CRANACH, Lucas the Elder
Adam and Eve
Panel
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten,
Antwerp
Adam and Eve
disobeyed God
and sinned
01
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75. What was the first human
sin?
396-403
415-417
When tempted by the devil, the
first man and woman allowed
trust in their Creator to die in
their hearts. In their
disobedience they wished to
become “like God” but without
God and not in accordance with
God (Genesis 3:5). Thus, Adam
and Eve immediately lost for
themselves and for all their
descendants the original grace
of holiness and justice.
Introduction
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God created Adam and Eve,
infused in them the
supernatural and preternatural
gifts and placed them in the
Garden of Eden.
But Adam and Eve committed a
very serious sin: original sin.
All men inherit this sin. Pain,
suffering, hatred, wars and all
other misfortunes that affect
men and the world spring from
original sin.
BOSCH, Hieronymus
Paradise: Terrestrial Paradise
Oil on panel, 86,5 x 39,5 cm
Palazzo Ducale, Venice
Main ideas
1. The happiness of our first parents in the Garden of Eden
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CRANACH, Lucas the Elder
The Paradise
1530
Limewood, 81 x 114 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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God, out of love, created our first
parents so that they could
eventually contemplate Him and
live eternally in His presence. To
that end He made them
participants in His divine life by
means of sanctifying grace or the
life of grace.
God placed them in an earthly
paradise and gave them many
other gifts: they were free from
error and from the inclination to evil,
they were created free from pain,
disease and death (the
preternatural gifts).
These gifts -supernatural and
preternatural- were to be
transmitted by Adam and Eve to
their descendants.
2. The trial of our first parents
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As with the angels, God put our
first parents to the test by giving
them a commandment to prove
their faithfulness to Him. If they
obeyed, they would preserve the
graces and gifts that God had
given to them and their
descendants. But if they
disobeyed, they would lose those
graces and gifts.
God, being their absolute lord
and sovereign, could impose
such an obligation on them,
always in the hope that they
would remain faithful to Him.
BALDUNG GRIEN, Hans
Eve, the Serpent, and Death
1510-12
Panel
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
3. Our first parents sinned
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Adam and Eve disobeyed God
and fell into sin. It was a sin of
pride, because they wanted to
be like God.
Having committed this original
sin they lost the divine
friendship (grace) and the
preternatural gifts that God had
given them.
Our first parents were
submitted to concupiscence,
the inclination to sin, an
inclination which in itself is not
sinful, but incites to evil.
MILANI, Aureliano
Expulsion of Adam and Eve
Oil on canvas, 153 x 106 cm
Private collection
4. Men are born under the effects of original sin and
suffer the consequences
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In Adam the entire human race
inherited the effects of that sin.
That is to say, when receiving
our human nature from our first
parents, we receive it stained
with Adam´s sin.
Without that inner harmony, we
are inclined to sin
(concupiscence).
This is what we call the original
sin, with which we all are born.
Durer's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1498)
5. Consequences of original sin
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All men are born with the
terrible inherent consequences
of original sin. We are born
without grace, in a state of sin
which turns us away from God
and inclines us towards evil.
We call this inclination
concupiscence.
We are subject to illness, pain
and finally, death.
By original sin, Satan acquired
great influence on the world.
SIGNORELLI, Luca
The Damned Being Plunged into Hell (detail)
1499-1502
Fresco
Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
6. God had pity on mankind and promised a
Redeemer
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God had pity on mankind and
promised future redemption. He
promised that from the human
race would emerge a
Redeemer -Jesus Christ-, who
would save humanity from
original sin and its
consequences.
ALTDORFER, Albrecht
The Resurrection of Christ
c. 1516
Oil on wood, 70,5 x 37,3 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Resolutions for
Christian life
Resolutions to move forward
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Learn the Act of Contrition. It
can be recited as a sign of
repentance for our sins before
confession and at other times
of the day.
Be aware of the fact that as a
consequence of original sin we
need to make a strong effort to
avoid sin, but always in a spirit
of Christian joy.