[111] World Scripture - The Human Fall - 1. Adam and Eve’s Transgression

[대태양/김현수]

World Scripture Ⅱ

Part Two - Sin and Salvation
Chapter 6 - Evil, Sin and the Human Fall

1) The Human Fall

The Abrahamic faiths teach that humanity fell from a primordial state of unity with God, and similar beliefs are found the world over. Christianity links the Fall with the doctrine of Original Sin, as the sin of Adam and Eve is imputed to all humanity, causing an enduring separation between humans and God which can only be remedied by Christ.

In Islam, on the other hand, Adam’s sin was his alone, and he, like all human beings, could return to a position of acceptance by submission (islam) to God. Still, the Fall brought into existence Satan, setting up for all humanity a trial which only some are able to endure.

Finally, in Judaism we find a mixture of beliefs: passages gathered in this section affirming that the fall of Adam and Eve brought a curse into the world are counterbalanced by other passages emphasizing individual responsibility and denying that we are culpable for the sins of our first ancestor.

The human fall explains the discrepancy between the cosmos’ pure origin and its present state of suffering. It is logically necessary for religions in which (1) God is the only Creator, (2) the Creation was purposed to be good, and (3) evil is regarded as real and contrary to the purpose of creation.

These postulates hold in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. They do not obtain in Buddhism, which lacks a doctrine of Creation, nor in Hinduism, which regards matter as base and a limitation to be overcome on the path to self-realization. Nevertheless, we find even in these religions speculation on a primordial fall from grace to explain the origin of evil karma. The biblical and Qur’anic accounts of the Human Fall are full of symbolism and open to varying interpretations.

The serpent—variously called Satan, Lucifer or Iblis—instigates Adam and Eve to disobey God’s commandment, often with the hint of sexual misconduct. Father Moon directly attributes the Human Fall to sexual immorality, teaching that it poisoned the potential of humans for true, godly love. Other accounts of the origin of evil that ascribe or hint at a sexual transgression are presented from Greek myth, Buddhism, Shinto and African tradition.

1. Adam and Eve’s Transgression

World Scripture

The Lord God took the man [Adam] and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; Upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing, in pain you shall bring forth children, Yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 2.15-3.24

It is We who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels, “Bow down to Adam,” and they bowed down; not so Iblis, he refused to be of those who bow down. [God] said, “What prevented you from bowing down when I commanded you?” He said, “I am better than he; You created me from fire, and him from clay.” God said, “Get down from this place; it is not for you to be arrogant here; get out, for you are of the meanest of creatures.” He said, “Give me respite till the day when they are raised up.” God said, “Be among those who are to have respite.”

He said, “Because you have thrown me out of the Way, lo! I will lie in wait for them on Your Straight Way: Then will I assault them from before them and behind, from their right and their left: nor will You find, in most of them, gratitude.” God said, “Get out from this, disgraced and expelled. If any of them follow you, I will fill hell with all of you.

“And Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in the Garden, and enjoy its good things as you wish, but approach not this tree, or you will run into harm and transgression.”

Then Satan began to whisper suggestions to them, bringing openly before their minds all their shame that was previously unnoticed by them.

He said, “Your Lord only forbade you this tree, lest you should become angels or such beings as live forever.” And he swore to them both, that he was their sincere advisor. So by deceit he brought about their fall: when they tasted of the tree, their shame [private parts] became apparent to them, and they began to sew together the leaves of the Garden over their bodies.

And their Lord called unto them: “Did I not forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was an avowed enemy unto you both?” They said: “Our Lord! We have wronged our own souls. If You do not forgive us and do not grant us Your mercy, we shall certainly be lost.” God said, “Get you down, with enmity between yourselves. On earth will be your dwelling place and your means of livelihood—for a time. Therein shall you live, and therein you shall die; but from it shall you be brought forth at last.”

O Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness—that is the best. Such are among the signs of God, that they may receive admonition. O Children of Adam! Let not Satan

seduce you in the same manner as he got your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their clothing in order to expose their private parts. He and his tribe watch you from where you cannot see them! We have made the devils friends only to those without faith. Qur’an 7.11-27

If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, By hiding my iniquity in my bosom, Job 31.33 (NKJV)

Why does the scripture not place the verse “And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin” (Genesis 3.21) immediately after “And they were both naked, and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2.25)? It teaches you through what sin that wicked creature inveighed them: Because the serpent saw them engaged in their natural relations, he conceived a lust for her. Midrash Rabbah, Genesis 18.6 (Judaism)

The serpent followed Eve, saying, “Her soul comes from the north, and I will therefore quickly seduce her.” And how did he seduce her? He had intercourse with her. Bahir 199 (Judaism)

What was the wicked serpent contemplating at that time? He thought, “I shall go and kill Adam and wed his wife, and I shall be king over the whole world.” Talmud, Avot de Rabbi Nathan 1 (Judaism)

The first man of our race did not bide his time, desired the favor of marriage before the proper hour, and fell into sin by not waiting for the time of God’s Will. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 3.14.94 (Christianity)

Dreams of falling are most frequently characterized by anxiety. Their interpretation when they occur in women offers no difficulty, because they nearly always accept the symbolic meaning of falling, which is a circumlocution for giving way to an erotic temptation. Nothing can be brought to an end in the unconscious; nothing is past or forgotten. Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Could the Human Fall have been the result of eating a fruit of a tree? Adam and Eve fell by the sin of illicit love, a transgression that violated God’s ideal of true love. Prior to the fall, when they were constrained by the commandment [not to eat the fruit], Adam and Eve were in an imperfect state, that is, in their growing period. The archangel Lucifer, symbolized by the serpent, tempted Eve, and she spiritually fell with him. She then tempted Adam to eat the fruit before the time was ripe, and they fell physically.

Adam and Eve had been living in joy in the Garden of Eden and conversing with God. The only possible sin that they would be tempted to commit at the risk of their lives was a sin involving wrongful love.

The consummation of human ancestors’ first love was also to be God’s own completion. Therefore, it naturally should have been the moment of joy and jubilation for God, Adam and Eve, and all creation. They were to have rejoiced together in continuous festivities of love and blessing. On that joyous occasion, God’s love, life and lineage was to be firmly settled in the first human ancestors.

Instead, Adam and Eve covered their lower parts and hid in the bushes, trembling with fear. By their illicit act, they had violated the Way of Heaven, forming a relationship that was the origin of false love, false life and false lineage. Consequently all humankind ever since, as descendants of fallen Adam and Eve, came to be born with original sin, from generation to generation.

The reason why every person experiences inner conflict between the mind and the body is due to the Fall. The reason why human beings act against their original mind, and form societies where the order of love is corrupted, is also due to the Fall. (277:200, April 16, 1996)

What was the forbidden fruit? What sort of fruit could cause countless generations of humanity to groan in misery? Why would God create a fruit that could cause misery, destruction and war? My teaching is logical: the fruit is a symbol for love. So many evils spring from love. From love can spring either good or evil fruit, therefore it is called “the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.” (128:86, June 5, 1983)

We read that before the Fall, Adam and Eve were both naked, and were not ashamed. (Gen. 2.25) After the fall, however, they felt ashamed of their nakedness and sewed fig leaves together into aprons to cover their lower parts. If they had committed a crime by eating some actual fruit from a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then they certainly would have covered their hands or mouths instead. It is human nature to conceal one’s faults.

Thus, the act of covering their lower parts shows that these parts, and not their mouths, were the source of their shame. In Job 31.33-34, it is written, “If I have concealed my transgressions like Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom.” Adam concealed his lower parts after the Fall; this indicates that his blemish was in his lower parts. Adam and Eve’s sexual parts were the source of their shame because those were the instruments of their sinful deed.

In the world before the Human Fall, what act would one be willing to carry out even clearly at the risk of one’s life? It could be nothing else but the act of love. God’s purpose of creation, described in the blessing “be fruitful and multiply,” (Gen. 1.28) can be achieved only through love. Accordingly, from the viewpoint of God’s purpose of creation, love should be the most precious and sacred act. But because the sexual act was the very cause of the Fall, people often regard it with shame and even contempt. In conclusion, human beings fell through an act of illicit sexual intercourse. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Fall 1.3.2)

Everything in the universe is created to be governed by God through love. Thus, love is the source of life, the key to happiness, and the essence of the ideal to which all beings aspire. The more one receives love, the more beautiful one appears to others. When the angel, created as God’s servant, beheld Eve, the daughter of God, it was only natural that she looked beautiful in his eyes. Moreover, when Lucifer saw that Eve was responding to his temptation, the angel felt the stimulation of her love to be deliciously enticing. At this point, Lucifer was seducing Eve with the mind to have her, regardless of the consequences. Lucifer, who left his proper position due to his excessive desire, and Eve, who wanted to open her eyes and become like God before the time was ripe, formed a common base and began give and take action. The power of the unprincipled love generated by their give and take led them to consummate an illicit sexual relationship on the spiritual plane.

All beings are created based on the principle that when they become one in love, they exchange elements with each other. Accordingly, when Eve became one with Lucifer through love, she received certain elements from him. First, she received feelings of dread arising from the pangs of a guilty conscience, stemming from her violation of the purpose of creation. Second, she received from Lucifer the wisdom which enabled her to discern that her originally intended spouse was to be Adam, not the angel. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Fall 2.2.1)

How did Eve feel while the archangel Lucifer was raping her? She felt pangs of conscience. She disliked what was happening, but let herself be pulled along as he seduced her.

When we make love, we are supposed to feel joy with every cell in our body. Our passion should be like a flower at the height of spring. Eve, however, grimaced as she made love, her heart shriveling and her every cell withering. (33:330, August 23, 1970)

Eve was to become the future wife of God. This is because Adam was to be one body with God—that is, God Himself… From this perspective, the Fall was Satan violating God’s wife. (22:208, February 4, 1969)

Once Eve had united with the Archangel through their illicit sexual relationship, she stood in the position of the Archangel with respect to Adam. Thus, Adam, who was still receiving God’s love, appeared very attractive to her. Seeing Adam as her only hope of returning to God, Eve turned to Adam and tempted him, playing the same role as the Archangel had played when he had tempted her. Adam responded and formed a common base with Eve, and they began give and take action with each other. The power of the unprincipled love generated in their relationship induced Adam to abandon his original position and brought them together in an illicit physical relationship of sexual love.

When Adam united in oneness with Eve, he inherited all the elements Eve had received from the Archangel. These elements in turn have been passed down to all subsequent generations without interruption… and humanity has multiplied in sin to the present day, perpetuating the lineage of Satan. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Fall 2.2.2)