Christian Foundations: Consequences of the Fall of Man

Part II – Realizing the consequences of the fall of man

IV. In the last three chapters (part 1), creation order is established and then perverted:

Romans 8:19-22 19 For all creation is waiting, yearning for the time when the children of God will be revealed. 20 You see, all of creation has collapsed into emptiness, not by its own choosing, but by God’s. Still, He placed within it a deep and abiding hope 21 that creation would one day be liberated from its slavery to corruption and experience the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 For we know that all creation groans in unison with the birthing pains up until now.

What happened in man at the fall as a three-part being?

A. Spirit of man is what gives us life – within the spirit of man is supposed to reside the controlling will of man. It was the part of man that was created for communion with God.

1. At the fall, the divine order and image of man became perverted.

2. The fall left the spirit of man dead, not soul-life dead, but God-life dead, due to the severing of its relationship with God.

3. The spirit became corrupted, weak and vulnerable.

a. It came under condemnation from God.

b. It became powerless to control the sinful desires of the flesh.

c. It became dark, void of light and the presence of God, unable to understand the Word, or to receive divine direction from God.

d. It became destitute, without hope of a good future in God.

4. 2. Man was still a spirit being - The spirit of man is still what gives us life, but after the fall, the spirit gave up its position of leadership over the soul.

5. While we are considering the spirit of man, let's see what the scriptures say about how spirits move.

Luke 23:46 Jesus (shouting out loudly): 46 “Father, I entrust My spirit into Your hands! [a] And with those words, He exhaled – and breathed no more.

• Gave up the ghost = ekpneo = it is a compound word formed from ek = out and pneo = breath or spirit; literally to breath out or spirit out.

Genesis 2:7 7One day the Eternal God scooped dirt out of the ground, sculpted it into the shape we call human, breathed the breath that gives life into the nostrils of the human, and the human became of living soul.

6. God breathed the spirit of man into him.

a. When Jesus died – he breathed out his spirit.

John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

7. As if to say, you breathe it in now.

a. In Greek and Hebrew, the words for spirit, wind, and breath are the same. “Holy Spirit” in the Grk. is pneuma hagion—could be translated as "holy breath."

b. When it comes time for ministry in the class sessions, this is very practical knowledge, that spirit is breathed in or out and that breathing in or out can be a demonstration of what you want to happen by your will.

c. If you want to receive Holy Spirit, you breathe in.

d. Also, if you want to expel a demon spirit, you would do the opposite, breathe out. Expel an evil breath.

Mark 1:39 And he was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.

8. Cast out – Greek ekballo – throw out - Today, we might say; to expel, to evict, or eject meaning to throw out by force.

a. demons are evil spirits or breaths that we can drive out by force by expelling them in our breath.

b. Just as we demonstrate our desire to receive the Holy Spirit by breathing in, we demonstrate our will to eject demons by breathing them out.

B. What happened to the soul of man at the fall -- the soul = our intellect (the mind), the soulish emotions or feelings, and the desires of life – after the fall, the soul became the controlling, out-of-order will. Man took on a new nature with the rebel soul as the leader. In essence, it took the place of leadership that the spirit vacated at the time of the fall.

1. Man's soul gained pre-eminence – Aunnatyāmu (where it was supposed to be Christ, that is why Paul says Christ should have pre-eminence) over his spirit and his own selfish thoughts, wants and feelings began dominating his behaviour.

a. His selfish desires and emotions became the driving, controlling force in his life.

b. Man's mind became prone to unsoundness (it is reversed in our confession... that we have been given a spirit of sound mind) in many different areas, memory and reasoning abilities became limited.

c. Man's mind was opened up to weaknesses, lusts, soulish wounding, perverse fascinations (kattu, mantrakattu, vibhranthi, paravasatha), immoral and perverse imaginations and different forms of insanity (verri) as well as ungodly fears and torments.

d. Man's mind eventually became a target for infiltration (Chorabāṭlaku) and residence by demons.

2. The sinful nature of the soul is often called the “flesh” in the New Testament.

3. This fallen nature of man is passed down from generation to generation to all men by Adam after the fall in the garden. Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image; and named him Seth.

4. The flesh is the soul in rebellion, out of God's created order. It is man going his own way instead of God's way.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

John 1:12-13 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

5. There is the will of man, the will of the flesh, and the will of God John 6:63 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Romans 8:8 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 13:14 But put on the LORD Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts (Fleshly desires).

Galatians 6:8 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

Galatians 5:16-21 16 Here’s my instructions: walk in the Spirit, and let the Spirit bring order to your life. If you do, you will never give in to your selfish and sinful cravings. 17 For everything the flesh desires goes against the Spirit, and everything the Spirit desires goes against the flesh. There is a constant battle raging between them that prevents you from doing the good you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.

19 It’s clear that our flesh entices us into practicing some of its most heinous acts: participating in corrupt sexual relationships, impurity, unbridled lusts, 20 idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, arguing, jealousy, anger, selfishness, contentiousness, division, 21 envy of others’ good fortune, drunkenness, drunken revelry, and other shameful vices that plague humankind. I told you this clearly before, and I only tell you again so there is no room for confusion: those who give in to these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Make this a part of confession, naming them one by one … Let's confess…

Example: If I committed adultery and yet did not confess, I will not inherit the Kingdom of God.) If you have asked for forgiveness and yet not confessed before men, you will not receive healing. So, let’s do it today.

C. What happened to the body after the fall - the body became subject to weakness, aging, and death as well as sickness and disease – It also became a target for the habitation of demons.

1. Our body was designed to be a servant of the spirit of man, but after the fall, it became the servant of the carnal or fleshly nature.

2. The five senses, which were designed by God for man to enjoy the beauty and riches of creation, and to enjoy righteous fellowship with other men and women, also became a driving force in man's sinful nature.

a. Man became sensually and sexually driven. (Lust driven)

b. This led to many kinds of addictions as well as demonic habitation.

3. Now, instead of the body being totally subservient to the man (his spirit), the man became the servant of his own body and soul. His body became a weakness, a burden, and a distraction.

D. Man is now out of creation order.

1. Creation order was the Holy Spirit over our spirit, our spirit over our soul, our soul over our body.

2. God has been taken out of the chain of authority entirely. The spirit of man is dead, and the sinful nature of the soul is ruling the mind and body, resulting in every kind of inordinate desires and behaviour.

3. Man is now dead in trespasses and sin, without God and without hope in this world.