John Milton first published the Christian epic poem Paradise Lost in 1667. But while previous epic poems featured heroes and battles, this one focused on the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The battle was spiritual not physical—and our first parents lost it by sinning against God.

Adam and Eve suffered the costs of their disobedient choice. Sin and death entered the world (Rom. 5:12), and they and the serpent (Satan) were cursed. Part of the curse, focusing on Adam, concerned work (vv. 17–19). The relationship with nature would no longer be harmonious. Even just to grow food to eat would require “painful toil.” Ironically, Adam would “work the ground from which he had been taken” (v. 23). He would struggle against thorns, thistles, and the ground itself. And at the end of the struggle waited death (see Gen. 2:16–17): “to dust you will return” (3:19).

All hope was not lost, however. God remained graciously involved (vv. 21–24). He made Adam and Eve clothing from animal skins, much better than the fig leaf coverings they had made for themselves (Gen. 3:7). Then He exiled them from the Garden of Eden so that they would not eat from the tree of life and live forever in their sinful condition. Later, He ordained the birth of Noah, a “comfort” against the curse (Gen. 5:29) and the reason humanity survived the Flood. Even so, there were consequences. Adam and Eve lost a well-ordered and fulfilling relationship with nature and would from then on experience it mainly as conflict and struggle. Adam would spend most of his time in the fields working by the sweat of his brow in order to survive. All creation has in fact been groaning for redemption from then until now (Rom. 8:19–22).

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