The Effects of the Fall

The Effects of the Fall

When Adam and Eve sinned against God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, everything changed. I mean everything.

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This blog post is part 2 of the series Seven Invisible Barriers to Spiritual Growth.
To see all the posts in the series click here
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Innocence Lost and Evil Released

The first thing Adam and Eve recognized is that they were naked. They lost their innocence. They were filled with shame, insecurity, and embarrassment. They immediately sought to cover themselves with fig leaves, but this would never free them from the effects of their choice.

They heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden. They were guilty and they knew it. They were filled with fear and sought to hide from God. The shame that caused them to cover themselves from one another, now drove them to hide from God.

God knows everything. He knew what they had done and knew where they were hiding. In an effort to allow Adam to confess his sin, He called out to Him. He said, “Where are you?”

Adam comes out of hiding and tells God that he heard Him coming in the garden and was afraid because he was naked. He felt condemned and hid because he thought God would punish him for what he did. After all, God said if they ate of the tree they would die.

God asked Adam who told him he was naked. God said, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Here was the moment of truth. Would Adam take responsibility for his sin or would he try to get out of it?

Adam decided to play the blame game. Instead of saying it was his fault. He blamed the woman and God for the part they played in his downfall.

See how he refuses to accept responsibility. He becomes like the devil and accuses Eve and God for all his problems.

He told God that it was the woman that You gave me. She gave me of the fruit and I ate. He made an excuse and blamed Eve for being the one who initiated this whole thing. If it wasn’t for her, he never would have done it.

He reminded God that He was the one who gave him the woman. If you had not given me the woman, this would never have happened in the first place. He is accusing God of being the ultimate source of the problem.

God then turned His attention upon Eve. He asked her what she had done. Not wanting to be held responsible for this whole situation, she accused the accuser. She blamed the serpent. She pointed her finger at the serpent and said it was his fault. He deceived me, I am innocent.

God doesn’t ask the serpent what he had done. He begins to speak of the curse he would experience for what he had done. He also speaks to Adam and Eve about the curse they will experience because of their disobedience.

The Curse Affects Everything

Before we get into the various curses God speaks over these three, it might be good to understand the meaning of the word curse.

In the English language to curse means to say swear words. It can also be used for someone trying to harm a person through the use of magic, but that is not what the Bible is talking about when God is speaking about a curse.

A curse in the Old Testament had three concepts attached to it. Each of these meanings is directly related to God and to His blessing.

First, a curse is a warning of the consequences that will come about if God’s command is broken. This is what God did when He warned Adam and Eve that if they are of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die.

Second, the curse speaks about the consequences and punishment of sin. It speaks about the binding power of the curse that limits the life and productivity of the one who is cursed. The person is bound and unable to accomplish what he or she was once able to do.

Third, the curse is a withdrawal of the blessing of God. It is the blessing of God that brings freedom, peace, increase, and plenty. The curse speaks of reduction in every area of life. We can make a lot of money, but it is never enough. We can do things that should bring success, but it is always elusive.

Derek Prince says that the effects of being under a curse can be summarized in one word, frustration. We may have great success, but there is an inward frustration, relationships that are in chaos, and peace that always seems to elude us.

Pick any of the good things that God has promised for those who follow Him and choose the exact opposite and you understand the effects of the word curse. A curse is a limitation of the blessings of the Lord.

The Effects of the Curse on the Serpent

The serpent is cursed to crawl on its belly all the days of its life. We have no idea how the serpent moved prior to this, but we know how the serpents move on their bellies today.


God informs the serpent that there will be enmity between him and the woman and her seed. This seed would bruise the serpent’s head and the serpent would bruise His heel.


This is a prophetic word showing that God would destroy the serpent one day. Notice that the word seed is singular. The seed (who is Jesus) will come and crush his head. This is speaking of the Jesus breaking the power of the devil over the world and mankind.

The bruising of His heel speaks of Jesus’s death on the cross. He was placed in the grave, but the grave could not hold Him. He was raised from the dead to save us from our sin.

The Effects of the Curse on Eve

Women are most often centered on relationships. They are most often the nurturers in the family. They are more face-to-face in communication style.

The effects of the curse on Eve have to do with her relationship with her children and her husband. There would be pain in childbirth. This pain would affect her physically and emotionally. She would go through the physical pains of childbirth and the emotional pain of raising and caring for her children.

The Fall also changed her relationship with Adam. Instead of the equality that they previously experienced, Eve would now be ruled over by Adam. We can see the effects of this throughout history where men have ruled over women. In some cultures women are little more than slaves to meet the needs of men.

The struggle of the sexes began as a result of man’s rebellion against God’s command.

The Effects of the Curse on Adam

The binding effects of the curse hit man where he lives, in his work. Because of Adam’s decision to reject God’s command, the ground would be cursed. Prior to the Fall God created a beautiful garden filled with abundance. Adam would tend it and eat of its fruit.


Now the ground would be limited by weeds and thistles. Pain (the same word for the pain Eve experienced) and sweat would be required to get the ground to produce. For all the effort and pain, the ground would produce far less than he experienced in the garden.


God warned Adam that if he ate of the tree he would die. God informs Adam that he will work and strive until he dies and his body goes back to the dust from which it was formed.

Man Driven from the Garden

There was another tree in the garden, the tree of life. God was concerned that if Adam and Eve ate from it, they would remain in their fallen state forever. To keep them from eating of the tree of life, God drove man out of the garden. He placed a cherubim at the tree that stood there with a flaming sword. It turned every direction to ensure they could not eat from the tree’s fruit.

The Fall changed everything. Man’s disobedience brought about spiritual death, a separation from God. It opened the door for all sorts of evil that God never planned for man to experience.

Sin brought separation from the man and woman. It robbed the couple of their innocence. It caused guilt, shame, feelings of condemnation, fear, insecurity, blame, accusation, and a multitude of other ill effects into the world.

It also brought about death. Death affected everything. It became an unnatural part of life. Pain, sorrow, sickness, disease, and ultimately physical death.

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About the author 

Terry Tuinder

Terry Tuinder is the founder of Experiencing His Victory. His experience includes thirty-four years of pastoral ministry, an earned Doctor of Ministry degree from The King's University, and twenty-two years involvement in deliverance ministry. He helps people experience life as God intends it to be.

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