Life of Adam and Eve Before and After the Fall

How was the life of Adam and Eve before and after the Fall? What changed and what remained?

Learn them all in this article.

But first, let’s define the Fall.

Let’s begin!

The Fall of Adam and Eve

God allowed Adam and Eve to eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because if they did, they would surely die (Genesis 2:16-17).

But one day, Eve was tempted by Satan, in the form of a snake, to eat the fruit of that tree (verse 1 of chapter 3).

She was hesitant at first, knowing God’s instruction never to eat it. But she was convinced when the devil insisted that doing so would open her eyes to know good and evil like God (verses 3-5).

True enough, seeing that the fruit was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and “desirable for gaining wisdom,” she took some and ate it. And she gave some to Adam (verse 6, NIV).

This disobedience to God constituted the fall of Adam and Eve, which “opened the way for sin to enter [the] world”¹.

8 Things That Changed in the Life of Adam and Eve After the Fall

1) Their dominion over the earth was diminished and lost.

Before the Fall

God created Adam and Eve with a blessing to “subdue” the earth and “rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28, NIV).

This blessing granted them “the right to utilize for [their] necessities the vast resources of the earth, by agricultural and mining operations, by geographical research, scientific discovery, and mechanical invention”².

By doing so, God “put an honor upon [them] that [they] might find [themselves] the more strongly obliged to bring honor to [Him]”³.

After the Fall

Sadly, that dominion (Genesis 1:28-30) was “diminished and lost by the Fall” though “God’s providence [continued] so much of it to the children of men as [was] necessary to the safety and support of their lives”³.

How sad!

2)Their innocence became tainted with guilt and shame.

Before the Fall

Adam and Eve were created “naked” (Genesis 2:25, NIV). 

Seriously? 

Yes, and they “felt no shame” (verse 25, NIV).

How come?

Well, “Adam and Eve had no need of material clothing, for about them the Creator had placed a robe of light, a robe symbolic of His own righteous character, which was reflected perfectly in them”⁴.

They simply “had no reason to be ashamed. They knew not what shame was” because they “had no sin in their conscience”⁴.

After the Fall

Unfortunately, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked” (Genesis 3:7, NIV).

But they were naked since the start, right? How come they realized it just now?

Well, as we mentioned earlier, before the Fall, they didn’t feel any shame being naked. Now that sin entered them, it “the eyes of their intellect were [opened]—they realized that they were no longer innocent”⁵.

“The love and peace which had been theirs was gone, and in its place they felt a sense of sin, a dread of the future, a nakedness of soul”⁶.

Also, “the robe of light which had enshrouded them disappeared.” They “could not, while unclothed, meet the eye of God and holy angels”⁶.

Feeling ashamed of their naked bodies, they covered themselves with fig leaves and hid from God (verses 7-8).

3) Fellowship with God became limited.

Before the Fall

Imagine roaming around the Garden of Eden to see beautiful landscapes, taste different fruits from all kinds of trees, bond with animals, and many more (Genesis 2).

This was Adam and Eve’s everyday experience in that paradise. How would you like to experience the same?

Most importantly, they “enjoyed open fellowship with their [Creator].” They could walk and talk with Him daily, learning life lessons from Him⁷⁸.

What a privilege! 

After the Fall

When they sinned (Genesis 3:6-8), Adam and Eve was separated from God⁷.

As a result, “the human race has been cut off from this great privilege” such that they could no longer have direct communion with Him⁶⁷.

That was so sad.

4) Marriage now involved submission.

Before the Fall

Being taken out of Adam, Eve was the bone of his bones and the flesh of his flesh. And for this, they became “one flesh” (Genesis 2:23-24, NIV).

The man recognized in her a part of his own being.” As such, he was “to love her as his own body, for in loving her, he loves himself”⁴.

The Apostle Paul echoes this in Hebrews 5:33 (NIV), saying, “Each one of you…must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

As you can see, in her creation, God made Eve the equal of Adam⁹.

After the Fall

After the Fall, Eve now had to submit to Adam. Her desire would be for him as he would rule over her (Genesis 3:16).

“Sin had brought discord, and now their union could be maintained and harmony preserved only by submission on the part of the one or the other”⁹.

This must have been a burden for Eve.

5) The ground was now cursed.

Before the Fall

God created Eden with the ground producing “all kinds of trees.” These trees “were pleasing to the eye and good for food” (Genesis 2:9, NIV).

With this, Adam and Eve were free to eat from any of those except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (verses 16-17).

After the Fall

Sadly, when Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed the ground (Genesis 3:6-8, 17).

That is, the earth would now “produce thorns and thistles” through the plants (verse 18, NIV).

True enough, most plants and flowers now have sharp thorns and prickles on their stems and even leaves.

How did this curse affect Adam and Eve? We’ll discuss it later.

6) Childbearing became painful.

Before the Fall

God blessed Adam and Eve to “be fruitful,” “increase in number,” and “fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28, NIV).

To fulfill this, He entrusted Eve with the ability to give birth. And this gift of “conception was…intended to be a blessing, not a curse”¹⁰. 

After the Fall

One of the consequences of Adam and Eve’s disobedience (Genesis 3:6-8) was that Eve’s pregnancy would be accompanied with pain¹⁰.

If you’re a mother who have had a child, you can attest to this struggle.

It is not just any ordinary pain but one that is “so intense” like the most severe anguish of the body and mind¹⁰.

Not only that. It puts your life in danger because of the risks involved in the process.

What a sad reality!

7) Work became a toil.

Before the Fall

Given how beautiful the Garden of Eden was, it’s easy to assume that Adam and Eve were just chillin’ day and night there.

But no. God entrusted them to tend their home and give names to “all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky” (Genesis 2:15, 19, NIV).

Why was there a need for this?

It’s because God knew that Adam and Eve “[would] not be happy without employment. The beauty of the garden delighted [them], but this was not enough. [They] must have labor to call into exercise the wonderful organs of the body”⁴.

Besides, “had happiness consisted in doing nothing, man, in his state of holy innocence, would have been left unemployed.” God “knew what would be for his happiness; and no sooner had He created him than He gave him his appointed work”⁹.

Such an intelligent God!

After the Fall

Because Adam listened to Eve and ate the forbidden fruit, God cursed the ground (Genesis 3:17-19).

Through painful toil, Adam and Eve would eat food from the ground all the days of their lives (verse 17).

By the sweat of his brows, they would eat their food until they returned to the ground (verse 19).

As you can see, “the curse upon the ground which made it barren, and produced thorns and thistles, made his employment about it much more difficult and toilsome”¹¹.

Imagine how difficult it would be for Adam to “eke out a meager living from the cursed ground.” He “must live by forcing from a reluctant earth food for himself and his family”¹⁰.

8) Life became mortal.

Before the Fall

“In the middle of the [Garden of Eden] were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9, NIV).

We already know that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the one God prohibited Adam and Eve to eat from. If they did, they would surely die (verses 16-17)¹².

Now, the tree of life was one that “bare twelve manner of fruits,” yielding its fruit “every month.” Its leaves were “for the healing of the nations”¹³.

This tree could “perpetuate immortality,” which implies that Adam and Eve would be “immortal” if they put forth their hands and eat of it¹⁴¹⁵.

After the Fall

As part of the curse on the ground due to Adam and Eve’s disobedience, God told Adam that he had to work “until [he returns] to the ground since from it [he was] taken; for dust [he was] and to dust [he] will return” Genesis 3:19, NIV).

True enough, “the grave was his certain destination”¹⁰. 

This change in his nature “from conditional immortality to mortality” fulfilled the promise that “in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die”¹⁰.

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin…in this way, death came to all people” (Romans 5:12, NIV).

How sad!

But Adam didn’t die right away. 

After the Fall, he had Seth as his son at the age of 130. And he lived several more years until he died at 930 (Genesis 5:3-5).

Why didn’t he die instantly?

Well, God’s mercy granted Adam “a day of grace.” Otherwise, “death would have occurred instantaneously”¹⁰.

4 Things That Remained in Their Lives After the Fall

1) Blessing of procreation

Before the Fall

After creating them, God blessed Adam and Eve to “be fruitful,” “increase in number,” and “fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28, NIV).

This blessing entailed the “propagation and perpetuation of the [human] species.” With this, God intended that the human nature would propagate and its race would continue²³.

After the Fall

True to what we mentioned earlier, after the Fall, Adam and Eve bore children—Cain, Abel, and Seth. And through these children came Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, and many more (Genesis 3–4).

This blessing “has never been rescinded by God” even after the Fall, making it possible for “hundreds of millions of human beings” to “fill all continents of this world”².

True enough, just look at the population of each country, region, continent, or better yet, the entire world. How many people live in this planet today?

2) Existence of Satan and his temptation

Before the Fall

As we’ve discussed in the beginning of this article, Satan, in the form of a snake, tempted Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God prohibited (Genesis 2:17; 3:1-5).

Having eaten it, she also encouraged Adam to do the same. And they both sinned (verses 6-7).

Apparently, Satan succeeded in deceiving our first parents, resulting in the fall of humanity and entry of sin into the world through Adam (Romans 5:12).

But if you’re thinking that Satan got enough of everything and stopped his evil ways at this point in the life of Adam and Eve, you’re wrong. His snare continued after the Fall.

After the Fall

Do you know the story of Cain and Abel, two of Adam and Eve’s sons (Genesis 4)?

One day, they both made offerings for God. Cain, a gardener, brought “some of the fruits of the soil.” And Abel, a shepherd, gave “fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock” (verses 2-4, NIV).

God favored Abel and his offering, which made Cain angry. Because of this, he killed his brother (verses 5-8).

Can you believe that? Abel didn’t do his brother anything wrong but he was murdered out of jealousy.

Well, it was Satan who worked through Cain, “inspiring him with a desire to slay his brother”¹⁶.

Actually, Cain “saw his mistake in offering only his own substance before the Lord, without the fitting sacrifice of a lamb, but he determined to vindicate himself and condemn Abel”¹⁶.

Here, we can see that Satan was the same cunning tempter even after the Fall.

3) Freedom of choice

Before the Fall

When Satan tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-5), the woman had two choices—to give in to the temptation or stand firm in obedience to God’s order never to eat it.

Here, we can see that free will has existed from the beginning. True enough, God created Adam and Eve with that gift¹⁷.

God could have programmed them like robots who would naturally obey Him all the time. But He didn’t.

Why?

Because to deprive them of the freedom of choice would be to rob them of their prerogative as intelligent beings and make them a mere automaton⁷¹⁸.

Without it, their obedience would not have been voluntary but forced. There could have been no development of character⁷¹⁸.

In addition, it is not God’s purpose to coerce the will. They were created free moral agents¹⁸.

What an intelligent and considerate God! He knows what’s best for His creatures.

After the Fall

That freedom of choice remained after the Fall.

For instance, let’s go back to the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4), which we’ve previously discussed. 

No matter how painful it was for Cain to know that God favored his brother’s offering, he could have chosen to accept the situation and just bring another offering that would be in favor with Him anyway.

But he became jealous and killed his brother (verses 5-8). Whereas, he could have prayed to God to help him overcome the devil’s temptation to do so¹⁸.

This just proves that humanity never lost the freedom of choice after the Fall. This freedom could either do them good or bring them harm, depending on how they would use it.

4) God’s love

Before the Fall

God created for Adam and Eve a beautiful home—the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8).

This home had everything they wanted and needed in abundance—light, vegetation, food, water, shelter, companionship of the animals, name it. They simply couldn’t ask for more¹⁹.

This is an unmistakable evidence of God’s “great love and care” for Adam and Eve²⁰.

After the Fall

God could have killed Adam and Eve after they sinned and managed to create new human beings who hopefully would no longer sin.

But He did not. Instead, He just cut their access to the tree of life and banished them from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22-23).

See how much God loved Adam and Eve?

Even outside Eden, He never abandoned them.

For instance, in spite of the pain of pregnancy as a result of sin (verse 16 of chapter 3), Eve was able to give birth to Cain “with the help of the Lord” (verse 1 of chapter 4, NIV).

More importantly, realizing that the human race “was plunged into misery” because of sin, God instituted the “great plan of redemption”²¹. 

This plan indicated that the Son of God would “leave His Father’s throne, lay aside His royal crown, clothe Himself with humanity, take upon Him the nature of man, and become a man among men”²¹.

And with this, He would die for the sin of the entire humanity, bearing in Him its penalty (Romans 5:8; 1 Peter 2:24).

Indeed, God’s love never changed before and after the Fall.

Let’s Do a Recap!

The things that changed in the life of Adam and Eve after the Fall were as follows:

• Their dominion over the earth was diminished and lost.
• Their innocence became tainted with guilt and shame.
• Fellowship with God became limited.
• Marriage now involved submission.
• The ground was now cursed.
• Childbearing became painful.
• Work became a toil.
• Life became mortal.

And these were the things that remained:

• Blessing of procreation
• Existence of Satan and his temptation
• Freedom of choice
• God’s love

Can We Hear From You?

Did you enjoy this article? What have you learned?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

To learn more about the life of Adam and Eve before and after the Fall, read their story here. You can also find related Bible questions and answers from our Bible study course.

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See you in the next article!

1. Ellen White, Letters and Manuscripts (1883–1886), volume 4 [↩]
2. Francis Nichol, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 1, pages 215–218 [↩] [↩] [↩]
3. Matthew Henry’s Complete Bible Commentary 2.30–2.31 [↩] [↩] [↩]
4. Francis Nichol, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 1, pages 224–227 [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩]
5. Francis Nichol, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 1, pages 229–231 [↩]
6. Ellen White, From Eternity Past 26.1; 120.2 [↩] [↩] [↩]
7. Ellen White, Love Under Fire 7.1 [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩]
8. Ellen White, Manuscript Releases 1236–1300, volume 17 [↩]
9. Ellen White, The Adventist Home 27.2; 115.1 [↩] [↩] [↩]
10. Francis Nichol, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, volume 1, pages 233–236 [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩]
11. Matthew Henry’s Complete Bible Commentary 4.43–4.45 [↩]
12. Ellen White, Education 23.2 [↩]
13. Ellen White, Acts of the Apostles 592.2 [↩]
14. Christian Experience and Teachings of Ellen G. White 108.2 [↩]
15. Ellen White, Early Writings 125.2 [↩]
16. Ellen White, Christ Triumphant 35.4-35.6 [↩] [↩]
17. Ellen White, Evangelism 648.1 [↩]
18. Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets 49.1 [↩] [↩] [↩] [↩]
19. Ellen White, Fundamentals of Christian Education 512.5 [↩]
20. Ellen White, Confrontation 10.3 [↩]
21. Ellen White, Mind, Character, and Personality, volume 2, 421.1 [↩] [↩]