The Result of The human Fall

Chapter The Fall of Man

Section IV

The Result of The human Fall

What was the result brought about in the world of creation, including man and the archangel, by the spiritual and physical fall of Adam and Eve? Let us examine this important question.

1. Satan and Fallen Man

We have previously mentioned that Lucifer, the fallen archangel, was called Satan. Man fell, becoming Satan's child, because he formed the four position foundation centered on Satan, thus becoming one body with him through their blood relationship. Therefore, Jesus said that fallen men are of their father the devil (John 8:44), and on many occasions called them the brood of vipers, that is, sons of Satan (Matt. 3:7, 12:34, 23:33). Romans 8:23 says, "...not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons...". This is because man could not inherit God's lineage, but inherited Satan's instead, due to the fall of the first human ancestors.

If Adam and Eve had established the four-position foundation centered on God after having perfected themselves, the world under the sovereignty of God could have been established at that time. However, they fell in the period of immaturity, thus forming the four-position foundation centered on Satan. Therefore, the world came under Satanic sovereignty. John 12:31 says that Satan is the "ruler of this world", while in II Corinthians 4:4 Satan is called the "god of this world". This is the manner in which Satan came to dominate man, who had been created to be the dominator of the whole creation, and thus came to dominate the creation as well. Therefore, Romans 8:19 says that the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. This signifies that all creation, being now under the dominion of Satan while it should be dominated by perfected men, is anxious to repel Satan and to see the revealing of the men of the original nature of creation, who are entitled to dominate all creation in love.

2. Satan's Activities in human society

Satan is constantly accusing men before God, just as he did with Job (Job 1:9-11), in order to put them into hell. However, even Satan cannot perform this kind of evil action without having an object with whom to form a reciprocal base for give and take action. The objects of Satan are the evil spirits in the spirit world. The objects of these evil spirits are the spirit men of evil men on earth. The objects of the spirits of evil men on earth are their own physical bodies. Therefore, Satanic power, conveyed by evil spirits, results in the evil physical activities of earthly men. Therefore, we read in Luke 22:3 that Satan entered into Judas Iscariot. Again in Matthew 16:23, Jesus called Peter "Satan". In the Bible, evil spirit men are called "angels" of the devil (Matt. 25:41).

To restore the earthly Kingdom of Heaven (Part I, Ch. 3, Sec. II--103) means to realize the world in which Satan can never act, by man's severing completely his reciprocal base with Satan and restoring his reciprocal base with God, thus entering in give and take action with Him. That God keeps Satan in a bottomless pit in the Latter Days signifies that Satan will be unable to act since he will have lost his object with which to work. In order for man to be able to cut off his reciprocal base with Satan and be rightfully able to judge him (I Cor. 6:3), he must know the true character of Satan's crime and accuse him before God. However, God in creating angels and men, gave them freedom; and so He cannot restore them by force. Therefore, man should be able to make Satan come to a natural surrender by exalting the Word, through the accomplishment of his own portion of responsibility by his own volition, before he can be restored to the status of a man of the original nature of creation. The history of the providence of restoration has been prolonged for such a long time because God is developing His providence according to such principles.

3. Good and Evil seen from the Nature of Purpose

We have already defined good and evil in the "Original Value of Creation" (Part I, Ch. 1, Sec. IV--46). Let us now investigate good and evil, seen from the nature of purpose. If Adam and Eve had established the four position foundation centered on God through the love with which they were originally endowed, they would have realized the world of goodness. But they realized a world of evil because they had established the four position foundation centered on Satan through their love which had a purpose contrary to goodness. Therefore, good and evil can result from the same action, but have a different direction and purpose. There are many examples illustrating that human nature, considered evil, would be good if it pursued the purpose of God's will. For instance, human desire or ambition, usually considered evil, is part of the original nature of creation endowed by God in the beginning. This is true because the purpose of creation was to obtain joy, and joy can be attained only when desire is fulfilled. If man had no desire or ambition, he could have no joy. If man had no desire or ambition, he would have no ambition to receive God's love, to want to live, to perform good deeds, nor to develop. In this way, neither God's purpose of creation nor the providence of restoration could be fulfilled. The maintenance and development of human society, too, would be impeded.

The original desire of man, being the original nature of creation, comes to realize goodness if it is fruitful for the purpose of God's will. On the contrary, if it is fruitful for the purpose of Satan's will, it results in evil. From this principle, it is self-evident that even the world of evil, when turned toward the purpose of goodness centered on Christ, will be restored to perfect goodness, thus realizing the Kingdom of God on earth (cf. Part I, Ch. 3, Sec. II, 2--105). Accordingly, the providence of salvation is to change the direction of the fallen world, heading toward the purpose of Satan, to the direction of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, in order to realize God's purpose of creation.

The standard of goodness upheld in the course of this providence is not absolute but relative. This is because, during a specific age, it may be considered good to follow the purpose of the sovereign's ideology, while it is considered evil to go against his purpose. But once the age and the sovereign change, bringing a different ideology, the purpose also will change, and with it the standard of good and evil. In any religion or ideology, it is "good" for the adherents to follow the purpose defined by the doctrine, while to go against it is "evil". But for those of a different religion or ideology, or those who change their beliefs, the standard of good and evil would naturally differ according to the difference in purpose.

The principal cause behind the conflicts and revolutions which constantly take place in human society is the change in the standard of good and evil which occurs, as the purpose sought by men varies. The standard of goodness in the course of restoration is thus not an absolute one but a relative one. However, when the sovereignty of Satan is expelled from the earth, and God, the eternal absolute Being transcendent of time and space, restores His sovereignty with His absolute ideology, the purpose determined by the ideology, and the resultant standard of goodness, will also be absolute. This will be the world of macrocosmic ideology which will be established by the Lord of the Second Advent. In fact, human history has been the struggle in pursuit of the absolute goodness of our original mind's desire, constantly undergoing conflicts and revolutions. Accordingly, the conflicts and revolutions which take place in human society will continue until the world of absolute goodness is established.

4. The Works of Good spirits and Evil spirits

"Good spirits" is the collective name for God, good spirit men on His side, and angels. What we call "evil spirits" are Satan and all the evil spirit men on his side. The works of good spirits and evil spirits, as in the case of good and evil, start at the same point in the same manner but are directed toward different purposes.

Those who are involved in the works of good spirits enjoy an increasing sense of peace and righteousness; even the physical health of the individual will improve. The works of evil spirits make individuals feel an increasing sense of insecurity, fear, and egoism, even hindering the physical health of the obsessed. Those who are ignorant of the Principle find it very hard to discern the good or evil of the spiritual works. With the lapse of time, the results will reveal the nature of the spirit. However, fallen man, situated halfway between good (God) and evil (Satan), may sometimes cooperate with the work of both good and evil spirits. In many cases, even the works of evil spirits may combine with the works of good spirits after a certain period. So it is very difficult for people who are ignorant of the Principle to discern between them. It is a pity that in this age, many ministers and other religious workers condemn, from ignorance, the works of good spirits as those of evil spirits, thus going against God's will without being aware of it. No one in the present day of such increasing spiritual phenomena can guide men in spiritual communication unless he can discern between the works of good spirits and evil spirits.

5. Sin

Sin is the act of violating the heavenly law by establishing a condition in which one forms a reciprocal base with Satan, and enters into the action of give and take with him. We can classify human sin into four kinds. First is man's "original sin", which is the sin derived from the spiritual and physical fall of the first human ancestors. Original sin is the root of all sins.

Second is man's "hereditary sin", which is the sin of the ancestors transmitted to the descendants through blood lineage. The Ten Commandments state that the sin of the parents will be conveyed through several generations (Ex. 20:5).

Third is the "collective sin". This is the sin for which everybody is collectively responsible, even though it is neither his own sin nor a hereditary sin. An example of this kind of sin is the crucifixion of Jesus. The chief priests and scribes of the people had Jesus crucified; therefore, all the Jews have undergone God's punishment, taking the responsibility as a whole. Likewise, all mankind has had to suffer and will bear common responsibility until the Second Advent of the Lord.

Fourth is the "individual sin" which everyone commits himself. As mentioned above, we call original sin the root of all sins. Hereditary sin corresponds to the trunk, while collective sin and individual sin correspond respectively to the branches and leaves of a tree. All sins come from original sin, which is the root of all sins. Therefore, man cannot fundamentally liquidate all sins without getting rid of original sin. However, no one has been able to uncover this root of sin. Only Christ, the True Parent, who comes as the root of life, can uncover the root of sin(s) and liquidate it.

6. The Original Nature of the Fall

Eve inherited from the archangel all the characteristics that came about when the archangel committed a sexual act with Eve against God's will. Then Adam, who entered into a blood relationship with Eve--who in turn was in the position of the archangel to him--came to inherit the same characteristics. In this manner, these characteristics gave rise to the fallen nature of man. We call these the "original nature of the fall".

The basic motivation that thus caused the original nature of the fall lay in the jealousy the archangel felt toward Adam. How could there be any such thing as jealousy in the archangel, who had been created for the purpose of goodness? Originally, the archangel was endowed with wisdom and desire, as the original nature of creation. He could compare and discern that God's love toward men was greater than that toward himself. It was quite natural for him to entertain the hope of receiving greater love than anyone else because he possessed a spontaneous desire for the greatest love. Such a desire was automatically conducive to jealousy. Therefore, jealousy was a by-product of the original nature of creation, like the shadow of a thing produced by the light.

However, after perfection, man could never fall due to such incidental desire. He would not dare commit such a crime, because he would know that the torment he would experience in fear of self-destruction, after fulfilling such a desire, would be far greater than the momentary satisfaction he would enjoy by fulfilling it.

The world after the accomplishment of the purpose of creation should be a systematic society, resembling a man in its form, in which all men have an integrated relationship with one another. So, the harm which comes to an individual is felt by the whole. Therefore, the whole body would keep the individual members from destruction. Similarly, in the world in which the purpose of creation is fulfilled, any incidental desire occurring from the original nature of creation would be used for the development of human society; it could never cause man to fall.

We may roughly divide the original nature of the fall into four aspects. The first is the failure to take the standpoint of God in loving others. The motivation of the archangel's fall lay in his jealousy of Adam; he did not love him from the same standpoint as God. This led him to defile Eve. The nature by which a courtier feels jealous of a King's favorite, instead of loving him from the standpoint of the king, is another example of the original nature of the fall.

The second is to leave one's own position. Lucifer fell by leaving his position because of an unrighteous desire to enjoy the same position of love in human society as he did in the angelic world, and due to his attempt to receive more love from God. Any act that is performed apart from one's own position and limit, out of an unrighteous desire, is without exception, a manifestation of this original nature of the fall.

The third is to reverse the dominion. The angel who was supposed to be under the dominion of man, dominated Eve, reversing the principled order. And Eve, who was supposed to be under the dominion of Adam, dominated him instead. This resulted in the fall. Human society was thrown out of order by those who left their positions and reversed their dominions. This resulted because of the third original nature of the fall.

The fourth is to multiply the criminal act. If Eve had not multiplied her crime in Adam before her fall, Adam would have remained intact. To restore Eve alone would have been easy. However, Eve caused Adam to fall, multiplying her crime in him. The desire of evil men to induce their colleague to commit crimes with them also comes from this original nature of the fall.