‘O happy fault,…’: original sin and its consequences (3)

By Fr Ian 

The consequences of the first sin

It would be a huge mistake to read chapter 3 of Genesis with a purely legalistic mentality that sees the original sinful action of Adam and Eve as mainly the breaking of a rule or a commandment. The real essence of their sin was the breach of their personal relationship with God, the rupture of their harmonious friendship.

Jesus' portrait of a loving parent: The Prodigal Son by Nikolay Losev (1855-1901)

‘O happy fault,…’: original sin and its consequences (2)

by Fr Ian

 

The nature of the first sin

God showed his protective care and his trust of his human creatures by issuing a strict commandment, a prohibition: ‘...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’ (2:17).

Apart from what this says about God’s character, it also tells us that human beings weren’t created as robots; their reverence and obedience towards God wasn’t somehow pre-programmed and automatic. God made them so that they had to choose voluntarily to co-operate and share responsibility with him in the care and maintenance of his Creation.

‘O happy fault,…’: original sin and its consequences (1)

For many church communities the Season of Lent started again a week ago on Ash Wednesday. Lent is the main penitential season of the Church's year and in a series of articles Fr Ian discusses the Catholic view of human nature as it was originally created by God and as it became after the fall of Adam and Eve. 

A lantern slide depicting the original harmony that existed between God, humanity and creation