Why Did Adam Sin?

^{Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned. There was sin in the world before the Law was given; but where there is no law, no account is kept of sins. But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, death ruled over all human beings, even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam did when he disobeyed God's command. Adam was a figure of the one who was to come. But the two are not the same, because God's free gift is not like Adam's sin. It is true that many people died because of the sin of that one man. But God's grace is much greater, and so is his free gift to so many people through the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. And there is a difference between God's gift and the sin of one man. After the one sin, came the judgment of "Guilty"; but after so many sins, comes the undeserved gift of "Not guilty!" It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God's abundant grace and are freely put right with him will rule in life through Christ. (Romans 5:12-17)}

Because of the way I was taught I often wondered what it would be like if Adam and Eve did not sin. What if they did not disobey God?

This is what I understood....

God made Adam and Eve and gave them one command - do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

One day Satan tempted Eve to disobey God's command. She did and she convinced her husband, Adam to do likewise.

Then... sin and evil, and death and pain came into the world.

Believing that, I kind of held Adam responsible for all the evil, death and sin in the world. I somehow thought that if Adam didn't eat of the fruit of that tree, then we would all would be good.

Having said that, I now know better.

If Adam didn't sin, you and I would have!

God said, "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity" (Isaiah 45:7a)

Another translation puts it like this:

"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil"

What does God mean?

I form the Light

Jesus said, "I AM the light". God is made of light.

"This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)

In Revelation 21:23 speaking of the city of heaven, "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light." We know that Jesus is the Lamb of God.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." (James 1:17)

So then, we see that the Lord IS light. Thus, He forms light out of His own being. It is not something that He creates, rather it is part of Him, the uncreated.

Create Darkness

In the days of Moses, God created darkness over the land as part of the plagues.

The prophet Jeremiah boldly proclaimed, "Give glory to the Lord your God Before He causes darkness, And before your feet stumble On the dark mountains, And while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death And makes it dense darkness."

The prophet Ezekiel exclaimed in 32:8, "All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you, And bring darkness upon your land,' Says the Lord God."

Joel said that the day of the Lord (not Satan) will be "A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains."

Amos said, "For behold, He who forms mountains, And creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, And makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth-- The Lord God of hosts is His name."

Jude confirms that God has reserved deep darkness for the angels that sinned.

When Jesus was crucified, the Father caused darkness to cover the land.

God created great darkness over Elymas the sorcerer in the book of Acts. In fact, he was blinded by the hand of the Lord. This is not to mention that the Lord struck Ananias and Sapphira with death.

We must conclude that God causes, or creates darkness. How so? How can light create darkness, since God is light? God removes Himself.

Begotten of God

John said it so well in his letter 1 John 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

Created of God

We are made in God's own image (Gen. 2).

There is not one thing that we create with our hands that will not in time corrupt. Everything we create, everything we do by the work of our hands will one day be undone. Everything we do with our hands is corruptible.

So it is with God. Everything He created with His hands in corruptible. Look around you right now. Is there anything that you can see with your physical eyes that will not one day end up in the trash, in the dump, corrupted?

No. Everything, absolutely everything you see in this world is one day going to corrupt. Everything will end up rusted, or corroded, or food for insects, or animals.

Everything that is created is corruptible. Everything will one day be no more.

Sin is corruption. Corruption is sin. The sinful part of us comes from the corruptible sinful nature that was created by God.

In Summary

But Jesus did not sin. Why? Because he was begotten of God. That which is begotten of God is part of Him. A person who is begotten of God shares His divine nature just as our earthly children share our earthly nature.

Adam sinned. Why? Because he was created of God. Being created of God he is corruptible, thus sinful. If Adam were created of God, and not begotten of God then he has no other option but to yield to his corruptible sinful nature.

Paul explains the corruptibility of the sinful nature very well in Romans 7-8.

This is why we must be born again. If we, like Adam, only have a sinful nature then we are bound to sin - either by lawlessness, or pride. We are bound to corruption - bound to wrath and ultimately hell.

But if we, like Jesus are born from heaven, by the Holy Spirit, then we have another nature in us that is just as real as the earthly nature. It is the heavenly nature, the divine nature, the very presence of God.