What is the Impact of the New Creation View – Part 1?

Over these last six articles we’ve disclosed some of the characteristics of the events in Eden which were originally hidden unless one reviews them through God’s work in Yeshua the Christ. From that perspective we’ve engaged the text in a unique way and with information that was intentionally hidden from the original authors. This hidden information, called the mystery of God, is an essential part of God’s plan and was kept from the rulers of the previous age in order to bring about what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:6-10).

If we can see the redemptive events surrounding our Lord and Christ to be essentially grounded in God’s love (Fourth Gospel 3:14-17), we should also be able to see the origins of that work within the same context. And it’s in that larger context that we find the rest that Yeshua calls us into, and within that rest is the beginning of a new creation which started with Adam and Eve. It’s from this viewpoint we can begin to examine some of our traditional conclusions about those events and God’s work to bring about the new creation in Christ, which leads many sons and daughters to glory.

Does Disobedience Result in Curses?

One of the first traditional perspectives derives from the curses dispensed by God following Adam and Eve’s disobedience. The curses of Genesis 3 signal a change that what was prior was better than what was known after Adam and Eve took of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This movement to a worse state is said to align with the common interpretation of Genesis 2 and 3 as an account of sin and punishment. The curses are a result of disobedience⁽¹⁾; negative consequences as a result of transgressing the restriction of Genesis 2:16-17. However, when we do a comparison of what actually changes after taking from the tree of exception, some surprising insights come to light.

Circumstance	Before	After
Man and woman are created for reproduction within this physical realm. Genesis 1:26-27	Genesis 1:28 – the first command is given – to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. They must leave the garden to fulfill the first command.	Genesis 3:23 – they are sent out of the garden to work the ground and to fulfill the first command.
Man and woman are created to have dominion over the whole earth. Genesis 1:26-27	Genesis 1:28-30 – God blesses them and their dominion over the earth.	Genesis 3:14-18 – That blessing and dominion is not removed due to disobedience. Only the serpent and the ground are cursed.
Mortal; made from the dust of the ground to which they’ll return	Genesis 2:7 – made from the dust	Genesis 3:19 – dust you are (still) and to dust you shall return
God’s provision for humanity is always there, both inside the garden and outside.	Genesis 2:8-10 – God’s provision in the garden is direct, supplied by the fruits of trees and water from the river.	Genesis 3:18-19 – God’s provision is now indirect, and man will get his food from the plants of the field and by his own labor.
They were given honorable work.	Genesis 2:15 – given the assignment to care for the garden and to keep it.	Genesis 3:16-19 – work continues on a larger scale, the ground is cursed, not humanity; and you shall work and sweat all the days of your life. Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28).
The man was given the task of naming all the birds and animals.	Genesis 2:18-20 – The man named all the animals by their type.	Genesis 3:21 – God shed blood and used the skins of one of these animal types to clothe Adam and Eve.
Marriage is the relationship within which they can fulfill the first command.	Genesis 2:23 – The man called his wife “Woman”	Genesis 3:20a – The man called his wife “Eve”
Genesis 3:5a – your eyes will be opened is a claim of increased awareness and consciousness. The serpent was speaking the truth as clarified by the author (3:7). The truth of this claim is also verified by observing the behavior of Adam and Eve before and after taking the fruit.	Genesis 2:25 – They were naked and unashamed. This confers a level of innocence and immaturity upon them.	They experienced embarrassment and shame in their nakedness (3:7b,10). They gain awareness of their sexuality (a form of maturity). They’re given in marriage, but procreation isn’t mentioned until after exiting the garden (4:1). Adam doesn’t name Eve until after they’ve left the garden (3:20).

It’s important to note what actually changes as a result of their disobedience without reading into the narrative what we expect to be the outcome:

• The man and woman were created for reproduction, and upon exiting the garden were properly equipped to fulfill the first command. Note also that they were put out of the garden not as a punishment or separation from God, but to work the land and to guard against their access to the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:23-24).
• Their consignment to a challenging life isn’t a curse or punishment for disobedience (Genesis 3:16-19). God is making them aware of conditions they will face outside the confines of the garden. Only the ground and the serpent are cursed. The previous blessings remain intact and are not rescinded in any way.
• The unity of the husband and wife was to develop by leaving the father’s house. Remaining within the confines of the walled garden constituted the Father’s house and his direct provision for Adam and Eve. Upon exiting the garden, Adam and Eve would now mature and grow in their reliance on each other in addition to relying on God’s indirect provision. This is a necessary step in fulfilling the first command (Genesis 1:28).
• The most significant change is in their level of awareness. They emerge from innocence and into a more discerning awareness of the reality before them, though they would not have fully understood the concepts of good and evil now before them. Before taking from the tree of exception they simply lacked the experience and maturity that comes with this awareness. This, however, would change once they’re outside the garden. There they would come face-to-face with the impact and responsibility having such knowledge would present. That, of course, becomes the very reason for allowing the test – so they could learn.

Are Adam and Eve Losers ?

Another traditional presupposition is that Adam and Eve must forfeit something because of their disobedience and God’s subsequent judgment. Most often what’s concluded is that immortality was lost and replaced with death. Sin was the result of disobedience, and God rejected them as his image-bearers and vice-regents on earth.

Yet neither of these negative claims appears to align with God’s underlying goals nor his ongoing relationship with humanity.

1. It is God who created them with free will and self-determination. These traits provide at least the possibility for disobedience or rebellion. This is evidenced as well in the spiritual realm by those elohim who oppose God’s work. They too are equipped with free will and self-determination.
2. Adam and Eve were not created righteous. Innocent perhaps, but not righteous, and nothing in the text suggests so. Righteousness, like eternal life, comes through Yeshua, the promised source of redemption (Genesis 3:15; Romans 5:15-21). This is consistent, then with their inclination to disobedience (Romans 7:7-12,17-20). A disobedience that opened the doorway to their further growth into a more complete image and likeness of God (Genesis 3:22). A disobedience arrived at through free will. Their ability to sin is a byproduct of who they are, not what they did.
   
   They were created imperfect in nature, incomplete in the image of God, and mortally susceptible to death. After taking from the tree of exception, they’re more aware of this reality and these limitations than they were before. The need for a redeemer existed from the moment they were formed from the dust of the ground. The process to grow through their physical nature will not be an easy one, but it will be a necessary one (1 Corinthians 15:50), since God’s goal was always to bring them into his spiritual realm (Fourth Gospel 17:1-3).
3. They did not lose immortality because of their transgression. Immortality was always something to be gained, not lost.⁽²⁾ Adam was created mortal from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7), and Eve was created from him, also mortal. This same mortality continues after their disobedience (Genesis 3:19). From dust they came and to dust they will return; mortal. The possibility of death existed before they took from the tree of exception, and it continued to exist afterward. What changed was their awareness of this reality.
   
   Also, they were created male and female for the purposes of reproduction (1:26-27). The elohim, who are created in the spiritual realm with immortality, are not equipped for reproduction. Humanity’s first and overarching command is to multiply and fill the earth (1:28). Reproduction is tied to mortality and is inseparable from it.⁽³⁾ This is an essential part of the divine council perspective. The reason some elohim left their heavenly abode was so they could reproduce with human women.⁽⁴⁾
4. They were not expelled from the garden out of rejection for their disobedience, but to keep them from access to the Tree of Life, the source of immortality. God was preserving the process for their development (Genesis 3:23-24). He wasn’t rejecting them. This too must be added to the text and is contradictory to God’s continued involvement in humanity’s history.
5. The only thing that was truly lost was their innocence and God’s direct provision. By leaving the Father’s house, they were now faced with the harshness of reality and building their own lives together in the context of God’s indirect provision (Genesis 2:24; 3:16-19,21,23).

From our perspective today, after the manifestation of the mystery of God in Christ, we can see that we were not created righteous because the righteousness gained in Christ overcomes the disobedience to which humanity was initially subjected (Romans 8:20-21). Adam and Eve’s decision was a product of who they were not what they did; a result of their free will, conscience, and self-determination imbued in them by our Creator.

Misery Only Increases After the Fall

On the surface, there is an increase in the misery introduced in Genesis 3:15-18 that appears as a curse, making the former state better than the current state.⁽⁵⁾ With a short-term perspective in mind, this might well be the case. But if God’s purpose was to get humanity to the state of the new creation in Christ, their emergence out of innocence becomes an essential part of that process.

This is seen first where humanity is elevated above all other creatures as being created in the divine image; God-like. However, the underlying theme of human development is built into the narrative through A) the first command, B) the introduction of the two trees, and C) the assignment of man to work. The work man was given in the garden corresponds directly with the authority he was first attributed with in Genesis 1:26-28. They were given work as participants in God’s ongoing and creative work. Having been given the appropriate authority, mankind will now go forth and develop the responsibility and accountability for that work. None of this was taken away after taking of the fruit or exiting the garden. If anything, the “curses” broaden the awareness of what is required of mankind in their work, and points to a future state to be fulfilled by Eve’s offspring (Genesis 3:15). This work is not fulfilled by humanity until they are sent from the garden.⁽⁶⁾ God’s plan and process calls for the natural/physical first followed later by the spiritual. When viewed outside the mystery of God in Christ, we get it backwards (1 Corinthians 15:45-50).

In the garden Adam and Eve were the benefactors of God’s direct provision. Outside the garden they will be the benefactors of God’s indirect provision. The latter is to serve as a reminder pointing to He who has created all things for them (Genesis 4:26). Secondly, it serves as an ongoing test of whether they will continue in that remembrance. God’s provision is a theme running throughout scripture. As a means to discipline mankind, God withholds some direct provision (experienced in the garden) in order that they might grow in the responsibility delegated to them in the first command.

The “curses” (which are only upon the serpent and the land) become more then mere punishment but a foretelling of what is in store for humanity, especially since they’ve only known the safety of the walled garden and God’s direct provision. Now they will need to struggle for their daily bread while being mindful of God’s indirect provision, lest they forget their Creator and fall into ignorance and delusion, becoming victims of their own pride and arrogance. God subjected his creation to futility for a purpose and in hope (Romans 8:20-21). That hope is Yeshua the Christ, our source of righteousness and eternal life (Romans 5:12-21).

God is Only Good, We Are Made Likewise

Along with the presupposition that Adam and Eve must forfeit something because of their disobedience comes the expectation that Adam and Eve are created perfect, complete, and already possessing immortality; complete in their image of God. Yet the narrative illustrates just the opposite.

As indicated in previous articles in this series, Adam and Eve were in fact made imperfect, incomplete, and mortal. These characteristics were not of Adam and Eve’s making, nor did they come about by anything Adam and Eve did. These characteristics are derived from what Adam and Eve are; human.

The traditional view often sees good and evil as negative aspects of humanity’s development. Many interpreters assume moral understanding before Adam and Eve take of the fruit. This explains why they’re left wondering about the effect and its role for humanity. Adam and Eve had moral ability, but not moral maturity; this fits the definition of innocence. And it’s the moral maturity which came about through the tree of exception.

It was God who placed the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden and drew their attention to it. His declaration that it did move them closer to the likeness of God is altogether a clear indicator that further development was intended. When good and evil are seen as an ability – moral discernment, something that grows over time (with maturity), now you have an environment for character development. This is consistent with his instruction later to Israel in Deuteronomy 30:19 – I set before you life and death, good and evil, choose . . .

A related consideration is that character is not developed by fiat. It cannot be given. It comes through challenge, testing, struggle, and even sacrifice. Their exposure to morality can arm them with shrewdness, but they will be judged accordingly by their use of it; for good or ill. Jordan Peterson points this out when he claims “Life itself is suffering. It’s not a social construct.”⁽⁷⁾ Scripture agrees.

I don’t want to return to the traditional sense of things. That would be equivalent to desiring childish ignorance over the wisdom of life’s experience. The one might be more comfortable than the other (ignorance is bliss), but that’s what the wisdom of life teaches us. Each of us, like our Lord, are asked to bear our respective crosses willingly. Doing so ennobles us to Christ while simultaneously giving value to our own crosses. Because his cross, the one with the greatest value, was given on our behalf, it confers value on our suffering and sacrifice as well, as long as we continue in the obedience of faith. Learning from our own disobedience is of far greater value than being told how to behave. The former is a product of maturity, personal responsibility and accountability, while the latter is reserved for the immature. The former leads to a conscious choice; willing obedience through personal experience and suffering. This leads to a unity with the Godhead – a unity of wills (Fourth Gospel 17).

Does  Disobedience only lead to Death ?

Amongst the impacts resulting from the traditional view of the events in Genesis 2 and 3 is what some call a horrendous and miserable outcome upon humanity. Many join them in claiming “the fall” of humanity by the sin of Adam and Eve leaves the entire race involved in guilt, and as a result their (lack of) character and doom descend to all their posterity.⁽⁸⁾

When viewed honestly, such claims themselves “fall” apart because they attribute to Adam and Eve their own level of moral maturity and experience, a maturity that Adam and Eve clearly lacked. These claimants fail to see that the very reason they’re able to come to a clear measure of moral behavior is because they’re on this side of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Curse Adam and Eve? They should be thanking them.

The tree of exception is the hinge-point for the emergence of humanity out of immaturity and innocence. It’s in this state of innocence that the tree of exception is identified and the second command is given to Adam (Genesis 2:16-17). When issuing the command of death (in dying, you shall surely die), God’s perspective is one encompassing a much larger context than Adam and Eve, the serpent, or even the author of Genesis could have fully recognized or appreciated.

• It’s not the death common to man that Adam subjects humanity to (Hebrews 9:27). It’s the death of judgment, the second death.⁽⁹⁾
• The serpent was focused on the first death, the death common to mortal man
• The serpent also introduces Eve to promises buried within his statements of truth. Though it is certain neither her or Adam would have fully understood the implications of such statements:
  • The emergence into shrewdness (discernment, wisdom, and understanding), the pathway to righteous moral character.
  • Embracing more of the God-likeness for which they were created.
• Meanwhile, the serpent hides the unspoken lie buried under his truth claims: that the divine knowledge of good and evil is sufficient for humanity to achieve divinity by their own efforts, independent of Divine involvement.

No one is better equipped to understand the grace of God and the level of value he places on free will than the followers of Christ. Each of us had God’s grace extended to us in immeasurable ways when he called us out of darkness and into the light of Christ. Adam and Eve acted out of the same free will and self-determination which leads each human into disobedience, as the Apostle Paul reminds us.

Romans 3:23-25
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

It wasn’t Adam and Eve’s behavior that created sin which the rest of humanity inherited. It was in fact their humanity which the rest of humanity inherited, along with the knowledge of good and evil by which we could know what sin is. All sin and fall short of the glory of God because all were created incomplete in the God-likeness. Recall that it was God who set the order of things; the physical/natural first, then the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:45-46).

Spiritual maturation for the children of God begins in the physical realm in which he created us to dwell. Over the millennia and within the mysterious work of God in Christ the height, width, length, and depth of the wisdom of God is revealed.

• To lead flawed and imperfect humanity into the obedience of faith, into the righteousness of Yeshua, and ultimately into eternal life (Romans 5:1-5,17-21).
• By his own virtues of grace, mercy, love, patience, long-suffering, and faithfulness, God will overcome the free will and self-determination inherent in his children.
• Through the revelation of truth in the Logos of God, he will overcome evil. Within the context of free will, good and evil will always coexist. It’s through character that all conscious beings can come to recognize the rewards of virtue, and choose life.
• Free will is also the instrument by which death is likewise overcome. For those who surrender to Christ and the obedience of faith, they receive eternal life, and the second death has no power over them. For those who chose otherwise, theirs is the second and permanent death of righteous judgment.

Conclusions

By focusing on the larger context of God’s will for the work being done in Christ, a perspective emerges which reveals a process that is currently in motion to lead many sons and daughters from the dust of the earth to a greater glory as the children of God.

The Lord blessed Adam by placing him in the garden where there were abundant trees for food (Genesis 2:7-9). This is not where Adam was created, nor is it his final destiny. Though Adam was assigned work to tend and keep the garden, it is meant to be a starting point for God’s ongoing creative work on behalf of his children. It is God who subjects his creation to futility, not Adam, and this occurred before Adam was created. Adam merely opened the door to morality, wisdom, and discernment as a result of his disobedience. The death Adam exposed all humanity to was not the first death common to mortal mankind, but the second (Romans 5:12). This is the death referred to in God’s command of restriction (Genesis 2:16-17), and the death which hangs over all humanity. It’s part of the futility to which God subjected the world, and from which all creation, including humanity, are redeemed through Christ our Lord.

Romans 8:18-25
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved…

Presuppositions

At the close of each article the relevant presuppositions that support it will be cited. This enables the reader to gain a clearer and deeper understanding of the context. To learn more about presuppositions, see the About page.

1. The work of God in Christ was no afterthought. It was established before the foundations of the world were set in place (Ephesians 1:3-6). In God’s plan is the hope of eternal life, which he promised before the ages began. It was left hidden by the will of God (1 Corinthians 2:2,6-10). Though unknown for a time, God would manifest this hope through the word of his gospel in Christ Jesus (Titus 1:1-3; Fourth Gospel 1:1-3).
2. The creation, including humanity, was subjected to futility, not by its own choice, but by the sovereign will of God. The creation waits, in hope, with eager longing, for the sons of glory to be revealed that all can share in the freedom from bondage (Romans 8:18-21,22-24a). God willingly subjected all to disobedience that he might have mercy on all (Romans 11:32). Not all will receive that gift.
3. The mystery of God covers a multitude of people over long periods of time, past, present and future, and is closely intertwined with God’s purpose and work in Yeshua the Christ. In summary, the Mystery of God is an expression of the will of God to extend grace to Jew and Gentile alike, through salvation in Jesus Christ, and to manifest the glory of the new creation in his children. (Colossians 1:25-28; Colossians 2:2-4; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:1-12)
4. The Son of God succeeded where Adam could not. The sin and death exposed to humanity by Adam and Eve is the result of what they are; human. Sin and the death which accompanies it are by-products of mortal beings with free will and self-determination. (Genesis 2:7; 3:19; Romans 5; 6; 7) Thankfully God extends his gift of grace in Christ Jesus, and for those willing to receive it, leads them into righteousness and eternal life (Romans 5:15-21).
5. Yeshua the Christ alone is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the first fulfillment of humanity bearing the complete image of God, whereas Adam left the garden still incomplete (Genesis 3:22). (Colossians 1:15-19; 2 Corinthians 5:14-20) He is the source of our eternal inheritance (Ephesians 1:7-14,17-21).
6. The goal for the work of Christ in us and for us is not only to develop the mind of Christ, but to develop the character of Christ also. This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us (Romans 7:4-6; Galatians 5:22-23; Colossians 1:9-14). Our victory in Christ is already established, regardless of our individual paths, because his victory has already been attained according to the will and the power of God. (Romans 8:31-39)
7. Death and resurrection are a means to glorification. God’s plan for his children begins with the physical/natural, but ends with the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:45-55). The physical began with Adam and the spiritual began with Christ our Lord. (Fourth Gospel 3:16-18; 6:37-40; 5:21-24)
8. Yeshua the Christ is the author of the first creation and the new creation in his image. The new creation in Christ was intended from the beginning for all God’s children: Adam rendered unto us the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:22), and Christ, the second Adam, gives us immortality and the tree of life (Fourth Gospel 14:6-7). He is the pathway into the kingdom of God in which no flesh and blood can dwell (1 Corinthians 15:45-50).

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Footnotes:

1. Joshua John Van Ee, Death and the Garden: An Examination of Original Immortality, Vegetarianism, and Animal Peace in the Hebrew Bible and Mesopotamia, dissertation submitted at University of California, San Diego, 2013; Section III-Hebrew Bible pg-119-125,172-176.
2. Ibid; pg 156-165, he also addresses the lexical reasons why the “continued eating of the Tree of Life” is not supported by the text.
3. Morgenstern, The Mythological Background of Psalm 82; (pg-81) regarding the comparison between mortal and immortal: “Obviously the very concepts of divinity and attendant immortality are basically antithetical to and exclusive of the concepts of marriage, sexual relations and childbirth. Immortality is the distinguishing characteristic of divinity, marriage and childbirth the distinguishing characteristics of mortality. Mortality necessitates sexual relations and childbirth, if existence is to continue at all, while correspondingly divinity absolutely negates and forbids all sexual relations and resultant childbirth. Such at least are the logical implications of the antithetical concepts of gods and men and of mortality and immortality, as they were conceived in certain circles of early post-exilic Judaism and as they found concrete expression in Genesis 6:1-4 and in Psalm 82:89.”
4. Dr. Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible; Lexham Press, 2015; Chapters 12 and 13.
5. Death and the Garden; pg 119-125
6. Terje Stordalen, Man, Soil, Garden: Basic Plot in Genesis 2-3 Reconsidered, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (JSOT) #53 (1992)
7. Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, Identity Politics & The Marxist Lie of White Privilege; Sovereign Nations YouTube video.
8. Genesis 3:6,7 – Barnes’ Notes on the Bible,  Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, ESV Reformation Bible; Genesis 1:28 – Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament.
9. Death and the Garden, pg 167-170; Van Ee recognizes “you shall surely die” as a death of judgment. As described in Revelation 20, the second death is such a death of judgment; you shall be killed. The result of Christ’s righteous judgment. The basis for Christ’s righteous judgment would be his discernment over (knowledge of) what is good and what is evil. The first death common to mankind occurs as a natural fact (Genesis 3:19), though death as a result of someone’s judgment can interrupt the natural course.