Theologians have pointed our four curses which were placed upon man when he sinned in the Garden of Eden:
Work:
"Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee [tilling the ground]; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Genesis 3:17-19)
Pain:
"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." (Genesis 3:16)
"And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;" (Genesis 3:17)
Free Will:
The serpent deceived Eve, saying, "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5)
This knowledge is too great for man. Its consequences were devastating.
"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (Genesis 3:7)
"And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
"And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
"And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" (Genesis 3:9-11)
And last of all, Death:
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17)
"Thou [shalt] return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. " (Genesis 3:19)
These four curses have been wiped away for every believer at the Cross:
Work:
"And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (Luke 22:44)
Jesus sweat for us, so that we would no longer have to sweat.
"And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!" (Matthew 27:29)
The crown of thorns symbolizes the curse of frustrated effort placed upon Adam. He bore this hateful, baneful curse on his head, once and for all restoring the leadership that God wanted Man to have over the Earth.
Pain:
When God condemned Cain for the murder of his brother Abel, Cain cried out:
"My punishment is greater than I can bear." (Genesis 4:13)
His lament prefigured the Finished Work of Jesus Christ:
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:3-4)
Christ bore the griefs, pains, and sorrows initially pressed upon man as consequence for his disobedience against God.
Free Will:
Since man unaided cannot avoid sin (see Romans 7 for the lament which troubles every believer), we have need of a guide, or rather, Comforter, one who walks beside us as a guide and advocate -- the Holy Spirit, released to every believer by faith upon receiving the grace of Jesus Christ:
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." (John 16:7)
"But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come." (John 16:13)
And the promise of righteousness:
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)
And the writer of Hebrews assures greater security for the believer in walking in righteousness, promised both in the old and new testaments:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:10-13)
From Jeremiah 31:33-34, Paul quotes the full promise of the new covenant, that with the Holy Spirit in man, there is no longer pressure on the believer to try to conform to the law. By grace, every believer fulfills the law through the Holy Spirit working within (See Philippians 2:12-13)
Death:
"O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55)
Why was Paul so confident in this triumphant taunt?
"If God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" (Romans 8:31-35)
Nothing can harm us, for we are "more than conquerors", or "hyper-victors" in Christ. Nothing can separate us from Him, our Power, our Love, not even death.
And on top of this, we are placed in greater glory than Adam and Eve:
"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" 9Ephesians 2:5-6)
By Christ's death and resurrection, we who were dead are now alive AND seated with Christ is high places, on the right hand side of favor next to God the Father. Such honor was not originally bestowed on the first man and woman. Despite Satan's attempt to ruin the blessed bounty of God for humanity, the Accuser's plot not only initiated the plan of redemption, laid down before the foundation of the world, but implemented to bring man into greater unity with God!
Therefore, the curses of Work, Pain, Free Will, and Death are once and for all cancelled, absolved, and resolved for man through the Finished Work of Jesus Christ.
Hallelujah!
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