When Satan brought temptation to disobey God to Adam and Eve, they made free choices to listen to him and consider his reasoning about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This listening and considering birthed in them doubt about God, His goodness, His providence, His veracity. Adam and Eve could have freely chosen to walk away from Satan and seek out the Lord in the Garden. They did not do this. They lingered and continued to hear Satan's deception and invitation to do what God had commanded them not to do. And it was not long before Eve freely chose to look at the tree and its fruit and determined that it was good for food and to make her wiser than she presently was. She freely chose to pick the fruit and eat it. And then she gave the fruit to Adam, who freely chose to take hold of it and eat it, too. They could have freely chosen otherwise in that moment. But they did not.
They were not coerced by Satan. They freely chose to test God in their own testing. And so they sinned, not just in a singular way, but in multiple ways and fell from the glory that God had given them in their creation. They fell short of the perfect righteousness God required of those who would be in right fellowship with Him. They fell a long, long way. And from then on, mankind could never return to this original state of sinlessness, innocence, and goodness on their own.
FALLEN MANKIND
With this free choice to become sinful, Adam and Eve no longer could choose to remain sinless. Their will was now driven by the desire to sin which took control of their nature making it impossible for them to regain what they lost. They only were free to choose to sin. They could not please God by their works. They hid from God instead of seeking Him out. They knew that the relationship they had with God was broken and they feared God, feeling the condemnation that sin always brings, and the wages of sin-death, began to work in them.
Pt. 4
DURING THE TEMPTATION
When Satan brought temptation to disobey God to Adam and Eve, they made free choices to listen to him and consider his reasoning about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This listening and considering birthed in them doubt about God, His goodness, His providence, His veracity. Adam and Eve could have freely chosen to walk away from Satan and seek out the Lord in the Garden. They did not do this. They lingered and continued to hear Satan's deception and invitation to do what God had commanded them not to do. And it was not long before Eve freely chose to look at the tree and its fruit and determined that it was good for food and to make her wiser than she presently was. She freely chose to pick the fruit and eat it. And then she gave the fruit to Adam, who freely chose to take hold of it and eat it, too. They could have freely chosen otherwise in that moment. But they did not.
They were not coerced by Satan. They freely chose to test God in their own testing. And so they sinned, not just in a singular way, but in multiple ways and fell from the glory that God had given them in their creation. They fell short of the perfect righteousness God required of those who would be in right fellowship with Him. They fell a long, long way. And from then on, mankind could never return to this original state of sinlessness, innocence, and goodness on their own.
FALLEN MANKIND
With this free choice to become sinful, Adam and Eve no longer could choose to remain sinless. Their will was now driven by the desire to sin which took control of their nature making it impossible for them to regain what they lost. They only were free to choose to sin. They could not please God by their works. They hid from God instead of seeking Him out. They knew that the relationship they had with God was broken and they feared God, feeling the condemnation that sin always brings, and the wages of sin-death, began to work in them.
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