ARTICLE VII

THE GREAT FALL OF MANKIND AND THE CURSE

REDEMPTIONCORPS INTERNATIONAL believes, proclaims, and teaches that God created mankind in His image and likeness, endowing humanity with dignity, moral responsibility, and a vocation to live in fellowship with the Creator. Through the transgression of God's command by Adam and Eve, sin entered human history, fellowship with God was broken, and death became a consequence of human rebellion. The Fall brought judgment, alienation, corruption, suffering, and the subjection of creation to futility and decay.

We believe that Adam's transgression has consequences for the entire human race. All humanity exists within the fallen condition brought about by sin, and every person is affected by sin and requires God's saving grace. Scripture describes fallen humanity as spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, alienated from God, subject to divine judgment, and characterized by sinful desires and disobedience. Those who remain outside God's saving work in Christ are described in Scripture as being under condemnation and as children of wrath.

We further teach that humanity's predicament is not merely the result of an unfavorable environment, inadequate instruction, or individual mistakes. Sin affects the human condition, inclines humanity toward rebellion against God, and leaves mankind unable to accomplish its own redemption through personal merit, religious performance, or human effort. The Fall therefore establishes the universal necessity of divine grace and redemption through Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, whose obedience provides the answer to Adam's disobedience.

The consequences of the Fall are manifested in human mortality, painful labor, conflict, alienation, and the frustration of creation. Nevertheless, God's judgment does not nullify His redemptive purposes for humanity. Even within the judgment narrative, God provides clothing for Adam and Eve, and the promise concerning the woman's seed anticipates the ultimate defeat of the serpent. The Fall thus reveals both the seriousness of sin and humanity's need for the redemption God Himself provides.

Accordingly, REDEMPTIONCORPS INTERNATIONAL rejects the belief that humanity can reconcile itself to God through its own righteousness or effort. Salvation originates in God's grace and is accomplished through His redemptive work in Jesus Christ. The doctrine of the Fall must therefore be understood in relation to the biblical message of redemption: where Adam's disobedience brought sin and death, Christ's obedience provides the way to righteousness and life.

Scriptural Foundations

Genesis 3:6–24 — The transgression of Adam and Eve, the divine judgment, the consequences of sin, the expulsion from Eden, and the promise concerning the woman's seed.

Genesis 3:15 — The enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between their respective seed, establishes a biblical theme of conflict that Christian interpretation has historically associated with the Messiah's victory over Satan.

Romans 1:18, 28 — God's wrath is revealed against ungodliness and unrighteousness, and humanity's rejection of God is associated with divine judgment and a debased mind.

Romans 3:9–26 — The universality of sin, humanity's inability to establish its own righteousness, and justification by God's grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus.

Romans 5:12, 18–19 — Sin and death entered through one man; Adam's disobedience is contrasted with Christ's obedience and the provision of righteousness.

1 Corinthians 15:21–22, 45–49 — Death comes through Adam, while resurrection and life come through Christ, the last Adam.

Ephesians 2:1–3 — Fallen humanity is described as dead in trespasses and sins, walking in disobedience, and being by nature children of wrath.

Romans 8:19–23 — Creation's subjection to futility and its expectation of liberation are placed within the wider hope of redemption.