The Fall
Genesis 3; Romans 5:12–19; Galatians 4:4
Adam and Eve disobeyed God, bringing sin and death into the world, and God promised a Rescuer.
I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.
Genesis 3:15 (World English Bible)
The serpent questioned God's word, and Eve and then Adam ate the one fruit God had forbidden. At once their relationship with God was broken: they hid from him in shame.
God pronounced a curse on the serpent and the ground, and sent the couple out of Eden. Death, pain, and thorns entered the world, and all of Adam's descendants inherited his fallen nature (Romans 5:12).
In the middle of judgment God made the first promise of the gospel: a descendant of the woman would crush the serpent's head. Christians have long seen this fulfilled in Jesus, born of a woman (Galatians 4:4), who defeated sin and death.
Places
Dating notes
Scripture gives no date. Ussher placed the expulsion from Eden within weeks of creation (10 November 4004 BC). Most conservative writers place it very soon after creation, since all of Adam and Eve's children are mentioned after the Fall (Genesis 4:1).