Let us now begin to study, from a practical viewpoint, how the fall affected each part of man’s tri-unity, and also the overall effect upon man’s being. The first and most devastating effect was upon man’s spirit, because it led to the death of the whole man. We have already stated that the spirit was separated from its union with God and the life flow that came from God. Man died in the sense that anything that is separated from the One who is life, is truly dead. Man died, and was truly dead because God’s Word had pronounced he would die—“for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Whatever God says is the true reality of things, regardless of how we may perceive them or how they appear otherwise. Fallen man may believe he is alive until his body dies, but to God he is already “dead in trespasses and sins.”

Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

1 Tim 5:6 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life

Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

However, a further word here on the state of man’s spirit after his fall is necessary. Man has not lost his spiritual sense, or has the spirit literally died as we think of the term. Neither has it departed from man, or truly, in a absolute sense, we would be dead. The Scriptures clearly teach that “the body without the spirit is dead.” The spirit is necessary for man to live in any state of existence. Man was not living until he received the “breath of life,” and we cannot continue to live without it. Adam did not immediately die bodily when he sinned, and we, as his descendants, who are born spiritually dead, are alive, albeit in a fallen imperfect state. However, what was once our link to God’s life and His higher plane of thoughts and ideals, now becomes a void where other spiritual forces, those of the Wicked One, enter in. Many there are who have been indwelled by evil spirits—whose thoughts and actions are controlled by these forces. Many others have taken to themselves the philosophies and the doctrines of devils to be the guiding principles of their lives. All of mankind, since the fall of Adam, are born in spiritual darkness and have a new spiritual father, even Satan. We walk around in this darkness, seeking to fill this spiritual void, but we will never find satisfaction, peace, or rest, separated from God.

Jam 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Mark 5:1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many

1 Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Isa 59:1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make hast to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.

Furthermore, within our being, we have left what we refer to as our conscience—that inner voice that speaks to us when we do wrong—as a remnant of the workings of our spirit. We have an awareness of a spiritual dimension, that there are forces at work which we cannot perceive physically. We have a God consciousness. We know, for example, that there is a God, a Supreme Being, and the Creator of this magnificent universe which we behold with our eyes.  We have also a nagging awareness that we will one day be accountable to Him for our actions—we live our lives with a certain feeling of foreboding concerning His judgment; and we have a fear that death is not the end of it all. One only has to look at the heathen practices of those who live in the greatest darkness, who try to appease what they perceive, and rightly so, as an angry God, to know that men everywhere have this indwelling awareness and fear.

Rom 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Rom1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

Now, there are many people to whom the preceding statements, because of their own resistance to the truth, may not apply. There are those referred to as “reprobate,” or morally unprincipled, who resist all efforts by God or by others to turn them to the truth. There are those who have had “their conscience seared with a hot iron”; those who have given themselves over to devilish doctrines and philosophies—they deny their own conscience so that they are not bothered or troubled in any way about God or the judgment to come. There are those who “have not faith”; those who are so vile and wicked that God is not in their vocabulary, except as a curse word; they give no heed to any moral or spiritual teachings, and no one can reason with them.

Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

2 Tim 3:8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

1Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

2 The 3:2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

Howbeit, most men still have an awareness of supernatural things and are enamored by them; but because they are spiritually blind, they cannot see or grasp the real truth about such things. Many saw the miracles that Jesus performed and were awed by His power, but they could not understand who He was, the purpose for His coming, or why He did such miracles. Even those who say they do not believe in a spiritual world are the most affected by it. What has replaced the life-giving input from God are now the doctrines of devils and the philosophies of men, given to them by their new father, even Satan. Men are now open to the spiritual influence of the kingdom of darkness; spiritism, occultism, astrology, voodoo, parapsychology, new age, psychology, philosophies, scientific reasoning, humanism, higher criticism, and millions of other thoughts and ideas have invaded man’s thinking, and have replaced the truth that comes from God only. All of these invade our spiritual sense and lead us further from God, and into the darkness of eternal separation from Him who is Light and Truth and Life.

2 Cor 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

John 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled

Mt 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

1 Tim 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

Jude 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

Isa 8:19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

What then may we say is the final end of our spirit when it leaves the body and our earthly existence ceases? We know from Scriptures that there are bodiless spirits that walk this earth, who are either holy angels that do God’s bidding, or evil spirits that have followed Satan. These spirits also have the power to enter into the bodies of men and animals so that they might have a vehicle in which to operate in this world. However, we find no evidence that the spirits of dead men, ghosts as it were, are allowed any such privileges. Solomon, in writing the Book of Ecclesiastes, and in viewing things as a man “under the sun[1]”—as a natural man—merely believed that the spirit returned to God who gave it. That view may be fitting for those who are God’s own, into whose care is the keeping of our spirit; but Peter writes of “the spirits in prison,” or those who are awaiting the final judgment in the prison house of hell. Unredeemed men will first be reunited body, soul, and spirit to stand before God at the Great White Throne of Judgment. Then these spirits of unsaved men, and also those angels who “kept not their first estate,” along with Satan and all evil spirits, will be cast into the “lake of fire,” which will be their eternal home. There the darkness will be inescapable and all hope lost.

Psa 104:4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

Matt 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Mark 5:12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

1 Pet 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

1 Pet 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

Acts 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Matt 22:13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now it would seem that man’s spirit, in such a dead and darkened condition, has no hope of ever being rejoined to his Creator. Indeed, if we had to find our own way back to God it would be hopeless. We would be destined to live in this spiritual darkness for all eternity. However, as we shall later study, God has not left us to ourselves; but He has been working to bring us back to Himself and a new life in Christ. A life in which our spirits are regenerated and once again brought into union with the One who is life.

Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Tit 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;