Their departure from God also spells the cursing of the ground (Gen. 3:17–19) and sets the stage for Cain’s murder of Abel (see Gen. 4). Humanity created in the image of God is a ruined Rembrandt as a result of the fall, a masterpiece severely marred by the fallen world, the flesh, and the devil. Left to itself in this state, there is only dissolution and despair. And yet the divine judgment involves a promise to redeem and transform humanity, and the creation with it. The one through whom and for
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