One of the deepest questions of Christian faith is why God allowed Adam and Eve to fall and how this fall relates to His plan for our salvation. The Apostle Paul gives his most complete answer in Romans 5–8, where he moves from the tragedy of Adam’s disobedience to the triumph of life in the Spirit. Orthodox teaching sees in this passage the whole sweep of salvation history: creation, fall, redemption, and glorification.
The Fall of Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were created in communion with God, made “very good” (Gen. 1:31), and placed in a life of freedom, beauty, and intimate relationship with their Creator. Yet they were not created as perfected beings; rather, they were called to grow into maturity, to freely choose God’s love.
Their disobedience—grasping at the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil—was not merely breaking a rule, but turning away from God as the source of life. The Fathers teach that the true consequence of the Fall was death: corruption entered human nature, cutting us off from God. Because we are created with a free will, we do not inherit Adam’s guilt, as in Western theology, but we inherit his mortality and corruption, which in turn incline us toward sin. As St. Athanasius says, humanity “was perishing, and corruption was prevailing against them” (On the Incarnation 4).
Romans 5: Adam and the New Adam
St. Paul explains the Fall through Adam: “Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men” (Rom. 5:12). Sin and death became a hereditary condition of the human race.
But God did not abandon His creation. From the beginning, He planned a greater work: the coming of the New Adam, Jesus Christ. Paul writes, “As through one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). Christ’s perfect obedience reverses Adam’s disobedience, and His resurrection brings life stronger than death.
Where Adam’s legacy was corruption, Christ’s legacy is grace that “super-abounds” (Rom. 5:20). The Fall was permitted by God not because He willed evil, but because through it He revealed an even greater gift: salvation in His Son, a love stronger than death.
Romans 6: Baptism into Christ
How does this redemption touch us personally? Paul answers: through Baptism. “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Rom. 6:3). Baptism is our participation in Christ’s death and resurrection. The old man dies, and a new life begins.
The Orthodox Church understands Baptism not as a symbol but as a real union with Christ. In it, accompanied with Holy Chrismation receiving the seal of the Holy Spirit, we are reborn to a new a new life of holiness. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Salvation is thus not a legal acquittal but a transformation, a rebirth into life itself.
Romans 7: The Struggle with Sin
Yet Paul acknowledges that even the baptized still experience inner conflict. The Law, though holy, could not heal humanity; it only revealed sin’s power. Paul describes the divided self: “The good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Rom. 7:19).
This is the universal human experience of the passions. The Fall left us weakened, and though the Law shows the path, it cannot give strength to walk it. Paul cries out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” His answer: “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:24–25).
Romans 8: Life in the Spirit
The answer to the Fall is not merely Christ’s death and resurrection in the past, but His life in us through the Holy Spirit received in our Baptism and Chrismation. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). The Spirit fulfills what the Law could not: He heals, strengthens, and transforms from within.
In the Spirit we become children of God: “You received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’”(Rom. 8:15). As sons and daughters, we are heirs with Christ, destined to share in His glory. Even creation itself, subject to corruption through the Fall, awaits this redemption, groaning for the revelation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19–21).
Paul concludes triumphantly: nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus—not death, not suffering, not any power in creation (Rom. 8:38–39). The Fall introduced separation, but in Christ, union is restored forever.
The Meaning of the Fall in Light of Redemption
So why did God allow the Fall? The Fathers teach that it was not His will for man to sin, but in His providence He permitted it, knowing He would bring an even greater good: communion with God through the Incarnation of His Son.
As St. John Chrysostom says that Adam’s sin harmed us, but Christ’s grace has conferred on us far greater blessings than those we lost. The Fall revealed our weakness, but it opened the way for us to know God’s infinite love—a love that descends into death itself to raise us into eternal life.
Conclusion
The Fall of Adam and Eve was humanity’s first turning away, but God’s plan was always restoration and glorification. Romans 5–8 shows us the whole arc:
From Adam’s disobedience to Christ’s obedience,
From slavery under sin to freedom in baptism,
From the powerless Law to the Spirit’s transforming power,
From condemnation to adoption,
From corruption to resurrection glory.
In Christ, the tragedy of the Fall becomes the backdrop for the revelation of God’s boundless love. Where death reigned, now life abounds. Where sin divided, the Spirit unites. And where Adam fell, Christ raises all humanity, bringing us into communion with God—the true destiny for which we were created.
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