God originally created man as a free moral agent and would fellowship with him in sweet communion so long as he/she obeyed. Man had Eternal Life (John 17:3). The Holy Spirit worked in Adam to bring him as a son into an ever renewing glory.
Free moral agency simply means that man had the ability to choose between submission to God and rebellion against God. The question to Adam and Eve was the same as it was to the angels- will I or will I not submit to the authority of God? There came a point in the eternal past when Satan decided he would no longer willingly submit.
Jehovah God is ALL POWERFUL and the wellspring of all authority in heaven and in earth (Romans 13:1). Satan sought to usurp that authority by lies and deception and prevailed with certain of the angels and with Adam and Eve (II Tim. 2:26, Genesis 3). The word usurp is the Greek authenteo and it means “one who does a thing with his own hand.” It can mean to play the master, supplant or to domineer.
Typically, authority is usurped by intimidation and without right, but Satan did it by deception. He could never force Adam and Eve to sin. God always makes a way to escape during temptation. But because Adam believed the lie, man passed from life to death and from the power of God to the power of Satan. The former things passed away and all became ruined.
The image of God in man was marred and the spirit of disobedience reigned in place of God’s Holy Spirit. This is the “dying thou shalt die” that God warned them about. Satan from that day to this has worked in man both to will and do his evil lusts (John 8:44). All of humanity is born ‘in Adam’ and are subject to this condition. Man with this sinful carnal nature cannot please God. His mind is carnal and at enmity with God.
God repeatedly convinced man of their sin from that time unto this. The carnal mind did not like to factor God in to it's thoughts. It is important to stop here and make an important observation; men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil (John 3). Simply put, men and women, by and large, do not want God around. They get very uncomfortable when God is near. So they press Him as far from their minds as possible and avoid every reminder of Him. They don't want to hear about God and don't want to talk about Him. In fact, crafty schemes such as Darwinism have been invented to assist man in this process.
But still God strives with man to repent. Adam bore Cain and Abel as immediately that murderous nature of Satan manifested in Cain (I John 3:12). Man began to multiply upon the earth and some began to call upon the Lord. By the time we reach Genesis 6 man had thoroughly corrupted His way in spite of the fact that God had been striving with Him all along.
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Robert Wurtz II ( - )
For almost 20 years I have served as a author and teacher of advanced biblical studies. My interests are the New Covenant, apologetics and classical revival. Native of the Kansas City, Mo area and reside now in Independence, MO with wife Anna.He is the author of many books including the newest Televangelicalism. In this insightful and thought provoking book, Robert Wurtz II traces the history of Christian evangelism from the book of Acts to modern times. The contrast between pre-1900 and post-1900 evangelism is so sharp, that the book is divided into two sections: Part 1, the pre-Billy Sunday era and Part 2, the post-Billy Sunday evangelistic era. This book is a must-read for anyone that has concerns about issues such as "the sinner's prayer" or shallow concepts of conversion.