KEY Foundations Chapter 7 Notes: Act 2 - The Fall PDF

KEY Foundations Chapter 7 NOTES: Act 2 - The Fall 7.1 NOTES: I. What does the Hebrew word shalom mean? Peace, harmony, wholeness, prosperity, welfare, and tranquility A. Our world is not in a shalom situation. The Bible’s metanarrative in Genesis 3 unfolds a wor...

KEY Foundations Chapter 7 NOTES: Act 2 - The Fall 7.1 NOTES: I. What does the Hebrew word shalom mean? Peace, harmony, wholeness, prosperity, welfare, and tranquility A. Our world is not in a shalom situation. The Bible’s metanarrative in Genesis 3 unfolds a world corrupted by evil, broken by sin, and plagued by suffering. B. Nearly every worldview recognizes that there is some kind of problem in our world, but there is wide disagreement over what the problem is. 1. The Bible teaches that the problem with our world is sin - it is the reason for evil and suffering in the world. 2. But sin, evil, and suffering played no part in God’s creation; they are intruders in God’s world. This is not the way the world is supposed to be. 7.2 NOTES: I. What are the 3 words used in the Bible for sin? A. Sin, transgression, and iniquity II. Define sin: To miss the goal, to fail to love God and others A. This only makes sense if we know what God’s goal was for us: to be in right relationship with himself and to love others B. Therefore, to sin is also to fail to love God and others III. Define transgression: The act of rebelling or breaking trust with another person IV. Define iniquity: Crooked, wicked, and perverse behavior V. Sin in the Bible isn’t just not living up to God’s standards despite your best efforts. It involves a failure to love God and neighbor, the violation of trust through breaking of relationships, and wicked behavior. 7.3 NOTES: I. What is the fall? The belief that sin entered the world when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God II. Genesis doesn’t explain what the serpent was doing in the garden or who the serpent was, but other Scripture seem to identify the serpent as Satan (Rom. 16:20; Rev. 12:9, 20:2). A. The serpent is intelligent, speaks, asks clever questions, and is antagonistic toward both God and humans. III. The first thing the serpent did was challenge God’s command (Gen. 3:1). A. Eve corrected the serpent, but in her reply she added to God’s words saying, “neither shall you touch it, lest you die”. 1. The Bible does not report that God said anything about touching the tree, only that they were not to eat of it (Gen. 2:16-17). IV. Next, the serpent outright rejected God’s word with the response of, “You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4), suggesting that God had lied. V. Finally, the serpent questioned God’s goodness and motivation (Gen. 3:5), and he says they will become like God. A. An ironic statement considering that humans were already like God by bearing His image B. Yet the serpent was suggesting that God was actually stingy and restrictive, trying to convince Adam and Eve that God was holding back on them C. But what was God holding back? It seems the wisdom offered by the Tree was a wisdom that makes one independent from God. D. By eating the fruit, they demonstrated that they were not content with the knowledge that God had given them or to bear God’s image. 1. Instead, they wanted to be gods, ruling on their own terms by defining good and evil for themselves. VI. Adam and Eve transgressed by rebelling against him and chose iniquity by rebelling against him, thus rejecting their role as stewards. 7.4 NOTES: I. The first consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin was death. A. In the Christian worldview, death is unnatural. It is the great enemy and an invader in God’s world.  B. Christians have the hope of eternal life in God’s kingdom, but this hope should never cause us to minimize death in the present. 1. Even Jesus took the time to weep, to feel the weight and tragedy of death of Lazarus before He brought him back to life. C. Adam and Eve would die physically (because they could no longer eat from the Tree of Life), but also spiritually because to be away from God’s presence leads to eternal death. 1. True life, they discovered, comes from being with God. Their spiritual death was the fracturing and distortion of their relationship with God. 2. In rebelling against God, Adam and Eve mistrusted, ignored, and rejected Him. II. Today, both physical and spiritual consequences of the fall are felt by all of humanity. A. We’ll all experience pain, suffering, and eventual death. B. Humanity experiences mistrust in God through our attitudes. III. The fall also had physical consequences for nature and for our relationship with creation, such as plants decaying and rivers drying up. A. Adam and Eve’s responsibility to cultivate the earth represents “all kinds of human labor and culture making”, so when the ground was cursed, all work fell under the curse so that work would be frustrating. 7.5 NOTES: I. The fall has consequences for our relationship with ourselves. A. What does internal brokenness cause for us? 1. To see ourselves in the wrong way 2. To justify our sinful actions 3. To deceive ourselves into calling good evil and evil good B. When we live contrary to the way God designed us, we become plagued by guilt, fear, shame, and anxiety C. No longer content with our identity as beings in God’s image, or with the gifts and tasks He has given us, we seek to define ourselves through who or how much we know, how much we can possess, or what we can accomplish. 1. Such things can never fully satisfy us. II. The woman would now experience pain in childbearing and her “desire shall be contrary to [or shall be toward her] husband, and he shall rule over [her].” (Gen. 3:16) A. This verse is difficult to decipher and could be interpreted in different ways, such as: 1. The woman’s desire will be to dominate her husband 2. The woman will turn away from God’s rule to her husband’s rule 3. The man might treat the woman as if she were part of the creation over which humans had dominion over B. However, in any of these ways, it is clear that what’s described is not a good thing.  C. What had previously been a relationship of complete oneness and trust would be characterized by division and distrust. III. The fall affects all relationships, not just those between men and women, but friendships, parent/child relationships, sibling relationships, and boss/coworker relationships 7.6 NOTES: I. It’s our natural tendency to look for someone to blame when we consider the sin that has caused such a mess in our world. A. Many people blame various sources, such as: 1. Our society, culture, or upbringing 2. Unnecessary guilt and shame over sin 3. Religion itself B. None of these are accurate according to the Bible’s teachings. Instead, God’s Word teaches us... 1. God is not the author, creator, or instigator of evil 2. Genesis 3 shows evil is the result of rebellion against God 3. People were not created evil, sin entered the world, and as a result, sin has infected all of us 4. Because of the first sin, now all of us inherit a sin nature II. What is the doctrine of original sin? The belief that Adam and Eve’s first sin corrupted the nature of their descendents A. It teaches that we are so thoroughly fallen that nothing remains unaffected by our fallenness  B. It teaches we are so absolutely fallen that there’s nothing we can do to fix ourselves C. It’s about rebels going against their Creator, incapable of doing what is good on their own D. The Bible is clear that no one is exempt from sin. 7.7 NOTES: I. God didn’t exit the world after the fall, but stayed involved and worked to redeem his people A. Redemption begins in Genesis 3 - we see that God did not give up on Adam and Eve 1. When He called out to them, He was offering them the chance to confess and be honest about what they had done 2. God graciously reached out to them, refusing to abandon them II. The most important act of grace is found in Genesis 3:14-15 by God condemning the serpent for the evil he had done A. God also said there would be a conflict between the serpent and the offspring of the woman, who would “bruise [the serpent’s] head,” though the serpent would “bruise his heel” B. This is what theologians call the protoevangelium: the first (proto) announcement of the gospel (the evangel, or good news) C. God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 is the first appearance of his plan to restore and redeem humanity through Jesus’ death and resurrection III. The final act of grace may seem like one more curse, but God did not curse humans - he cursed the ground and the serpent. A. Yet, God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden. How is this grace? 1. If humans had continued to eat from the Tree of Life, they would have lived forever, but not in a pleasant existence. 2. There is grace in death because it limits the suffering that humans will experience in a fallen world. 7.8 NOTES: I. Eve gives birth to Cain and Abel A. Abel brought a lamb from his flock, while Cain brought fruit of the ground B. God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, as it was given through faith, but rejected Cain’s 1. Rather than having faith, it seems Cain’s attitude was arrogant and rebellious 2. God made it clear to Cain that if he did what was right, he would be accepted, but if not, he should watch out because sin was waiting to overcome him (Gen. 4:6-7) C. How does God portray sin? As a wild animal waiting to pounce on Cain and devour him II. Cain allowed sin to get the best of him and he ends up murdering his brother Abel A. God gave him a chance to confess his crime, but he refused, so God punished Cain by banishing him  B. Yet, even in this, God also offered grace by placing a mark on Cain so that no one could take revenge on him C. Human wickedness continued on after this and still continues today III. Eve gives birth to Seth, and at that time, people began “to call on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26) A. What does it mean “to call on the name of the Lord”? To recognize the Lord as God and worship Him only B. From this moment on, human beings followed 1 of 2 paths: 1. Humbly acknowledge God as Creator and worship him 2. Follow the “way of Cain” by rebelling against God by perpetuating evil C. Enoch was a notable person who called on the name of the Lord 1. We know he walked with God (Gen. 5:21-24), had faith, and pleased God (Hebrews 11:15). 2. Because of this he was taken into Heaven without dying IV. By Genesis 6, most humans were following the way of Cain, so much so that the Bible tells us that every intention of humans “was only evil” (Gen. 6:5). A. Human beings had completely failed as God’s stewards, instead filling the world with sin. B. God used Noah, a righteous man, to build an ark to escape the flood that God would send to destroy the earth. In doing so, Noah, his family, animals, and birds of every kind were saved from the flood inside the ark.  1. The flood covered the earth for 150 days and destroyed almost every living thing. 7.9 NOTES: I. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah, his family, and “every living creature” (Gen. 9:9-10) A. Define covenant: An agreement between 2 parties that involves both rights and responsibilities B. A covenant is different from a contract because in a contract, each party is self-centered and if a contract is broken, the parties involved usually go to court. However, a covenant is other-centered 1. Marriage is an example of a covenant II. God explicitly initiated at least 4 covenants in the Bible A. In each case, God chose His covenant partner and set out the expectations without human input. In this sense, a covenant is similar to a vow or promise. B. God’s covenants both declare promises of God’s commitment and express expectations of human faithfulness III. The first covenant God made was with Noah - that He would never again “curse the ground” or destroy all living things on the earth by means of a flood A. He placed a rainbow in the sky as a reminder of his covenant with all creation B. God also expressed hopes for Noah and his descendants - that they were to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1)  1. The same command God gave to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden C. What’s important about this covenant? That God knew Noah and his descendents would break it, and yet He still made the covenant IV. The flood did not stop people from sinning, and we see further evidence of the rebellious heart of people A. They constructed the tower of Babel to make a name for themselves, but God knew if the people were all united against Him, their wickedness would continue to an extreme B. Therefore, God confused their language - another act of grace - which allowed people to speak to some others 1. People groups formed around common languages and spread out on the earth 7.10 NOTES: I. Try as we might, we cannot remove sin from the world. We’re all part of the problem, broken by sin. A. We cannot fix ourselves and we cannot blame anyone else. B. Yet we have hope - God is relentless in working to save, protect, and preserve His people and His creation. C. God seeks to forgive, heal, and restore, and his commitment knows no bounds.