Chapter 1 | Introduction

The hope of every human on earth, whether they’re aware of it or not, is bound to the new creation promised by God and made manifest in the Son of Man. The assurance of every true Christian is based in the good news of an unending kingdom, a new creation, brought to light by the Son of God. This gospel of the New Creation is not a new gospel. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the author and finisher of the story of humanity; he is the first and the last. It is in this larger context that one can gain a better view of the complete work of God on our behalf. Just as Yeshua had to move his disciples, who were ignorant of the mystery of God, from their traditional view and expectation for the Messiah and bring them to see the value of the suffering servant of God, so does the word of Christ and the power of his Holy Spirit move the faithful from a traditional view of the first creation to see a greater and more glorious purpose hidden within it. This larger view can only be arrived at through the lens of the new creation in Christ our Lord.

Traditional View

If one presupposes that God’s will and purpose for creating Adam and Eve was, initially, one of perfection and placing them in a protected garden where his divine holiness could dwell among them in that state, then the traditional view of the fall of mankind seems an accurate one. The result of which was incalculable evil released upon humanity through the weakness of our original parents. The taking of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil has produced numerous ill effects:[1]

• There is no good in this awareness or its resulting consequences.
• It is said to be the origin of an evil conscience.
• It resulted in the forfeiture of divine favor.
• It resulted in the forfeiture of the Tree of Life.
• With it comes the awareness and experience of all the misery such a condition involves.

 

One Biblical commentary points out that the knowledge of good and evil certainly results in a likeness attributed to God and his elohim, but that it was a stolen one; a stolen characteristic of God that occurred at the risk of all the consequences which were to follow as a result.[2]

Another commentator goes on to point out that all Adam’s posterity sinned in him and died in him[3]; that through his offense, judgment came upon all, leading them to condemnation[4]. In other words, by extrapolating the meaning of Romans 5:12 – all became sinners through Adam’s sin. Others will go so far as to claim that Adam’s guilt is our guilt[5]; the guilt of the one being passed on to the children and the children’s children forever.

As one of Adam’s progeny, sitting squarely in the midst of our post-modern era, I too once shared this cynical view of humanity, looking for someone to shoulder the blame. Though we’re well into the second millennium A.D., we find a world just as vulnerable to global destruction as it’s ever been. Though our knowledge and science has increased, our advanced technology continues to outgrow the character needed to govern it wisely. Our leaders often conclude that our problems are man-made and therefore can be resolved by man.[6] Yet over several millennia, our history and our present state tell a different story. This story reveals that our problems are not merely man-made, that we must look to the spiritual components of our past and our present if we’re to have any assurance for our future.

A Non-Traditional View

Let’s stop momentarily and consider another perspective. A perspective that looks upon the first creation through the lens, or presupposition, of the new creation in Christ. Within the traditional view, there is a supposition of perfection and holiness as it relates to the creation of Adam and Eve and their being placed within the garden of Eden – a temporary dwelling place for God. Yet nowhere in scripture is such perfection attributed to God’s creation; it must be added. God does proclaim that all he has created, including humanity, is indeed very good. However, this observation isn’t necessarily an attribute which is being applied to the objects of his creation, but is instead an expression of His satisfaction with it. That satisfaction also has a context, framed within his will and purpose for having created it.

 

Now if one concludes that God intended to create Adam and Eve initially as extensions of his own divine characteristics; holy, perfect, and immortal, then the traditional view of their fall makes sense. If, however, His will and purpose were to create them as they’re actually described; mortal, of the dust, and imperfect, learning to rely on his providence physically and spiritually as He leads them into that perfection over time (maturity) – then we have an all-together different story. That is the story this book seeks to tell.

 

To tell this story effectively, one must address the numerous presuppositions from which the traditional view of the garden events are derived. For example:

1. The idea that Adam and Eve were initially created perfect, holy, and pure.
2. That Adam and Eve possessed immortality, conditional or otherwise, which they forfeited through sin.
3. The consequence of God’s command not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and its reference to the death common to all or even to spiritual death.
4. That good can exist without the knowledge of evil, since God is only good.
5. Adam’s sin is responsible for the sin and ruin of all mankind.
6. The goal of the serpent to undermine God’s will for his creation was successful.

Finishing His Creation

The gospel of the Kingdom of God preached by Christ and his disciples points to a future completion of creation in a way that returns God’s dwelling place to earth. The full understanding of this divine intention was not prevalent even among the original disciples, as it wasn’t revealed fully until the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John. The apostle Paul certainly had a grasp of it, as indicated by his outline in 1 Corinthians 15, where he discusses the importance and the role of the resurrection in Christ’s work to achieve this new creation.

 

Likewise in Colossians 1 the apostle understands the connection between the natural creation and its fulfillment in the new creation; that all things now and future are summed up in Yeshua the Christ – the administration of the fullness of time. Salvation then isn’t reduced to a remedial effort as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, but instead is the fulfillment of God’s plan for the world.[7] Citing Jonathan Edwards, it seems to have been God’s design to admit humanity into the inner-most fellowship with the deity; to admit the bride of Christ into the divine family, thereby making the temptation of the serpent ‘you shall be as Gods‘ fulfilled in Christ.[8]

 

As we’ll explore further, the connection between creation and new creation in Christ reveals that God, in his infinite wisdom, understood that the one was necessary in order to achieve the other in such a way as to reap the greatest harvest from the seed planted in the mist and the dust. When viewed in the context of Christ’s work for the New Creation, the finished kingdom reveals much of God’s original intent; part of what Paul refers to as the depth and wisdom and knowledge of God in Christ. It should not be surprising that when we peer deeper into that depth of wisdom it reaches all the way back to creation and even before. That is fitting since even Genesis itself reveals that what is often perceived as a completed creation isn’t. This too we’ll delve into at length.

The Mystery of God

One of the thematic frameworks which sheds much light on God’s creative work in Christ is the mystery of God. As a mystery there was value and purpose in keeping it hidden until the Son of Man was revealed and his atoning work completed. Before we can appreciate the light this mystery sheds on God’s creative work, we’ll need to understand its origin, how it relates to the new creation, and the role it plays in humanity’s ongoing creation and more. Some of the characteristics of the mystery of God will be explored, and the result of that exploration into the wisdom and knowledge of God may leave some initially dumb-struck as it did me. But thankfully, God’s Holy Spirit is patient and willing to lead us deeper into the wisdom and knowledge of God and ever closer to the maturity of our elder brother – Christ our Lord.

Where to Begin

When considering where to begin such a vast story, one might expect to start at the beginning, in the garden in Eden. The problem this creates is overcoming all the expectations people have developed about those events, whether they’ve actually read the narrative or not. The characters and events of the garden narrative have become an integral part of our various cultures and our thinking, for better or for worse. In addition, my goal is to reframe the perspective from which we view these events, so starting there requires much greater effort on my part and on yours, the reader. To resolve this complicated approach, I will instead start at the end of the story – the new creation in Christ. By beginning here, we can gain agreement on many claims of scripture that guide our common hope about the finished work in Christ.

 

It is from the awareness of that finished work, and how God and his Christ achieve it, that we frame a larger context for how his amazing work is completed. This also sheds light on numerous claims made in scripture that aren’t entirely clear without this larger context. One key contributor to this larger context is the mystery of God in Christ. In a previous book, I summarized the mystery of God as – “an expression of the will of God in Christ Jesus; to extend grace and the unity of faith to Gentile and Jew alike; to expand the promised inheritance once given to Israel, in order to manifest in them the new creation.”[9]

 

As one might expect, this mystery reveals God’s work in Christ to be a global work to bring many sons and daughters to glory, regardless of their origins, yet there is a prescribed order to this process. As we progress through these various peoples and their history, we’ll no doubt arrive at the origin of humanity as described in Genesis 2 and 3. By the time we arrive at humanity’s beginning, we’ll have a fresh perspective from which to view it.

 

Let’s begin – at the end. . .