God created everything perfect: there was no sin and no death.
God gave Adam everything in the earth to own and enjoy with only one exception. He warned him if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that he would die. This is where “the wages of sin is death” law that God instituted was first applied to mankind.
Sin and death entered into this world because of that single sin of Adam and Eve and every living thing began to die.
I think many people wonder why everything else had to die too. Adam had been given dominion, which meant he had complete authority and control over all the plants and animals God created in the whole earth. So then his curse extended to everything that belonged to him including the children that would come after him.
“Original sin” is a Roman Catholic false doctrine and the way they define the transfer of Adam’s curse is not found in the Bible. Even though we are still living with Adam’s cursed world, we are only held responsible for our own sins. When we sin we lose our lives, we aren’t born lost. If what they taught about “original sin” were true, then Jesus could never have been sinless because of Mary’s portion that He inherited from her. Also John the Baptist had the Holy Spirit in dwelling in him before he was born, something that is impossible for anyone who is full of unrepentant and unforgiven sins.
Here’s the Bible’s explanation:
Romans 5:12
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, FOR THAT all have sinned”.
“For that” means because. It is because we sin ourselves that we incur our own death penalty, “…for that all have sinned.” Enoch and Elijah never saw physical or spiritual death, not because they never sinned, but because they kept (observed and obeyed) God’s Everlasting Covenant.
God is not unfair, He is just and righteous in ALL His ways, including in His laws and in His commandments. More proof from scripture:
Ezekiel 18:4
“Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Ezekiel 18:20
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
Even though this is true, I believe it was because of Adam’s position and authority over everything that God had given him, that everything under his authority was touched by the consequences of his sin and was part of his punishment.
But thankfully God didn’t leave them or us without a way to escape the curse of death. God Himself has endured a great deal of pain and suffering to bring us out of the mess we created and continue to create. The chapter entitled “God Created A Covenant To Save Us” discusses how God designed and established a way (the blood of Jesus – the free gift) and a detailed process (through the sanctuary and priesthood) to redeem us from the curse of breaking His laws, it’s called the Everlasting Covenant which includes the blood of Jesus Christ. There are two different operations and administrations of the Everlasting Covenant that are found under the Old Testament and the New Testament, but it’s still the same Everlasting Covenant in Jesus’ blood (more detail in up coming chapters).