Catechism Study – Question #8

Question:
What is the result of the state of man after the fall?

Answer:
All of us, because of the fall, have lost communion with God, are under His wrath, and are deserving of death.

Scripture:
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
-Genesis 3:8

“…among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
-Ephesians 2:3

“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
-Galatians 3:10

“For the wages of sin is death…”
-Romans 6:23a

Summary:

There is no question that the world is not the way it should be. Look around and we see suffering and pain in every area of life. As Romans 8:22 says:

“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

Unbelievers hate to admit this. They will try to prove that the world can be improved by human effort, without God. They even say that there is no God, so that they can avoid the truth of God’s Word. We know from the Word of God, that the world is currently in a state of misery, and only the Bible provides us with a reason for that misery.

Our lost communion with God.

The first result of the fall that we read in the Bible is the fact that man has lost his communion with God. We lost the very thing we were created for – God. In the garden of Eden, God was the source of Adam and Eve’s pleasure, but since the fall, man has sought after getting that pleasure from created things rather than the creator. We all know that no matter what we try to fill that pleasure with in our lives, it always falls short. The joy may last for a little while, but we always seek something new to get it back. This was not true before the fall. God is the source of all our joy and only in Him can we ever be satisfied. We lost that because of the fall.

Misery in this life.

No matter whether we are rich or poor, we all experience misery in this life.  Just as Job states in Job 5:7:

“but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”

While each specific case of misery is different for each of us, they all are a result of the fall. Some experience disease and suffering. Others experience financial hardships and loss. All of us suffer in one way or another in this life. But as Christians, we know this will not always be the case.

We all will die.

As the author of Hebrews states in Hebrews 9:27:

“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…”

Man was not created to die. Man was created to live forever. That is why death is so unnatural to us. There is something in us that says this isn’t the way it should be. While it is true that Christians have defeated death because of Jesus Christ’s victory, we too will experience death in this life. This too is a result of the fall.

There is everlasting punishment.

One of the most difficult things to believe about the effect of the fall is that all of us are guilty before God and deserve everlasting punishment because of our disobedience. That means all of us are deserving of God’s eternal punishment. We all have disobeyed God in our lives and as a result as subject to His penalty. As Romans 6:23 says:

“For the wages of sin is death…”

Conclusion

As we study the results of the fall of man, we realize that we these results in our lives every day. We see the results of the fall in the suffering, death, and actions of the world today. Is there any solution? Is there any way out of this state of misery?

Study Questions:

1. What is the main thing about our condition unbelievers don’t want to admit? Why?

2. What are four results of the fall?

3. What are some of the ways we try to make up for these results?

4. What are some ways that we see man has lost communion with God?

5. How would you explain these truths to an unbeliever? What do you think their response would be? What would you say to them?