Of the sin and fall of our first
parents
John Gill
The law that was given to our
first parents, and the covenant that was made with them, were soon broken by
them; "They like men" (or like Adam) "have transgressed the
covenant", #Ho 6:7 they continued not long in their obedience to it, and in that state of integrity in which they were created; but
sinning, fell from it, into an estate of sin and misery.
1. First, I shall consider the
persons sinning, the same to whom the law was given, and with whom the covenant
was made; the common parents of mankind, Adam and Eve; first
Eve and then Adam; for Eve was first in the transgression, and then Adam;
though Adam was formed first, Eve sinned first, #1Ti 2:13,14.
1a. First, Eve, she was
beguiled and deceived by the old serpent the devil, to eat of the forbidden
fruit, by which she sinned and fell from her original state; her sin may be thought to begin in holding a parley with the serpent;
especially on such a subject as the forbidden fruit; she might have suspected
that there was some design upon her, by introducing such a subject of
conversation, and by so extraordinary a creature; and therefore should have
broke off at once, and have abstained from all appearance of evil, from
everything that tended, or might be a leading step unto it; though
there is what may be said in excuse of her, that she took the question put to
liar, to be a very harmless and innocent one; and to which, in the innocence
and integrity of her heart, she gave a plain and honest answer: some have
thought she failed in the account she gave of the law concerning the tree
forbid to be eaten of; both by adding to it, saying, "neither shall ye
touch it"; and by diminishing the sense of it,
"lest ye die", or, "lest perhaps ye die"; as if it was a
question or doubt with her, whether they should die or not, if they eat of it;
whereas God had said, "Thou shalt surely die", #Ge 2:17. But she is
to be defended in all this; for though touching is not expressed in the
prohibition, it is implied; since the fruit could not be plucked from the tree,
nor taken in the hand, nor put to the mouth, without touching:
besides, this may be considered as an argument of Eve's from the lesser to the
greater, that if they might not so much as touch the fruit, then most certainly
not eat of it. And as for the other phrase, "least", or "lest
perhaps ye die", this does not always express a doubt, but the certainty
of the event that would follow; see #Ps 2:12. But her sin lay in giving credit
to what the serpent said, "Ye shall not surely die";
in direct opposition to the word of God, "Thou shalt surely die";
which she now began to doubt of, and disbelieve; and for the strengthening of
which doubt and disbelief, the serpent might take of the fruit, eat of it
himself, and not only commend it as a most delicious fruit, but observe to her,
that she saw with her eyes that no such effect as death, or any symptom of it,
followed upon his eating it; and he might further suggest,
that that superior knowledge and wisdom to the rest of the creatures he had,
was owing to his eating this fruit; and that if she and her husband did but eat
of it, they would increase and improve their knowledge, as to be equal to
angels; and which, he observed, was known to God. Now upon all this there arose
a lustful inordinate desire of eating the fruit, it being of so lovely an
aspect, so good for food, and having such a virtue in it as
to make wiser and more knowing; so that at once there sprung up in her,
"the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life":
hence she inwardly sinned, before she eat of the forbidden fruit. Much the same
progress may be observed in her sinning, which the apostle James observes of
sin in common; "When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin",
#Jas 1:15 for lust being conceived, she could no longer
abstain, but took of the fruit, either from the serpent or from the tree, and
eat of it, and so finished her transgression; and not content with eating it
herself, but she gave to her husband to eat of it also; who either was with
her, or at some distance, to whom she went directly, with some of the fruit in
her hand, as may be supposed, eating it all the way she went; and when she came to Adam, held it up to him to look at, as most lovely
to behold, and commended the deliciousness of it; and no doubt used the same
arguments with him to eat, the serpent had made use of with her; and he
hearkening to her, eat of it, and sinned also. For,
1b.
Secondly, That Adam sinned as well as Eve, is most certain; for though it is
said, "Adam was not deceived"; the meaning is, that he was not first
deceived, that he was not deceived by the serpent, but by his wife; and when
she is said to be "in the transgression", the sense is, that she was
in the transgression first; but not only in it; for Adam was also; hence we
read of Adam's "transgression", #Ro 5:14. And if he was
with his wife when she eat of the fruit, as seems from the letter of the text,
#Ge 3:6 he sinned in not attempting to detect the sophistry of the serpent; in
not defending his wife from his assaults; in not persuading her not to eat of
the fruit: in not warning her of her danger; yea, in not using his conjugal authority,
and laying his commands upon her not to eat; for if he was present and silent,
he must be criminal and accessary to her sin; but perhaps he
was not with her. But his sin lay in "hearkening" to his wife, to her
solicitations and requests, upon which it is put, #Ge 3:17. And she might urge,
that they must be mistaken about the sense of the law; that God never meant by
it that they should certainly die for eating the fruit, since she had eat of
it, and was alive and well; by such insinuations Adam was prevailed upon to eat also. Though some think that he was not deceived by
her; that he knew what he did, and what would be the consequence of it; he
sinned with his eyes open; knew full well the sense of the law, and what would
be the effect of it; but what he did was in complaisance to his wife, and from
a vehement passionate love and affection for her; because he would not grieve
her; and that she might not die alone, he chose to eat and
sin and die with her: but then this was all very criminal; it was his duty to
love his wife, as his own flesh; but then he was not to love her more than God:
and to hearken to her voice more than to the voice of God. However Adam sinned,
and his sin is more taken notice of than the sin of Eve; and it is to his sin
that all the sad effects of the fall are imputed; sin entered into the world by
him, and death; in Adam all died; for he being the federal
head of all his posterity, he sinned not as a single private person, but as the
common head of all mankind, #Ro 5:12-19 1Co 15:21,22. Some have thought, that
if Eve only had sinned, and not Adam, her sin would have been personal, and
only affected herself, she not being a federal head with Adam; but she could
not have been the mother of a sinless posterity; for "Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" and she must have died for her
offence; indeed God could have created another woman for Adam; from whom an
holy seed might have sprung, had he stood. But this is all conjecture; nor is
it so clear a point that Eve had no concern in federal headship; since though
the law was given to Adam, and the covenant was made with him before she was
formed; yet it was made known unto her, and she assented to
it, and looked upon herself as equally bound by it, and shared in the same privileges
Adam did; particularly in having dominion over the creatures; and she was, as
he, the common parent of their posterity, the mother of all living; was one
flesh with him, and both the one Adam, #Ge 5:2 the head of all mankind.
2. Secondly, How creatures, so
wise and knowing, so holy, just, and good; made after the image and likeness of
God, came to sin as they did, deserves an enquiry: To what could their sin and
fall be owing? Not unto God; he is not the author of sin, nor tempts unto it;
nor is he tempted by it: nor to Satan, only as an instrument, enticing
and deceiving; but to themselves, to their own will, it was their own act and
deed.
2a. First, Not to God; he
forbad it; was displeased with it; and resented it to the highest degree. Those
who are differently minded from us, represent our sentiments about
Adam's sin, as chargeable with making God the author of sin; which we abhor and
detest. Let us therefore a little consider what concern God had in this affair;
by which it will appear that the charge is false and groundless. And,
2a1. What he did not do.
2a1a. He did not restrain the
serpent from tempting; nor withhold man from sinning. He could have kept the
serpent out of the garden, and laid his commands on Satan, not to tempt our first
parents; and he could have hindered the temptation from having any influence
upon them; but this he did not: nor did he withhold Adam
from sinning, which he could have done; as well as he withheld Abimelech from
sinning against him, as he told him he had; and Laban and Esau from hurting
Jacob; and Balsam from cursing the people of Israel; he could have done the one
as well as the other; but he did not; nor was he obliged to it. And on the
other hand, he did not force nor impel either Satan to tempt, or man to sin;
they both acted their part freely, without any force or
compulsion. Satan, full of spite and malice, and moved with envy at the
happiness of man, most freely and voluntarily entered into a scheme to destroy
him, and with all his heart pursued it, and carried it into execution; and our
first parents, with the full consent of their wills, and without any force upon
them, took and eat the forbidden fruit; none of Adam's sons and daughters ever eat a heartier meal, and with more good will,
or with greater gust, than our first parents eat the forbidden fruit; stolen
waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret pleasant.
2a1b. God did
not withdraw any favour from man he had bestowed
upon
him, nor any power and strength to stand which he had
given him;
for when God does anything of this kind, it is
by way of
punishment for a preceding sin or sins; but no
such
punishment could be inflicted on Adam, because as yet
he had not
sinned; but God left him in the full possession
of
all the powers and abilities he had conferred upon him;
so that he
could have stood if he would; he did not indeed
grant him new
favours, nor give him additional power and
strength,
which he was not obliged unto; he gave him enough,
had he made
right use of it, to have continued in his
integrity;
and to have resisted every temptation. Now these
negative acts
of God could never make him chargeable with
being the
author of Adam's sin and fall.
2a2. There are other things which God did
do, or acts which are
ascribed
unto him, relative to this affair.
2a2a. He
foreknew the sin and fall of Adam; as he foreknows all
things that
come to pass in this world, which none will deny
that own the
omniscience and prescience of God; and if God
foreknew
the most trivial and contingent events that befall
any of his
creatures; then surely such an event as the fall
of Adam, so
important in its consequences, could never
escape his
foreknowledge; now God's foreknowledge of things
future flows
from the determinations of his will; he
foreknows
that things will be, because he has determined
they shall
be. Wherefore,
2a2b. God
predetermined the fall of Adam; this fell under his
decree, as
all things do that come to pass in the world;
there
is nothing comes to pass without his determining will,
"Who is
he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord
commandeth it
not?" #La 3:37 nothing is done, or can be
done, God not
willing it should be done: that the fall of
Adam was by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God
is
certain; because the sufferings and death of Christ, by
which is the
redemption of men from that sin, and all
others, were
ordained before the foundation of the world;
and which
must have been precarious and uncertain, if Adam's
fall was not
by a like decree, #Ac 2:23 4:28 1Pe 1:20 but
then
neither the foreknowledge of God, nor any decree of
God, laid
Adam under a necessity of sinning; it is true,
there arises
from hence a necessity of immutability, that
is, that the
things God has decreed should unchangeably come
to pass, but
not a necessity of co-action or force; as Judas
and
the Jews sinned freely, the one in betraying, the other
in putting
Christ to death; so Adam sinned freely, without
force or
compulsion, notwithstanding any decree of God
concerning
him; so that these do not make God at all
chargeable
with being the author of his sin; he and he alone
2a2c. God
permitted or suffered Adam to sin and fall, which
permission was
not a bare permission or sufferance; God was
not an idle
spectator of this affair; the permission was
voluntary,
wise, holy, powerful, and efficacious, according
to the
unchangeable counsel of his will: he willed, and he
did not will
the sin of Adam, in different respects; he did
not will it
as an evil, but as what he would overrule for
good, a great
good; he willed it not as sin, but as a mean
of
glorifying his grace and mercy, justice and holiness: and
that this was
not a bare and inefficacious permission, but
attended with
influence, is clear; because,
2a2d. There
was a concourse of divine providence attending this
action,
and influencing it as an action, without which it
could never
have been performed; as divine providence
supports every
wicked man in his being throughout the whole
course of his
vicious life, and so while he is sinning; the
same
providence upheld Adam in his being, while he was
eating
the forbidden fruit; otherwise, as Eve could not have
stretched out
her hand and taken of the fruit of the tree
and eaten it,
so neither could Adam have put forth his hand
and taken it
of her. The influences of divine providence
concur with
every action, be it what it may, as an action,
since
all live, and move, and have their being in God; every
action, as an
action, is from God; but the obliquity,
irregularity,
and sinfulness of the action, is from the
creature:
wherefore God is not the author of any sin; as he
is not the
author of sin in any man, notwithstanding the
concourse
of his providence with every action of his, as an
action, so
neither of the sin of Adam.
2a2e. God may
be said, by planting a garden, and that particular
tree of the
knowledge of good and evil in it, and by
forbidding
him to eat of that fruit, to afford an occasion
of sinning to
Adam; but had he not a right, as the Lord of the
world, to
plant a garden; and as a sovereign Lord to plant
what tree he
pleased in it, and to forbid the eating of it,
without being
blamed for it? especially when he gave to Adam
a
power to abstain from it, had he made use of it; and God
can no more
on this account be chargeable with being the
author of
Adam's sin, than by giving wealth and riches to a
wicked man,
which are occasions of his sinning, by consuming
them on his
lusts.
2b. Secondly, The concern that
Satan had in this affair may next be considered; and what he did was not by
force or compulsion, but by persuasion; he acted the part of a tempter, and
from thence he has that appellation, #Mt 4:3 1Th 3:5 he enticed and seduced by
lies and false reasonings, and so prevailed; he is said to beguile Eve, and to deceive the whole world, the representatives of it, #2Co
11:3 Re 12:9 in order to which he made use of a serpent, and not a mere form
and appearance of one that he assumed; as is clear from its being reckoned one
of the beasts of the field, and said to be more subtle than the rest, for which
this creature is notorious; and from the curse denounced on it to go on its
belly: and eat dust all its days; and yet it was not merely
a serpent, or a serpent only, but Satan in it; as appears not only from its
having the faculty of speech, which such creatures have not; but from its being
possessed of reasoning powers, capable of forming an artful scheme, and of
conducting it and carrying it into execution, so as to gain his point; and from
the seduction and ruin of men being ascribed to the old serpent the devil, #Joh
8:44 2Co 11:3 Re 12:9.
Satan showed great craftiness
and cunning throughout this whole affair; in making use of the serpent, the
most subtle of all creatures, which could easily creep into the garden
unobserved, which some other creatures could not; and it might be a very lovely creature to look at, adorned with beautiful spots, and
of a bright shining golden colour, which, when the rays of the sun struck on
it, made it look very lovely, as such creatures in those parts are said to be;
all which might recommend it to Eve: she might take particular notice of it,
and have a particular fondness for it; it might be very familiar to her, she
might wrap it or suffer it to wrap itself about her arms; and
what might make her still more fond of it, was its faculty of speaking; whereby
she could converse with it about indifferent things; and this familiarity might
continue some time before Satan in it made his attack upon her; so that she was
used to it, and it was no surprise to her to hear it speak. Satan's cunning also appeared in going to
work with our first parents so early, as soon as they were well settled in their state of happiness, and when they had but
just tasted of the pleasures of it, and before the habits of virtue and
goodness were more strengthened, when it might have been more difficult for him
to have worked upon them, and gained his point; as also in making his attack on
Eve first, and when she was alone, and her husband not with her, to aid and
assist, counsel and protect her. Nor did he discover himself
to be what he really was; had he declared himself to be an apostate spirit,
that had left his first estate, not bearing to be under the government of God,
lie was so cruel and tyrannical; had he set out with such outrageous blasphemy
against God as this, the woman would have fled from him at once, with the
utmost abhorrence and detestation of him, which would have marred his scheme at
once; but he begun, seemingly with owning the authority of
God; and that he had power to forbid the use of any of the trees of the garden;
and only questioned whether he had done so or not; he could scarcely believe
that a God so good as he was, and particularly to Adam and Eve, had planted a
garden for them, and stored it with all manner of fruit, that he would ever
restrain them from eating the fruit of any of the trees, and especially
would never inflict death upon them for so slight a matter as that; they must
surely misunderstand him, and mistake his meaning: and after this, and more
conversation, the woman began to doubt whether God had said so or not; or,
however, that her husband had mistook his meaning, and had made a wrong report
of it to her, who was not present when the law was given. Satan perceiving that
he had gained ground, boldly affirmed, that though they
eat, they should not die; and that God knew that such was the virtue of the
fruit of that tree, that it would make them wiser and more knowing, even as
knowing as God, at least as the angels of God: the woman by this finding that
there were an order of creatures superior to them in knowledge, what with the
lovely sight of the fruit, and the usefulness of it, especially
to make wiser, took of it and eat, and prevailed upon her husband to do so
likewise. And thus they sinned and fell, not through any force and compulsion,
but through the temptation of Satan, and his seduction. Therefore,
2c. Thirdly, The sin, fall,
and ruin of man were of himself. It was not through ignorance
and want of knowledge that Adam fell; he was created after the image of God,
one part of which lay in wisdom and knowledge; he had no darkness, blindness,
nor hardness of heart; he knew God, his Creator and Benefactor; he knew his
will, he knew his law, and what would be the consequence of disobedience to it;
indeed, he was not so perfect but that he might be imposed upon by the appearance of a false good, presented to his understanding, which
his will made choice of, under a show of good: nor was it through a defect of
holiness and righteousness in him; for "God made man upright", endued
him with rectitude and holiness of nature, with a bias to that which is good,
and with an aversion to that which is evil; but as he was made mutable, which
he could not otherwise be, he was left to the mutability of
his will, and so sinned and fell; which is that folly, or rather weakness,
which the highest rank of creatures, in their original estate, are chargeable
with in comparison of God, the Creator: should it be said, Why did God make man
mutable? it might as well be asked, Why did not he make him God? for
immutability, in the strict sense of it, is peculiar to God. Should the
question be altered, Why did not he confirm him in the
state in which he was created, as he confirmed the elect angels? to which it
may be replied, That it is not improbable but that he would have confirmed him,
had he continued a little longer in his state of probation. But the truest
answer is, that it did not so seem good in his sight; and to show his
sovereignty, he confirmed the elect angels; but did not confirm, as not the rest of the angels, so neither man. And this should satisfy.