Man is told to "subdue" the earth back in Genesis 1:28. Yet, the earth seems to be a peaceful paradise. Plants produce food, wild animals come up to the man to be named, and water springs out of the ground.
What is there for man to subdue?
Here in Genesis 3, a crafty serpent appears on the scene. We know the story. The serpent convinces Eve to eat the fruit of the bad tree and she gives it to her husband, who eats it as well.
This serpent clearly needs to be subdued. It is lying directly to Adam and Eve about God.
In the first recorded encounter between people and this serpent, the serpent deceives both man and woman. So, they neither subdue the serpent, but rather listen to it to disobey God.
The result of this is that the serpent is cursed, the woman is cursed, and the man is cursed. We also see curse on nature emerge from these curses.
The serpent's curse
In the serpent's curse, he must crawl on its belly. (v. 14). Further, enmity is placed between the serpent and the woman's offspring. If we understand this serpent is what man was to "subdue", then enmity was already between man and the serpent. What could be going on?
Here is my theory. It is commonly understood that the serpent represents the devil. But I think this also represents a curse on nature. Because the devil took the form of a serpent, in whatever form that is, biological snakes (I.e. reptiles) feel the result of this curse. The result is that many people fear snakes or even reptiles in general.
The woman's curse
She is to bear children through pain and her husband will rule over her. It is a mistake to say this imbalance in gender relations is what God intended. Likewise, no one would think that painful child birth is something that God intended. Rather, both are consequences of the events of Genesis 3. If we use the analogy of hard work in the field for food (v. 19), then we should view this imbalance in gender relations as something we should work against.
The man's curse
The ground is cursed and he must work hard for food. He still must eat, but it will be through painful toil. Here, we see another curse on nature. The paradise of the Garden of Eden is unraveled and he must fight with nature for his own survival.
The Aftermath
God kicks Adam and Eve out of the Garden. God upgrades their fig leaf clothing with an animal skin. We do not know if God killed an animal, or produced an animal skin from nothing. But in this event, we see that the gentle companion relationship between animals and man from Genesis 2 is offset. Now, humanity will view animals as a resource to exploit.
God sends an angel with a flaming sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life, lest man eat it and live forever. This is the first time we learn of what the effect of eating the Tree of Life would have been - immortality. It also indicates that man was intended to be immortal.
Nature's curse
Just to summarize, but several portions of text indicate that the balance between man and nature is forever upset.
* enmity between snakes and people
* the soil will produce thorns, it will fight man
* man will kill and exploit animals
Changes in humanity
* painful childbirth
* imbalanced gender relations
* knows good and evil (I.e., he is now capable of doing evil things)
* mortality
* wear clothing (out of shame, but once out of the Garden of Eden, people will get cold)
Unraveling the Fall by Jesus
We are most familiar with the concept of Jesus removing the taint of sin originally caused by Adam and Eve eating the fruit. But there are some other specific things that Jesus does to unravel some of these things.
Victory over death
* resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:38-44)
* the promise in Jesus is everlasting life (John 3:16)
Restoring harmony between man and nature
* Providing food - feeding the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21) and 4,000 (Matthew 15:29-39)
* Jesus is the bread and water of life (John 4:10 and 6:35)
* Calming the storm (Luke 8:22-25)
Restoring gender balance
* teaching man should not abandon his wife for (Matthew 19:1-12)
Undoing our mortality and health problems
* healing many people
Knowledge of Good and Evil
* a new heart and a new spirit to people (Ezekiel 36:26)
* fruits of the spirit, drowns out evil (Galatians 5:22-23)
* nations will not train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:4)
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