Fall and Five Separations:1
Fall and Five Separations:1
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Man Is Separated from God. o Spiritual separation, Gen 3:8-11. Humanity’s relationship with the Creator, the Source of life is broken off. The Lord God asks, “Where are you?” and “What is this that you have done?” Hiding in the Garden, Adam and Eve are alienated from God. Man Is Separated from Himself. o Guilt o The need for love and significance without relationship to God leaves nothing sure. o Adam and Eve would die.Death is the separation of the body and the soul. Man Is Separated from Fellow Man. o Immediate accusations, Adam of Eve, Eve of the Serpent. o Breakdown of marital and familial relationships o Jealously and murder of Abel by his own brother Cain, Gen 4 Man Is Separated from Nature. o Enmity between mankind and the serpent/snake o “Though painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life … by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.” 3:17-19 o Expulsed from the Garden of Eden and forced to struggle for survival o Nature paid the price for man’s nakedness, as the Lord God used animal skins to cover them; later animals become the sacrifice for man’s sin. Nature Is Separated from Nature. o “Cursed is the ground because of you.” 3:17 o “It will produce thistles and thorns” 3:18 o Ro 8:20: “creation was subjected to frustration,” “bondage to decay.” Note the implications of Isa 11:6-9; 65:17-25 which suggest that nature’s future salvation in some ways returns the earth to Eden. A Sixth Division: The Cross o When God the Father could no longer look upon the Son at Calvary, a one-time o catastrophic division occurred within the Holy Trinity that paid the price for all sin. At the cross we also see all the other divisions in sharp relief. Man from God: The Son was separated in fellowship from the Father because of our sin; he was our substitute for sin. Yet the veil tore from top to bottom. Man from Himself: Jesus Christ was separated from himself, as he, the second and sinless Adam died; his spirit was divided from his body. He died in suffering and agony. Pain goes right back to the Garden—the tree, Eve’s curse. Man from Fellow Man: Everyone turned away from Jesus: his own brothers, his disciples, his people to whom he came as Messiah, the world he himself created (Jn 1:10-11). Jesus was isolated at cross.
Dr. Scott Horrell. “The Fall and its Five Separations: The Need for Salvation,” unpublished class notes for ST103 Angels, Humanity, & Sin (Dallas Theological Seminary, 2009).
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Man from Nature: Crowned with thorns (Ge 3:18), given bitter wine symbols of the bitterness of life; nailed to a cross, tree, very source of man’s temptation. Nature from Nature: At his death, the sky darkened from 12-3PM like night, there was an earthquake, rocks split open, tombs opened and people (against nature) rose from the dead. At the cross, God provided and guaranteed the solution to each of the five divisions of the fall in Genesis 3. In this sixth division of the Father from the Son as he bore the sin of the world, there is a real cosmic act that changes the whole flow of eternal human and divine history. Reconciliation with God is an instant act through the saving grace of God. A partial healing on personal and social levels occur through faith. Complete healing and restoration of both ourselves and of nature awaits the consummation. The death of Christ is indeed the salvation of the world. Seventh Division: Believers and Non-Believers. As the two thieves beside Jesus responded to Jesus in disbelief or belief, so a seventh division separates all humankind in our faith or rejection of the Savior. The eternal destiny of all humanity is divided around the cross of Christ.
Horrell, Dr. Scott. “The Fall and its Five Separations: The Need for Salvation.” Unpublished class notes for ST103 Angels, Humanity, & Sin. Dallas Theological Seminary, 2009.
1
Man Is Separated from God. o Spiritual separation, Gen 3:8-11. Humanity’s relationship with the Creator, the Source of life is broken off. The Lord God asks, “Where are you?” and “What is this that you have done?” Hiding in the Garden, Adam and Eve are alienated from God. Man Is Separated from Himself. o Guilt o The need for love and significance without relationship to God leaves nothing sure. o Adam and Eve would die.Death is the separation of the body and the soul. Man Is Separated from Fellow Man. o Immediate accusations, Adam of Eve, Eve of the Serpent. o Breakdown of marital and familial relationships o Jealously and murder of Abel by his own brother Cain, Gen 4 Man Is Separated from Nature. o Enmity between mankind and the serpent/snake o “Though painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life … by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.” 3:17-19 o Expulsed from the Garden of Eden and forced to struggle for survival o Nature paid the price for man’s nakedness, as the Lord God used animal skins to cover them; later animals become the sacrifice for man’s sin. Nature Is Separated from Nature. o “Cursed is the ground because of you.” 3:17 o “It will produce thistles and thorns” 3:18 o Ro 8:20: “creation was subjected to frustration,” “bondage to decay.” Note the implications of Isa 11:6-9; 65:17-25 which suggest that nature’s future salvation in some ways returns the earth to Eden. A Sixth Division: The Cross o When God the Father could no longer look upon the Son at Calvary, a one-time o catastrophic division occurred within the Holy Trinity that paid the price for all sin. At the cross we also see all the other divisions in sharp relief. Man from God: The Son was separated in fellowship from the Father because of our sin; he was our substitute for sin. Yet the veil tore from top to bottom. Man from Himself: Jesus Christ was separated from himself, as he, the second and sinless Adam died; his spirit was divided from his body. He died in suffering and agony. Pain goes right back to the Garden—the tree, Eve’s curse. Man from Fellow Man: Everyone turned away from Jesus: his own brothers, his disciples, his people to whom he came as Messiah, the world he himself created (Jn 1:10-11). Jesus was isolated at cross.
Dr. Scott Horrell. “The Fall and its Five Separations: The Need for Salvation,” unpublished class notes for ST103 Angels, Humanity, & Sin (Dallas Theological Seminary, 2009).
o o o
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Man from Nature: Crowned with thorns (Ge 3:18), given bitter wine symbols of the bitterness of life; nailed to a cross, tree, very source of man’s temptation. Nature from Nature: At his death, the sky darkened from 12-3PM like night, there was an earthquake, rocks split open, tombs opened and people (against nature) rose from the dead. At the cross, God provided and guaranteed the solution to each of the five divisions of the fall in Genesis 3. In this sixth division of the Father from the Son as he bore the sin of the world, there is a real cosmic act that changes the whole flow of eternal human and divine history. Reconciliation with God is an instant act through the saving grace of God. A partial healing on personal and social levels occur through faith. Complete healing and restoration of both ourselves and of nature awaits the consummation. The death of Christ is indeed the salvation of the world. Seventh Division: Believers and Non-Believers. As the two thieves beside Jesus responded to Jesus in disbelief or belief, so a seventh division separates all humankind in our faith or rejection of the Savior. The eternal destiny of all humanity is divided around the cross of Christ.
Horrell, Dr. Scott. “The Fall and its Five Separations: The Need for Salvation.” Unpublished class notes for ST103 Angels, Humanity, & Sin. Dallas Theological Seminary, 2009.
