Harmony Lost
Sin Enters the Human Family
Adam and Eve had a life we can only dream about.
They had a perfect harmony within themselves. Their intellects and wills were aligned perfectly to goodness and truth, as were their imaginations, feelings, and physical desires. A life of goodness and truth came naturally to them. They enjoyed a perfect union with God and a complete trust in one another as husband and wife.
Into this harmony of the garden, Satan enters.
Like us, the angels were created with free will and called to freely love God. Satan was one of the greatest of the angels, and in his pride he chose not to love and serve God. This separation from God causes him untold misery, and he sees in Adam and Eve a way to strike back at God by turning them away from the love of their creator. He enters the garden to tempt Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3)
Can Adam and Eve really trust God?
God had clearly commanded that our original parents must not eat from one of the trees in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan enters into conversation with Eve and creates doubt in her mind, telling her that when she eats from it, “You will be like God!” (Gen 3:5) She and Adam give in to this temptation.
This is more than just the eating of a fruit.
Instead of trusting God and his desire for their happiness, Adam and Eve have chosen to disobey God and separate themselves from him. For the first time, they have sinned.
Sin greatly damages Adam and Eve’s inner harmony.
They find that their souls have become like a broken mirror, damaged in every way by sin. Their intellects are now easily deceived; it is difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Their wills have been weakened; it no longer comes naturally to love selflessly and to do what is good. Their imaginations, feelings, and physical desires are often at odds with goodness and truth.
Their harmony with God and with each other is also lost.
Adam and Eve experience shame and feel a need to cover their nakedness in front of each other. When God comes, they hide from him. These details show how their harmony with each other has been wounded, as has their perfect union with God. They will now experience suffering and physical death, but the most serious consequence is their spiritual separation from God.
The wounds of sin affect the entire human race.
The entire human family has inherited Adam and Eve’s state of spiritual brokenness; we all experience their lack of internal harmony and their attraction to sin. God created us to be united with him, but unless he repairs the separation caused by sin, we will never be able to enjoy union with him here or in heaven. How will he save us and restore the human family to union with him?
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