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Study 3: CREATION, FALL and SIN
The Creation of the World
As we have seen in our first study, Scripture everywhere teaches
that Allah is the creator of the universe. In fact, the very
first words of the are "In the beginning Allah created
the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) We find in the
first chapter of the a description of when and how Allah
created the world and all that is in it. In every case it is
written as follows "Allah commanded and there was..."
Allah only had to speak the command, and that which had never
been came into existence. We also find at the end of the description
of the creation the words "Allah looked at everything he
had made and he was very pleased." The creation as Allah
had made it was without sin and perfect. As Allah is holy and
righteous and pure, so his creation was also without fault and
perfect.
The Creation of Man
We also find in the first part of the a description
of the creation of man. In the we see how the first man,
Adam, and his wife, , were the pinnacle of Allah's
creation. As such, Allah chose to make them after everything
else had been created. In the we read,
"And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of
the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for
food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:9)
Man was the pinnacle of Allah's creation and Allah took personal
interest in him and breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils.
The also describes how in all creation man was unique
in that he was made in the "image" of Allah. Now of
course, Allah does not have a form so it does not mean in the
physical image of Allah. Rather, it means the power to decide
between right and wrong. Created with a conscience, man had the
ability to follow Allah's commands or to choose to disobey and
do evil. Man was the only one among all of Allah's creation who
had this unique gift of Allah. We would not speak of an animal
as sinning. It has no conscience and hence no conception of right
or wrong. Only man has a conscience and the ability to obey or
disobey Allah. Besides a conscience, Allah also gave man a unique
job to do.
Allah gave the following command to Adam in the first chapter
of the ,
"Allah blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the
fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living
creature that moves on the ground." (Genesis 1:28)
Thus, Allah took special interest in man, created him with
special qualities, and gave him the great responsibility of ruling
over and caring for Allah's creation.
We must also note at this point in man's history that his
relationship to Allah was not yet marred by sin. As with the
rest of creation, Allah had also created man perfect and sinless.
Allah had pronounced the words "it is very good" over
man. Thus, we see that Allah created the world as a paradise
for man to live in and to care for and to have dominion over.
Sin was absent from that world and the terrible results it brings
such as war, oppression, greed, hatred, poverty, sickness, pain,
suffering, sorrow and death. The world that Allah first put Adam
and into was one of perfection and beauty, one without any
strife, jealousy or envy. It was one in which man's relationship
to Allah was totally open and unhindered by the existence of
sin. In the early chapters of the , man is in his initial
state of purity and has a very intimate and close relationship
with Allah. Yet, something would soon occur which was to have
a far-reaching and terrible effect on the relationship between
Allah and man as well as all other of man's relationships.
Allah's Command and Man's Disobedience
Allah commanded Adam and not to eat of one of the fruits
of the land-- "but you must not eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely
die." (Genesis 2:17) Thus, Allah gave man a simple and very
easy to obey command to test and see whether man would obey him
or not. However, not long after Allah gave the command, Satan
appeared in the form of a snake. He came to deceive man and to
cause Adam and his wife to sin. Let us look at this very important
and terrible event as the describes it--
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals
the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did Allah really
say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?'
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the
trees in the garden, but Allah did say, 'You must not eat fruit
from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must
not touch it, or you will die.'" "You will not surely
die," the serpent said to the woman. "For Allah knows
that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will
be like Allah, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw
that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to
the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some
and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it. (Genesis 3:1-6)
Thus, we see that Satan in his evil wisdom was able to give
rise to greed in the heart of and thereby caused her to
eat of the forbidden fruit. She in turn went on and caused her
husband to sin. Thus, we see at the very dawn of history that
greed, selfishness and a disregard for Allah's commands had its
beginning. This is without a doubt the most important event with
the most far-reaching consequences of any event in the history
of mankind. Let us examine the results of this terrible thing.
The Results of Man's Disobedience
One of the first results of their willful disobedience of
Allah's command was the realization of their condition. They
understood they were naked and felt terrible embarrassment. In
the original pure state in which Allah had created man he was
without clothes. Yet, sinless man felt no need for clothes and
suffered no embarrassment over their absence. Immediately upon
disobeying Allah's command; however, "the eyes of both of
them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they
sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."
(Genesis 3:7) Thus we see the fact that is still true today.
When any man sins his immediate response is embarrassment and
a desire to cover up what he has done so that no one else will
discover his wrongdoing.
Another result of the first sin was Adam and 's attempt
to justify themselves before Allah and to put the blame for their
disobedience on someone else. In the the following is
recorded,
But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?"
He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid
because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told
you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I
commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The
woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the
tree, and I ate it." Then the Lord God said to the woman,
"What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The
serpent deceived me, and I ate." (Genesis 3:9-13)
Once again we see the same is still true today. Despite the
fact that all men are sinners, no one likes to admit his own
sin. Our first response is just as with Adam and in that
we automatically try to justify ourselves and put the blame for
our own actions on someone else. However, now as then, Allah
is much above our feeble excuses. Allah is everywhere present
and all-knowing. He knows what we will do before we do it and
He will never be fooled by the excuses we use to try to fool
men. Thus, Allah immediately put a stop to their giving of excuses
and pronounced judgement on them for their disobedience. The
following account of the judgement of Allah on Adam and
is found in the ,
So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have
done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all
the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat
dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between
you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will
crush your head, and you will strike his heel." To the woman
he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be
for your husband, and he will rule over you." To Adam he
said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the
tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed
is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat
of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles
for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat
of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you
will return." (Genesis 3:14-19)
Thus, we see that the results of the sin of Adam and
were not limited just to them but were to affect all of mankind.
Before the first sin, as we have seen, there was no such thing
as pain, sorrow or death. Man lived in perfect harmony with himself,
the world around him and Allah. However, after the first sin
this was all changed. From then on, according to the curse of
Allah just cited, there would be pain, toil and death. Man's
harmony with himself and other men, with his world and with Allah
were all destroyed by Adam's sin. From then on man's history
has been one of strife, selfishness and greed ending in pain
and death. What Allah had created as perfect has become corrupted
and ugly through man's greed and self-seeking. That same corruption
and ugliness has continued down to our present day and is seen
everywhere around us.
Allah's Mercy to Sinful Man
Yet, man was still Allah's creation and Allah still loved
him even though he had sinned. Thus, even though in His justice
and holiness had had to punish man for his sin and put a curse
on him; still, in His mercy and love Allah blessed His fallen
creation. In Genesis chapter three we find two outstanding evidences
of this mercy and love of Allah. The first relates to man's nakedness.
Allah sees man's condition and has mercy on him and according
to the , "The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam
and his wife and clothed them." (Genesis 3:21) Thus, we
see sinful man standing guilty before Allah with no means to
cover the effects of his sin. Yet, Allah in His mercy takes it
upon Himself to save man from this terrible plight.
The second incident of Allah's mercy in the midst of His justice
is found in the passage already quoted from the in which
Allah pronounced judgement on Adam, and the serpent. In
the midst of Allah's curse on Satan, Allah says He will send an
offspring of the woman who will be injured by Satan; yet, through
whom Satan will be totally crushed. (Genesis 3:15) Thus, we see
in this passage a wonderful promise that through one of the descendants
of , Allah will bring about victory over Satan. This is a
promise that will be seen to occur over and over again in Scripture
and one that we will be looking more closely at later.
We have now seen in this lesson how sin first entered the
world and the terrible results and consequences of that sin.
We will look at the next lesson at our spiritual condition before
Allah.
QUESTIONS:
1. Man, as the pinnacle of Allah's creation, was made
a. First
b. In the
middle
c. Last
2. According to the (Genesis 1:28) what responsibility
did Allah give to man?
3. Allah created the world
a. Sinful
b. Basically good but with some imperfections
c.
Perfect
4. What command did Allah give to Adam and ?
5. Who came and caused greed for the fruit to arise in ?
6. What was Allah's curse on the snake?
7. What was Allah's curse on Adam?
8. What did Allah do to save Adam and from the shame
of
their own nakedness?
9. How did Allah promise to destroy Satan and his works?
10. How does the sin of Adam and affect your life today?
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