The third step in the process of the fall was the action of the body. When the spirit is neglected and the soul is exercised, the body becomes a slave serving our purpose. The eye sees, the hand takes, and the mouth eats. If in the matter of shopping we forsake our spirit and use our soul, our body will take us to the department store.
It is very important that we understand the result of man's first fall. If we know the result, we will understand where we are and what we are today.
The first result of the fall was that the soul of man was corrupted, contaminated, and ruined. It was contaminated because the soul accepted and received the Devil's thought and word (v. 7). Eve should not have spoken to the evil one, for while she was talking with him his wicked thought entered into her mind. Thus, even before Eve partook of the tree of knowledge her mind had been polluted by the enemy's concept already. Do not think that it was not until Eve ate of the tree of knowledge that she was contaminated. While she was talking to the serpent, the serpent's concept penetrated her mind and defiled it. Hence, her mind was ruined. Eventually, her mind was fully corrupted after she ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
The body was then changed in nature, having the element of the tree of knowledge, the element of Satan, added to it, making it the flesh (v. 7). As originally created by God, the human body was a pure vessel containing one essence, the element created by God. As a result of eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, a foreign element was injected into man's body, transmuting it into the flesh. The body which once was pure and sinless now contains the evil element of Satan. According to Romans 7, this element is the indwelling sin which makes its home in man's flesh. In Romans 7:17 Paul says, "So now it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me." This evil substance, the nature of sin that has contaminated our body, still dwells in our flesh. Therefore, we should have no confidence in our flesh because it has been fully occupied and saturated with the sin of Satan.
We may use a parable as an illustration. A little boy has been charged by his mother not to touch a certain bottle because it contains poison. One day, while the mother is away, the child takes the bottle and drinks some of the poisonous liquid. He transgresses his mother's prohibition, but that is actually a small matter. The truly serious thing which happens is that poison has entered into his being. Likewise, in the day that man partook of the tree of knowledge an evil substance entered into his body. Thus, it is not merely a matter of transgression, but a matter of a poisonous element, sin, the nature of the evil one, having entered into the human body. No one can deny or argue the fact that, although we might have been saved for years, we still have this evil element in our flesh. Even as you are reading this message the evil substance of sin dwells in your body.