I. NOT ONLY:
A. Transgressing against God’s Commandment
Romans 5:14 refers to "Adam’s transgression." Adam transgressed against God’s commandment. Man’s fall was a transgression against God’s first commandment. Adam forsook the tree of life, which denotes God as life, to pursue the tree of knowledge, which signifies Satan as the source of death (Gen. 2:8-9, 17; 3:1-7).
B. Falling under God’s Condemnation
Adam’s one offense caused man to fall under God’s condemnation. Romans 5:16 speaks of Adam’s "one offense unto condemnation." Man transgressed against God’s commandment and fell under God’s condemnation.
C. Estranging Man from God
Man’s fall estranged man from God. Genesis 3:8 says that man hid himself from God’s presence. Right after man’s fall, man hid himself. This means that man was estranged from God. Ephesians 4:18 tells us that man in his fallen state is "alienated from the life of God."
D. Spoiling Man from Fulfilling God’s Purpose
Man’s fall spoiled man from fulfilling God’s purpose, which is to express God in His image and represent God with His dominion (Gen. 1:26).
II. BUT ALSO:
A. Receiving Satan’s Evil Thought, Feeling,
and Will into the Inward Parts of Man’s Soul
Through his fall, man received Satan’s evil thought, feeling, and will into the inward parts of his soul. For this point we need to read Genesis 3:1, 4, and 5 to show that Satan’s thought was injected into man’s mind, his feeling was injected into man’s emotion, and his will was injected into man’s will. This means that man’s soul was stolen by his fall; it was taken over by Satan.
B. Taking the Tree of Knowledge
into the Members of Man’s Body
Genesis 3:6 says that Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, gave it to Adam, her husband, and he also ate of it. What people eat gets into their physical body. By eating the tree of knowledge, man took the tree of knowledge into the members of his body.
(Basic Lessons on Life, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
