1. In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve in his image. What do Genesis 2:25 and Ephesians 4:24 tell us about what that meant for them?

Adam and Eve were without shame and guilt in the perfect world God created. Ephesians uses words which help us understand the image of God:  “like God” ‘”True righteousness and holiness.”  In other words, Adam and Eve were without sin and matched God’s standards exactly.

2. Review the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:1-13. Identify how Adam and Eve changed after they sinned.

Adam and Eve hid from God. That was impossible and they knew it, but their thinking had changed dramatically. They were ashamed. They sought to avoid their own guilt and pointed fingers at other reasons for the fall. Adam blames God and Eve. Eve blames the Serpent

3. Adam and Eve were no longer free after the fall. How did the sin show itself in their children? (Genesis 4)

Cain was jealous of his brother. He killed him, and like his mother and father sought to avoid responsibility for his sin. Beyond Cain and Abel on might not the pride and arrogance that infects the children of Cain.

4. David confesses he too is affected by sin. What does he write in Psalm 51:5?

“Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” His sinful condition is evident in his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah.

5. God comments about the state of humanity after the Flood (Genesis 8:21). How does his comment reveal that humanity is no longer free from sin?

The inclination of humanity is not toward God but toward sin. It is so for all humans even after God destroyed the world with a flood.

6. We are affected by Adam and Eve’s fall. We are no longer in the land of the free. The passages below describe our natural spiritual condition. 

a. Romans 8;6-8. What are our sinful natures like?

Our sinful natures are hostile to God. We are not just neutral or passive. By nature we fight against God.

b. 1 Corinthians 2:14. What is our attitude toward spiritual maters?

The things of God are foolishness to us by nature. His gospel of love in Christ--Christ crucified--humans by nature think is a waste of time--foolish.

c. Ephesians 2:5. How are we described by the apostle Paul?

Dead! We are unable to respond to God on our own. A corpse cannot become alive again on its own.