“Far as the Curse Is Found”: The Theological Lineage of Genesis 3:17

Abstract While Gen 3:17 is often alluded to in theological assertions of a “fallen world” or “corrupt creation,” particularly with regard to Rom 8:19–22, this survey of the pseudepigrapha, Qumran materials, NT Apocrypha, Nag Hammadi materials, and church fathers up to and following Origen shows the curse to be limited to Adam and his descendants and the distresses of sinful human existence, as well as the snake. No one clearly extrapolates that curse to all of creation until Origen, who reads Gen 3:17 through the lens of Platonic and Stoic cosmology to view all creation as a living rational being that fell into createdness by means of errant choices made prior to embodiment in materiality. Since the OT never cites Gen 3:17 and the NT allusion in Rom 8:19–22 is dubious, science and theology call us to refrain from speaking of creation as fallen, limiting fallenness to those spiritual beings that are responsible before God, the angelic host, and humankind.