The Effects of the Fall
Archdeacon Hannah. Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together… I. The effects of the Fall may be arranged under three divisions: the loss of God's special gifts; the corruption of man's own nature; and his new position of guiltiness in the sight of God. And for our present purpose it will be most convenient to consider these now under two heads — the internal, which will cover the first and second; and the external, which corresponds to the third. 1. Viewed internally then, the effects of the Fall must be regarded as two fold. The one was negative — the immediate loss of that original righteousness which we have learnt to connect immediately with God's supernatural gift of grace. The other was positive — the wound, which struck instantly to the very heart of man's nature, carried poison along with it, which tainted all that nature with immediate corruption. The will had rebelled, therefore the channel of God's grace was closed. So much was negative. But within that cast off and isolated will there lurked a prolific power of fatal mischief, which immediately burst forth into positive evil. Hence sprung at once that "concupiscence and lust" which "hath of itself the nature of sin"; hence "the flesh" learnt immediately to lust against "the spirit"; hence came "the sin" that reigns in our mortal bodies; hence that other "law in our members," which wars against the law of our minds. 2. But all this evil was man's own work. It was man himself who closed the door of grace. It was man himself who severed his will from his only safeguard, by withdrawing it from dependence upon God. It was man himself who thus introduced rebellion into his nature, who caused this outburst of trouble and confusion in his heart. We must look to another quarter for the penalty which God imposed. And this is the external aspect, which, as I have said, demands a separate consideration. Man no sooner fell than he recognized the immediate certainty of punishment, and fruitlessly strove to conceal himself from the vengeance of his offended Creator. So weak and worthless was his new-found knowledge. It told him how he might hide his shame on earth; it could not aid him when he wished to escape the wrath of God. God's sentence may be briefly said to involve three different judgments; the first to toil and sorrow; the second to exile; and the third, which completes them, to death. II. Let us pass then to that closing portion of our subject — the extension of the sin of Adam to ourselves, in connection with the doctrine of the Atonement of our Lord. (Archdeacon Hannah.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. WEB: The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.