Fall of Adam, Essay Example

The idea of a spiritual death is a very hard concept to understand. The fall of Adam was the initiation of the spiritual death. There is two types of death, physical and spiritual. The physical death is self-explanatory, but a spiritual death is a state of being in which the human soul is separated from God and has not been enlivened by his Spirit. Matt. 25:46, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” The Apostle Paul explains spiritual death further in Ephesians 4:18 as being “alienated from the life of God.” In 1 Timothy 5:6, he makes this contrast between physical and spiritual life even more explicit by declaring that a person was “dead even while she lives.” The concept of spiritual death is based on the religious aspect of failing to follow and comply with religious beliefs and actions.

The author stated, “In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die” was referring to the idea of spiritual death. God is speaking to Adam in regards to his need to obey the commandments given to him. The failure to comply would results in spiritual death and human nature was formed. For Adam to not have died means that he would still be perfect, free of sin. The well-respected theologian Millard Erickson says in this regard: Since physical death is a result of sin, it seems probable that the humans were created with the possibility of living forever. They were not inherently immortal, however; that is, they would not by virtue of their nature have lived on forever. Rather, if they had not sinned, they could have partaken of the tree of life and thus have received everlasting life. They were mortal in the sense of being able to die; and when they sinned, that potential or possibility became a reality (Erickson, p.1176-7).

The speculation can be drawn that by disobeying Gods commandment humans fell from grace and were given the free will to choose whether to believe and to comply with God’s direction.

Adam took on human nature as a result of his spiritual death. “The nature of ‘fallen man’ – human beings other than Adam and Eve, ones who are ‘fallen’ in the sense that they have somehow inherited the sinfulness of Adam’s sin of disobedience” (Edwards, p.69). When Adam took on the human nature we now know, he became a form of a servant. He was put into what can be considered as a state of trial. Edwards lists three things that can be considered when someone is in a state of trial. “Hafflictions’ being spoken of as his ‘trials’ or ‘temptations’; his being the subject of promises; and his being exposed to Satan’s temptations. Christ was evidently the subject of each of these” (Edwards, p.67). Adam was faced with temptations and trials in the garden and after his fall from grace.

Adam serves an important role in understanding the ideals associated with spiritual death and how it much different than our understanding of the physical death. Adam was tested and tried, however he knew the commandments of God. He willingly broke the rule of eating the fruit from the tree and changed human nature as we know it today. It is important to understand the theology behind Adam and how it changed our relationship with God. A spiritual death separates the soul from God and an eternity in Heaven.

Work Cited

Edwards, Johnathon. Freedom of Will. Arminian liberty and moral agency, part 3, 2007. Print.

Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998) 1176-7. Print.

The Bible, New Living Translation. Ephesians 4:18. Print.

The Bible, New Living Translation. Matthew 25:46. Print.

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