Genesis depicts the ideal state of man as a time of carefree innocence, peacefulness, harmony and joy. This original state of Adam and Eve was derived from their intimate fellowship with Yahweh. To point out how pleasant man's primeval condition was, the Biblical author compared man's situation to life in a private park reserved for the relaxation of the Persian emperors. That is, the garden of Eden was a paradise made by God for the relaxation and enjoyment of Himself and His royal guests. Man then was created and placed in God's own private park as a sign of man's special status. As the Persian king of kings allowed only his favorite courtiers to stroll through his magnificent imperial gardens, so Adam and Eve were extended the rare privilege of enjoying God's own private park. What the Yahwist chronicler was pointing out is the vast difference between man's original state and his present condition. Using familiar imagery, he contrasted the ease, loveliness and delight of a Middle Eastern noble's life with the hard, troubled existence of the typical peasant and Bedouin. That, Genesis tells us, is the difference between man's life before the Fall and afterwards. ¹⁵

According to the Hebrew storyteller, this beautiful garden of Eden comoderned two magnificent trees planted in the very middle of Paradise, where the four great rivers of the ancient world came together. One was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the other was the tree of life. Numerous studies have been made by ed two magnificent trees planted in the very middle of Paradise, where the four great rivers of the ancient world came together. One was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the other was the tree of life. Numerous studies have been made by modern scholars which show how belief in these trees influenced early man's religion, art and mythology. ¹⁶

The Old Testament often compares the righteous man to a tree. In the opening hymn of the book of Psalms, we read "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the councils of the ungodly ... for he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water." Similar references can be found in the collection of Proverbs: "The fruit of righteousness is a tree of life" (11:30); "A desire fulfilled is a tree of life" (13:12) and "Peaceful speech is a tree of life" (15:4). Hence, because this analogy between the godly man and a strong, deeply-rooted and long-lived tree was so common in Hebrew thinking, it was natural to compare divine wisdom to a tree of life which will bless those who hold fast to it (Prov. 3:18). Consequently, Unification theology interprets the tree of life in Paradise as the ideal man. What was Adam's purpose in God's eyes? To grow, mature and flourish, living close to the Creator, thus fulfilling his masculine potentialities and producing abundant fruit.

Since Yahweh created Eve to be Adam's companion, helper and partner, Eden contained a second tree to illustrate her goal in life. The ideal woman was symbolized by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What is the feminine ideal? Woman is designed as man's loving partner, his wise counselor, faithful companion and the mother of their children. Hence if Adam and Eve had waited until they were mature enough for God's blessing in marriage, they could have served as God's visible representatives. They would produce worthy descendants and be all mankind's true parents. Thus, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil bore forbidden fruit only so long as Adam and Eve were immature.

However, because the primal couple united without divine blessing, their eyes were opened with feelings of shame and guilt. Instead of becoming God's representatives, they attempted to assert total independence and self-sufficiency. Rather than representing God, man became His rival, a rebel against God's sovereignty.

Eve's love was not intrinsically forbidden fruit. She was created to have enjoyment together with Adam. Physical love is intended as one of God's most precious blessings. Nevertheless, it can be compared to fire. Under control, fire is man's friend, whereas out of control it becomes a terrible enemy.

Many smodernrs have pointed out that the Genesis account of the Fall played a very minor role in Jewish religion until after the Babylonian exile. But it attracted considerable attention in apocalyptic circles and elsewhere during the Intertestamental period. Sinrs have pointed out that the Genesis account of the Fall played a very minor role in Jewish religion until after the Babylonian exile. But it attracted considerable attention in apocalyptic circles and elsewhere during the Intertestamental period. Sinmoderne beginning of the Christian era, the Eden story has been interpreted in a variety of ways. The cause of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise has been ascribed to simple disobedience of a divine command, Promethean defiance of God, pride, rebellion,e beginning of the Christian era, the Eden story has been interpreted in a variety of ways. The cause of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise has been ascribed to simple disobedience of a divine command, Promethean defiance of God, pride, rebellion,modernesumptuous quest for knowledge, the desire of man to become divine, or an act of lust. The sexual interpretation of the Fall has been one of several views advocated by rabbinic commentators, apocalyptic writers, early Christian sectarians and several esumptuous quest for knowledge, the desire of man to become divine, or an act of lust. The sexual interpretation of the Fall has been one of several views advocated by rabbinic commentators, apocalyptic writers, early Christian sectarians and several modern Biblical scholars. ¹⁷ There are also numerous hints in the early Greek church fathers, suggesting that the sexual explanation of Adam's sin was fairly widespread in the formative period of the Christian movement. Let us examine a contemporary form of this view.

For some Biblical critics the Genesis 3 account contains an Israelitish attack upon the kind of religious syncretism which existed during and after the reign of Solomon. ¹⁸ In this case, the writer of the garden of Eden story was opposing a Canaanite-Hebrew fertility cult which was popular in his day.

Throughout the Near East the serpent god was worshipped as the deity of sexual pleasure, health, wisdom and fecundity. ¹⁹ Now what does the serpent offer in the Genesis story? He tells Eve that he knows how men can become like the gods. According to Canaanite mythology and presumably the syncretistic Baal-Yahweh cult, the serpent god has the power to bestow upon man the gifts of sexual ecstasy, procreation, health and immortality.

However, for the Yahwist, the serpent was not a beneficent god but a seducer and deceiver. For him the sexual deity corrupts man, leads him to sin, and causes his expulsion from the garden of Paradise. In other words, the Canaanite god becomes the Yahwist devil.

Besides the serpent, Genesis 3 places great importance upon the tree of knowledge which God planted in the middle of Eden. The phrase "knowledge of good and evil" has at least eleven possible meanings. In Hebrew and other languages of the Near East, "to know" can signify sexual possession of the female by the male. Other sexual elements of the story are:

1) The forbidden fruit could have had aphrodisiac properties.

2) The fig leaf was associated with sexual religious orgies.

3) Adam and Eve were overcome with bodily shame and covered their private parts.

4) Eve is called "the mother of all the living."

5) The penalty for sin involves the pains of pregnancy and childbirth.

6) Finally, there is the serpent.

All of these elements hint that the Eden story is related to the Canaanite fertility cult. Note, however, that Genesis 2:24ff. clearly implies that Adam and Eve were created as partners. What the Yahwist is condemning is extra-marital sex. And this is exactly what Canaanite fertility cults practiced as part of their worship, providing both female and male prostitutes for the purpose.

In addition to attacking the worship of the serpent god and the immoral sexual practices of the fertility religions, the Yahwist may be teaching a third lesson. Canaanite mythology and its Hebrew counterpart, the Genesis story, presuppose that man can become like God. That is how the serpent tempted Eve. Men, by means of sex, experience all the joy and power of being co-creators with the divine Creator. As the lord of the storm ²⁰ fertilizes the naked earth and causes it to yield an abundant harvest, so man fertilizes his mate, producing children. What God and His divine consort ²¹ accomplish at the cosmic level, a man and woman can likewise accomplish here on earth.

By contrast, what the Yahwist taught was that men could never become divine, for God is always beyond our reach. "His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts," as the prophets record. Furthermore, when we attempt to become like the gods through sexual ecstasy, we discover the tragic results of such presumption. Women will feel the pangs of childbirth; and men will have to labor long hours under heavy burdens just to keep themselves and their loved ones fed and clothed. Thus the Yahwist warns his readers never to try to be "like God" but rather to submit humbly to the Lord above who has sole and indisputable control over everything.

Unification theology interprets the identity of the serpent in Eden in the light of the New Testament doctrine of Satan. Like many of the Jewish rabbis of the first century and later, the New Testament writers trace the origin of evil to Eve's seduction by the archangel Lucifer. Of course, many Biblical scholars have pointed out that the notion of Satan underwent considerable development and refinement within the Old Testament and pre-Christian Jewish thought. So did the Hebrew doctrine of God. Hence, if it is appropriate to see the gradual revelation of God's true nature, it is equally appropriate to recognize that man's understanding of the fallen angel became slowly clarified. The more one knows about God, the clearer one can see the reality of His adversary.

What then motivated Lucifer to cause the fall of Adam and Eve? The archangel was overcome by jealousy of Adam. At the same time he became passionately attracted to Eve. Prior to man's creation, Lucifer seems to have been the most important angel in the heavenly court. Some rabbis taught that God had originally given Lucifer supervisory power over the world as His chief advisor. In any case, the archangel became envious of Adam when he learned that God had promised him earthly dominion. The apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus, which was a part of the Septuagint Bible used in the early Church, claims that Satan tempted Eve out of envy. Hence, most Christians have traced Lucifer's act to his hurt pride. The archangel resented his demotion to second place. He felt, quite mistakenly, that God had overlooked his previous service and was showering His affection on insignificant Adam. Thus, many of the Church fathers warn that pride is the worst of the deadly sins.

Out of envy, Lucifer plotted to discredit Adam in the eyes of God and recover his original post as God's favorite. That, he believed, could be accomplished if he was able to possess Eve and control Adam through her. Thus, for Unification theology, there would have been no Fall without Lucifer.

How does this compare with contemporary views of the Fall? First, it disagrees with those, like Tillich, who teach that the Fall was both natural and inevitable because of man's finitude. The fallen condition of all men is not due to a fall from the realm of essence to that of creaturely existence. An older version of this was Origen's view. Unlike Origen and later Christian Platonists, Unification theology does not believe that men fall when their pure souls become entangled or imprisoned in matter. Secondly, Divine Principle disagrees with Schleiermacher and his followers that sin originates in the natural conflict between man's sensual nature and his spiritual aspirations. That is, we are not fallen because it has been difficult to master our fleshly appetites. Nor thirdly are we sinners simply because of our sexual desires, as Gnostics, Marcion and other dualists have maintained. All three of those interpretations of the Fall more or less imply that creation was a mistake and that to be natural means to be sinful. For Unification theology, as for general orthodox Christian thought, Satan is primarily to blame for the cause of man's existential estrangement from God.

What Satan wanted was for God to direct His love for Adam and Eve through himself. The archangel thus decided to rebel against God and usurp Adam's position. This challenge to God's wisdom and open revolt against Him turned Lucifer, the angel of light, into Satan, God's adversary. When he succeeded in usurping Adam's position, he frustrated the divine plan for creation.

What was the original sin committed by Adam and Eve which separated them from God? Rabbi Leo Jung made a careful study of Jewish, Christian and Islamic commentaries on the Fall. He concluded that in the Jewish Midrash the serpent caused man to fall because he wanted Adam put to death as punishment for eating the forbidden fruit. However, the serpent's main purpose was not the death of Adam but the possession of Eve. Because the serpent saw how much Adam and Eve loved each other, he lusted after her. All the stories speaking of the serpent's adultery with Eve have some foundation in Jewish tradition, ²² Rabbi Jung maintained.

For example, look at the account given in Abot de Rabbi Nathan, from the second century: "At that time the wicked Serpent considered in his heart and said, 'Since I am unable to cause Adam to fall, I shall go and cause Eve to fall.' He went, sat beside her, and talked much with her. . . . What did the wicked Serpent plan at that moment? I shall go and slay Adam and marry his wife, and I shall be king over all the world and shall go about proudly and shall enjoy royal pleasures."

Similarly in Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer we read, "Samael [the evil angel] riding on the Serpent came to her and she conceived. . . . " Later in The Zohar it is written, "Samael came in unto Eve, infected her with lasciviousness, and she became pregnant and bore Cain." Was Cain then the real child of Satan? No, says the Yalkut Hadash: "Samael begot the spirit, the soul of Cain, Adam became his bodily father. The Samael-created spirit had no body until Adam's seed supplied it . ²³

Thus, according to the ancient Jewish commentators, the serpent, a very clever beast or a disguise of the angel of evil, became envious of Adam's marital happiness, or of Adam's honor among the angels, or of his rule over the animals, or he was enamoured of Eve and desired to win her affections. Whatever the reason, he persuaded her to have relations with him, brought down upon her God's curses, and he himself was reduced from an upright creature with hands and feet into a crawling reptile. Notice that there are variations in the ancient rabbinic accounts of the Fall. Nevertheless, Dr. Jung feels that all of them are faithful to the Biblical text, introduce nothing foreign to the spirit of Genesis 3, and fit the sense of the original story. ²⁴

What Unification theology does is offer a coherent description of the original sin, which somewhat resembles these early rabbinic interpretations. Lucifer was created by God to be His servant, whereas men were created to be His faithful children. This difference in status made the archangel jealous of Adam. He also envied Adam and Eve because they had the advantage of possessing a physical dimension. He likewise resented his demotion to second place in God's eyes. On the other hand, Lucifer felt growing love for Eve. Rather than resisting his desires, the angel ventured to seduce her in spite of his knowledge that such an act was in direct contradiction to God's will. Eve responded to Lucifer's advances, so their action is called the spiritual fall.

As a result of their fornication, both partners experienced great fear. Lucifer became frightened because he had willingly violated God's natural order, the principle of creation. Eve too was terrified by what she had done. She realized that Lucifer was not her proper mate because she had been created to be Adam's companion. She also discovered that she had become captivated and virtually possessed by the rebellious spirit of the archangel.

One may wonder if Eve could really have had sexual relations with Lucifer. The Bible, like the literature of every great ancient civilization, assumes that people here and now do have contact with spirits. As Chinese, Indian, Graeco-Roman and Hebrew writings report, spirits possess the same powers of sensual perception and enjoyment as human beings. Throughout history, sexual relationships have occurred between spirits and humans. Such a male spirit is called an incubus and the female counterpart, a succubus. The spiritual fall then does not mean simply an imagined relationship between Lucifer and Eve. It was not merely adultery in Eve's heart but actual sexual intercourse which affected her in both spirit and body. Their union is called a spiritual fall because the male partner was a spirit rather than a human being.

Besides this spiritual fall there took place the physical fall of Adam and Eve. The former led to the latter. Once Eve realized that she had sinned with Lucifer, she longed to recover God's favor. Since she now realized that Adam was her true partner, she tempted him to unite with her. God wanted Adam and Eve to become husband and wife when they reached the proper level of spiritual maturity, which means their attainment of a God-centered life. Until their entire beings became centered on love for God they were unable to unite with each other in a proper manner. Because they united prematurely, and naturally without God's blessing, they transgressed His will. Why was this act sinful? Love or sex per se is not wrong. But when misdirected it becomes sinful.

As Satan had polluted Eve, Eve polluted Adam and both at that moment lost their status as God's children and became servants of Satan, the fallen Lucifer. Adam and Eve's lineage to God was severed, and they fell far below the formation stage, becoming subject to Satan's rule. Thus Adam's fall completely frustrated God's purpose of creation. If Adam had resisted Eve's temptation, the entire picture would have changed. God would still have been able to work through Adam to restore Eve or create another woman to take her place. As Anselm wrote, if only Eve had sinned but not Adam, it would not have been necessary for the human race to perish but only for Eve to perish, for God could have made another woman through whom His purpose ²⁶ might have been accomplished.

Thus, the direction of life for Adam and Eve became self-centered rather than God-centered. Satan held a claim upon them and they were completely alienated from God's reign of love.

For Divine Principle, original sin is transmitted to all of Adam's descendants and can only be removed when the Messiah comes to restore man's original lineage as a child of God. Aware that they had sinned, Adam and Eve felt ashamed of what they had done. Hence they concealed their private parts and hid themselves from God.

How does Divine Principle clarify the ancient rabbinic conceptions of the Fall? First, it agrees with those who identify the serpent with the rebellious angel. Secondly, it takes into account the sexual aspects of the Fall which many modern commentaries ignore. Thirdly, it carefully distinguishes between two parts of the Genesis story: the spiritual fall and the physical fall. For Unification theology, as for orthodox Christianity, all men are children of Satan and everybody inherits original sin through Adam. Finally, the Divine Principle view of the Fall explains why the idea of concupiscence has played such an important role in the Christian understanding of original and inherited sin.

If God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good, why did He not somehow protect Adam and Eve from frustrating His plan for creation? This has been one of the thorniest problems for theologians. Some say that God knew the Fall would occur but permitted it in order to prepare man for a higher good, the blessings of redemption. Others say that God's omnipotence is not absolute and that His power is limited by the freedom He gave to man. According to this view, man and God must work together to realize the goal of history. A third group of theologians claims that the exact relationship between God's power and our free will is a mystery beyond man's comprehension. We must therefore believe as if everything is in the hands of God, while we must act as if everything depends upon ourselves.

Unification theology suggests that this problem of theodicy must be treated in terms of four factors: human freedom, the power of love, the immaturity of Adam and Eve at the time of the Fall and man's intrinsic dignity as lord of creation. First, let us recognize man's free will. We possess freedom of choice because we are created in the image of God. If we are human, we are responsible for our actions. If we lack free will we become mere robots, puppets controlled from outside. To believe that is to turn Christianity into fatalism, as Calvin and others have admitted. Hence, it is important to affirm man's liberty as well as God's sovereignty.

God created man to express love fully, enjoying total happiness here and hereafter. Therefore He made love's power so absolute that it can even violate His will. It can override the power of natural law and social convention. Love can blind man and drive him to his own destruction. Or it can inspire him to choose death for God's cause. Since God made the force of love so absolute, it was possible for Lucifer, Adam and Eve to frustrate God's plan for creation.

Now when did the Fall take place? There have been two traditional answers given by Jewish, Christian and Muslim thinkers. Some theologians like Augustine have assumed that Adam and Eve were already perfect when they committed the original sin. God created the first couple in His image. This could imply that they represent humankind at its best: physically beautiful, morally good and spiritually blessed. Since Adam and Eve were in Paradise, they were in every way suitable for living in God's presence. Such a view also stresses the shocking nature of their sin. Having enjoyed so much, they justly deserved expulsion from Eden and eternal damnation for themselves and their offspring.

Another Christian interpretation was offered by Clement of Alexandria and Irenxus. Adam and Eve were immature when they were seduced by Lucifer. If they had been mature adults, they would have obeyed God's command, resisted temptation and not fallen prey to concupiscence. Unification theology accepts this view. So did Peter Lombard, Hugo of St. Victor, Alexander of Hales, Bonaventura, Duns Scotus and later Franciscan Schoolmen. ²⁷

Clement of Alexandria wrote:

The Savior came to men who were astray in their thoughts, to us whose minds were corrupted as a result of disobeying the commandments because we were lovers of pleasure, andperhaps also because the first man of our race did not bide his time, desired the favor of marriage before the proper hour, and fell into sin by not waiting for the time of God's Will ²⁸

And if the Serpent took the use of intercourse from the irrational animals and persuaded Adam to agree to have sex with Eve, as though the couple first created did not have such union by nature, as some think, this again is blasphemy against the creation .... But if nature led them, like the irrational animals, to procreation, yet they were impelled to do it more quickly than was proper because they were still young and had been led away by deceit. Thus God's judgment against them was just because they did not wait for His Will. ²⁹

According to Irenxus, Adam and Eve were not fully mature when the Fall occurred. They existed in a primitive, unreflective state of dreamy innocence and had just begun the process of becoming fully human. Since they were not fully developed, it is easy to see why they succumbed to the serpent's temptation and fell. By his fall, man was made Satan's servant. This interrupted man's orderly development toward perfection. ³⁰ According to Unification theology, God's principle of creation provides man with all the guidance he needs in his growth to the perfection stage. This principle allows each of us a sufficient measure of freedom to act responsibly. Therefore God does not completely dominate our process of maturation. In order for man to fulfill his potentialities, he has to be self-directing and self-motivated.

At the time of their fall, Adam and Eve had reached only the top of the growth stage. That is, they were adolescents, barely out of childhood. Had the primal couple been fully mature they would have loved God so intimately that no temptation could have turned them away from Him. When Eve succumbed to the rebellious archangel's advances and then when Adam prematurely united with her, they were still under God's indirect dominion.

God could not exercise direct dominion over them before they reached perfection. Once Adam and Even had attained maturity, nothing could have broken their unconditional love for their Creator. At that stage and only then could God freely shower His infinite love on them. Until that time, our first parents' love for God was incomplete and could become misdirected. For this reason, a man and woman should experience full union of love with each other only after their individual love for God has become unconditional. Without first perfecting one's love for God, true affection, concern for, and union with another human being is almost impossible, as the marital problems of our age clearly demonstrate.

Lastly, Adam was created to be lord of creation, so he possessed a potential dignity above all other creatures. To be fully qualified for that position, he had to rely on his own powers and judgment in perfecting his heart according to God's image. God waits until man learns how to govern himself before He lets him govern the whole world. In this way God wants man to share in His creative work. To achieve his proper dignity as lord of creation, Adam had to act on his own. For these reasons, it was impossible for God to prevent the Fall.

Before explaining the distinctive Unificationist position, we should note briefly four other Christian views.

1) The Greek fathers stress the curse of physical death placed upon Adam and Eve when they were cast out of the Garden. Since man has fallen he is subject to the ravages of time and decay. Nevertheless he still longs for immortality. Christianity proclaims that the corruptible can put on incorruption, and death can be defeated through union with God. Hence, the purpose of Christ was to provide mankind's reunion with the Father. ³¹

2) Roman Catholicism claims that because Adam and Eve fell, their descendants have been deprived of man's original state of righteousness and holiness. Human nature lacks its original supernatural gifts, and man's natural faculties have been grievously weakened by the taint of Adam's guilt. Original sin is transmitted from the first couple to all subsequent men and women through the act of generation. Its effects are seen in man's ignorance about his true purpose and the destructive power of his passions (concupiscence). ³²

3) Reformation Protestantism paints a far gloomier picture of the fallen state. Because of the Fall, all men are totally depraved. Man is so completely alienated from his Creator that he merits eternal punishment. If a small percentage of humans escape God's just wrath, this is only due to His unconditioned grace and has nothing to do with their virtuous works. Since fallen man is "unable not to sin" all he thinks and does is the act of a darkened mind and a perverted will. Thus, to quote Jonathan Edwards, we are all "sinners in the hands of an angry God. ³³

4) Liberal Christians reacted against the Reformation view by denying the historicity of the Fall, the fact of original sin, and the notion of the damnable condition of man. Instead of falling from Paradise in the distant past, man has been gradually evolving morally, culturally and religiously to fulfill God's purpose for creation. God will not judge us except for our own sins. Although we exist in a less than ideal society, we can and should improve it. As individuals all men are challenged to become sons of God and labor for the realization of God's kingdom on earth. Why then are we sinners? a) Because we are still, to some extent, not free from our animal past. b) Because we are products of an imperfect social order. c) Because we are influenced by bad examples. d) Because we fail to live up to our highest ideals. But none of these shortcomings need to be traced back to Adam's fall, original sin, or the inherited depravity of the human race, the liberal Christians insist.

How does the Unification theology view compare with the four we have mentioned?

Unlike the Eastern Orthodox and some Catholics, Unification theology does not think of man's physical death as a curse placed upon Adam because of the Fall. The Bible does not imply that physical death is divine punishment. Death should be thought of as a natural process. Everybody must die; but death itself holds no terrors because each one of us possesses an immortal soul. Therefore the important question concerns the future state of the soul rather than the death of the body.

Like Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Reformation Protestants, we recognize the supernatural power of evil. Adam and Eve fell because of the archangel's temptation. Because they united with him through acts of unprincipled love, their descendants became children of Satan and the whole world fell under his domination.

What exactly does it mean to be a child of Satan? Unification theology suggests that we are completely bound to him, as if in some mysterious fashion we are almost literally his offspring. Man who was designed to be God-centered suffers from a complete misdirection of love. Original sin did not deprive him of his free will, reason or natural gifts. What needs to be restored is the direction of man's will and his love. Hence, a supernatural purification of the human condition by the Messiah is needed in order for men to restore their divine lineage and sonship.

This has been cleverly hidden by Satan and has kept even the highest saints from attaining their final goal. In this way we are still alienated from God. Note, however, the difference between Unification theology and the Augustinian-Calvinist doctrine of total depravity. Our free will, reason and moral sensitivity have not been completely abolished by the Fall. Nevertheless, until the Messiah removes the taint of original sin, there will always remain a final barrier between God and man.

After causing the fall of the first couple, Satan has worked to extend his power and strengthen his hold on mankind. He does this in two ways. On one hand, he constantly accuses men of having disobeyed the commandments of their Creator. On the other hand, he is constantly trying to lure people into becoming his agents. Consequently, Satan's subjects have greatly multiplied. Thus, evils result from Satan's hold on mankind. Nonetheless, it is possible to cleanse oneself to some degree of Satanic elements, abolishing the grounds for rapport between ourselves and the rebellious archangel.

What are the effects of the Fall on man? Cut off from the root of life and happiness, man has suffered loneliness, restlessness, anxiety and fear of death. The search to fill our spiritual vacuum has been fruitless. We are starved for truth and authentic love. Alienated from God, we experience endless hatred and warfare. In addition to all these human troubles, there exists mutual hostility between man and nature. In a disordered world we no longer serve as nature's caretaker and she is not our faithful servant. As Paul wrote, the whole creation groans and labors in pain (Rom. 8:22).

Nevertheless, the worst result of the Fall is its effect upon God. His purpose of creation became frustrated. As a consequence of the Fall, God was virtually deprived of His sovereignty over creation. He lost His hold over the human heart. If God is the God of heart, His heart must have been broken by the seduction of Adam and Eve. For untold centuries God has suffered. How long His disappointment, dismay, bitterness and grief have accumulated!

Traditional theology has ignored this divine suffering caused by the Fall. However in process thought, God in His consequent aspect acts creatively in and on the world, and is enriched by its becoming by both its fulfillment and its tragedy. As Whitehead describes God, He is the Fellow-sufferer who is affected by the actions of His creation.

Why has the fact of God's overwhelming grief been hidden from view? Some contemporary Christian thinkers like Moltmann lay the blame on the doctrine of the passionless, unmoved God borrowed from Greek metaphysics. ³⁴ There are far more important reasons, Unification thought would say. First, the tragic nature of the Fall has been carefully kept from us, because Satan profits greatly from our ignorance. Secondly, the Fall's full effects on God have remained hidden because God has been unable to reveal completely the depth of His grief. In the prophecies of Hosea and II Isaiah, some of the Psalms and the parables of Jesus, one gets a rare glimpse of God's aching heart. But these barely suggest the divine suffering.

We humans find that we cannot reveal our deepest feelings to everyone. Most people would fail to understand what we were talking about. The same is true of God. He could not reveal His grief except to someone who realized exactly what Satan had done and its effect on God's whole plan.

What then is the Messiah's ultimate goal? To remove the intolerable burden now pressing down on the divine heart. To liberate not only a suffering humanity but an anguished God as well. Once God is free to exercise His loving sovereignty over creation, His great joy will bring about a cosmic springtime. When the heart of God is filled with gladness, the entire universe will radiate with happiness and harmony.

15 Cf. H. Rencken, Israel's Concept of the Beginning (1964), for a modern Dutch Jesuit Old Testament scholar's views of the theology of Genesis 1-3.

16 Cf. E. O. James, The Tree of Life, an Archeological Study (1966).

17 Cf. R. Gordis, The Word and the Book (1976), pp. 75-83.

18 Alberto Soggin, Old Testament and Oriental Studies (1975), pp. 88-111. Soggin gives an excellent bibliography on p. 102 (footnote) of books in English, German, Italian and French on the sexual interpretation.

19 Karen R. Joines, Serpent Symbolism in the Old Testament (1974).

20 The Canaanite "Baal" was a storm god.

21 Baal and Ashtoreth or Yahweh and Ashtoreth.

22 L. Jung, Fallen Angels in Jewish, Christian and Mohammedan Literature (1974), pp. 69-78.

23 Ibid. pp. 73-74, 78-79.

24 Ibid. p. 76.

25 Cf. Gen. 6:1-2.

26 Anselm, On the Virgin Conception and Original Sin, chap. 9.

27 L. Lercher, Institutiones Theologica Dogmaticte, vol. 11, p. 359.

28 On Marriage, XIV:94.

29 Ibid. XVII:102-103.

30 See J. Gonzalez, A History of Christian Thought (1970), vol. 1, pp. 165-169.

31 Cf. J. Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology (1974), pp. 143-149.

32 Cf. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Blackfriars edition (1974), vol. 26. For revisions of Thomistic doctrine, see Q. Vandervelde, Original Sin (1975).

33 Cf. G. C. Berkouwer, Sin (1971) for a contemporary defense of the Calvinist doctrine.

34 Moltmann, The Crucified God (1974), pp. 267-274.

 Download entire page and pages related to it in ZIP format
Table of Contents
Copyright Information
Tparents Home