the sin of humans and the providence of God

I was, at one time, romanced by the concept of the symbolic fall account, but struggled to connect my own original experience with Adam’s. His story began in an unspoiled paradise, while I was born into a world of sin. If the fall was merely symbolism of every human experience, then somehow I missed my opportunity to try out a sinless culture. I agree with the construct of Donald Bloesch, as described by Stan Grenz, in that “Adam is both actual and symbolic”. The Garden of Eden and the fall should be taken as historical and literal, and as the symbol and enablement of a sinful human tradition. Aquinas wrote that “The account of the Fall belongs to the history of salvation, even as does Genesis itself, and indeed the whole Bible…Facing the problems of man’s moral and physical situation at a certain point in Israel’s development, the author [of Genesis] proposed to give an account of human origins in accord with Israel’s faith in Yahweh’s concern for His people.” The story of the world’s first sin has not been held simply for the purpose of historicity. The sin of the first man is presented as the first of a whole series of faults which in the course of time have disfigured the work of God.