The Sin of Adam

The man said, “The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Genesis 3:12

I was pondering, The Original Unity of Man and Woman by Saint John Paul II.

Saint John Paul states,

The words of Genesis, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (2:18) are a prelude to the narrative of the creation of woman. Together with this narrative, the sense of original solitude becomes part of the meaning of original unity, the key point of which seems to be precisely the words of Genesis 2:24. Christ referred to them in his talk with the Pharisees: “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Mt 19:5). If Christ quoted these words referring to the “beginning,” it is opportune for us to clarify the meaning of that original unity, which has its roots in the fact of the creation of man as male and female.

We see the Saint referencing “original solitude” and that it becomes part of the meaning of “original unity”. The Saint goes on further to state;

If we admit, moreover, a significant difference of vocabulary, we can conclude that the man (‘adam) falls into that “sleep” in order to wake up “male” and “female.”

From this we can glean that everything we are was contained in original solitude in Adam. John Paul states;

Perhaps, therefore, the analogy of sleep indicates here not so much a passing from consciousness to subconsciousness, as a specific return to non-being (sleep contains an element of annihilation of man’s conscious existence). That is, it indicates a return to the moment preceding the creation, that through God’s creative initiative, solitary “man” may emerge from it again in his double unity as male and female.

Therefore when we speak of the original union of which Christ refers to “in the beginning” we are looking at the union of male and female as a completeness of the image of God because it is as if together they go back to original solitude, as one.

We can understand that woman, pulled from the rib of man, really the heart of man, is a desire both physically and spiritually for his completeness and her desire for him too a desire of her heart and body for her completeness. The original solitude.

So it is that in marriage, which Christ Himself defines, that in the sexual union draws us into a kind of unity that is beautiful and of God. When a married couple partakes in this original solitude, God allows them to partake in His creative action and the love between them, in union with the love of God, creates children.

But in our concupiscence we allow our desire for this beauty to be perverted. In deliverance ministry we often recognize that the quickest way to tear apart a person’s soul is through sexual sin. It leaves people in mental, emotional, and often physical anguish. While our world promotes and encourages all kinds of sexual sin, in this ministry we see that this kind of sin creates soul ties, and soul ties allow the devil to speak into your life. Soul ties happen when you give a piece of yourself away in sexual union outside of marriage. And marriage can only be between male and female because that’s the image of God. People are often left feeling worthless. Their view of who they are so distorted by the myriad of sexual sin that deviated from the plan of God.

The reason for this is it is an offense to “original man” created in the image and likeness of God. This perversion thwarts the creative love of God, one in which we are allowed to partake, and therefore the fruit of perversion is infertility. Lifeless sexual union. It promotes contraception, abortion, homosexuality and transgenderism and life abundantly is left dying, separated from the vine.

Satan tries to steal our fertility because in doing so he can take us to his ultimate goal, which is the destruction of our souls. He came to steal, kill and destroy, with destruction being the worst of those things. If we become so twisted in our thinking that we desire what is lifeless, then ultimately we can end up in a place where we blaspheme the Holy Spirit. This is why the Saints took care to stay away from the near occasion of sin. In our pornographic culture, this has become nearly impossible.

While there are many deadly sins, this sin is the easiest doorway to allow Satan to speak into your life, because it is actually borne from the desire of communion, which is a good. But we must take the words of Jesus seriously about what marriage is. So many shrug off sexual sin as no big deal, but I would venture to say that what we see in the streets began in our hearts desire for sexual pleasure, it allowed even bigger deadly sins to follow suit, pride and envy, and here we are left wondering what in the world happened to all of us and why is the world so dark? We have twisted who we are.

So we can learn from looking back at the beginning. The original sin isn’t known as the sin of Eve, even though she ate the fruit first. It is called the sin of Adam because in original solitude they are one, in waking up male and female the two become one. Original sin was an offense against himself and what he was made to be. Man and woman aren’t to be in competition with one another, they are completeness and compliment one another. Things would have been different if Adam had said no to the fruit.

For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy. 1 Corinthians 7:14

So too we the Mystical Body, when we sin, it is an offense against the whole body. It harms the whole church. That is why we go to confession. It isn’t just for our own soul, though that is a huge part, but it is for others, to repair the church. Our repentance is needed for everyone to heal. In our pride we refuse and we justify – “my sin isn’t that bad.” And the world devolves deeper into darkness.

Soul ties are broken when people forgive. When they forgive themselves, when they forgive others who may have harmed them. This forgiveness heals and repairs so we can be in true communion.

Jesus showed great mercy to those in sexual sin. The woman at the well had a life transformed. She recognized who he was and that he had something better for her. She changed. No longer did she look for her completeness in anything but Christ who could heal and repair the wrong she had committed. She is the one in scripture that he reveals directly who He is. He simply states, “I am he….”John 4:26 And she came to believe.

 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” John 4:39

If you have unconfessed sexual sin, go to confession. If you keep failing, keep going to confession. Don’t try to justify, just tell God where you are, and let him pour grace over you to bring you back to life.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24