Genesis 3:1-24

Did God create man evil and perverse like this?

No. On the contrary, God created man good and in His image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that he might rightly know God his Creator, love Him with his whole heart, and live with him in eternal blessedness, praising and glorifying Him.

Where, then, does this corruption of human nature come from?

From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden; whereby our human life is so poisoned that we are all conceived and born in the state of sin.

But are we so perverted that we are altogether unable to do good and prone to do evil?

Yes, unless we are born again through the Spirit of God.

I. Did God Make a Creation Mistake?

A. God made the world perfect. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31)

B. The original design mirrored God Himself. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27)

C. True righteousness and holiness were the primary design characteristics of original humanity. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)

D. God intended people to live with Him as friends. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)

+ This closing image of the future recalls original intent and gives hope for a final restoration of God's design.

II. The Fall Explains the Human Condition

II. The Fall Explains the Human Condition             A. Here is what took place. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:1-6)^[1]

B. Sin devolves through normal human heredity from the first family. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Romans 5:12)

C. As people think through their own experience they find evidence of the Biblical analysis. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5)

III. Only Starting Over Will Solve the Problem

A. Whatever people may excuse or accommodate, God continues to demand holiness.  GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)  

B. The substitutionary atonement of Christ for the believer is the only way out of the problem. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah  53:6)

C. The struggle for holiness arises in the context of the atonement. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

D. No one can get around the reality of the substitutionary atonement through Christ. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. (Job 14:4)