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CLC Introduction 3.2 – Man – His Fall

The document discusses the creation and fall of man according to Lutheran doctrine, asserting that mankind was uniquely created by God in His image but lost that image through sin. It emphasizes that all humans are born spiritually dead and unable to save themselves, referencing biblical texts that support these beliefs. The account of Adam and Eve's fall in Genesis 3 is presented as a factual historical event, with implications for humanity's spiritual state and relationship with God.

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CLC Introduction 3.2 – Man – His Fall

The document discusses the creation and fall of man according to Lutheran doctrine, asserting that mankind was uniquely created by God in His image but lost that image through sin. It emphasizes that all humans are born spiritually dead and unable to save themselves, referencing biblical texts that support these beliefs. The account of Adam and Eve's fall in Genesis 3 is presented as a factual historical event, with implications for humanity's spiritual state and relationship with God.

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9dsy2d86gv
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Provided by the Church of the Lutheran Confession - Board of Missions

An Introduction to Lutheran Doctrine


and the Church of the Lutheran Confession
Lesson 3.2 – Man: His Fall

III. Man: His Creation and Fall


We believe, as the Bible teaches, that mankind is a unique creation. People are not products of an
evolutionary process of millions of years.
God created all things in heaven and earth during six twenty-four hour days by the power of His
almighty Word. By that same Word He continues to uphold and sustain all things.
Exodus 20:11: For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Man was created in the image of God (holy and righteous), but he lost that image through the fall into
sin. Since the fall, he is by nature and from conception without spiritual goodness. Man is spiritually
blind and dead, an enemy of God, and doomed to eternal damnation. In his lost condition he can do
nothing to save himself.
Genesis 1:27: So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male
and female He created them.
Genesis, Chapter 3 (Adam’s Fall)
Genesis 8:21b: “… although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
Psalm 14:2-3: The LORD looks down from heaven unto the children of men, to see if there are who
understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside. They have together become corrupt; there
is none who does good, no, not one.
Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
Ephesians 2:3: …we all… were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Romans 8:7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God,
nor indeed can be.

Comments:
Genesis 3 contains the account of mankind’s fall into sin. We understand this account to be historical.
That is, we believe that Adam and Eve actually existed on this earth, and that Satan tempted them to
sin in the form of a serpent. There was an actual garden of Eden at one time on this earth, and the
tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were actual trees growing in that garden.
By believing Genesis 3 is factual, we agree with Jesus Himself. We see that Jesus Himself believe these
things when He said concerning the devil: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not
stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). Genesis 3 does not mention the devil by
name, but Revelation 12:9 makes it clear that this was the devil when it says: “So the great dragon
was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan who deceives the whole world.”

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The apostle Paul also accepted the Genesis 3 account as factual, for he wrote: “But I fear, lest
somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Paul also compares Adam to Christ. He tells us that as
Adam brought sin and death into the world, so Christ brings righteousness and eternal life. See Romans
5:12-19; also 1 Corinthians 15:21, 45-49.
Through the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, the image of God was lost. Now, all human beings are by
nature children of wrath, without God and without hope in the world. Whe Paul say “we all” in
Ephesians 2:3, Paul admits that this includes also the Israelites (the Jewish people), even though God
chose them to be His people. David confessed that he was conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5). By nature, no
one is good. Not only that, everyone is in fact positively evil by nature, for “the carnal mind is enmity
against God.” By nature, no one is able to obey even one commandment of God in the perfect and
loving way God demands.
The apostle Paul explains this clearly in Romans 3. After quoting numerous passages from the Old
Testament, Paul concludes by saying: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans
3:23). This repeats what Paul said at the beginning of the chapter: “We have previously charged both
Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin” (Romans 3:9).
Man, by nature, cannot chose or decide to believe in God and walk in His ways. This is impossible, for
the Bible describes a person as being “dead in trespasses and sins,” and as “having no hope and
without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:1, 12). A physically dead person cannot bring himself back to
life. In the same way neither can a spiritually dead person bring himself to spiritual life. No one, in their
corrupted nature, can do a single thing to please God.
Questions

1. Why can we be sure the account in Genesis 3 is factual and historical?


2. Why can we be sure that the devil or Satan spoke through the serpent?
3. Why is the devil called the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning?
4. What command of God did Adam and Eve disobey?
5. What does it mean to be conceived in sin?
6. What happened to the image of God in man when man sinned?
7. How are human beings described in the Bible after the fall?
8. What is so bad about being spiritually dead?
9. How many persons in the world are sinners?
10. What can human beings do to save themselves from their lost condition?

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