Summary On The Fall Of Man In The Garden Of Eden '

Introduction

One of the greatest mysteries in the Bible is the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Biblical scholars are baffled about original sin in the world. One writer, John Murray, the author of Redemption Accomplished and Applied, tackled this subject matter in his classical textbook Collected Writings of John Murray, Systematic Theology. A former professor of the Westminster Theological Seminary, he presents a detailed exposition on the fall of man in the Genesis narrative.

Born in Sutherland County, Scotland, the Calvinist theologian outlines the sin of man in chapter 7 of his systematic theology manuscript. Prior to dealing with the mysteries associated with the fall of man, he addresses the reality of the fall; the activity

The New Testament discloses special revelation about the fall in man in redemptive history. Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians reveals that God had an elect family before creation. Murray also excludes the fact that Jesus Christ created mankind with Elohim.

God’s word gives two Scriptural revelations concerning the fall of man. First, the Word of God made the human race. John the evangelist said, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (Jn. 1:3 KJV). The third person of the Trinity “also he made the worlds” with Jehovah God (Heb. 1:2 KJV). The New Testament, therefore, provides evidence of God’s overall plan of man’s fall. God also chose His elect-family before the foundation of the worlds. The Bible instructs, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Rom. 8:29 KJV). God foreknew his family before creation. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, also said that God the Father chosen us in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4

God placed man in the Garden of Eden for the purpose of testing his family with the devil. The test was between God and the devil.

For example, God tested Abraham to offer his son Isaac on the altar in the land of Moriah (Gen. 22:1-2 KJV). In the New Testament era, Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil (Matt. 4:1 KJV). It was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness. Faith, therefore, is the instrument that God uses to get his elect family into the kingdom of heaven.

“The fall, then, was complete moral revolt against the sovereignty, supremacy, authority and will of God” (Collected Writings, 70). Murray, then says, “The fall was foreordained by God and its certainty was therefore guaranteed”. The fall was accomplished in the realm of his all-controlling providence.

Murray asked, “What is the divine causality in connection with sin?” The Calvinistic theologian also said that God is not the author of sin. Isaiah the prophet, however, tells us that God creates good and evil, that he does all things. Scripture reads, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isa. 45:7