THE FALL, MAN'S
FIRST SIN
If everything God created was good, how was there an evil
serpent in the garden with Adam and Eve? (CCC 391-395)
The evil
serpent is Satan. Satan was originally created good; he was
angel, traditionally the most beautiful one, and had the name
Lucifer, which means angel of light. Before the fall of man, the
angels were also given a trial of faith, and Lucifer, along with
one third of all the angels, failed this test and “fell.” Their
choice was made freely and it is irrevocable. Therefore, the
devil who was in the garden, along with the demons, are all
fallen angels who were originally created good.
Why did God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the
middle of the Garden? Wouldn’t it have been better if there was
no opportunity for Adam and Eve to sin? (CCC 396)
No. God
wants to be in a relationship with us. A relationship consists
in two persons that love one another. In order for us to truly
love God, our decision to love Him must be a free choice.
If there is no other option, the choice is not free, but
obligatory, and therefore, it is not love. Second, mankind needs
to understand that God is Creator and man is creature. Imposing
regulations on us forces us to acknowledge the Lord is sovereign
and that we have total dependence on Him. Furthermore, having a
choice leads us to trust and faith. We have to make a free and
rational decision – do I trust that what the Lord has asked of
me is for my best and for my happiness? In the first sin of
Adam and Eve, and in each sin of mankind, the answer to this
question has been “no.” Each sin is a failure to trust the love
and goodness of God. In each sin we, in essence, say, “I know
better than God for my life.” The Lord desires that we freely
choose to acknowledge and trust His love and goodness, and to do
this, we need to have the opportunity to choose against
Him. For more on this issue, please refer to the question,
“If
God is all-powerful and all-loving, why is there evil in the
world?”
Did Adam and Eve really eat an apple or is this story meant to
be a myth? (CCC 390)
The answer
to this question is best expressed by quoting the Catechism:
“The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language,
but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the
beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the
certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by
the original fault freely committed by our first parents.”
What were the consequences of Adam’s sin? (CCC 402-409)
Humanity
lost its state of original holiness and justice, which
constituted four general losses. Man lost his harmony with
(1)God, (2)other men, (3)himself, and (4)nature. As well, he
lost sanctifying grace (faith, hope and love), the gifts of the
Holy Spirit, and the four preternatural gifts (see question, “What
was the condition of man before the Fall?”). The loss of the
preternatural gifts means that we are subject to ignorance,
obedience is difficult, we are subject to suffering and death,
and we are inclined to sin (this inclination is called
concupiscence). In general, the natural powers of our human
state were (and still are) wounded, no longer able to function
to perfection. However, they were wounded, but not lost. We are
able, with the grace of God through Jesus Christ, to heal our
wounded nature. In the Sacrament of Baptism, we are given
sanctifying grace, and through prayer and the other Sacraments,
we can receive again the gifts of the Holy Spirit and grow in
grace and virtue. The preternatural gifts will be restored and
bettered in heaven (we can partially remedy some on
earth). Eventually, in heaven we will be completely healed and
restored. In fact, because of the mercy of God, our condition
heaven will be better than it was before the Fall.
Are we born sinners? (CCC 402-406)
We are born
with original sin. This is not a personal sin that we ourselves
committed, but rather a fallen state that is
contracted. We inherit a fallen nature that was a consequence of
the sin of Adam and Eve. Positively, original sin is wiped clean
through Baptism. However, we retain the inclination to the sin,
which is called concupiscence, and we will battle with this
inclination our whole lives.
Why do we inherit Adam’s sin even if we never sinned ourselves
before we are born? (CCC 402-406)
To begin,
there is no complete answer to this question, for fullness of
understanding will only be granted in heaven. There are two key
principles to look at here.
The first
one is justice – good and bad both have consequences, not
just one or the other. Original holiness and justice (the gifts
given to Adam and Eve) were also to be transmittable to all
mankind. In other words, had Adam and Eve not sinned, we would
all still enjoy the gifts he was originally given.
Positively, we also have the universality of Christ’s sacrifice.
Through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, but though one man
(Jesus) all men are saved. God applies the same principle for
the good and bad acts – this is just. It would be useless to
have consequences only for good acts on not bad; reward without
the possibility of punishment does not accomplish much. Again,
God’s mercy prevails, as the state of man after Christ’s
Redemption is better than our state before the Fall.
The second
principle love as a communion. To love implies
having someone to love. We are not autonomous beings that exist
in our own bubble; man is a social being. Humanity lives in
communion with one another. One profound way to illustrate this
truth is original sin and redemption. These two acts show us
that our acts have consequences on others; they do not affect
only us personally. Every act, good or bad, has a consequence.
This is why Jesus calls the Church a Body (His Body). In the
body we clearly see that the actions of one part of the body
(good or bad) affect the whole body. While we may look at this
negatively, it is really truly beautiful. The responsibility of
choosing good for the sake of ourselves and others impels us to
love, to go outside ourselves to love our neighbor. If our
actions did not have universal consequences, we would be able to
live alone within ourselves. This is not love. God, in His
wisdom, knew is it “not good for man to be alone” because this
is not love. (For more on this truth see questions,
“Why is
God a Trinity and not simply one Person in one God?” and
“What
do we mean when we say man was created in the ‘image and
likeness’ of God?” and
“Why did God create us male and
female?”)
Why did God create us if He knew we were going to sin and cause
all this suffering? Wouldn’t it have been better if He never
created us in the first place? (CCC 410-412)
There are
many aspects to this question so we will simply give a few
points to ponder. First, God did foresee our sin and the
suffering we would cause. However, this same foresight allowed
Him to see that in order to redeem us (even though we do not
deserve it), He would have to become man and be cruelly put to
death. So at the same time he saw our suffering, He also
saw His own greater suffering and chose to create
anyway – even though He enjoyed perfect happiness
without us. He loves us that much.
Second, it is worth quoting St. Thomas: “There is nothing to
prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater,
even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some
greater good.” Therefore St. Paul says, “Where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more” As well, at the Easter Mass we
sing, “O happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a
Redeemer!” In other words, God allowed our sins knowing He could
bring forth something more beautiful than the original. (For a
more in-depth explanation, please see the question,
“If God
is all-powerful and all-loving, why is there evil in the world?”)
