WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GARDEN?

All heresy arises from a misunderstanding of what happened in the Garden of Eden. If you go wrong here, you go wrong everywhere. If you get this right, you will not likely fall into grave error elsewhere. Take a moment to consider this question carefully in the light of Holy Scripture. What did happen in the garden?

Like it or not, God made Adam to be the federal head and representative of the whole human race. When he sinned, we all sinned in him. When he died, we all died in him (Rom. 5:12; I Cor. 15:21-22). That means that all the sons and daughters of Adam are born in spiritual death, without spiritual sense or ability (Eph. 2:1-4). We are all born sinners, totally depraved, without the will or ability to do good (Rom. 3:9-19). We are all transgressors from the womb (Isa. 48:8). No mother ever had to teach her child how to lie, cheat, and envy. Those things are in our hearts by nature, because we are born sinners!

Because man is born in spiritual death and depravity he cannot see, much less enter the kingdom of God, until he is born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-7). By nature no one has the will or the ability to repent of sin and trust Christ (John 5:40; 6:44). Repentance and faith are gifts of God's grace, wrought in the hearts of sinners by the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:31; Eph. 1:19; 2:8; Col. 2:12). Salvation cannot be by the will of man. He is dead! Salvation is by the will of God (Rom. 9:16). "Salvation is of the Lord!"

Pastor Donald S. Fortner

GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH OF DANVILLE

2734 Old Stanford Road

Danville, Kentucky 40422

Telephone 606-236-8235