Objection: Death, Needing to Work and Painful Childbirth Are Effects of the Fall That Are Still with Us.  We Seem to Be Selective About Which Effects We’re Redeemed From.

Another objection, “If the atonement removed all the effects of the fall, why do people still die?” is so similar to this one that we can cover both of them at once.

Christ’s Atonement did NOT redeem us from the all the effects of the fall in this life, so the very premise of these objections is flawed.

We are not selective about which effects of the fall we’re redeemed from because we rightly divide the Word of God.  There are two curses – the curse on the earth as a result of the fall in Genesis 3:16-19, which Christ did NOT redeem us from and which will only be reversed in heaven, and the curse for breaking the Law, articulated in Leviticus 26:14-39 and Deuteronomy 28:15-68, from which Christ DID redeem us (Galatians 3:13).  The objectors in both cases above mistakenly think that faith teachers believe that sickness was part of the curse on the earth, in which case it would have to stay as long as people die, have to work and have labor pains.

I will grant that sickness came into the earth because of sin (the fall).  So did being a slave of sin.  These are conditions we need not endure as Christians.  However, we can’t just sit around watching Christian TV all day instead of working unless we’re independently wealthy.  Paul said that anyone with him who did not work would not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10).  That proves that the “work curse” of Genesis 3 is still with us, and that Christ did not redeem us in this present life from the curses that actually are listed in Genesis 3.  We are redeemed from those listed in the “curse of the Law” verses, though, and these explicitly specify sickness as part of that curse.

Note that there is a slight flaw in the presentation of the question.  Adam had a job to tend and keep the garden before the fall (Genesis 2:15)!  However, the “work curse” was having to work hard and endure unpleasant challenges with his job that otherwise would not have been there.

Death, needing to work hard and painful childbirth are part of the curse on the earth due to the fall.  Sickness is not mentioned in this curse; only dying physically.  No Scripture states that we can have a total reversal of that curse in this present life; nowhere does it say that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse on the earth.”  Sickness is part of the curse for breaking the Law, and Christ has redeemed us from that curse, which means that we do not have to bear anything under that curse because God will treat us as if we’ve never sinned as far as blessings and curses go under the Law.  The blessings are ours and the curses are not when it comes to the Law.