What is the Fall of man?

The Fall of man occurred when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, resulting in the entire human race being separated from God, plunged into depravity, and set on the path to destruction. Adam chose to eat from the tree knowing the consequences, which led to spiritual death (Gen. 2:17). Because the children of Adam and Eve were born in the likeness of their parents, all human beings are born spiritually dead and are captives of "the domain of darkness" (Gen. 2:17; Col. 1:13; Rom. 6:23).

Four obvious effects of the Fall are perversion, conscious guilt, fear, and hostility. Perversion is the evil done with the good things God gives. Conscious guilt is the inner awareness of sin and accountability to God. Fear is the result of refusing to admit guilt and accept forgiveness, and hostility toward God and others is the outworking of that uncontrolled fear.

God provided a solution to the Fall through Jesus Christ, who became sin for all men on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21). Through faith in Christ, those who were dead in Adam can come out of spiritual death into life (2 Cor. 5:14-15).