and it was Good!

. . . for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 1 Peter 1:23

And it Was Good

Genesis chapters 2-3

Created in God’s Image

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. God has created all things. At the pinnacle of His creation was humanity. God had said:

Let us make humanity in our image, according to our likeness; and let him rule over the fish of the sea and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. Genesis: 1:27

NAB Genesis 1:31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

God created Adam first, and then Eve to be His companion and help-meet. They were commanded to be fruitful and to multiply to fill the earth. God provided for all the needs of all His creation. Adam and Eve had a wonderful home in the garden of Eden. God looked at all He had made and it was very good. Adam and Eve were perfect creations. All things were indeed good. They had a perfect connection to God, to one another, and to the world around them. There was no sin. There was no sickness or suffering. There was no selfishness. There was no mistrust between people or between people and God. Life was pristine, vibrant, exciting, and wonderful.

Tricked

This wonderful harmony in the garden of Eden would not last. It would be destroyed by the action of the man and the woman. Had they not fallen, all the descendants of humanity would have enjoyed a life of perfect communion with God, each other, and the world. But our history has followed a different course, because our first parents followed a different course.

God had given all things to Adam and Eve. Only from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had He forbidden them to eat. This lone command served as their worship, their demonstration to God of their trust in Him and their devotion to Him.

NAB Genesis 2:16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

The serpent came to Eve and tricked her. With sly words the serpent made Eve begin begin to doubt. The first sin was not the taking of the fruit from the tree. The first sin was when Eve having heard the subtle lie of Satan, believed Satan, disbelieving God.

The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die."' 4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:2-6

They had taken the step not just of a particular sin. They had stepped into a sinful condition. They had taken their eyes off God. They had placed something else at the center of their lives: themselves. They desired to be as God. They desired to be self-sufficient, to have the knowledge and ability to go it alone, to decide for themselves, to know in themselves what to rely upon. In other words, they had turned from faith and trust in God toward what they thought would enable them to trust themselves. All because of a lie. All because their response to God’s Word was unbelief. Instead they trusted the subtle lie of the serpent, the lie of seduction. The consequences were deadly. Adam and Eve had broken off their relationship to God, for that relationship was founded on trust. Even from the beginning, the relationship of God and people was characterized by faith. The first sin, indeed all sin, stems from unbelief. It is a violation of the first commandment, not having God as God.

Their relationship with God was shattered. When He approached they hid in fear expecting dreadful judgment. They no longer trusted God. They were afraid.

NAB Genesis 3:8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Their relationship of trust with one another was shattered. Instead Adam focused on himself, his own self preservation. Making excuses, blaming others and irresponsibility had entered the world. Treating the other person as an object for my use now would become a defining factor of human relationships.

NAB Genesis 3:12 The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

Creation Corrupted

Sin had entered the world. It would be passed from father to child. Sin would not just be a matter of bad choices and wrong actions. Sin would be a word that would describe human life itself. Our way of existing is wrong. For God had created us to exist in perfect harmony with Himself, the world, and each other. It was to be a relationship of faith and love. Human beings had destroyed that. The relationship had become one of sin: mistrust, selfishness, greed, fear, and the like.

This condition was destined to be inherited by all human beings. We would all be conceived in sin. Born separated from God, we are condemned to dwell within a sinful life. Our lives reflect this condition as we bring forth the fruits of sin in our action. At the end we reap the full result of our separation from God, death itself.

Early own we see an illustration of the deadly corruption that is sin. The first two brothers illustrate well this sinfulness. Abel a man of faith in God. Cain was jealous, selfish, and resentful. His brother was a hindrance, an obstacle in his eyes. And so Cain slew his brother, removed what he saw was keeping him down. When God approached Cain’s response was, "am I my brother’s keeper". Proper love and relationship was destroyed by greed, selfishness, and jealousy. Our lives had been destroyed by sinful corruption. Yet Cain sinned willingly, as do we all when we express our sinful natures.

The Hope

After Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed them for their disobedience. They were cast from the garden of Eden. Death would be their fate. But even as God handed out punishment, He declared a source of hope. All would not be lost. For one day a human descendent would come who would battle the evil Satan, and would win.

NAB Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."

This descendant came to be called "The Messiah". He has come. And we know His name, Jesus. He has come to save His people from their own sins. He has come to save all people regardless of race. Upon the cross He took our own sin upon Himself, and through that cross redeemed the human race. Christ’s action has made possible a recreation, a restoration of that which was ruined through our first parents sin. Through Christ, we may once more know God and be known by God and have the hope of eternal blessed life.

Rev. David D. Reedy 2002

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church

Dayton Tennessee

423.775.4253

Prince of Peace is a LCMS congregation located in Rhea County Tennessee, serving the entire county of some 32,000 people.