January 2nd

By Randall L. Broad

Read: Genesis 3:1-4:26; Matthew 2:13-3:6; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 1:7-9

One of the most well-known narratives in the Bible is the fall of Adam and Eve found in Genesis chapter three.

Deceived by the serpent, they ate from the one tree they were commanded by God not to touch and sin entered the world. This is a common topic in Sunday school classes and teaching ministries used to explain the so called “problem of evil”. The question that if God is all powerful and all knowing; why is there evil in the world. The common explanation is that it is because of Adam and Eve’s fall and that every human being born since has the same flawed character. Understanding this question is crucial to living a Christ-centered life because it is through the cross that we are restored to the same union God had with Adam and Eve. Therefore the fall and the cross are essentially a singular event in the Will and Purpose of God.

Prior to their disobedience Adam and Eve both lived in fellowship with God. Both were created in the likeness of God and had no knowledge of good and evil. That changes in Genesis chapter 3.

¹Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

⁴“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom; she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Genesis 3:1-7

But, what was their relationship with God? What exactly was destroyed in that moment of free will? The answer is found in the first two chapters of Genesis–it was recognition of the creator and His creation. It was Adam and Eve living in union with their origin, drawing their understanding of themselves and their purpose from their creator. When they succumbed to the lies of the serpent they destroyed that union; they began to question their relationship with God. A relationship that could only be restored by a blood stained cross … And sadly, they discovered the knowledge of “good and evil” did not make them “like God” (v. 5) as the serpent promised. Instead Adam and Eve only received doubts and questions about themselves and God that led them into a distorted view of the world around them. Notice how in the moment “the eyes of both of them were opened” they became aware that they were naked–they became aware of their own flesh and they became ashamed.

The theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

“In the knowledge of good and evil man does not understand himself in the reality of the destiny appointed in his origin, but rather in his own possibilities, his possibility of being good or evil.”[1]

What changed that day in the garden for Adam and Eve was not their character, but their revelation of themselves and God which their children would inherit. Adam and Eve did not pass down a defective gene to the next generation, nor a hereditary character flaw, but rather a flawed understanding of their flesh, other men, and God … and then they were delivered over to death. 

Meditating on this blog I came to this conclusion about the post-modern world:

In the beginning:

·       Adam and Eve lived in union with God

·       In perfect awareness of their creator and their divine origin

·       They  had no knowledge of good or evil

Then the Serpent came:

·       He promised Eve they would know “good and evil”

·       He promised they could be like God

·       He asked the million dollar question, “Did God really say…?”

Then Adam and Eve ate of the fruit:

·       Mankind had knowledge of good and evil

·       Satan became known to them

·       And humanity became good and evil

Since that time:

·       Good and evil have battled for the souls of humanity

·       The battle has been fought individually and institutionally

·       Union has been replaced by diversity[2]

And now in the post-modern world:

·       People no longer remember their creator

·       Mankind has forgotten his divine origin

·       And humanity no longer knows good from evil

Adam and Eve were given the knowledge of good and evil and centuries later the post-modern world doesn’t know good from evil. Post-modern man lives in a world of pleasure and profit that twists values and knowledge to conform to man’s own justification, his own deification. The worldview Adam and Eve discovered in the garden lives in a state of constant disunion capable of seeing only the distorted image of man as master of his own potential and possibilities rather than the true form of man which can be found in the garden before the fall and in the cross. There is hope for those who have a biblical worldview which can be strengthened by the One Year Bible. The Gospels present Jesus Christ as the true form of man who has replaced the flawed image Adam became in succumbing to the lies of the serpent. In today’s reading we learn of the fall, but in the days and months ahead everything we read in the One Year Bible will reveal God’s plan for the coming of the Messiah who will restore the union lost in the garden.  

Walk with the Lord …

Ephesians 1:17 

(RLB250102)

© Copyright 2017: Randall L. Broad

Disclaimer: This commentary is written by Randall L. Broad. It is in no way affiliated with or represents any denomination, university, church, or pastor. Any errors or omissions are purely my responsibility.

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[1] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Ethics. New York: Touchstone, 1955: 21-22.

[2] The modern positive interpretation of diversity is not my intended meaning as it relates to gender and race which did not come into usage until 1992. Throughout human history the word diversity was a negative one that meant to “turn away”, being contrary to what is right; perversity; evil. See Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary: 2001-2016. www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=diversity (accessed 2016).