Deacon Andrew
Until you sleep, please tell me what was the sin of Adam and Eve? Ray Light Master (2480), closed 6 years ago
Added 6 years ago
I will quote the words of God from Genesis 3:17: “And he said to Adam: Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying:“ Do not eat from it ”, the earth is cursed for you; in sorrow you shall eat of it all the days of your life. "
Added 6 years ago
Thanks for answers! I wish you all a good night!
Added 6 years ago
For reflection... Adam and Eve were already husband and wife, could sexual relations then be a sin?
locust Master (1747) 6 years ago The name of the tree symbolized the right to set the criteria for good and evil. This exclusive right belonged and belongs to God, and people had to recognize it. But they encroached on this right, and began to decide for themselves “what is good and ...
Lecture in Grodno State University named after Yanka Kupala
Tonight we'll peep through keyhole. And the topic of today's reflections: what is the sin of Adam. But before that, you need to carefully look at the biblical text and try to understand what commandments Adam received, how the Lord saw him, what he intended.
It is usually said that Adam and Eve received one commandment: not to eat from the tree of knowledge, - that's it, they say, and they violated it. In fact, there were more commandments.
The first of these was the commandment to increase life: "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." This is the command that the Lord gave to the people in the first place. And it should be noted that the presence of such a command means that the anti-Christian argument that identifies the sin of Adam and Eve with their sexual life, and then triumphantly asks, pulling his finger out of his nose, or from somewhere else: Ah, here's how is this…
Who are Adam and Eve?
In the book of Gen. 3 we read about how God created man, then his helpmate (Gen. 2:18-25).
And in chapter 3 verse 20 it is written: And Adam called the name of his wife: Eve, for she became the mother of all living.
Adam and Eve are the first people that God created. Together they made up the first family at the command of their Creator, for living together and fulfilling the commandment of God:
“And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
What sin did Adam and Eve commit?
I had to hear statements that Adam and Eve sinned by having copulated, betrayed intimacy. This is ignorance. When God created man, he commanded him to be fruitful and multiply in order to fill the earth. (Get. 1:28)
The second misconception that you often hear about the first married couple on ...
This question is reflected in several books of the Bible: the book of the prophet Isaiah (14 ch., 12-14), Ezekiel (28 ch., 14-17), Revelation of John the Theologian (12 ch., 7-9).
Before Adam and Eve sinned (as recounted in Genesis 3), a third of the angels had already risen in heaven.
This rebellion against God was led by one of the cherubs named Lucifer, which means "luminiferous." Subsequently, he was called Satan ("adversary") or the devil ("slanderer").
As already mentioned, angels are heavenly beings, occupying a higher position than the inhabitants of the earth or the inhabitants of other worlds. Like everything in the universe, they were created for the mutual service of love. Like humans, they could be happy under the condition of free and conscious submission to the law of God: However, some angels abused their freedom, became proud, became jealous of God and did not ...
Forever: Gen. II, 20 - III, 20. Proverbs. III, 19-34
20And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not found a helper like him.
21And the Lord God brought upon the man deep sleep; and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs, and covered the place with flesh.
22And out of the rib taken from the man, the Lord God formed a wife, and brought her to the man.
23And the man said, Behold, this is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she will be called woman, for she was taken from her husband.
24Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cling to his wife; and [two] shall be one flesh.
25And they were both naked, Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Chapter 3
1The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made. And the serpent said to the woman: Did God truly say: Do not eat from any tree in paradise?
2And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruits of the trees, 3only the fruits of the tree that is in the midst of paradise, God said, do not eat them...
For a long time now, there has been a permanent column called “A Question to a Priest” on the website of the “Foma” magazine. Each reader can ask a question to get a personal answer from the priest. But some of the questions cannot be answered in one letter - they require a detailed conversation. Some time ago, one of these questions came to us.
Hello! I just can’t understand what exactly Adam and Eve did, since the Lord kicked them out of Paradise, and moreover, that we all, as I read in Orthodox literature why are we paying for their actions? What is it about, what kind of forbidden fruit, what kind of tree of knowledge is this, why was this tree placed next to Adam and Eve and at the same time it was forbidden to approach it? What happened in paradise? And how does this relate to my life, to the lives of my relatives and friends? Why does our fate depend on a deed not committed by us, and committed a very, very long time ago?
Ekaterina
Answered by Alexander Tkachenko
What happened in paradise? There…
Deacon Andrei Kuraev
Lecture at Grodno State University named after Yanka Kupala.
Today we will peep through the keyhole. And the topic of today's reflections: what is the sin of Adam. But before that, you need to carefully look at the biblical text and try to understand what commandments Adam received, how the Lord saw him, what he intended.
It is usually said that Adam and Eve received one commandment: not to eat from the tree of knowledge, and that's what they say they violated. In fact, there were more commandments.
The first of these was the commandment to increase life: "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." This is the command that the Lord gave to the people in the first place. And it should be noted that the presence of such a command means that the anti-Christian argument that identifies the sin of Adam and Eve with their sexual life, and then triumphantly asks, pulling his finger out of his nose, or from somewhere else: Ah, here's how people would have multiplied if it weren't for...
I have a misunderstanding about the existence of humanity. If Adam and Eve had not inherited sin, would we have been without sin? Could all people from Adam and Eve to today live on earth?
The first thing to mention is that Adam and Eve did not inherit sin. They are the first people created by God and did not inherit sin from their parents because they did not have parents. They are the ones who first sinned and this sad event is described in the 3rd chapter of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
When, referring to the resurrection of Christ, the apostle Paul contrasts the Savior with Adam, the first man, he says:
But Christ has risen from the dead, the firstborn of the dead. For as death is through man, so is the resurrection of the dead through man. As in Adam everyone dies, so in Christ everyone will come to life, each in his own order: the firstborn is Christ, then those of Christ, at His coming. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)
So it is, death came to ...
This question has two parts. First part: "Did God know that Satan would rise and Adam and Eve would sin?" The answer lies in the biblical teaching about knowing God. We know from Holy Scripture that God is omniscient, He knows everything. Job 37:16; Psalm 139:2-4; 146:5; Proverbs 5:21; Isaiah 46:9-10 and 1 John 3:19-20 leave no doubt that God's knowledge is infinite and He knows everything that has happened in the past, is happening now, and will happen in the future.
Looking at some of superlatives in these verses - “his knowledge is perfect”, “you see all my thoughts from afar”, “he knows everything”, it becomes obvious that God knows not only more than we do – his knowledge is immensely great. He knows everything in totality. Isaiah 46:10 says that He not only knows everything, but also controls everything. How else could He make known to us what will happen in the future and declare that His plans will come true? So God knew that Adam and Eve were going to sin? Did He know that Lucifer would rise...
What went wrong in heaven? I just can’t understand what exactly Adam and Eve did, since the Lord kicked them out of Paradise, and moreover, that we are all, as I read in Orthodox literature, for some reason paying for their act?
What is it about, what kind of forbidden fruit, what kind of tree of knowledge is this, why was this tree placed next to Adam and Eve and at the same time it was forbidden to approach it? What happened in paradise? And how does this relate to my life, to the lives of my relatives and friends? Why does our fate depend on a deed not committed by us, and committed a very, very long time ago?
Further, the Bible describes the events in the Garden of Eden as follows: The serpent was more cunning than all the animals of the field, which the Lord God created. And the serpent said to the woman: Did God truly say: Do not eat from any tree in paradise? And the woman said to the serpent: We can eat the fruits of the trees, only the fruits of the tree that is in the middle of paradise, God said, do not eat them and do not touch them, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman: No, you will not die, but God knows that on the day you eat them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eye and desirable, because it gives knowledge; and took its fruit and ate; and gave also to her husband, and he ate (Genesis 3:1-6).
The serpent here means Satan - the head of the angels who fell away from God and turned into demons. One of the most powerful and beautiful spirits, he decided that he did not need God, and turned into Satan - the implacable enemy of God and all of His creation. But Satan, of course, could not deal with God. And therefore he directed all his hatred to the crown of God's creation - to man.
In the Bible, Satan is called the father of lies and a murderer. We can see both in the above passage from the book of Genesis. Satan concocted a false story in which God appeared as a jealous deceiver, afraid of human competition. And the people who had already received so many gifts and blessings from God, knew Him, communicated with Him and from the experience of this communication were convinced that He was good, suddenly believed this dirty lie. And they decided to taste the fruits from the forbidden tree in order to become "like the gods."
But instead, they just discovered that they were naked, and urgently began to build themselves primitive clothes from tree leaves. And when they heard God's voice calling them, they were frightened and began to hide between the trees of paradise from the One who planted this paradise for them.
Traitors are always afraid of meeting those who have been betrayed. And what the first people did was a real betrayal of God. Satan unobtrusively hinted to them that by eating forbidden fruits, they could become like God, become equal to their Creator. And that means living without Him. And people believed this lie. They believed Satan and stopped believing God.
This terrible change was the main tragedy of what happened in paradise. People refused to obey God and voluntarily gave themselves over to obedience to the devil.
God forgave them this first betrayal and gave them a chance to return to Himself, but people did not want to take advantage of it. The wife began to justify herself by the fact that she was seduced by the snake. And Adam completely blamed his wife and ... God, who gave him such a “wrong” companion, for his crime of the commandment. Here it is, the last conversation of people with God in paradise: ... did you not eat from the tree from which I forbade you to eat? Adam said: The wife that You gave me, she gave me from a tree, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, Why did you do this? The wife said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate (Genesis 3:11-13).
So the first man betrayed God, his wife and himself in paradise. Created to reign over the material world, he turned into a miserable creature, hiding in the bushes from his Creator and reproaching Him for the wife ... that You gave me. So did his poison accepted from Satan lies. Once having fulfilled the will of God's enemy, man himself became an enemy of God.
St. Theophan the Recluse writes: “The falling away from God was complete with disgust and a kind of hostile rebellion against Him. Therefore, God retreated from such criminals - and the living union is interrupted. God is everywhere and contains everything, but he enters free creatures when they surrender themselves to Him. When they are contained within themselves, then He does not violate their autocracy, but, preserving and supporting them, He does not enter inside. So our ancestors were left alone. If they repented quickly, perhaps God would have returned to them, but they persisted, and in the face of obvious reproofs, neither Adam nor Eve admitted that they were guilty.
What exactly did Adam and Eve do, since the Lord expelled them from Paradise, and moreover, that for some reason we are all paying for their act? What is it about, what kind of forbidden fruit, what kind of tree of knowledge is this, why was this tree placed next to Adam and Eve and at the same time it was forbidden to approach it? What happened in paradise? And how is this connected with our lives, with the lives of our loved ones, friends? Why does our fate depend on a deed not committed by us, and committed a very, very long time ago?
What happened in paradise? There happened the most terrible thing that can only happen between loving beings who trust each other. In the Garden of Eden something happened that after a while will be repeated already in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas leads there a crowd of armed guards who were looking for Jesus. Simply put, a betrayal happened in paradise.
Adam and Eve betrayed their Creator when they believed the slander against Him and decided to live solely on their own will.
A man learned to betray those closest to him when he accused his wife of his own sin.
The man betrayed himself. After all, “to betray” literally means to convey. And man transferred himself from the good will of God who created him to the evil will of his killer - the devil.
That's what happened in paradise. And how it all happened and why it turned out to be connected with the life of each of us, now we will try to find out in more detail.
God created man and placed him in the place most favorable for his life. That is, in the beautiful garden of Eden, which is also called paradise. Today we can only build various assumptions and conjectures - what was the Garden of Eden. But on the other hand, you can safely bet that any of these guesses will turn out to be wrong. Why?
But because the man himself then was different - pure, joyful, not knowing worries and worries, open to the world, meeting this world with a happy and imperious smile of his master. The reason for this is simple: Adam and Eve had not yet expunged God from their lives, were in close communion with Him and received from God such knowledge, comforts and gifts that we have no idea about today.
We, the current, as already mentioned, can only fantasize on a paradise theme. Moreover, with an effort, squeezing these fantasies through the narrow gaps between gloomy thoughts about the falling ruble exchange rate, resentment against the mother-in-law, worries about buying winter tires for the car, the upcoming exam for the eldest son and a thousand more unpleasant thoughts that simultaneously torment any modern person every day from morning until night. That meager stuffing of fantasies that will fall out at the exit of this mental meat grinder will be our today's ideas about paradise.
Of course, the Garden of Eden was beautiful. But life with God can turn out to be a paradise for a person even in the middle of a waterless desert overgrown with camel thorn bushes. And life without God and the Garden of Eden instantly turns into ordinary thickets of grass, bushes and trees. Only by understanding this, one can understand everything else that happened in paradise with the first people.
Man has a unique place in God's creation. The fact is that God created the spiritual world and the material world. The first was inhabited by angels - incorporeal spirits (some of which subsequently fell away from God and became demons). The second is all the inhabitants of the Earth who have a body. Man turned out to be a kind of bridge between these two worlds. He was created as a spiritual being, but he also had a material body. True, this body was not at all what we know it today. This is how the saint describes it: “That body was not so mortal and corruptible. But just as a golden statue that has just emerged from the furnace shines brightly, so the body was free from all corruption, neither labor weighed it down, nor sweat exhausted it, nor tormented worries, nor besieged sorrows, and no such suffering depressed ". And the saint speaks of even more amazing possibilities of the body of primitive man: “... Clothed in such a body, with such sense organs, a person was capable of sensual vision of spirits, to the category of which he belonged in soul, was capable of communicating with them, of that vision of God and communion with God, which are akin to holy spirits. The holy body of a person did not serve as an obstacle for this, did not separate a person from the world of spirits.
Able to communicate with God, a person could proclaim the will of God to the entire material world, over which he received tremendous power from God. And at the same time, only he alone could stand on behalf of this world before its Creator.
Man was created as a king or, more precisely, a vicar of God on Earth. Having settled him in a beautiful garden, God gave him a commandment to keep and cultivate this garden. Combined with the blessing to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, this meant that in time man was to make the whole world a Garden of Eden.
To do this, he received the broadest powers and opportunities. The whole world gladly obeyed him. Wild animals could not harm him, pathogens could not cause disease in him, fire could not burn him, water could not drown him, the earth could not swallow him in its abysses.
And this almost sovereign ruler of the world received only one prohibition from God: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying: from every tree in the garden you will eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat from it, for on the day on which you will eat from it, you will die the death ”().
This is the only prohibition that the man in the Garden of Eden violated. Adam and Eve, who had everything, decided that in order to be completely happy, they still had to do something that was impossible.
But why did God plant such a dangerous tree in paradise? Directly at least hang a sign on him with a skull and crossbones "Do not fit - it will kill you." What a strange idea - in the middle of the most beautiful place on the planet to take and hang deadly fruits on the branches? As if a modern architect, when planning a kindergarten, suddenly for some reason designed a small minefield on the playground, and the teacher would then say: “Children, you can play everywhere - on the hill, and on the carousels, and in the sandbox. But don’t even think of coming up here, otherwise there will be a big bang-badabum and a lot of trouble for all of us.”
Here it is immediately necessary to clarify: the ban on eating the fruits from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil did not mean at all that a person without these fruits knew nothing about good and evil. Otherwise, what was the point of giving him such a commandment?
Chrysostom writes: “Only those who by nature do not have reason do not know good and evil, and Adam possessed great wisdom and could recognize both. That he was filled with spiritual wisdom, see its revelation. “Brought,” it is said, God the beasts to him, “to see what he calls them, and so that, as a man calls every living soul, that was her name” (). Think what wisdom he had who could give names to various breeds of cattle, reptiles and birds. God himself so accepted this naming of names that he did not change them, and even after the fall he did not want to cancel the names of animals. It is said: As a man calls every living soul, so was its name ... So, who knew so much, really, tell me, did not know what is good and what is evil? With what will it be in accordance?
Adam and Eve - why do we pay for the sin of Adam and Eve?
So, the tree was not a source of knowledge about good and evil. And its fruits were not poisonous either, otherwise God would have been like the alternatively gifted kindergarten architect already mentioned here. And it was called so for one simple reason: a person had ideas about good and evil, but only theoretical ones. He knew that goodness is in obedience and trust in the God who created him, and evil is in violation of His commands. However, in practice, he could know what good is only by fulfilling the commandment and not touching the forbidden fruits. Indeed, even today, any of us understands: to know about good and to do good is very much not the same thing. Just like knowing about evil and not doing evil. And in order to translate your knowledge of good and evil into a practical plane, you need to make some effort. For example, in a situation where a loved one hastily said something offensive to you, it will certainly be kind to keep silent in response, wait until he cools down, and only then calmly and lovingly find out what pissed him off so much. And evil in this situation, just as certainly, will be - to slander him in response to three boxes of all sorts of nasty things and quarrel for long painful hours, or even days. Each of us knows about it. But it is not always possible to use this knowledge in a real conflict, alas.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is so named in the Bible because it was an opportunity for the first people to experimentally show their desire for good and aversion from evil.
But man (Adam and Eve) was not created as a robot, rigidly programmed for only good. God gave him freedom of choice, and the tree of knowledge became for the first people just such a point where this choice could be put into practice. Without it, the Garden of Eden, and the whole beautiful world created by God, would turn out to be only a golden cage with ideal conditions for a person. And the essence of God's prohibition was reduced to a caring warning addressed to people who are free in their decision, as if saying to them: “You can not listen to Me and do it your way. But know what disobedience is - death for you, created by Me from the dust of the earth. Behold, I leave open to you also the path of evil, on which inevitable death awaits you. But this is not what I created you for. Strengthen yourself in goodness through the rejection of evil. This will be for you the knowledge of both.
But - alas! - people did not heed this warning and decided to know evil through the rejection of good.
Further, the Bible describes the events in the Garden of Eden as follows: “The serpent was more cunning than all the animals of the field, which the Lord God created. And the serpent said to the woman: Did God truly say: Do not eat from any tree in paradise? And the woman said to the serpent: We can eat the fruits of the trees, only the fruits of the tree that is in the middle of paradise, God said, do not eat them and do not touch them, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman: No, you will not die, but God knows that on the day you eat them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eye and desirable, because it gives knowledge; and took its fruit and ate; and gave also to her husband, and he ate.
The serpent here means Satan - the head of the angels who fell away from God and turned into demons. One of the most powerful and beautiful spirits, he decided that he did not need God, and turned into Satan - the implacable enemy of God and all of His creation. But Satan, of course, could not deal with God. And therefore he directed all his hatred to the crown of God's creation - to man.
In the Bible, Satan is called the father of lies and a murderer. We can see both in the above passage from the book of Genesis. Satan concocted a false story in which God appeared as a jealous deceiver, afraid of human competition. Both Adam and Eve, who had already received so many gifts and blessings from God, knew Him, communicated with Him and from the experience of this communication were convinced that He was good, suddenly believed this dirty lie. And they decided to taste the fruits from the forbidden tree in order to become "like the gods."
But instead, they just discovered that they were naked, and urgently began to build themselves primitive clothes from tree leaves. And when they heard God's voice calling them, they were frightened and began to hide between the trees of paradise from the One who planted this paradise for them.
Traitors are always afraid of meeting those who have been betrayed. And what the first people did was a real betrayal of God. Satan unobtrusively hinted to them that by eating forbidden fruits, they could become like God, become equal to their Creator. And that means living without Him. And people believed this lie. They believed Satan and stopped believing God.
This terrible change was the main tragedy of what happened in paradise. People refused to obey God and voluntarily gave themselves over to obedience to the devil.
Adam and Eve - why do we pay for the sin of Adam and Eve?
God forgave them this first betrayal and gave them a chance to return to Himself, but Adam and Eve did not want to take advantage of it. The wife began to justify herself by the fact that she was seduced by the snake. And Adam completely blamed his wife and ... God, who gave him such a “wrong” companion, for his crime of the commandment. Here it is, the last conversation of people with God in paradise: “… didn’t you eat from the tree from which I forbade you to eat? Adam said: The wife that You gave me, she gave me from a tree, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, Why did you do this? The wife said: the serpent deceived me, and I ate ”().
So the first man betrayed God, his wife and himself in paradise. Created to reign over the material world, he turned into a miserable creature, hiding in the bushes from his Creator and reproaching Him for the wife ... that You gave me. So did his poison accepted from Satan lies. Once having fulfilled the will of God's enemy, man himself became an enemy of God.
The saint writes: “The falling away from God was complete with disgust, by a certain and hostile rebellion against Him. Therefore, God retreated from such criminals - and the living union is interrupted. God is everywhere and contains everything, but he enters free creatures when they surrender themselves to Him. When they are contained within themselves, then He does not violate their autocracy, but, preserving and supporting them, He does not enter inside. So our ancestors were left alone. If they repented quickly, perhaps God would have returned to them, but they persisted, and in the face of obvious reproofs, neither Adam nor Eve admitted that they were guilty.
That, in fact, is all. By betraying God, Adam and Eve fell away from the source of their life. And they began to die slowly. So a branch broken off from its native trunk for some time still turns green in the roadside dust, but its further fate is predetermined and inevitable. The beautiful human body, radiant with the beauty and power of God who is with him, immediately turned into a miserable body, subject to disease and threats of the elements, when God departed from it. And paradise itself - the meeting place of man and God on earth - has become for man a place of fear and torment. Now, having heard the voice of his Creator, he, filled with horror, rushed about the Garden of Eden in search of shelter. Leaving such a person in paradise would be a senseless cruelty.
So, according to the word of the Bible, a person was expelled from paradise, became a vulnerable, mortal and subject to Satan being. This was the beginning of human history. All these terrible changes in human nature, connected with the falling away of the first people from God, were inherited by their descendants, which means we, our friends, and all contemporaries.
Why did it happen? Because man was conceived as permanently abiding with God and in God. This is not some additional bonus to our existence, but its most important foundation, the foundation. With God, man is the immortal king of the universe. Without God - a mortal being, a blind instrument of the devil.
A series of births and deaths did not bring a person closer to God. On the contrary, each generation, living in spiritual darkness, took in more and more shades of evil and betrayal, the seeds of which were sown by sinful people back in paradise. Macarius the Great writes: “... Just as Adam, who transgressed the commandment, received the leaven of evil passions in himself, so those born from him, and the whole family of Adam, by succession, became partakers of this leaven. And with gradual progress and growth, sinful passions have already multiplied in people to such an extent that they have stretched to adultery, indecency, idolatry, murders and other absurd deeds, until all mankind has become sour with vices.
This, in brief, is the connection between what happened in Paradise with the ancestors of mankind and the way we are forced to live today.
Adam and Eve
In Orthodox theology, the term "original sin" began to be fixed only from the middle of the 17th century, when it was used in the "Small Catechism of Patriarch Joseph", g. The definition of this concept was first given in the "Epistle of the Patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Church on Orthodox faith", G.:
“We believe that the first man fell in paradise and that from here the sin of the ancestor spread successively to all offspring so that there is not one of those born according to the flesh who is free from that burden and does not feel the consequences of the fall in this life. And the burden and consequence of the fall, we do not call sin itself, such as: ungodliness, blasphemy, murder, hatred, and everything else that comes from an evil human heart, contrary to the will of God, and not from nature, but indulgence to sin and those disasters, with which Divine justice punished a person for his disobedience, such as: exhausting labors, sorrows, bodily infirmities, illnesses of birth, hard life on earth for some time, wanderings, and finally bodily death.
Now, as a rule, theologians use the phrase "original sin" in two meanings: firstly, as violation commandments in Eden and, secondly, as corrupted by evil sinful condition human nature as a result of this violation. So, Archbishop Macarius (Bulgakov) gives the following definition:
| In his doctrine of original sin Orthodox Church distinguishes, firstly, sin itself, and, secondly, its consequences in us. Under the name of original sin, she means the actual transgression of God's commandment... which was committed by our forefathers in Paradise and passed on from them to all of us. " Original sin, - we read in the Orthodox Confession of the Catholic and Apostolic Church of the East, - there is a transgression of the law of God, given in paradise to the ancestor Adam. This ancestral sin passed from Adam to all human nature, since we were all then in Adam, and thus through one Adam sin spread to all of us "(Part III, answers to Question 20). ... In short: under in the name of the ancestral sin in the ancestors themselves, their sin is understood, and at the same time the sinful state of their nature, into which they entered through this sin; but in us, their descendants, the actual sinful state of our nature is understood .... However, sometimes original sin is accepted in a broader sense .... And it is precisely under the name of original sin that both sin itself and together its consequences in us are understood: the damage of all our forces, our inclination more towards evil than towards good, and others. |
Besides:
According to Christian teaching, as a result of the fact that the sin of the ancestors of Adam and Eve changed the mode of existence of human nature, this sin itself, regardless of the personal qualities of a person, "automatically" becomes a part of each person. As a result, according to Christianity, every person through a passionate birth is a "child of wrath", is already subject to the law of aging and death, and his will from early infancy reveals an indulgence to reproachful sin. Thus, for all the descendants of the forefathers, original sin is seen not as a personal sin of a person, but as a general sinful state for all, the result of which is a deformed in relation to the healthy state of the forefathers - Adam and Eve - the spiritual and bodily sphere.
In Psalm 50, this is said: “Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and my mother bore me in sin” (Ps. 50, 7). With these words, Scripture confirms that, in essence, already at the moment of conception, a person turns out to be “originally sinful.”
In the book of the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 18 verse 20, it says: "The son will not bear the guilt of the father and the father will not bear the guilt of the son, the righteousness of the righteous remains with him, and the iniquity of the lawless with him remains." It can be concluded that the descendants of Adam and Eve are not accused by Scripture and will not bear the guilt of "original sin." But from the whole context it becomes clear that the speech in that phrase is not about original sin, but only about personal sins.
Human nature became mortal (people began to die), perishable (subject to aging), passionate (subject to suffering). St. Maxim the Confessor.
The dogma of original sin can raise a number of questions: firstly, why are newborns already guilty of what they did not commit, and secondly, why does sinfulness tend to be inherited?
The Holy Fathers of the Church interpret the very word "guilt" (as well as "sin") somewhat broader than the usual modern understanding. In the era of so-called "humanism", guilt and sin began to be understood too existentially, too subjectively, as if people did not come from a common ancestor, but as if they appeared by themselves separately from each other and were completely unrelated to each other. But before the individual and his actions were considered more "naturally" (so to speak). The shadow of sin fell not only on a certain person, but even on his ancestors and his descendants, albeit partially. It is like a pebble thrown into the water, which gives divergent different sides circles. The sinner, as it were, dragged down both his ancestors and his descendants. Now this is considered "medieval obscurantism", "feudal performance", etc. Some hierarchs and theologians, such as Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), already from the end of the 90s of the 19th century, tried to remove from Christian faith"legal" component, thereby partially rehabilitating Origenism condemned by the Church. But in the Christian view "guilt" and "sin" are not narrowed down to an individualistic existential perception. For example, in the Bible, one Levite was punished by God for the guilt of his children. Of course, the soul of that Levite did not bear full personal responsibility, but she received punishment, although that Levite was personally very pious.
St. Theophan the Recluse:
“Some interpreters,” he says, “combine other thoughts with this expression, based on the fact that in Greek it is not “in it,” but that it should be translated “for a while,” “because.” But the thought will still be the same, that is, that they sinned in him [Adam]. accurate translation of this place should be this: "because all have sinned." And at the same time, it will not be necessary to see here the idea that they have sinned in him, for it is still possible for everyone to sin according to his example, about him. - It is true that if we take these words: “because they all have sinned,” out of context, then they may not give the idea that everyone has sinned in it; but if we take it in connection with the previous one, and with the next one, then even with this translation (since everyone has sinned) it is necessary to supplement the translation with the word "in it" in order to fully withstand the thought of the Apostle. He says: sin entered the world through one, and death through sin, and thus death entered into all. Sin opens the gates of death. If it entered into all, then sin preceded it in all. But in all, sin could not have preceded death except by the fact that all sinned in him through whom sin entered, that is, in the first man, Adam. Thus, reading: “death entered into all people, because everyone sinned,” we cannot otherwise understand how we sinned in him. 311)
| Story of Adam and Eve | ||
|---|---|---|
| Characters | Adam | Eve | Adam and Eve | Serpent | Lilith | |
| Events | Creation of man | Fall | Exile from paradise | |
| Basic concepts | Garden of Eden | Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil | Tree of life | Forbidden fruit | Original sin | |
| In different sources | First person | Adam in Islam | Adam Rishon, Adam Kadmon | |
| Children of Adam and Eve | Cain | Abel | Sif | |
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .
Adam and Eve- the first people created by God, people on earth.
The name Adam means man, son of the earth. The name Adam is often identified with the word man. The expression "sons of Adam" means "sons of men." The name Eve is the giver of life. Adam and Eve are the progenitors of the human race.
A description of the life of Adam and Eve can be read in the first book of the Bible - - in chapters 2 - 4 (audio recordings are also available on the pages).
Adam and Eve were created by God in His likeness on the sixth day of creation. Adam was created "from the dust of the ground." God gave him a soul. According to the Hebrew calendar, Adam was created in 3760 BC. e.
God settled Adam in the Garden of Eden and allowed him to eat fruit from any tree except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam was to cultivate and keep the Garden of Eden, and also to give names to all the animals and birds created by God. Eve was created as Adam's helper.
The creation of Eve from Adam's rib emphasizes the idea of the dual unity of man. The text of Genesis emphasizes that "it is not good for the man to be alone." The creation of a wife is one of the main plans of God - ensuring the life of a person in love, for "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him."
The first man is the crown of the world created by God. He has royal dignity and is the ruler of the newly created world.
We have become accustomed to the appearance of sensational reports that the place where the Garden of Eden was located has been found. Of course, the location of each "discovery" is different from the previous one. The Bible describes the area around the garden, and even uses recognizable place names such as Ethiopia and the name of four rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates. This has led many, including Bible scholars, to conclude that the Garden of Eden was located somewhere in the Middle East region known today as the Tigris and Euphrates Valley.
To date, there are several versions of the location of the Garden of Eden, none of which has solid evidence.
It is not known how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden (according to the Book of Jubilees, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden for 7 years) and were in a state of purity and innocence.
The serpent, which "was more cunning than all the animals of the field that the Lord God created," by tricks and cunning convinced Eve to try the fruit of the forbidden Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve refuses, referring to God, who forbade them to eat from this tree and promised death to anyone who eats this fruit. The serpent tempts Eve, promising that, having tasted the fruit, people will not die, but will become Gods who know Good and Evil. It is known that Eve could not stand the temptation and committed the first sin.
The serpent is an important image in ancient pagan religions. Due to the fact that snakes shed their skin, they were often personified with rebirth, including the natural cycles of life and death. Therefore, the image of the snake was used in fertility rituals, especially those associated with seasonal cycles.
For the Jewish people, the snake was a symbol of polytheism and paganism, the natural enemy of Yahweh and monotheism.
Comparison, albeit indirect, of man and God, led to the appearance of theomachistic moods and curiosity in the soul of Eve. It is these sentiments that push Eve to the deliberate transgression of God's commandment.
The cause of the fall of Adam and Eve was their free will. Violation of the commandment of God was only offered to Adam and Eve, but not imposed. Both husband and wife participated in their fall by their own free will, for outside free will there is no sin and no evil. The devil only excites to sin, and does not force it.
Lucas Cranach the Elder. Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, unable to withstand the temptation they were subjected to by the devil (the Serpent), committed the first sin. Adam, carried away by his wife, violated the commandment of God and ate from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Thus Adam and Eve incurred the wrath of the Creator. The first sign of sin was a constant feeling of shame and vain attempts to hide from God. Called by the Creator, they laid the blame: Adam - on the wife, and the wife - on the serpent.
The fall of Adam and Eve is fateful for all mankind. The Fall violated the Divine-human order of life and accepted the Devil-human, people wished to become Gods, bypassing God. By the Fall, Adam and Eve brought themselves into sin, and sin into themselves and all their descendants.
Original sin- rejection by a person of the goal of life determined by God - becoming like God. Original sin contains in germ all the future sins of mankind. Original sin contains the essence of all sin - its origin and nature.
The consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve affected all mankind, who inherited from them human nature corrupted by sin.
God expelled Adam and Eve from paradise so that they would cultivate the land from which Adam was created, and eat the fruits of their labors. Before the exile, God made clothes for people to cover their shame. God placed in the east near the garden of Eden the Cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. It is sometimes believed that the archangel Michael, the guard at the gates to paradise, was a cherub armed with a sword. According to the second version, it was the archangel Uriel.
Two punishments awaited Eve and all her daughters after the fall. First, God multiplied Eve's pains in childbirth. Second, God said that relationships between a man and a woman would always be characterized by conflict (Genesis 3:15 - 3:16). These punishments come true over and over again in the life of every woman throughout history. Regardless of all our medical advances, childbirth is always a painful and stressful experience for a woman. And no matter how advanced and progressive our society is, in the relationship between a man and a woman there is a struggle for power and a struggle of the sexes, full of strife.
It is known for certain that Adam and Eve had 3 sons and an unknown number of daughters. The names of the daughters of the ancestors are not recorded in the Bible, since, according to ancient tradition, the genus was in the male line.
The fact that Adam and Eve had daughters is evidenced by the text of the Bible:
The days of Adam after he begat Seth were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.
The first sons of Adam and Eve were . Cain, out of envy, kills Abel, for which he was expelled and settled separately with his wife. From the Bible it is known about six generations of the Cain tribe, further information is not traced, it is believed that the descendants of Cain died during the Great Flood.
He was the third son of Adam and Eve. Noah was a descendant of Seth.
According to the Bible, Adam lived for 930 years. According to Jewish legend, Adam rests in Judea, next to the patriarchs, according to Christian legend - on Golgotha.
The fate of Eve is unknown, however, in the apocryphal "Life of Adam and Eve" it is said that Eve dies 6 days after the death of Adam, having managed to bequeath to her children to carve the history of the life of the first people on stone.
.jpg)
