The Fall
One act of disobedience in the garden, and sin and death entered the human story
The Fall names the primal disobedience of Adam and Eve, narrated in Genesis 3, through which sin and death entered the human condition. Paul reflects on it in Romans 5, and Fathers such as Irenaeus and Augustine drew out its meaning for human nature and the need for redemption. The doctrine is held across the Christian traditions as a foundation for understanding sin, mortality, and grace.
How it traveled
- RomansCorinth · 67explains
- Against Heresies: Book VLyons · 202explains
- On the Resurrection of the Flesh.— · 220explains
- The Instructions of Commodianus.— · 220explains
- Ephraim Syrus: The Nisibene HymnsEdessa · 373explains
- The Incarnation of the WordAlexandria · 373explains
- Select Orations of Saint Gregory NazianzenNazianzus · 390explains
- On the Making of ManNyssa · 395explains
- The Great CatechismNyssa · 395explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the RomansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John ChrysostomConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Homilies on First CorinthiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies on the Statues to the People of AntiochConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. JohnConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Letters of St. JeromeBethlehem · 420explains
- City of GodHippo Regius · 430explains
- On Marriage and ConcupiscenceHippo Regius · 430explains
- A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of InfantsHippo Regius · 430explains
- The ConfessionsHippo Regius · 430explains
- Expositions on the Book of PsalmsHippo Regius · 430explains
- The EnchiridionHippo Regius · 430explains
- A Treatise on Nature and GraceHippo Regius · 430explains
- A Treatise Against Two Letters of the PelagiansHippo Regius · 430explains
- A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original SinHippo Regius · 430explains
- A Treatise on Rebuke and GraceHippo Regius · 430explains
- Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. JohnHippo Regius · 430explains
- Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the ManichæansHippo Regius · 430explains
- Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New TestamentHippo Regius · 430explains
- John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox FaithDamascus · 749explains
- Anselm's Cur Deus HomoCanterbury · 1109explains
- Treatise on Man (qq[75]-102)Paris · 1274explains
- Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59)Paris · 1274explains
- Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the GospelGeneva · 1564explains
- Book First. of the Knowledge of God the CreatorGeneva · 1564explains
- The great christian doctrine of original sin defendedNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Seventeen Occasional SermonsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- a careful and strict inquiry into the prevailing notions of the freedom of willNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- A History of the Work of RedemptionNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- XIV Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvationNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- The Wisdom of God Displayed in the Way of SalvationNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
Key passages(20)
The Problem of Pain · C. S. Lewis
Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel · John Calvin
4. As the act which God punished so severely must have been not a trivial fault, but a heinous crime, it will be necessary to attend to the peculiar nature of the sin which produced Adam’s fall, and p
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On Marriage and Concupiscence · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 58.—Adam’s Sin is Derived from Him to Every One Who is Born Even of Regenerate Parents; The Example of the Olive Tree and the Wild Olive. But this sin, which changed man for the worse in para
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The great christian doctrine of original sin defended · Jonathan Edwards
I can see no reason why we should be dissatisfied with that explanation of this clause, which has more commonly been given, viz. That by them who have not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgr
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A History of the Work of Redemption · Jonathan Edwards
This lower world before the fall enjoyed noon-day light; the light of the knowledge of God, the light of his glory, and the light of his favour. But when man fell, all this light was at once extinguis
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A History of the Work of Redemption · Jonathan Edwards
The next thing that we have an account of, after God had pronounced sentence on the serpent, on the woman, and on the man, was, that God made them coats of skins, and clothed them; which, by the gener
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A Treatise on Nature and Grace · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 3 [III.]—Nature Was Created Sound and Whole; It Was Afterwards Corrupted by Sin. Man’s nature, indeed, was created at first faultless and without any sin; but that nature of man in which ever
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A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 41 [XXXVI.]—Lust and Travail Come from Sin. Whence Our Members Became a Cause of Shame. Granted, therefore, that we have no means of showing both that the nuptial acts of that primeval marria
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A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 2 [II.]—If Adam Had Not Sinned, He Would Never Have Died. They who say that Adam was so formed that he would even without any demerit of sin have died, not as the penalty of sin, but from the
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A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 15 [XII.]—The One Sin Common to All Men. But observe more attentively what he says, that “through the offence of one, many are dead.” For why should it be on account of the sin of one, and no
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A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 17.—Whom Sinners Imitate. “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of righteousness shall reign in life by one, even Jesus Christ
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A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 35 [XXI.]—Adam and Eve; Obedience Most Strongly Enjoined by God on Man. When the first human beings—the one man Adam, and his wife Eve who came out of him—willed not to obey the commandment w
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A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 36 [XXII.]—Man’s State Before the Fall. Before they had thus violated their obedience they were pleasing to God, and God was pleasing to them; and though they carried about an animal body, th
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A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 55.—To Recover the Righteousness Which Had Been Lost by Sin, Man Has to Struggle, with Abundant Labour and Sorrow. The flesh which was originally created was not that sinful flesh in which ma
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Against Heresies: Book V · Irenaeus of Lyons
1. He had indeed been already accustomed to lie against God, for the purpose of leading men astray. For at the beginning, when God had given to man a variety of things for food, while He commanded him
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Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations · Aphrahat
Demonstration XXII.—Of Death and the Latter Times. 1. The upright and righteous and good and wise fear not nor tremble at death, because of the great hope that is before them. And they at every time
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3. Genesis. (Author Uncertain.) In the beginning did the Lord create The heaven and earth: And hidden by the wave, and God immense O’er the vast watery plains was hovering, 5 While chaos and bla
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Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel · John Calvin
The First Part of the Apostles’ Creed—viz. the knowledge of God the Creator, being disposed of, we now come to the Second Part, which relates to the knowledge of God as a Redeemer in Christ. The subje
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Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel · John Calvin
THROUGH THE FALL AND REVOLT OF ADAM, THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE MADE ACCURSED AND DEGENERATE. OF ORIGINAL SIN. I. How necessary the knowledge of ourselves is, its nature, the danger of mistake, its leading
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Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the Gospel · John Calvin
5. As Adam’s spiritual life would have consisted in remaining united and bound to his Maker, so estrangement from him was the death of his soul. Nor is it strange that he who perverted the whole order
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Modern teachers who discuss this idea
Modern and living teachers whose books take up The Fall. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.
- C. S. LewisThe Problem of Pain(1940)View on Amazon→