Did our first parents live in the same place where they were created? What is sin? In what condition were our first parents born, by what sin did they fall from there?

     Our first parents, by surrendering to their own free will, sinning against God, fell from the condition in which they were created.

 

    Sin is any kind of disobedience to God's law, or crime.

 

    Our first parents fell out of the way they were when they ate the forbidden fruit.

 

1. The woman saw that the tree was beautiful, that the fruits were plentiful, and that it was desirable for knowledge. Then She ate the fruit from the tree and gave it to her husband, and He also ate the fruit (Genesis 3:16). See, I understand only this one theory, God created man simple and straightforward, but man has complicated himself (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

 

2. Who sins, He breaks the law, and is a sinner (John 3: 4).

 

    God created man in a sinless state. He is the true image of God in righteousness and holiness. But he was still not sure about that blessed condition. God placed two alternative ways before our first parents. On the one hand, there was the way of perfect obedience. And this way can lead to the way of eternal life. Paul said, "... he that keepeth the law shall live by it" (Galatians 3:12). But on the other hand, there was also the way of disobedience. And this way can only lead to death. God told Adam about the tree of knowledge, "The day you eat of that tree, you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17). As we read the Q&A, we need to keep in mind that our first parents “surrendered to their own free will,” that’s mean our first parents had two important things to say.

 

Freedom and capability

 

(1         (1) First, they had the freedom to follow the way of life-oriented obedience, or the way of death-oriented disobedience. We are saying that they had freedom because no one forced them to travel in any one way. Even Satan could not force them to act according to his will. He can only tempted them. He was only able to persuade them to work through their desires as he wished.

(2      (2) Second, they had the ability to choose between the two options. In other words, they had the power to choose between good and evil (because God created them with His power). In other Q&A studies we will note that this is the ability to do good or evil that was completely destroyed by the fall. After the first sin, Adam and his descendants have the freedom to do good or evil, but they do not have the power to do good things. In this case, we must say that they have lost what they originally had, "the freedom of their own will." If we say, "Man has a free will," we are right, if we mean that he was not compelled to do evil by anything or anyone, but if we say, that man, able to do good things even in his fallen state, then we are not be right. "There is none that doeth good" (Romans 3:12).

    The 'Q&A' ​​clearly teaches that the "story" of Adam and Eve is true. This is important information today because many hypocritical teachers reject the Bible's message. But the way they reject what the Bible teaches becomes even more dangerous. There has never been a shortage of people who deny the teachings of the Bible. In particular, we will mention the story of the fall of the people of the Garden of Eden. But the dangerous aspect of the denial of the present day is that they are not direct and simple. For example, in such a corner teacher can say, I believe that there is truth in the story of Adam and Eve. I admit. I teach it to others.” But what does he mean by saying that? He mean by saying that, there was a man named Adam who lived in a particular time and place and who took fruit from a tree in defiance of God's direct command? No, He wants to say that the stories of Isaiah as are true, the same is true of the "story" of Adam and Eve. In the language of these modernists, truth means that the event did not really happen. This only means that they find "some kind of" education "in this story. In other words, for modernists, the forbidden fruit of Adam is nothing more than a myth; what happened in the experience of all human beings has been expressed (in the form of allegory). To them it is not a historical event. Rather, it is a "story-picture" that has been experienced by all human beings at all times. At least in most cases, the reason for this erroneous view is the teaching of evolution and other human methods, which seek to explain the existence of things without God. But we believe the story of Adam and Eve to be true (which was true). Jesus (see Matthew 19: 4) and the apostle Paul (Romans 5: 12-21) accepted this statement as true.

 

Only God determines the definition of right and wrong

 

If we re-read the account of the first sin (Genesis 2:17; 3: 1-8) we will see one thing clearly. Only God has the right to say "it's right", "it's wrong". And if he had been faithful to God's word, Adam would have known exactly which one right (Genesis 2:17). The only law that could help Adam to determine right from wrong is God's command. That is why Satan centered his power on this subject. He said, "Thou shalt not die" (Genesis 3: 4). In other words, he persuaded Adam to accept the idea that God's Word was not the only sure rule. He made Adam think that he could decide for himself which one was the best. In contrast, we can say:

 

 (1) God's view of sin was that "sin is a lack of obedience to God's law, which is a crime."

 (2) Satan's admonition to Adam was that "whatever is harmful to man" is the definition of sin, yet this is only definition of sin. Sin is "what is wrong, because God says, so "which wrong, because it hurts us.'' And by misinterpretation of sin, we can never discover how serious our sin is. Moreover, we do not see universal commitment in human beings. What looks good to one visitor may not be so great to another. One thing that is considered a sin for one, is not for another.

     But we can know our position from God's definition of sin. The rules are the same for all people. In the two illustrations you learn about two special sins. On the one hand (Figure 11.1), "lack of adherence to the rules" When we have a duty to do, but we do not, we lack obedience to God's law. We are guilty of not doing what God wants us to do. Many people do not think about sin at all. They think of other kinds of sin (which is called,). Because they do not swear, do not steal, or kill, they think they are not great sinners. Yet, they may be increasingly sinful because they do not worship God and do not keep the Sabbath holy, and so on.

     On the other hand (Figure 11.2), we see that sin “can also be a crime against God's law,” that’s mean when we do something that God does not want us to do, we become sinners. Adam's sin of eating the forbidden fruit is an example of crime.

     If we remember this definition of sin, we will realize that the sin of our first parents was indeed a terrible sin. People sometimes say, how can such a small sin (like a boy picking an apple from a neighbor's tree) have such horrible consequences (expulsion from the garden, death, even hell)! When we see that sin is "a lack of obedience to God's law or a crime." In other words, when we see that sin is so terrible as to be contrary to the great, good, and holy God - we see that this objection is also worthless. People who talk about sin in this way shown that they are not looking at sin properly. Because, if we are to see how great God is, we must look at sin in the light of God and His law. When we stop sinning and think,

 (1) Adam disobeyed the command of the Holy God, (2) he disobeyed when he had the freedom and ability to do what was right, and (3) When he had been warned of the terrible consequences of disobedience, we realized how terrible it really was.