Sect-4 C22 Contrasts and Tension

The focus of this chapter are the many contrasts and tension hidden in the narrative of Genesis 2-3. The use of contrasts in literature is extensive. This is especially true of Scripture, and I’ve referenced on dozens of occasions contrasts used by various authors of the Bible. One of the roles of this literary tool is to provide a pathway for the reader that leads to a conclusion or climax the author is focused on. When combined with tension, natural or imposed, the two can serve to clarify an idea while simultaneously motivating the reader. In some instances, this combination can even stir the emotions and ignite a passionate and heartfelt response.

 

One of the most evocative contrasts from Scripture for me is one that I’ve used repeatedly throughout this book; Paul’s contrast of the two Adams.[1] It’s a contrast that is infused with tension on multiple levels, almost as infinite as the gap between the two characters. Though Paul draws attention to one or more elements contrasting the two, he doesn’t spend much time, in the same chapter at least, identifying or expounding the tensions that exist or that arise from the contrasts. That is left to the reader to pursue further if so motivated.

For example, in the contrast that Paul draws between the free gift in Christ and the trespass, there is tension enough. But it’s magnified even more when contrasted with the many trespasses. The tension exists in the enormity of the claim; the grace of God is greater than the sin of man! How can this be? The impacts of this are earth-shattering and mind-boggling. One might be willing to apply the free gift of grace in Christ for his own sins and trespasses, and in doing so, overcomes that tension. However, that tension is amped up significantly when one considers having to accept, much less forgive, the sin and trespasses of ones enemies, real or perceived.

 

Though the solution is clear enough from the contrast that the last Adam is sufficiently superior to the first Adam to provide the resolution to that tension universally, it doesn’t eliminate the tension individually or one’s need to walk through it in faith and trust in God and his Christ. If we can appreciate the depth of wisdom to be gained through the contrast, tension, and future resolution by the last Adam, let’s risk exposing more tension by looking further into the contrasts surrounding the first Adam. Keep in mind that Adam and Eve would not have been conscious or aware of these contrasts while in the midst of them, and that we’re viewing them in hindsight through the lens of God’s gift of grace in Christ our Lord.

Made Like God, yet Incomplete

When observed in the proper context, the tension between living in the flesh, incomplete as God’s imagers (1:26), and the desire to be more God-like (3:5) is a palpable one. The intended development for humanity is more apparent for those in whom Christ dwells. We’ve come to realize the work of the Holy Spirit to lead us more fully into the character and likeness of Christ, our elder brother. This frames Eve’s desire in a more favorable light, where seeking a more complete God-likeness manifests itself in the hope of Godly wisdom and righteousness (3:6).

 

This Godly wisdom and righteousness has been sought repeatedly throughout the ages; first by humanity’s own efforts[2] and later through the letter of the law,[3] yet always insufficient. Have we ever really stopped to consider why this tension exists, or do we simply assume it’s our role to fill the gap? In Yeshua the Christ we find that it was never intended to be achieved without God’s direct involvement. The gift and work of God’s Holy Spirit indwelling in us should be sufficient evidence of this since it’s a key factor in our success that is not even hinted at in the Genesis 2-3 narrative. This should humble us, and in Christ it does. But in the world, the lack of it only leads us to greater autonomy.

 

It’s certainly arguable whether there is an obvious tension in the fact that humanity is made in the image and likeness of God yet at the same time is clearly imperfect and incomplete; God-like and not God-like. It’s been an ongoing challenge to accept that humanity is created as God’s imagers on earth but he is also a sinner. That this contrast and tension exists in the narrative for our first parents is there to see if we’re willing to accept that God is not obliged to start his creation as perfect and complete. Viewing this state through the new creation in Christ certainly sheds much light on God’s end goal – elevating his children from the mist and the dust into the likeness, character, and glory of the last Adam.

 

Historically, the descendents of Israel were willing to accept this tension and contrast as a God-given reality. It wasn’t until the late second-temple period that theologians sought to resolve the tension[4] but did so while being ignorant of the full plan of God and the revelation of the Son of Man soon to emerge upon the world. It’s from that revelation and the pouring out of Christ’s Holy Spirit that the true resolution to the original tension comes to light. And even when that resolution is first applied for each believer it too is established in part and is not expressed fully until the Son of Man returns in power and glory to receive these firstfruits of salvation to himself; the bride is brought to the groom. This process is characterized as “already, but not yet” and is illustrative of a wife betrothed, promised, and committed to wed the husband, but that wedding and complete unity is yet future.

 

So it is for the tension God introduced for Adam and Eve as it is for the tension Christ introduced for those betrothed to him in Spirit and in truth. Both find their resolution in Christ, the last Adam, whose role as author and finisher of God’s creation was established before the world began. There is simply no other way to resolve all the claims made by God himself within the context of his ongoing work in Christ. The fullness of that work culminates with the fruit of humanity being harvested from the mist and the dust of our imperfection and incompleteness into the righteousness and eternal life inherent in Christ our Lord.[5]

Emergence from Innocence into Shrewdness

The incompleteness of humanity and our need for maturation are intertwined with our emergence out of innocence and not knowing, a form of dependency, and into a more independent state where knowing begins. We see this process constantly in the context of the family and our own children, who eventually emerge from complete dependency on their parents for survival into an increasingly independent state as they mature out of innocence and into knowing.

 

The same process is applicable for Adam and Eve, though their transition was more dramatic because it was uniquely framed and served a greater purpose. Their emergence out of innocence came about through the exercise of free will and a conscious choice, another God-like trait. God himself confirms that by using one God-like trait, they enter into more God-likeness, though in this case, it came through disobedience (3:22). The resulting awareness and opportunity to exercise morality creates its own range of tensions. Ones we must learn to navigate and live through if we’re to eventually see, recognize, and accept the free gift in Christ prepared before the world began.

 

Unfortunately, many on this side of Adam and Eve’s transgression and emergence into knowing would prefer to remain bound by innocence and unknowing. Here, they expect to find safety, comfort, and righteousness within the context of the garden and God’s direct provision. Yet the walled garden is not from where they were created (2:6-8), nor is it their immediate and intended destination (1:28). To remain in the garden, imprisoned by innocence, which is not equivalent to righteousness,[6] would leave them unprofitable, thereby setting aside the blessing and growth that comes through this natural life. God seeks our participation in this natural life and blessed us in it, though it is not without its challenges.

It’s clear from our walk in Christ that God also desires our participation in the Spiritual life as well; producing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, for example.[7] None of this comes by fiat, but is acquired through effort, challenges, difficulty, and even suffering. Yet through all this, we’re assured the rewards and inheritance promised in Christ will certainly surpass the cross we bear now. Like Christ, our cross comes before our crown should we remain faithful till the end.

Leaving the Father’s House

A similar tension is reflected in the promise of marriage which was given to our first parents. In that context also exists the hint of independence as the two are to leave the father’s house and become one (2:22a). For Adam and Eve this holds greater significance because it reflects humanity’s need to depart the comfort and dependency within God’s direct provision in the garden (the Father’s house) and venture out into the larger world and reality intended for them (1:28). In this reality, God informs them there is pain, desire, struggle, and death (3:16-19).

Yet in all of this there remains a hint and a hope of something more (3:15b).[8] God’s intention, as evidenced by the role of Christ having been established before the world was formed, was always to lead humanity out of innocence and not knowing and into the innocence and righteousness of Yeshua the Christ[9] through the fullness of knowing God and being known; the intimacy of the groom and his bride becoming one in the unity of trust and the unity of wills.[10] For humanity, this is achieved by the will and purpose of God over time, beginning with the physical and natural but culminating in the Spiritual.[11]

Another hint of this process in the narrative is the similar emergence Adam and Eve have in their own relationship. Though they are blessed with marriage (2:23-24) as a context from which they can fulfill the prime directive (1:28), within the garden they remain innocent; naked and unashamed (2:25). Being made male and female, there is nothing in our thinking or in the author’s mind that would prevent them from consummating their marriage except perhaps the innocence and not-knowing which binds them. The narrative supports this by noting that Adam didn’t know Eve sexually until after they’ve had their eyes opened and have exited the garden (the Father’s house) (4:1). It’s also consistent with the narrative in that Adam, who’s likewise been personally named (3:17), doesn’t name the woman God made for him (2:23) personally until after taking from the tree of exception (3:20) when their eyes were opened. Yet he clearly had the intellect to name all the animals God brought before him for a reason (2:18-20). These nuances indicate what is consistent with a state of innocence and not knowing, in that prior to taking from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, something was lacking.

 

It’s only after taking from the tree of exception that Adam and Eve are properly equipped and sufficiently motivated to now fulfill the first part of God’s goal for humanity (1:28). Just as the husband and wife must leave the father’s house to build a life on their own (2:22), so also must humanity depart the comfort and safety of God’s direct provision in the garden and venture into the world and the reality of knowing. This reality only begins their walk through water and fire in preparation for their future walk in the Spirit and an eternal inheritance to be gifted to them in the work of Yeshua the Christ.

Blessed, but Under a Curse

Though some conclude differently,[12] God’s grace toward our first parents is one of blessing (1:28) and doesn’t change as they exit the garden. It’s at this time that he clothes them in garments to protect them from the elements (3:21). As the narrative shows, and I have stated earlier, Adam and Eve, and humanity in general, are not cursed because of their transgression and emergence out of innocence. Only the serpent and the land are cursed.[13] So what is the curse they are under? The obvious answer is in the context of the lesser command in Genesis 2:16-17; death. However, the death God is referring to in this command of restriction is not the death they’re already subject to being made mortal from the mist and the dust (2:6-7; 3:19). God is referring to a much larger context; the second death of judgment of which all humanity will be subject prior to them being offered the tree of life in the person of Yeshua the Christ. Certainly, this future judgment is something to be feared, but as our history shows, it is only those who abandon God completely and reject the source of life, his son Yeshua, that need fear the condemnation of the second death. This is the test of life; to find those to whom Christ is revealed and whether they will choose to surrender to the obedience of faith or not.[14]

 

Now a clarification is necessary regarding the state of God’s grace toward Adam and Eve as they depart the garden and go out into the world to hold fast to one another and become one flesh (2:24). Note that the command and blessing recorded in Genesis 1, though it is written before the events of the following two chapters are revealed, serves as a summary of those events detailed in Genesis 2-3. These are not separate creation accounts. This realization is important and completely undermines the traditional view that Adam and Eve are directly cursed in any way as a result of their disobedience.

 

In the summary, God’s blessing (1:28) comes after both are created, male and female (1:27). This blessing also comes in the context of the face of all the earth, and not merely the confines of the walled garden. This blessing is conferred upon them as they’re entering the world God has created for them, that they might fulfill his command of first priority; be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, . . .(1:28).[15] It’s after all this that God then reflects on how everything he has created, including that which has transpired with Adam and Eve, is very good for achieving his goal of leading many sons and daughters from the mist and the dust into the character and likeness of Yeshua the Christ.

First Command, Second Command

As we can see, the command we hear first from the narrative is the general blessing (1:28), and the second command is the restriction (2:16-17). Yet in reality, the second command comes first, and the first command comes at the close of the events of Genesis 3.

What’s clear from these events is that the command of blessing is of much greater priority and of higher importance than that of the command of restriction. We can know this for certain because the command to multiply and fill the earth is not negated in any way by their disobedience to the command of restriction. Also, from a logic perspective, the failure of the lesser command is the only solution which leads to the fulfillment of the greater command. We should clarify at the outset that the greater command, from God’s perspective, only carries with it a blessing. There are no negative consequences associated directly with this command.[16] We can understand the tension between the two commands by looking at the logical solutions to the presented conditions.

One Restriction, Three Options

When looking at the choice put before Adam and Eve in the context of the narrative and the lesser command of exception (2:16-17), most would assume they’re faced with only two choices. There are in fact three options from the logic perspective, which is important to state for the sake of thoroughness.

1. Obedience by ignoring the Tree of Knowledge and continue to dwell in the garden in a state of innocence and not-knowing.
2. Disobedience by taking of the fruit of the tree. The significance is in the choice, not in the fruit or the tree. According to the narrative, only by taking from the tree of exception will their eyes be opened.
3. The third logical option is to not choose. This is typically referred to as the null condition to a possible response. In this case it’s equivalent to obedience since it results in their remaining in the garden in a state of innocence.

 

Within the context of choices A or C, Adam and Eve would remain in their initial state of innocence and dwell comfortably and safely within the garden of Eden. What must be considered is the long-term impact for either of these two choices. To see that impact, we must observe what happened from choice B, realizing those events would not have occurred otherwise:

• Their eyes are not opened. They remain constrained by innocence and immaturity.
• They continue under God’s direct provision within the confines of the garden. There is no incentive for them to leave and they have yet to receive the greater command and blessing.
• The “man” and the “woman” remain unnamed. Both are referred to in the first person only after their eyes are opened (3:17,20).
• They remain married, but naked and unashamed (2:25). They do not exit the Father’s house to become one flesh (4:1).
• They do not come under God’s righteous judgment as a result of their disobedience and their emergence into knowing and maturity. They remain as dependent children, innocent, unknowing, and unprofitable.

 

The most significant impact for choices A or C is that each undermines God’s prime directive, the very reason for the creation of the natural realm, the creation of mortal beings, and their creation as male and female in order to reproduce; to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (1:28). One might suggest that they could have chosen not to eat of the tree of exception and still ventured out of the garden. The problem with this is where is the incentive for them to do so? Everything they need, water, abundant food, minimal work, and a direct relationship with their Creator – all reside within the confines of the garden. Yet to fulfill the first command requires that they leave the garden in one context or another; obedient or disobedient. It is only through choice B, disobedience, that all these things are achieved. From God’s perspective, this leaves disobedience as the necessary state to achieve not only his initial prime directive to multiply humanity but his unspoken and later command of eternal life.[17]

Under the Command, Freed by Grace

As was shown previously from Paul’s presuppositions, there is clearly a contrast between death as a result of sin and the eternal life available in Yeshua the Christ.[18] The command that all Adam’s descendents are under comes through the second death of judgment – for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (2:17). Yet we know that Paul doesn’t leave us in that state. He shares with us the revelation in Christ:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

 

The eternal life to be gained in Christ through the first death and the first resurrection by those who’ve received God’s gift of grace assures our victory over the second death of judgment.[19]

 

As the revelations in the Fourth Gospel showed us,[20] Christ himself speaks to this condemnation that exists for all. He’s not speaking to the first death common to all those born of the mist and the dust;[21] he’s speaking of the second death of judgment. Those who receive the gift of grace in Christ through faith are freed from the fear and power of the second death. They will inherit the promise of eternal life in Christ assured to them by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All others remain under the condemnation until such time as God calls them to see and hear the grace offered through the Son of God and the Son of Man.

Mortality vs Eternal Life

Another contrast that is intertwined with God’s righteous judgment is that of humanity’s origin as mortal, of the mist and the dust, in order to establish his conditional entrance into the eternal – the new creation in Christ.

 

When viewed through the lens of this new creation, the mortality of humanity comes into clearer focus. In order for the conditional receipt of the gift of grace in Christ to have any value, it must be initiated by the divine will and not by man’s will. This is what we see by God’s work in Christ for the benefit of all. From the very beginning, the role for Christ as Son of God and Son of Man was established before the world began. He alone is the source of righteousness and eternal life, and mankind’s creation was to be started and completed in him and through him. There was no expectation in Scripture for Adam and Eve to either possess or attain these traits by their own efforts. Those ideas must be added to the text. And when they do step into the moral reality of the divine, though it came through disobedience, their descendents mistakenly label it a “fall.” Nothing could be further from the truth. By God’s own command and blessing, Adam and Eve were always to be constrained to the natural realm[22] in order to fulfill their role in leading their descendents to the future revelation of Christ’s role for the completed creation.

Constrained by Two Deaths

Humanity’s role was always in the context of the natural realm, mortal and subject to the first death. And as a result of their free will and self-determination, of which disobedience would be a natural by-product, all humanity must also come under God’s righteous judgment by means of the second death of judgment.

Both deaths play their respective roles in the process of achieving the new creation in Christ:

• The first death as a result of creating mankind from the mist and the dust leads to the revelation of God’s power over his creation.

• It’s suitable for the reproduction necessary to fulfill the prime directive (1:28)
• Reproduction is to occur in the context of marriage as a pointer to the firstfruits of salvation prepared for their groom (2:24-25; Revelation 19:1-8)
• It’s intended to keep humanity humble and remind them of the Creator who gave them life and will hold them accountable for their use of free will (Deuteronomy 30:15,19; Fourth Gospel 12:47-48)
• It serves as an incentive for the hope in Christ later to be revealed (Romans 8:20-23)

• The second death, which comes through the command of God and the free will choice of Adam and Eve, is an expression of God’s righteous judgment over all his creation.

• It serves as a moral context in which mankind must live and grow, with the constant awareness that God will judge the works of his hands.
• That judgment results in righteousness and eternal life for those willing to surrender to the obedience of faith in Yeshua the Christ,
• Or eternal destruction (not life) for those who reject the source of life.
• This shows God’s wisdom and power in Christ to destroy death, not to continue it forever as some claim.

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” (1 Corinthians 15:24-27a)

 

Death is destroyed by virtue of all those who are flesh and blood, whose names are not added to the Book of Life, and are cast into the lake of fire to be consumed.[23]

There is another source of tension surrounding death that was addressed previously; the conflict that arises by both God’s claim and the serpent’s claim regarding death’s impact on Adam and Eve and their progeny.[24] By recognizing that God was referring to the second death of judgment in his command of restriction (2:17) and the serpent was referring to the first death common to all mortal creatures (3:4-5), both are seen as truth statements and no contortions of theology are necessary to resolve it.

Desire and Deception

There is a contrast and a tension that is less apparent in the narrative of Genesis 2-3 because it arises out of seeing the context from the new creation in Christ. The contrast is drawn from Adam and Eve’s desire to be more God-like and the hidden lie of the serpent. Though we’ve come to view Eve’s choice to pursue more God-likeness in wisdom and knowing in a better light, that emergence comes with its own contrast and elusive tension because it comes as a result of deception,[25] a deception that is meant to keep humanity under the heal of those currently superior to them in the unseen realm.[26] Because that lie was unspoken and remains mostly hidden, its subtlety goes largely overlooked.

The Promise of Overcoming

One contrast exists in Adam and Eve’s desire to pursue God-likeness and the serpent’s use of that positive trait as a tool for their destruction to lead them away from their true God. The tension produced is more elusive because unless one is aware of the unspoken lie, there exists the risk one can fall prey to it. It bears repeating: that humanity could learn and become like God, fulfilling our divine destiny on our own, independent of God.

 

The tension continues with the emergence from innocence and the garden, but the deception continues to magnify. It continues when the Watchers of the unseen realm intersect with our natural realm, resulting in its near destruction. Yet God’s will and purpose were not to be undone by the deceit of devils. Instead, his faithfulness and commitment to Adam and Eve’s progeny is praiseworthy. He holds fast to completing his prime directive for humanity to multiply and fill the earth (1:28) and to fulfilling the promise made to Adam and Eve upon their departure from the garden regarding the power behind the serpent and the apparent weakness of humanity to overcome it – you may bruise his heal, but he shall crush your head (3:15).[27] That God should be so committed and faithful to raise these weak creatures of the natural realm to the height and stature of the Son of God is a glaring reality some in the unseen realm simply can’t abide. At that time, the Watchers sought a direct intersection with the natural realm, pretending to be human, as a means to actually destroy humanity. With the dispersion of the nations and the emergence of the descendents of Jacob (Israel), the unseen shepherds over those nations would continue to steer humanity and God’s own people away from the One, True God, to worshipping lesser gods.

 

Today, those lesser gods still have influence, and their efforts to further lead humanity into the serpent’s hidden lie have been most effective. The deception of the serpent’s lie is the soil for all of these negative influences from the unseen realm to seed in humanity’s consciousness the delusion that they might achieve the righteousness and eternal life represented by the two trees of the garden by their own efforts and apart from the work of God in Christ. It was evident in Babel. It became evident in God’s chosen people Israel, and it’s evident today among the nations of the world. Humanity’s languages have reunited in a digital context, and as a result, there is nothing he sets his collective mind to achieve that will be impossible for them.[28]

 

Rather than embrace the humility of the mist and the dust and look to our Creator as the source of all things that have benefited our growth in knowledge and understanding, humanity continues instead to cling to the delusion inherent in the hidden lie of the serpent. As revelatory Scripture shows, God will not use a flood to humble the proud as in the past. This time, he will shake the very heavens and earth so violently that even the mountains will crumble.[29] This is not a reflection of God’s wrath so much as it is a reflection of humanity’s pride and ignorance of the deception that enslaves them.

 

It is then that the very Son of God, the last Adam, will appear in the clouds to call his firstfruits of salvation to himself; the bride to the groom. It is then that the world will continue to be humbled by the power of God to reveal those with ears to hear the truth in Christ and be willing to repent. Great will be the birth pains of the world until there mostly remains only those with hearts unable or unwilling to repent.[30] It is then that the greatest woe and the severity of God’s wrath of seven bowls will be poured out on the earth to judge the hard-hearted and thoroughly deceived who remain.[31]

The Kingdom of the Son Arrives

It’s at this time that the harvest of the earth continues, and the kingdom of the Son is established upon the earth:

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was,

for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.

The nations raged, but your wrath came,

and the time for the dead to be judged,

and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,

and those who fear your name, both small and great,

and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.(Revelation 11:15-19)

 

The earth is shaken thoroughly so that the reign of the Son might begin by removing and destroying every rule, authority, and power on earth and in heaven that opposes God.[32] On a white horse, the Word of God will descend from the heavens to tread the winepress of the fury of God’s wrath upon the nations who stand to oppose him.[33] But they will come to nothing, and the birds will feast upon their flesh.[34]

 

It is then that the throne of Christ is established upon the earth, and with him will rule his saints. The firstfruits of salvation who’ve been redeemed from the earth shall rule with him for a thousand years and lead the world into the knowledge of God.[35] What remains of the work of God in Christ during his kingdom? It is not to resolve sin[36] but to make the One, True God known to his chosen people Israel,[37] to those who remain of the nations,[38] and even to all the resurrected dead who will stand before the Son of God, the last Adam.[39]

 

During the kingdom of the Son, the knowledge of God will be poured out first upon the disobedient descendents of Israel that they might enter into a new covenant with the Lord their Righteousness.[40] They will be an example to all the nations to lead the nations out of the deception of the serpent and into the knowledge of our Lord, Yeshua the Christ. All the children of Adam will face the test of the water and the fire to determine their willingness to commit to the authority of Christ and the obedience of faith; whether their desire is to dwell in the wisdom and righteousness of God or whether they will cling to independence and the lie.