Wellness Truth # 3

Wellness Truth # 3: Sin changed Human Nature and Still Weakens Your Soul

Now the snake was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?” The woman answered the snake: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’” But the snake said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
When they heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. The LORD God then called to the man and asked him: Where are you? He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.” Then God asked: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat? The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.” The LORD God then asked the woman: What is this you have done? The woman answered, “The snake tricked me, so I ate it.” – Genesis 3:1-13

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines sin as “an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity (13). The writings of St. Irenaeus of Leyon around the year 180 AD commenting on Genesis 3:1-13 describes a change in the nature of Adam and Eve after they committed the first sin by disobeying the commandment of God not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (14). They now view their bodies and each other’s bodies differently and sew fig leaves together to make loin cloths. They are now afraid of God and hide from Him when they hear Him walking in the garden. When God asks them about what they have done, instead of taking responsibility and ownership of their actions, Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent. They acted differently because their souls had lost the grace that had previously granted them union and friendship with God. The presence of the Life of God was no longer dwelling in their souls. In Genesis 2:17 God commanded Adam “From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die” and indeed we observe a type of “death of the soul” to go along with eventual physical death that is now transmitted to the rest of the human race (15,16). This change in the human soul is now characterized with a disintegration of the harmony of the souls faculties. The intellect is now darkened and unable to clearly discern truth. The will is now weakened and not easily obedient to the light of reason. The emotions and senses are now disordered and not inclined to submission to the intellect and will. In this new state called concupiscence due to original sin, the control of the spiritual soul over the body is compromised and the relationship between man and woman became subject to tensions becoming marked by lust and domination (17, 18, 19). The effects of this original sin and concupiscence are now transmitted like a genetic trait to all future generations of humans.