Before the fall, Adam and Eve had a Spirit-to-spirit connection with God. God did not live in them, but He walked with them. In the Garden of Eden, everything for Adam and Eve’s full life—their perfect relationship with God, self, others and the world—came through their relationship with God. Adam and Eve’s spirit, soul and body were in perfect agreement with God. God gave; they received. God loved; they trusted.
Satan hated Adam and his relationship with God. He hated that God had created humanity in His image to have dominion over the earth. He hated that Adam had been given authority “over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis 1:26)—for Satan was that creeping thing.So he plotted to destroy God’s most treasured creation. In the Garden of Eden, he tempted Eve to fall in the same way he had fallen—by relying on his own soul (his own mind, will and emotions).
Long ago, Satan had tried to become like God apart from God. By his own efforts—his own I will—Satan had tried to make himself like God.He had said, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13–14). Satan fell because of pride; he was going to do it himself—by his own, independent I will. So he tempted Eve to act apart from her relationship with God, to rely on her independent soul and to express her own I will.
In the center of the Garden of Eden, God had planted two trees: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God warned Adam about the second tree, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16–17).
The fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was not good for humanity. So, like a loving father warning his child not to eat something poisonous, God warned Adam.
However, Satan reassured Eve that everything would be fine—even better than before. He told her, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”(Genesis 3:4–5). “Don’t listen to God,” the serpent said. “You won’t really die; you’ll be like God.” The idea Satan planted in her mind was, “God doesn’t have your best interests at heart. If He really loved you, He wouldn’t withhold this good from you. So go ahead. Choose what is best for yourself.”
The fruit of tree seemed good to her, so Eve ate it. She gave some to Adam and he ate it too. In so doing, Adam made his own decision and acted apart from God. His soul—his mind, willand emotions—chose its own will over God’s. Thus, Adam broke his Spirit-to-spirit connection with God; he cut off the life-giving relationship. Now the soul had to make its own decisions using its new-found knowledge of good and evil.
When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, the effect rippled throughout the entire human race. When we are born into this world, we inherit Adam’s disconnection from God—the sin nature. Satan’s evil plot destroyed the perfect way God had created us to live—in Spirit-to-spirit connection with Him. Now the independent soul—cut off from continual intimate relationship with God—was in control.
After the fall, Adam and Eve’s minds became clouded by the knowledge of good and evil. When their “eyes were opened” they no longer saw God’s loving nature, but increasing viewed Him as a harsh father demanding good and punishing evil. The couple’s image of God, self and others was darkened by lies.
These lies changed their behavior. When God came to walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the Garden, they were not there. The two had dressed themselves in fig leaves to cover their nakedness and were hiding from God.
But God searched out Adam, calling for the one he loved, “Where are you?”(Genesis 3:9).
Adam answered, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself”(Genesis 3:10). Fear (“I was afraid”) is the first emotion expressed by Adam after the fall. The I will brought fear into their lives. There was no fear in Adam or Eve before the fall. Before the fall there was nothing to be afraid of; they knew the loving nature of God. The New Testament says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).
Adam and Eve had lost their connection with God. Their Spirit-to-spirit relationship was severed. Through people’s independent souls, Satan could now work evil in humanity and in the world God had designed for them to rule.
Reflection Questions:
- Consider for a moment what it must have been like for Adam and Eve to “walk with God.” What do you think that perfect relationship may have been like?
- In what ways were Adam and Eve’s experience of God’s love changed after the fall?
- In what ways might you have bought into Satan’s lie, “God doesn’t have your best interests at heart”?
- How is the soul (will) central to Satan’s scheme?
- How is the soul (will) central to God’s full redemptive plan?