd Chapter of Genesis

When God created Adam, the first man, God gave Adam a commandment not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.1

Adam and Eve, deceived by the serpent, ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. When God came looking for them, they hid because they were ashamed and afraid of God. When God questioned them about what had a happened, Adam blamed his wife, and Eve blamed the serpent.

God then announced the consequences of their actions: for the woman, an increase in the difficulty of bearing children and a distortion of her relationship with her husband. The consequence for Adam was that finding or growing food became very difficult. Instead of eating from a plentiful garden, Adam had to till the land and work for his supper. Humans also became mortal: “you are dust and to dust you shall return.”2 Both Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden.

The Fall

God created everything, and everything God created is good. But when we look at our world today, we know that there are a lot of violent and destructive forces at work. If God created everything good, how come there is so much evil in this world?

One explanation comes from the third chapter of the Book of Genesis, which describes how Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commandment and fell out of communion with God. This story is known as “the Fall.” It is called the Fall because it is when Adam and Eve fell out of communion with God, and became less than what they were intended to be. Christianity sees this as the beginning of sin and death in the world.

Aftermath of the Fall

There are several consequences to Adam and Eve’s falling out of communion with God. Some of the most immediate consequences were shame, fear and guilt.

Shame

After they ate the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve realized that they were naked and they felt ashamed, so they made themselves clothes from fig leaves. 3 Before this, they were not ashamed to be naked in front of each other.4 What changed in them to make them feel ashamed?

When somebody looks at you or talks to you not because they care about you, but because they only want to use you for something, it does not make you feel good. You feel uncomfortable. But when we are truly loved by someone, it feels good to open up to them and share ourselves with them. To feel naked or ashamed happens when somebody looks at you for their own selfish reason, for what you can give to them, and not with your well-being in mind. It means that the relationship is not one of love, but of self-interest.

“To feel naked is the rupture of relationship” writes Chrystos Yannaras “It is the awareness that the look of the other which falls on me is not the look of the beloved, of the one who loves me, whom I trust.” 5 It is the look of the stranger.” Adam and Eve no longer looked at each other with love, and so they felt ashamed. They were no longer “one flesh” but two separate individuals. Because of the fall, we too have become individuals who seek our own good over the good of others. Sin has destroyed our relationship with others.

Fear and Guilt

A second consequence of the fall is that Adam and Eve were afraid. But what were Adam and Eve afraid of? The garden they lived in was peaceful and serene. They had no previous experience of danger or threat. “Adam should be as fearless as an infant who stretches his hand out to grab the fire.” 6

Perhaps Adam is afraid of God? “How is it possible for Adam to fear God whom he knows only as ‘a passionate Lover’ of man and a giver of life? If, even after the fall, the love of someone truly in love is ready to forgive and forget every fault of the beloved person, will the love of God fail to [live up to] even these human standards?” 7

Adam is afraid of God because he feels guilty for what he has done. Adam’s guilt does not change who God is, but it changes Adam’s response to God. Instead of responding to God openly and lovingly, Adam fears God. God is still Adam’s beloved, but Adam has closed himself off to God’s love. In this way, sin has destroyed Adam’s relationship with God.

What is true for Adam is true for us. Sin destroys our relationship with others and with God.

How many people today fear God or see God as a policeman up in the sky watching us to catch us and punish us when we make mistakes? People believe that God is just and that He must grant justice and punish our sins. But our ideas of justice are very different from God’s ideas of justice. God’s mercy and justice go hand in hand. We need to remember that God is much more interested in healing us and loving us than in punishing us. We need to be open to God’s healing and love. We should not be afraid of God!