The Motivation and Process of the Fall

Chapter The Fall of Man

Section II

The Motivation and Process of the Fall

We have already clarified in Section I the fact that the serpent was an angel who caused Eve to fall. Since the motivation of the human fall lay within the angel, we must know something about the angel before we can really know the motivation and process of the fall.

1. The Creation of the Angel, his mission, and his relationship to Man

All beings were created by God. The angels were no exception. God created the angelic world before anything else. Genesis 1:26 records the story of creation: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness", putting the first person in the plural. This is not because He was speaking as a trinity, as many theologians have interpreted, but because He was speaking to the angels, who had been created before man (Gen. 1:26).

God created the angels as servants who were to assist in the creation of the universe, and in His dispensation for it (Heb. 1:14). The angels conveyed to Abraham the important words of blessing from God (Gen. 18:10), heralded Mary's conception of Christ (Matt. 1:20, Luke 1:31), and unchained Peter and led him out of prison (Acts 12:7-11). We can find numerous examples in the Bible of the angels working for God. In Revelation 22:9 the angel calls himself a "servant", while in Hebrews 1:14, angels are said to be "ministering spirits". Again, we may find in many biblical verses solid proof of the angels having been created to honor and praise God (Rev. 5:11-12, 7:11-12).

Let us now investigate the relationship between man and angels, according to the principle of creation. Since God created men as His children, giving them dominion over all creation (Gen. 1:28), man was supposed to dominate the angels, too. I Corinthians 6:3 says that man has the authority to judge the angels. Many who communicate with the spirit world frequently see angels ministering to the saints in Paradise. This, too, is a good example illustrating that angels minister to men.

2. The Spiritual Fall and the Physical Fall

Since God created man in spirit and flesh, the fall also took place in spirit and flesh. The fall through the blood relationship between the angel and Eve was the spiritual fall, while that through the blood relationship between Eve and Adam was the physical fall.

How could there be a sexual relationship between the angel and man? Feelings and sensations are felt and responded to in the invisible, or spirit world. Contact between a spirit and earthly man (who has a spirit) is not very different from contact between two earthly human beings. Therefore, sexual union between a human being and an angel is actually possible.

We can understand what has been said here even more clearly through the following stories. There are recorded instances in human society of an earthly man leading a married life with a spirit. There is the story of the angel who, in wrestling with Jacob, touched the hollow of his thigh and put it out of joint (Gen. 32:25). Still another story is about the angels who appeared in Abraham's home and ate the meat and other food he had prepared for them (Gen. 18:7-8), and the two angels visiting Lot who ate the unleavened bread he baked for them. The men of the city, excited in sexual desire upon seeing them, surrounded the house and called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them." (Gen. 19:5). These incidents illustrate the possibility of contact between men and angels.

(1) Spiritual Fall

God created the angelic world (Gen. 1:26) and put Lucifer (signified by "Day Star, son of Dawn", Is. 14:12) in the position of archangel. Lucifer was in a position to monopolize God's love as the mediator between God and the angelic world, just as Abraham was the channel for God's blessing to the Israelites. However, God, after creating men as His children, loved them much more than He loved Lucifer, who had been created as His servant. In fact, Lucifer received the same amount of God's love as he had before the creation of man, but when he saw that God loved Adam and Eve more, he felt that God loved him less than before. This situation is similar to the biblical story of the laborers who had begun working early in the morning; seeing that those who were hired late and worked little received the same wage as they, they felt underpaid, although they received the promised amount (Matt. 20:1-15). Lucifer, who felt a decrease of love, tried to tempt Eve to submit to him in order that he might enjoy the same position in human society that he did in the angelic world. This was the motivation of the spiritual fall.

All things were created to receive God's dominion through love. Therefore, love is the source of life and the essence of happiness; love is the ideal of all creation. Accordingly, the more one receives God's love, the more beautiful he or she becomes. So it was very natural that Eve looked most beautiful in Lucifer's eyes. Moreover, when Eve was susceptible to his temptation. Lucifer was strongly stimulated by an impulse of love toward Eve. At this point, Lucifer dared to seduce Eve at the risk of his life. Lucifer, who left his position due to excessive desire, and Eve, who desired to have her eyes opened like God's through a sexual relationship before she was ready for it, thus formed a reciprocal base and had sexual intercourse with each other through their give and take action (Gen 3:5-6). Since the power of love derived from their give and take action was not based on the Principle, they fell into an illicit relationship of spiritual love.

According to the principle that men were created to exchange elements with the objective being with whom they have become one body through love, Eve received certain elements from Lucifer when she joined into one body with him through love. First, she received from Lucifer the sense of fear, which came from his guilty conscience because of their violation of the purpose of creation. Second, she received wisdom enabling her to perceive that her intended spouse in the original nature of creation was not Lucifer but Adam. At that time Eve was still in the period of immaturity. Therefore, she was immature in her wisdom compare to the archangel, who had already reached a certain level of maturity. Thus she received the wisdom of the archangel.

(2) Physical Fall

Adam and Eve should have become husband and wife, eternally centered on God, after their perfection. However, Eve joined with Adam after she had the illicit relationship with the archangel in her period of growth. Adam, too, fell in his growth period. The premature conjugal relationship thus established between Adam and Eve was centered on Satan and caused the physical fall.

As mentioned above, Eve obtained, from the spiritual fall with the archangel, the sense of fear arising from the pangs of her guilty conscience, and the wisdom to understand that her intended spouse was not the archangel but Adam. Eve then seduced Adam in the hope that she might rid herself of the fear derived from the fall and stand before God by becoming, even then, one body with Adam, who was meant to be her spouse. This was the motivation behind the physical fall.

Eve, having become one body with the archangel through their illicit sexual relationship, was in the position of the archangel to Adam. Therefore, Adam, whom God loved, looked very beautiful to her. Adam was Eve's only hope for returning to God. Feeling this, Eve tempted Adam, just as the archangel had tempted her. Adam and Eve formed a reciprocal base, and through their give and take action, the power of love drew them closer. This powerful love made Adam leave his original position and finally caused Eve and him to have an illicit sexual relationship.

Adam, by becoming one body with Eve, inherited all the elements Eve had received from Lucifer, in the same manner she did. These elements were then transmitted to their descendants. Despite Eve's fall, if Adam had reached perfection without forming a reciprocal base with the fallen Eve, he as the perfected subject would have remained intact, and the providence to restore Eve alone would have been much easier. However, Adam also fell, and mankind has multiplied in sin to the present day, thus perpetuating the lineage of Satan.