UNDERSTANDING MAN
(Genesis 1-3)
Ray C. Stedman
First Printing, September 1975 Second Printing, April 1976 Third Printing, May 1976
Copyright © 1975 by Ray C. Stedman, All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in reviews, without the written permission of the publisher.
Quotations from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1956, and 1971 (renewed 1973), by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.
Discovery Book, published by Word Books, in cooperation with Discovery Foundation, Palo Alto, California.
ISBN 0-87680-984-0
Library of Congress catalog card number: 75-18257
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
In this brief study on Understanding Man, I have attempted to bring into focus some of the principles of true psychology and true anthropology. It is by these biblical principles that all secular studies ultimately must be measured, for here is the revelation of things as they really are with respect to mankind.
Our task is to find clues to unravel the greatest mystery ever written--the story of man. We are seeking to understand ourselves, both as men and women "in Adam" and also as the new men and women we have become if we are "in Christ." But we must begin with the first Adam because what he was, we are.
It always strikes me as strange that anyone can deny the reality of the story of the Fall of man, especially when the very man who denies it is himself repeating it, perhaps dozens of times a day. Temptation follows the same pattern with us that it did with Eve in the garden of Eden, and the process is absolutely relentless.
We may think, sometimes, that our guilt is hidden from the eyes of men, since no one else knows about it, and nothing has come down on us. Yet within us, whenever we yield to evil, a darkness falls and death tightens its grip upon our throat.
Here, then, is a study aimed at first, understanding the unchanging process of temptation in our lives, and then, at unfolding the unchanging process of God's grace which seeks us out and restores us.
But the grace of God often goes unrecognized for what it is. In this passage of Genesis, if we understand it properly, God has revealed more clearly than perhaps anywhere else in the Bible how unwilling he is that any should perish. Far from merely pronouncing judgment on Adam and Eve, he gives them an assurance of life beyond the death of their bodies, and a clear promise of a Redeemer to come.
I hope your heart will be lifted with fresh encouragement as mine has been, when you discover the loving purpose behind God's expulsion of the first man and woman from the garden. On that purpose hangs the whole truth of the gospel of Christ. --RAY C. STEDMAN
I was sitting in the airport of Guatemala City, working on the early stages of this book, and I faced a large mural, depicting life among the ancient Mayan Indians. As I sat in that fascinating country, under the shadow of great volcanoes which had been rumbling and muttering all afternoon, and thought of the history of the Mayans--that strange race we know so little about--I felt anew the mystery of history. Civilizations have risen and flourished for centuries and then in a strange way, often for unknown reasons, have died and are now buried in humid jungles, forgotten fragments of ancient history. The question came to me again as it comes to any who think about the past, where did this human race begin? Flow did these strange beings come into existence? For what purpose?
These are questions that have forever fascinated men. To my knowledge there is only one book that gives us a reliable answer to these questions. Scientists, of course, are trying to discover facts from the ancient past, but even they admit that their efforts are but a kind of feeling around in the dark after a few fragments. But this book of God, bearing upon it the seal of authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, has revealed to us all man needs to know to solve the riddle of life. I wish I could impress upon young and old alike the truth of that statement. Here is all we need to know about humanity, revealed in the pages of Scripture, especially designed that we might know the facts about life.
It is no slight exaggeration to say that there are no writings more important for the proper understanding of history and man than the first chapters of Genesis. Here is hidden the secret of man's sinfulness, that terrible mystery of evil and darkness which continually confronts us in this modern world. In this section is the key to the relationship of the sexes, the proper place of man and woman in marriage, the solution to the problem of mounting divorce rates, and other marital issues that abound in modern society.
Here, also, is the explanation for the struggle of life, and here great light is thrown on the problems of work and leisure. In these chapters is the first and fundamental revelation of the meaning of divine redemption and grace, and here the essential groundwork is laid for the understanding of the cross of Jesus Christ. This whole section is unprecedented in its importance.
But because it is so important, it has been heavily attacked. These two chapters have often been rejected outright as simply repugnant to modern man. There are cults which reject them as being utterly inconsistent with what man wants to believe about himself. Sometimes the chapters have been dismissed with contempt as merely a collection of ancient myths or legends with no significance for modern minds.
And sometimes they have been treated as containing important truths, but needing to be (in the favorite word of many today in theological circles) "demythologized." To quote one of the writers of this school:
There is truth of great vitality and power in many passages of which the strictly historical accuracy may be questioned. It is our job therefore to find the truth that maybe buried under some layers of legend.
Before I discuss the meaning and intense significance of these passages with you I must first dispose of these objections. Many are bothered by these problems, and lest we seem to ignore them, I want to deal with them to some extent now, and in subsequent chapters we will come to the actual meaning of the passage.
The Documentary Theory
There are two general lines of attack upon the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. One is an attempt to destroy the literary integrity of the text; the other attempts to deny the historical accuracy of these accounts. The first approach is based upon the claim that this section of Genesis (and probably the whole of the first five books of the Bible) were not written by Moses, as the Bible claims, but that they were actually composed by an unknown editor (whom these scholars call a redactor) who lived long after David and Solomon, and who may have lived even as late as the Babylonian captivity, only some 500 years before Christ.
The critics claim that the redactor was not writing down things that were revealed to him by any divine process, but was only recording certain tales of the women who gathered around the wells and talked over various legends of their past. They claim he collected the tales of travelers and others, and thus recorded for posterity these early legends of man.
The support for this idea arises out of certain changes of style in this passage, and the use of the divine name in a different form. You will notice that in chapter two, verse four the name, "the Lord God" appears for the first time. Previously in Genesis there has only been the name, "God," which is a translation of the Hebrew, "Elohim." But here we have the Lord God, or in Hebrew, Jehovah Elohim, and all through this section that name is used. It has been suggested therefore that you can identify the various stories, and the changes in authorship, by the use of the divine names.
Now, fully developed, this has evolved into what is called today, "the documentary theory of Genesis." Some unknown editor has collected from various sources these documents which can be identified by certain marks within them, and has put them all together, using excerpts from here, and excerpts from there, and blending them together into the books that we now know as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy--the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses.
This whole idea has been supported by certain piecemeal evidence taken from the Scriptures. Scholars have gone through the books and extracted certain ideas of passages that seemed to support their theory, but ignoring others that would contradict it. This documentary theory gained wide support, but has long ago been fully answered by both Jewish and Christian writers. Remarkably enough, it still persists, even though it is increasingly difficult to hold.
Forty years ago, Dr. Lyman Abbott spoke at the University of California at Berkeley. He was, at that time, a noted liberal scholar working on the origin of scriptural books. He said something like this, "Young gentlemen, I feel that perhaps I am as qualified as anyone to speak in this field of the origins of the books of the Bible, and I want to warn you against going too far in basing your conclusions upon the so-called 'assured results of modern scholarship.' As one of these modern scholars, I know that these results are not always as 'assured' as they seem to be. My careful conclusion is that the first five books of the Bible were either written by Moses--or by someone else named Moses!" Perhaps that is about as far as we need to go in laying to rest the documentary theory of the Scriptures.
No Talking Serpent
Now the second attack upon this section is more frequently pressed today. This is the idea that there are great truths about man here--his fears, his evil, his hungers are all set forth in a remarkable way and we can learn much about ourselves--but these truths are conveyed deliberately to us in the language of myth. Perhaps Moses did write this, they say, or some other unknown writers. But at any rate, the authors were attempting to convey to us mighty truths through the language of myth, adopting a kind of parabolic vehicle in order to convey these truths to us. There was, of course, no literal tree in a literal garden; there were no actual beings named Adam and Eve; and, of course, there was no talking serpent or forbidden fruit.
It is all somewhat like the myth of Santa Claus. Everyone today (except Virginia) knows that there is no real Santa Claus, but the idea behind Santa Claus cheerful jollity, a reward for good behavior, and a universal kindness of spirit--are all true. If we forget the myth of Santa Claus we still have left a core of truth which is conveyed to us by the story of Santa Claus. Thus we can treat these opening chapters of Genesis much in the same way. You can take the story of Adam and Eve, they say, and throw away the form by which it is conveyed and you will still have a germ of truth about the human race.
But have you? What do we say to this kind of approach? We must say that we reject the whole approach as biblically untenable, scientifically unsound, and, in the end, totally destructive of truth and faith. Let me give the reasons for this.
First of all, this approach violates the integrity of the Book of Genesis. Where does myth end and history begin? Where is the line of demarcation? If Adam and Eve are a myth, then so is the story of Cain and Abel. And if Cain and Abel are a myth, then so are Noah and the flood. Since the record moves right on without a break into the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are we to assume that these, too, are myths? If so, where does history begin? How can you detect the place where myth, fantasy, and legend end, and actual human history begins?
If we examine the first chapter of Genesis (which is likewise termed myth) we can see that it is not a myth at all. It is in accord with the true discoveries of modern science and, in fact, anticipates and corrects much of modern science. When you begin looking for myths in these Old Testament stories, you will find that it is impossible to draw the line anywhere except where you, for some emotional reason, may choose to draw it.
Such a process carries right over into the New Testament and the story of the virgin birth becomes a myth, and even the story of the incarnation itself. The Christmas story becomes nothing but a beautiful parable, designed to express truth, but not true in history. Also, the stories of the miracles of Jesus and the resurrection and the crucifixion--where do you stop?
Well, the answer is that you do not stop. All these stories have actually been termed myth, which supports my contention that there is no stopping place when you apply this kind of a theory to the biblical records. Of course, if you treat the Bible that way, then you must in all good conscience treat any other ancient document in the same way. If you carry this out to its logical conclusion we are left without any knowledge whatsoever of the ancient world, nothing that we can trust. The theory destroys too much to be acceptable.
There is myth in the Scripture. There are legends which are reported to us in various places in the Bible. But the significant thing is that they are identified as such. You can find them in both the Old and New Testaments, but the writers of the Scripture were aware of their nature as myths and recorded them as such.
Furthermore, there are passages throughout both the Old and New Testaments which warn against believing in myths or taking them seriously. Peter warns against this, saying that the stories he and the other apostles told were not cleverly designed myths, but were actual historic occurrences (2 Peter 1:16). Paul writes to his son in the faith, Timothy, and warns him against being influenced by godless myths and old wives' fables (1 Timothy 4:7). The apostles were aware of this kind of danger to faith and warned against it even in the early days of our Christianity.
Second, this approach of myth contradicts the usage of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the apostles themselves. If you believe that the story of Adam and Eve is a myth then you immediately find yourself clashing with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew it is recorded that our Lord, facing the questions of the Pharisees about divorce, said, "He who made them from the beginning made them male and female" (Matthew 19:4). If you accept that as a statement from One who declared himself to be the truth and who told only the truth, then you must accept this story of Adam and Eve as factual.
Beginning with Moses
The Lord Jesus constantly referred to Moses as the author of the Pentateuch and said, again and again, that what Moses wrote he, himself, fulfilled. In that wonderful scene in Luke, he walks with two men along the Emmaus road after the resurrection, and they do not recognize him. He asks them why they are so downcast and sorrowful, and they tell him of the strange events that have been occurring in Jerusalem, how one was crucified, a Jesus of Nazareth. Then we are told, "beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). Later on he appeared to them and rebuked them because they had not believed Moses and the prophets in the things written about him.
Never once did our Lord suggest that anything in the Old Testament was to be questioned as to its historical veracity. He refers to most of the miracles that are the source of problems to critics today, and speaks of them in such a way as to confirm and attest the fact that they were historical events, including Jonah and the fish and other stories.
Remember also that the Apostle Paul reminded Timothy that Adam was made first, and then Eve, just as the story in Genesis tells us. He says further that Adam was not deceived, but Eve was, and thus Adam went into sin deliberately, but Eve was blinded (1 Timothy 2:13,14).
In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, he refers to the serpent and is afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve, so the thoughts of his readers would be led astray by Satan's cunning (2 Corinthians 11:3). In Romans and First Corinthians he compares Adam and Jesus, and indicates they are both individual men, the heads of two separate races. "As sin came into the world through one man," he said, [by one man]; "Éand spread to all men, so by one man redemption cameÉÓ (Romans 5:12). If Jesus was an individual, then Adam was an individual, too. Again in Corinthians he draws a comparison between these two, pointing out that we were all born in Adam, and if we are born again, we are all in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45). He puts the two on an individual basis. Therefore, if we approach these early chapters of Genesis with the idea that these are myths, legends, not really historical events, we are thus holding that the Apostle Paul knew less than we know about such matters.
Third, the whole idea of myth is ultimately destructive of the teaching of Scripture, of biblical theology. Why do men invent these suggestions of myth? If you investigate their reasons (though they may seldom admit this) it is obviously because they want to square these stories of Adam and Eve with the teachings of evolution. They do not want to admit that there was a couple named Adam and Eve that began the human race, but that there were, rather, a group of hominids who ascended from the animal kingdom and became men. In accordance with the theory of evolution you cannot trace humanity back to only a single couple.
But if evolution as the explanation of man's origin is true, then there never was a fall of man. Either man was created perfect--body, soul, and spirit--as Genesis tells us, or he has been slowly developing from the animal kingdom, and was never perfect. It is either one or the other. Either man fell from perfection or he was never perfect. And if he never has been perfect, then what is the point of redemption? If all we are doing is moving toward an ultimate goal of perfection, then what was the value of the work of Christ upon the cross?
You see, certain fundamental issues come in immediately, certain fundamental questions arise: Do we really need salvation? Are we not moving steadily toward a goal which will ultimately be reached, whether Christ died or not? What is the purpose, therefore, of his redeeming grace? The minute you interject mythical ideas into the opening chapters of Genesis you come into an immediate clash with the doctrine of atonement and of the redemption of man.
Demolished Claims
Finally, this mythical interpretation denies the scientific evidence which does exist to support the historical truths of these events. It has been almost humorous, during the last forty or fifty years, the many, many times the pompous claims of the "higher critics" have been completely demolished by the archaeologist's spade. Again and again evidence has been turned up to prove that what the Bible says is true and what the critics claim has been false. In fact, there has not been one instance of the reverse, in which a biblical event has been proved to be false by archaeology--not one--but scores of instances where the Bible has been substantiated.
There is, for instance, considerable archaeological evidence that Nimrod who is mentioned in the fourth chapter of Genesis, existed as a historical person. Further, Lamech and Zillah, his wife, and Tubalcain, their son, are supported as historical characters by archaeology. In fact, their names have passed into the language, describing some of the activities in which they were engaged. In the fourth chapter of Genesis there is a statement that Cain (this is the son of Adam, remember) went out and built a city and called the name of the city after his son, Enoch.
Interestingly enough, in the ancient cuneiform writings there is reference to a city named Unuk, which is clearly related to this name, Enoch, and it is called simply, "the city." Further, this name Enoch later passed into the language as the word for city. Through a process of philological transliteration (with which any linguist is familiar), this was changed from Enoch to "wark," and later to the word "perg," and then to the word "burgh," and it is still present in our language today in that form, as in Pittsburgh.
It is not unscientific to believe that Adam and Eve were actual, individual human beings; that Cain and Abel were likewise historical personages; that there was a Garden of Eden, and a tree in the midst of it. There is nothing unscientific about these stories and no scientific evidence in any way gainsays them. Any claim of this sort is simply an attack upon this record to try to destroy the historical accuracy of these accounts, and thus to undermine the great and central teaching of the Scriptures concerning the redemption of man.
When you get through analyzing this you stand where Christians have always stood, face to face with a choice: whether to accept the subjectivity of human wisdom, or the authority of the Son of God. It is one or the other. Was Jesus right, or were the critics right? It is either Christ or the critics. It has always been and always will be.
I, for one, do not think there is any reason to even debate the matter. I believe the Lord Jesus Christ stands as authority in every realm in which he speaks. When we consider the extent and nature of his authority, his knowledge of the world in which we live and of the human race and the mind of man; and contrast these with the puny, finite knowledge of struggling, sinful, human beings who see through a glass darkly, and who understand little of what they see, I find there is no real comparison at all.
This is why we must take these passages literally as they are, and treat them as historic accounts which are given to us to open to our understanding the problems we are facing daily. When we do, we discover they unfold to us great and marvelous truths that help us to grasp and understand life, and to rise in victory over the problems that beset us, and the forces that oppose us.
May I therefore urge you, in reading these passages, to do as the Lord Jesus reminded us, to take the place of a little child who is simply listening, carefully, quietly, to what he is told, thoughtfully investigating these things, and not questioning whether they are right or wrong, whether they are historical or unhistorical. There are no minds capable of establishing that today and there is no evidence capable of disproving it. If we settle that, we can come to these accounts, read them carefully through, and open our minds to the teaching of the Holy Spirit so that we might grasp these great and hidden things, remembering that as we come to know the truth about ourselves and the world in which we live, that truth will increasingly set us free.
Prayer: We thank you, our Holy Father, for these stories. We pray for a childlike mind which will trust and believe and always be ready to be instructed; for an open, responsive heart, ready to obey as truth becomes apparent and applicable to our situation. We thank you for the One who has come to speak the truth, who declared himself to be the truth. What a great foundation our faith rests upon in this Holy One. In his name we pray, Amen.
Between chapter one of Genesis and chapter two, there is an obvious change of atmosphere. Genesis one is a very simple narrative of the creation of the world; the heavens and the earth, the plants and animals, and finally man. Simple, yet it is majestic in its beauty and profound in its depth. But when we come to chapter two we find a kind of recapitulation of the main event of chapter one, the creation of man. Here we are given in much greater detail the story of God's making of man.
Here also we are focusing upon other ideas that are introduced in the biblical text for the first time. For instance, as I have mentioned already, the name of God appears in a different form here. For the first time we have the great name of God that appears in so much of the rest of the Bible, Jehovah Elohim (or in the Hebrew, Yahweh), translated in our version, the "LORD God." There is a special reason for this change. Chapter one deals with the making of things, and God is presented to us under the name of Elohim, the Creator. But when man appears on the scene, God is referred to by the title of Jehovah, which means essentially the covenant-making God, the God who keeps a promise. It is particularly significant that when God first reveals himself to this race of ours, it is as a God who intends to keep his promises.
In chapter two there are several fascinating references in a number of fields of human thought. But the supreme aim of the chapter is unquestionably theological. It is the desire of the writer here to bring us to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden, and thus to the testing of man. That is one of the most important revelations we have about our fallen race. But let us begin with a chronological note:
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up--for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered he whole face of the ground--then the Lord God formed manÉ(Genesis 2:4-7).
You will notice the emphasis here upon the little time word, "then." Undoubtedly this rendering of the Revised Standard Version is the most accurate translation of the Hebrew. It is somewhat different from the King James text, and may even create more problems, but it is certainly more true to the original. The amazing thing is that here we have the creation of man linked to the third day of creation when the land emerged from the seas, and plant life began to appear.
The third and sixth days of creation link together in a most unusual way. This present text lends credence to the theory of a recapitulation: days one, two, and three; then, in a strange and rather remarkable way which no one fully understands, days four, five, and six are linked with the first three days (days one and four, two and five, three and six). I point this out for your own intellectual challenge, to open your mind to the possibility of viewing these accounts of creation in a different light from the conventional six-day approach.
It is also obvious that different conditions prevailed on earth in those early days than prevail now. There was no rain upon the earth, but a mist watered the ground. It is possible that this condition continued until the flood; it may be as some have suggested, that the rain that fell during the days of the flood were the first rains to occur upon earth, though geology would suggest otherwise. At least it is clearly apparent that conditions were greatly different in the distant past.
Man Out of Dust
Now we come to a most remarkable unfolding of the make-up of man:
Éthen the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being [or literally, a living soul] (Genesis 2:7).
Here is a condensed account of some tremendously significant things. We do not need to quibble over just how God formed the body of man. Did he pile dirt together, wet it with water to make a mud-statue, and then breathe life into it? No one knows. Certainly when we consider the miracle of conception and birth, when two tiny, almost invisible, cells meet together and begin to grow and divide under a rigid interlock of controls, developing at last into a human being such as we see ourselves to be, we need not ask about the ability of God to make man in his own remarkable way. Perhaps the event occurred along the line of the development of birth. We need not be concerned about the questions which people in the past have beat each other over the head with. Whether Adam had a navel or not is of little significance to me. What we are told here is that there are three divisions in man.
God first made the body of man, forming it from the dust of the earth. It is true that the same elements that are found in the dust of the ground are found also in the body of man. It is to dust that we return. You may recall the story of the little boy who came in to his mother and said excitedly, "Mother, is it true that we are made from the dust and that after we die we go back to the dust?" She said, "Yes, it is." "Well," he said, "I looked under my bed this morning, and there's someone either coming or going!"
We may not fully understand all that is involved in these pregnant sentences of Genesis 2:7, but it is important to notice that though the body of man was evidently formed first, yet the text itself does not say, "the body" but it says God formed man of dust from the earth. That has significance. Man is more than a body. He is not merely an animated piece of beefsteak, a hunk of meat with a nervous system. He is more than body; he is soul as well. The functions of the soul are wonderfully linked to those of the body in ways that we have not even begun to fathom.
For instance, the functions of the soul (reason, emotion, and will) are also, in a remarkable way, functions of our physical life. Reason is related to the brain, for it is only as the brain operates that reason occurs. Glands have great power over our emotional life. The hormones which they secrete directly affect us emotionally. Thus the functions of the soul are tied most remarkably to the body, and no one fully understands the mystery of it. In forming man, God made body and soul together, with the capacities for the function of the soul lying dormant within the body of man.
Breath of Life
Then, into this body with an inactive soul, the account says God breathed, through the nostrils, a living spirit. The phrase, breath of life, in the Hebrew, means a spirit of life. The words for breath and spirit are the same, both in Hebrew and in Greek, so that this is more than simply a picture of God breathing into man's nostrils. This is not face-to-face resuscitation; it is the impartation of a spirit into man. As we know from other Scripture passages, the spirit is our essential nature. It is this that distinguished man so remarkably from the animal creation. Thus as man comes into being, he comes full-orbed, as a threefold being, existing in body, soul, and spirit.
It is the joining together of spirit and body which activates and galvanizes the soul, so that it begins to function. Perhaps you can see something of the same principle in the operation of an electric light bulb. By itself a bulb is simply some wire and glass, rather commonplace, but with a remarkable potential. Add an invisible substance, electricity, and pass it through that visible wire, and a third function is born: light. Light is different from the wire, and different from the electricity, but comes streaming forth from that bulb. It is very much the same way with man. God made a body, with its possibilities of function as a soul, and breathed into it a spirit, and the union of body and spirit produced the activity of soul, as light is produced from the wire and electricity.
When the spirit passes from the body, the life of the body ends. James tell us, "the body apart from the spirit is dead" (James 2:26). We bury the body, and the spirit returns to God who made it, the Scriptures say. Whatever portion of the soul (or the life of man--that part of us that has functioned within this time and space continuum) which has been saved, also returns with the spirit to God. I think it is significant to note that in the Scriptures, the spirit is regenerated but the soul is saved. There is only one place to my recollection, in which Scripture ever mentions a spirit being saved. It is the soul, the life that we are living now, that needs to be saved. That part of it which is lived in the power of the Spirit of God, functioning in relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ as God intended man to live, is saved. Our souls are thus being saved as we live day by day in relationship to the Son of God. That "saved" soul is what we have left after this life, and only that. All else is wood, hay, and stubble, to disappear in the judging flame of God.
Now in fallen man, the spirit that is given to man is dead. This is what the Scripture means when it says man is dead in trespasses and sin. His spirit does not function as it should. Therefore the soul, which reflects like a mirror the activities of the spirit, reflects a lifeless nature. This is what creates the intense, worldwide restlessness of our race, the inability to be satisfied, the unending search for answers that are never found. It is all an expression of a wasted spirit, lying ruined within us because of the fall of man. But in the beginning as Adam came perfect from the hand of God, he was a lamp and a lamp that was lit; alive in ways beyond anything that we can conjecture.
Now the third note of this passage is geographical:
And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris (or Hiddedel) which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates (Genesis 2:8-14).
Here is the account of man placed in a garden. In passing I might point out that the name of the garden is never given to us. The name of it was not Eden; it was a garden placed in the land of Eden. The region in which the garden was found is called Eden, but the name of the garden itself is not given. There is no suggestion here that the whole earth was a garden, as we sometimes mistakenly conjecture. God marked off a certain division of it which he turned into a garden, and there he placed man. The task of man in that garden was to learn there the secrets that would enable him to turn the rest of the earth into a garden. But because man failed in the garden, he was unable to discover those secrets and, instead of turning the world into a garden, he is turning it into a garbage dump.
The proof that this account is no myth is that two of the rivers mentioned can still be identified. We have certain geographical landmarks given to us. Remember that this account describes a place that existed before the flood had undoubtedly widely changed the surface of the earth. Yet, certain of these rivers can be identified. The Tigris and the Euphrates, of course, still bear those names. The other two rivers are perhaps identical with certain streams which still flow, one into the Black Sea and the other into the Caspian Sea, both arising out of the mountains of Ararat in Armenia, where the ark rested after the flood.
There is an interesting reference here to the gold of the land. If you are familiar with Greek mythology, you know that the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece is set in this same area. It was to this part of the earth that Jason went in his search for the Golden Fleece. Thus the idea of gold has been associated with this land for a long time. The account is not myth but it is grounded in history, as is all of Scripture. These accounts are indeed symbolical, but they have roots solidly grounded in history.
Now the final and most important note is theological:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Genesis 2:15-17).
We must now take a look at these trees in the midst of the garden and their fruit. Once it was the fashion to deride this whole account as being ridiculous. The idea of Adam and Eve partaking of an actual fruit that had an evil effect upon them has been ridiculed and derided for many years. Yet, in these days of increased drug abuse we should hardly expect such disdain to be exhibited any longer. Now we well know that there are drugs and chemical agents present in fruits and other plants that can have this effect upon man. We know that many of these drugs have a most powerful effect, not only upon the human mind, stimulating it in strange, mysterious, and even dangerous ways, but we know also that they can affect even the chromosome structure of the body and pass along defects to children yet unborn. This is exactly the story of the garden of Eden.
Just as today we see young people drawn by the lure and attractiveness of psychedelic experiences, so Eve was drawn to this strange and mysterious fruit that hung before her, luring her powerfully with promises of strange and wonderful things that would satisfy and fulfill her, but which, in the actual partaking, would injure and damage and destroy the whole race that would follow. We need struggle no longer with the literalness of this account.
It is interesting that after this brief appearance in Genesis, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil disappears from Scripture, primarily because its effects have become commonplace. But the tree of life does convey immortality to man, and as such is used in Scripture as a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Book of Revelation the tree of life appears as a symbol of the person of Christ. Paul wrote to Timothy and said of Christ that he "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). As we come to the Lord Jesus Christ and are related to him, we experience that which was the capability of this tree of life in the garden of Eden, from which man was ultimately excluded.
What is This Tree?
But what is this tree of the knowledge of good and evil? That is the question that looms before us as we look at this chapter. After all, what is wrong with knowing good and evil? Surely it is a good thing to know the difference between good and evil. Many Scripture passages encourage us to become mature enough to be able to distinguish between good and evil, and one mark of immaturity in a Christian is that he cannot tell the difference. lie is like a child, like a worldling; he does not know how to distinguish between good and evil. But if it is a good thing to know the difference between good and evil why did God forbid Adam to partake of this fruit?
We get a little more light if we look ahead to chapter three where, in the story of the fall of man, we have the words of the serpent to the woman. He said to her,
"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will he opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5).
Now everything the Devil says is not a lie. He uses truth, or rather, misuses truth in order to draw us on until we become the victims, ultimately, of his lie. But he baits his trap with truth, and here is the truth from the lips of the Devil. "You will," he says, "have your eyes opened when you eat of this fruit, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." That suggests a clue as to what this fruit was and what it did.
how does God know good and evil? Think about it for a moment and you will see that God knows evil, not by experience because he cannot experience evil, but by relating it to himself. That which is consistent with his character and his nature is good; that which is inconsistent with it is evil. That which is out of line, out of character with himself is evil, destructive, and dangerous; but all that is in line with his own nature is good. That is how God "knows" good and evil. He relates it to himself.
It Was All a Lie
But God is the only one who can properly do that. God is the only Being in all the universe who has the right to relate all things to himself. When a creature tries it he gets into trouble. The creatures of God's universe are made to discover the difference between good and evil by relating all to the Being of God, not to themselves. When man ate of the fruit he began to do what God does--to relate everything to himself. Yet, as a creature, he has no real ability to maintain this kind of relationship and thus he is constantly interjecting an unbalanced element into life. When man began to think of himself as the center of the universe, he became like God. But it was all a lie. Man is not the center of the universe, and he cannot be.
But as you trace the course of human history you can see that this is the seductive lie that the serpent has whispered into the ears of men ever since: "You are the center of life. This is your world, everything relates to you. What you like is right; what you don't like is wrong. What you want to do is right; don't let anyone make you do what you don't want to do. You are the center of things." You can find this idea throbbing and pulsating throughout the philosophies of men, that man stands at the center of things.
That is the curse that fell upon man when he ate of the fruit in the garden of Eden. In a psychedelic way his mind was twisted and he thought of himself as God, and related all things to himself. But when man does this he introduces an eccentric element into life, into creation. The problem with our unbalanced world today is that we have an earth filled with several billion eccentrics! That is why everything is always going off in wrong directions.
But the glory of the gospel is that when men are redeemed through faith in Jesus Christ they resume a balanced life, and everything relates once again to God. God now becomes the center of things. Though we may struggle to learn this, eventually all the thrust and purpose of the gospel are here, to put God back into the center of his world and relate everything in our life and in the lives of others to him and not to us. It does not make any difference how things affect us. The important thing is, what do they do to God? What is his relationship to these things?
Let me illustrate that with two stories I heard when I was in Guatemala. Some friends and I were driving about Guatemala, visiting the old capital city, Antigua, with its lush tropical vegetation in its marvelous setting at the foot of three volcanoes. As we were going about the city my friends told me these two stories.
Several years ago, a mutual friend of ours had been killed in an automobile accident. Although my narrator had not been with him when he was killed, she came to the death scene and saw how the car was badly torn and mutilated in the accident. As the highway patrol examined the car they saw that the two men in the front seat, Dick and Victor, had not fastened their seatbelts. One of the investigators, an expert in this field, made the comment that if these men had fastened their seatbelts, Victor would have been killed instead of Dick.
My friend had occasion to tell Dick's widow of these circumstances, and her response was to cry out, "Why did this happen? Why was it Dick that was chosen, why did he have to die?" Then, as she watched the other man, Victor, in his ministry and saw how he was used and what a blessing he was to so many, even though she knew her husband was equally gifted, she faced this question and found that there was only one answer: God. It was God's choice, God's will. She said, "Who am I to tell him whom to choose? God has the right to make these decisions." Thus she related the most tragic event of her life to the central Being of history and found peace for a troubled heart.
The other story concerns Cameron Townsend, who founded Wycliffe Bible Translators many years ago in Guatemala. He came as a young man of twenty-one into the high mountains near Lake Atitlan and there began his translation work.
From that simple beginning the worldwide ministry of Wycliffe Bible Translators has come. On the occasion of Wycliffe's fiftieth anniversary celebration in Guatemala, Cameron Townsend was there. He was highly honored by the government and people of Guatemala, and all of Central America. They had banquet after banquet in his name and he was given the highest honors which those countries were capable of bestowing. Everywhere he went he was feted and honored and his work exalted.
But my friend told me that, typically, Dr. Townsend turned every occasion into an opportunity to speak of the Lord Jesus Christ and of his work. Refusing the honor for himself, he related it to the One to whom it belonged. He put God into the center of things and maintained the balance of life.
This is what the Scripture means when it says that all of life must be built around the person of the Lord Jesus in order to make sense. There is coming a day when every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Then the destruction, desolation, and heartache of the garden of Eden will be reversed, and men will once again acknowledge the centrality of God in life. Then the world will be filled with glory and righteousness from the river to the ends of the earth. Everything will be what God intended it to be.
But the glory of the gospel is that this can happen in human hearts right now. This is what the gospel message is all about. Have you ceased your rebellion against the will of God? Have you stopped trying to be a little god, trying to run things in your own home or office the way you want them to be? Have you crowned Jesus Christ Lord of his empire, where he belongs, and invited him with gladness to sit upon the throne of your heart and rule there? Have you stopped your grumbling and complaining about all the things that come into your life, that are his choice for you, and begun to rejoice as the Scriptures exhort us, to "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"? (1 Thessalonian 5:18).
Prayer: How we need this exhortation, our Father, to remind us of the one great theme of life: that life cannot, will not ever make sense, will not cease its endless friction, until it is related to the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant that our hearts may each crown him anew Lord of Lords, King of Kings, and mean it--to live each day in that holy relationship. We ask in his name, Amen.
As a man who lives with a wife, four daughters, and a mother-in-law, I approach the subject of understanding women with considerable timidity. In our home I am even grateful for a mailbox out front! But in considering this subject I do not turn to experience, but to the wonderfully helpful words of Scripture. In the latter part of Genesis, this theme is brought before us, the making of woman, and the role of woman in marriage--for when God made a woman, marriage was born.
In these latitudinarian days we read occasionally in the papers of the "marriage" of homosexuals. What a pathetically shabby imitation of what God intended marriage to be! Marriage involves a man and a woman, and this passage reveals to us three very helpful things relating to women and to marriage. In the first part we shall see the intent of God in making woman; then there follows a significant description of the process which he followed; and then the qualities of true marriage that result from the making of woman are outlined. Let us first turn to the intent of God:
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him (Genesis 2:18-20).
The first thing that is clear from this passage is that woman was made to be man's companion. "It is not good that the man should be alone." We know today that one of the most shattering emotions human beings experience is loneliness. When God pronounced a sentence of "not good" upon man's condition it was the interjection of the first negative element in the story of creation. Until then, everything had been pronounced good, and on the sixth day of creation God said that everything he had done was "very good." But now we read that it was not good for man to be alone, indicating that it never was God's intention for man to be alone, that from the very beginning he intended to make two sexes.
For a man or woman to exist in loneliness is always a devastating threat to the happiness and welfare of that individual. Loneliness is now reckoned to be the single greatest cause of suicide in this country, and it is undoubtedly the most widespread source of human misery in the world today. Yet it is a perfectly human experience. Each of us has felt at times the need for human companionship. There is nothing wrong with that; God made us that way. We need one another. We were not made to exist in loneliness.
I once heard John R. W. Stott of London, England, point out from the close of Paul's second letter to Timothy how lonely Paul was. Mr. Stott described the apostle s he sat in his tiny dungeon in Rome, with a circular opening in the ceiling above him as the only access, and how he informed Timothy that all had forsaken him and he begged the young man to come to him soon, before winter if possible, and to bring with him certain articles of clothing, books, and parchments, because he was cold in body, bored in mind, and lonely in spirit. Mr. Stott brought out what a perfectly human reaction this was. Despite the fact that the apostle could look beyond, that his departure was near at hand, and he was about to join the Lord in glory, and though he was thrilled with the possibilities that opened before him, yet this did not cancel out the human element of loneliness.
Now God knows that we need one another, and he provides others for us. It is clear from this passage that the chief, although not the sole answer, to the loneliness of man is the making of woman; man and woman together in marriage. One of the primary purposes of marriage is to provide companionship, a sharing of life together. I read recently that one of the famous actresses of the stage, the skilled and popular Gertrude Lawrence, once announced to her friends that she would like to get married. They said, "Why? You have everything that anyone could want. You have fame, close friends, abundant social life. What could marriage add to you?" She said, "It is because I want so desperately to have someone to nudge." She highlighted the need for companionship and the fact that this is an elementary hunger in human life.
Designed to Help
The second intent of God was that woman should be a helper to man, someone to share not only his life as a companion but his work and responsibilities as well. Man and woman are to work together in the building of a home and a life. It is interesting that this has been true from the very beginning of man's existence: men and women designed to work together. Perhaps there is nothing more destructive to marriage than the commonly held attitude that the man has his area of responsibility, his realm of life, such as his work, and the woman has hers--the home, the children--and there is little or no sharing together in these areas. It is always a destructive element in any home or marriage for either mate to hold out for a private realm to the exclusion of the other. The man has nothing much to say around the home; the woman has nothing to do with her husband's work. This is terribly wrong.
It is clear from this passage that God made woman to be a helper to man and to share with him a mutual concern and responsibility, though they may have different assignments according to the nature of their work. The nature of the work that supports a home and the level of living is to be primarily determined by the husband, but the decisions by which these are carried out and the labor involved is shared equally by the wife. This is made clear in this reference to woman as man's helper. But it is made even clearer by the remarkable verse that follows.
Here we have what logicians call a non sequitur, something that apparently has no relationship to what has gone before; it does not seem to follow. We have just read that God intends to make "a helper fit for him," which of course must be a woman, and then we read:
So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name (Genesis 2:19).
What has that to do with making a woman? How does that follow God's declaration of intent to make a helper for man? Obviously there must be a connection here. God set Adam to the task of studying the animals. He gave him a project to work out before he was ready for marriage. Doubtless it was in order to show him that his wife was to be quite different from the animals. Many men have not learned that yet, but it is clear that this was the intent of God in setting man out upon this search.
Now what did he learn as he examined the animals? Adam could not possibly have given names to the animals without knowing the character of each, because a name always reflects a characteristic. In the giving of a name to each of the animals Adam had to understand, whether by a revelation from God or by searching and examining on his own, something of the character of each animal. There are several things immediately evident that Adam learned in his study.
Pertaining to Animals
Perhaps first, he learned that woman was not to be a mere beast of burden as she has so often become in the history of the race since. There are societies where women are treated exactly like animals, where the price of a woman is approximately the price of a cow, and where women are sometimes traded for cows. But this is a violation of what Adam learned in the beginning, that woman is not like the animals. Adam did not find in the animals a helper fit for him. His wife, when she appeared, was quite different.
Therefore woman is not to be treated as a slave whose function begins and ends with household work. For a man to treat his wife as though she were only a servant or housekeeper, there only to keep everything in order, is devastating to her personality. Perhaps the most frequent cause of complaint from women in marriage is a variation on the theme: "He looks upon me just like another thing around the house. I'm like part of the furniture," This is terribly destructive to a woman's psychological make-up.
Second, Adam unquestionably learned in his search that woman is not to be merely a biological laboratory for the producing of children. Obviously it is women who bear children, but they are not to be like the animals who bear progeny as almost their sole reason for existence. Women are not to be like that. Sex has a much higher function in human life than the mere reproduction of children. One of the most destructive ideas that has been spread among mankind has been the teaching that the first and primary reason for marriage is the production of children. The Bible does not reflect that at all. There is in the Bible ample justification for birth control when circumstances warrant, and man has come to understand this under the terrible pressure of an exploding population that has made him face up squarely to the fact that woman was never intended to be merely a baby factory.
Third, Adam probably learned in his search that woman is not a "thing" outside himself. Women are not beasts of burden, they are not simply for producing children, and they are not something to be used at the whim of man and then disposed of. They are to be a helper fit for him, corresponding to him. Much of the current philosophy of life reflects the idea that women are nothing more than playthings for man--disposable women--you use them as you would use a Kleenex and then toss them away. But this passage directly contradicts that. Woman is to be a helper and a companion, fit for man, corresponding exactly and continuously to his needs, constantly able to adjust to the changes that come in to his life.
Let us move on to consider briefly the process which God followed in making woman:
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man (Genesis 2:21,22).
This most interesting account has been derided and laughed at as being literally impossible, yet those who deride it forget that they are reckoning with an almighty God. A scientist told me once that it is quite possible for any cell of the body potentially to reproduce, not only itself, but the member of which it is a part, and even ultimately the whole body. I have not looked into that further but if that is the case then there is certainly no problem involved in God actually taking a rib and using it to make a woman. It is absurd to argue as some do that this could not have happened because men have the same number of ribs as women do today. After all, if you cut off your finger it does not mean that your children will be born minus a finger.
But there are two things about this that are very significant. First, there is the revelation that man was caused to fall into a deep sleep and woman was made during this period of unconsciousness. These things are reported to us not only because they actually happened but because they also are suggestive of certain continuing relationships that obtain. This period of unconsciousness strongly suggests what modern psychology also confirms, that the relationships of marriage, the ties between a man and his wife, are far deeper than mere surface affection. They are a part, not only of the conscious life of man, but of the unconscious, the subconscious.
This explains what any marriage counselor soon recognizes: why it is that men and women are so puzzled by one another's reactions at times. They know that they themselves are often upset or angry or hurt at something the other one has done, but they can't put their finger on the reason. It is, of course, because the other person has violated a basic drive which God himself has built into the feminine or masculine nature and which is rooted in the basic nature of each individual. Though we cannot put our finger on what is bothering us, we know there is something wrong. This is why Peter in his first letter exhorts the man to dwell with his wife "according to knowledge" (1 Peter 3:7, KJV). The responsibility of the man in marriage is to understand what the Scriptures teach about women, and to help his wife to understand herself as well as to understand him. She will have a much easier task understanding him than she does herself.
Close to the Heart
The second revelation here is that woman was made from a rib. Skeptics laugh at this, but God knew what he was doing. It is most significant that a rib was chosen from which to make woman. The rib emphasizes the essentially emotional nature of women. Ribs are the bones nearest the heart, and are thus closely linked with the heart. Throughout Scripture it is always the heart which is pictured as the center of emotional life.
This emotional character of woman is confirmed by modern psychology. Tears, fears, and cheers come more easily to women than they do to men. In this, woman is designed to complete man, to be a helper fit for him. It is this very emotional nature which adds color and warmth to life. How drab life would be without it.
The second significant aspect of the rib is that it emphasizes the protective instinct in women. It is the rib which protects the vital organs of the chest and notably the heart. In fact, the Hebrew word for "helper" is the word azar, which means "to surround." Just as the rib cage surrounds the heart and protects it, so there is in woman an instinctive reaction of protectiveness. Anyone who has tried to come between a man and his wife, or to abuse a man to his wife, knows what I mean. C. S. Lewis has pointed this out in asking the question, "if your dog has bitten a neighbor's child, would you rather face the mother or the father to discuss the issue?"
So the process of God in making woman reveals that she is to be a companion and a helper, by utilizing to the full her inherent emotional and protective instincts. Now we come to the qualities of marriage that result from the union of man and woman:
Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed (Genesis 2:23-25).
This is a very remarkable passage because it encompasses in brief all the great concepts of marriage that run throughout the rest of the Bible. They are all condensed and encapsulated in these few verses. When God had finished making woman and Adam had slept off the deep unconsciousness into which he had fallen, God brought the woman to Adam. What a scene that must have been! Here is the first of a long, long series of boy meets girl stories. Out of the highly condensed account of this encounter there emerge four factors essential to true marriage.
One Flesh
The first and most fundamental of all is that marriage is to involve a complete identity of the partners; two are to be one. Adam's first reaction when he saw his wife was, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh," that is, she is one being with me. This is strengthened in the latter part of verse twenty-four where it adds, "and they become one flesh." It is not without reason that this has become part of the marriage service, this recognition of unity. As someone has well said, the one word above all that makes marriage successful is "ours." Things belong to "us." "Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." Thus, as the New Testament so wisely points out, the man who hurts his wife is hurting himself. He may not feel it directly, but down the line the result of it will show in his life, because she is really, genuinely, and factually sharing one life with him. They become one flesh. This is not poetry; it is reality.
Two people become one when they are married, and as their life goes on together, there is a blending of psyches, a merging of lives, and the creating of a single history. It is for this reason that divorce is such a terrible thing, especially after years of marriage. It is the severing of a person. It is butchery, the dividing up of a single life, much as you would take an axe and split a body in two. No wonder it is so terribly painful--much more deeply felt than those who experience it understand at the time.
The second thing that is brought out here is the biblical principle of headship, which is developed at much greater length in the New Testament. "She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man." Paul enlarges on this in his letter to the Corinthians, to point out that man was not made for woman but woman was made for man (1 Corinthians 11:9). It is the man who is ultimately responsible before God for the nature and character of the home. It is the man who must exercise leadership in determining the direction in which the home should go, and must therefore answer for that leadership, or its lack, before God. The woman's responsibility is to acknowledge this leadership.
One of the most serious threats to marriage and one of the primary causes of divorce in our day, is the fact that men are abdicating the role of leadership in the home, leaving it up to the wife to raise the children. They are refusing to be fathers to their children and husbands to their wives, wanting rather to be sons to another mother and to have their own needs ministered to.
The third factor indicated here which characterizes true marriage is permanence. "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife." This is a strong word. In the Hebrew text it is the word, dabag, which means "to adhere firmly, as if with glue," to be lovingly devoted to a wife. In the days of Henry Ford and the Model T, someone asked him to what formula he attributed his successful marriage. He said, "The same formula as the making of a successful car: stick to one model." That is exactly what is said in this passage. A husband is to cleave to his wife. He forsakes all others and adheres to her. Whatever she may be like, he is to hold to her. He is to stay with her, and she with him, because marriage is a permanent bond.
Nothing to Hide
Finally, the fourth factor is set forth in this verse: "And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed." This speaks clearly of openness between a man and wife--literally, nothing to hide. They have no secrets, nothing that they do not share with each other. It is the failure to achieve this kind of openness that lies behind so much breakdown in marriage, the utter lack of communication, where two sit and look at one another and say nothing. They may talk about merely surface trivialities, but there is no discussion of their problems or what they are thinking on various issues. This is often why they are so judgmental with one another, each one trying to get the other to agree and not being willing to allow differences of viewpoint to exist.
But openness does not mean agreeing or feeling the same. It means a readiness to share with one another, completely, without insisting that the other reflect the same attitude. There is room here for ultimate decisions and the submitting of a wife to the leadership of the husband. Openness does not cancel that out. But there is to be a complete freedom of communication, one with the other. Marriages shrivel, wither, and die when this is not true.
What is the result of all this? In Eden these four principles were at work. Adam and Eve were united as one. There was the recognition of the principle of headship. Adam had the right to make ultimate decisions in all matters. They intended to be together permanently and Adam was responsible for this. There was an openness between them so that they hid nothing from one another. What was the result? The text says, "they were not ashamed." Well if they were not ashamed, what were they? What is the opposite of being ashamed? It is to be relaxed. We would use the term, well-adjusted. They felt at ease with each other. There was no strain in their marriage. They were fully at ease with one another. Is that not what we strive for in marriage? These are the principles that produce it.
There is God's design for marriage. As we hold it before us we can see by contrast the reasons why so many marriages are failing. What we need desperately is to return to this biblical pattern, for here are revealed the secrets of happy married life.
Prayer: As always, Father, we feel the searching quality of your word as it seeks us out and exposes to us the weakness of our lives and the wrongness of our attitudes. But it sets before us also, so beautifully, the great possibilities of our lives, the potential that awaits us when we are willing to submit ourselves to the wisdom that is reflected in your word. Grant to us now submissive hearts and restored confidence in one another. Make our homes happy ones, where children are delighted to stay home and share times of fellowship with their father and mother, where friends look forward to coming, where peace, harmony, and joy prevail, and grace is manifest in every day's activities. We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.
It is with a heightened sense of anticipation that we come to chapter three of Genesis. In many ways this is the most important piece of information ever conveyed to man. Here is the ultimate explanation for the tensions and conflicts that are constantly flaring up around the world. Here we have the answer to the eternal "why" that arises in our hearts in times of tragedy or sorrow. Here is the explanation for over a hundred centuries of human heartache, misery, torture, blood, sweat, and tears. Here is the reason for the powerful fascination that drugs hold for young people today; the passion for power; the lure of wealth; and the enticements of forbidden sex, to young and old alike. Here is the only reasonable answer for the existence of all these things in the world today.
If you remove this chapter from the Bible, the rest of it is absolutely incredible. Ignore the teaching of this chapter in history and the story of humanity becomes impossible either to understand or to explain. The most striking thing about Genesis three is that you and I find ourselves here. You can't read through this story without feeling that you have lived it yourself, because you have.
The temptation and the fall are reproduced in our lives many times a day. We have all heard the voice of the Tempter. We have all felt the drawing of sin. We know the pangs of guilt that follow.
This is why many call this story a myth. In the sense that it is timeless truth, perhaps that word has certain rationality. But there are other implications of the term myth which make it unsuitable to apply to this account. It is timeless in the sense that this is always happening to mankind, but it is timeless only because it is also fact. It actually did occur. It happens continually because it did happen once to our original parents and thus, we, their children, cannot escape repeating it. In that sense there is no chapter in the Bible that is more up-to-date and more pertinent to our own situation than this one.
The Shining One
Let us look at the Tempter himself and the first point of the strategy that he employs. The Tempter is introduced in the first sentence of verse one:
Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made (Genesis 3:1).
I am very sorry that this word in the Hebrew was ever translated "serpent," because it has given rise to a very false idea about this story--that there was in the garden of Eden a talking snake. I have no doubt in my mind that if God chose to make a snake talk, he could. I accept fully the other account in the Bible of a talking animal, when God opened the mouth of Balaam's ass and spoke to the prophet through the donkey. I have no problem with this. Even man can teach animals to talk and surely God can do so.
But the interesting thing is that this account does not really say that there was a snake in the garden of Eden. The Hebrew word here is Nachash which means literally "to shine," or in the noun form here, a "shining on." If you read it that way, an entirely different being emerges:
Now the shining one was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made.
Thus, the first description that we have of the Tempter is that he appeared to Eve as a shining one. Undoubtedly, snakes were created to represent this being who appeared in the garden as the shining one, as other kinds of animals represent certain characteristics of people. For instance, in the rest of Scripture we can see that wolves were deliberately designed by God to represent and symbolize rapacious human beings, vicious people. Sheep, I believe, were designed deliberately by God to represent believers. If you ever get to feeling proud of yourself, go study some sheep for awhile. (I come from Monta-a-a-a-a-na and feel somewhat of an expert in this area.) And it is clear from the Scriptures that pigs were designed by God to symbolize unbelievers, unregenerate people.
It is no wonder then that snakes have become an almost universal symbol of Satan. But here it was not a snake that appeared but a shining one, of whom snakes have become symbols. You will recall that Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians speaks of Satan as "an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). So it was the Nachash that appeared, the shining one. He is also called in the Book of Revelation that "old serpent," the original serpent, the Devil. There is thus no question about the identity of the one who suddenly appears here.
It is the Devil in his character as an angel of light, a shining being, all glorious to behold, who now confronts the woman in the garden of Eden. He is the being whom Jesus Christ called "the ruler of this world." He is the one whom Paul refers to as "the god of this age," the malevolent being who is behind the philosophy of men, who dominates the thinking of the world, who has the ear of humanity and whispers into it a lie, an outrageous but very attractive lie, that makes men drool with desire. This is the one of whom Martin Luther properly said, "On earth is not his equal." No man is able to outwit the Devil. He has defeated the greatest saints of God at times throughout all of history, except for the Son of God himself.
We are also told here that he was "more subtle than any other wild creature" (literally, living creature) The word subtle means crafty or cunning. His craftiness is evident right from the beginning in that he sought out the woman. It was a desire to play on her emotional nature that led the Devil to seek out the woman and to begin his temptation with her. He comes, as he always does, in disguise. He never appears with horns, hooves, and a tail, announcing that he is Satan. If he came that way, everyone would reject him. No one wants to he evil, in that open, defiant sense. But the Devil is disguised, appearing to be not bad but good, a shining being of wholesome character and benevolent purpose.
The Devil Is Limited
Let us move on to consider the strategy which the Tempter employs. It is exactly the strategy he uses on us--not that we shall see visions of shining beings, but the personality he exemplifies, the character in which he appears, is the same now as then. Scripture makes clear that the Devil can also appear as a roaring lion, he can strike in tragedy, in sickness, in physical evil, as he did to job or to the Apostle Paul with his thorn in the flesh which Paul called the messenger of Satan. Or, as a lion, he can strike fear into our hearts. But his most effective strategy is to appear as something or someone who appeals to us as an angel of light; as such, his strategy is always the same.
This is actually encouraging. If you learn how to recognize the strategy of the. Devil, you will find that he invariably employs the same tactics. In a sense, the Devil is very limited. He doesn't vary his tactics widely. Sometimes we feel we will never learn how to anticipate the Devil. But we can learn, The Apostle Paul said that he was not ignorant of the Devil's devices. If we learn how he works, we can easily detect him in our lives.
As a matter of fact, the Apostle James has described this strategy very plainly in one or two verses:
Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death (James 1:14,15).
There is the strategy of the Devil. It is his strategy here in the garden of Eden and it is his strategy in your life and mine. The only difference between us and Eve in the garden is that for her the Tempter stood outside. She was innocent and he stood outside attempting to reach into her mind and thoughts. Since the fall, the Tempter is within us and has access to us so that we are never out of reach of temptation. We are always exposed. We can go a thousand miles away but we will never be able to avoid temptation. We carry a tempter within us wherever we go.
Yet he always approaches us in the same three stages and those steps are outlined clearly in this passage from James. His first tactic is to arouse desire. James says that every man "is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." The first step the Devil takes with us is always to arouse desire to do wrong, to create a hunger, a lure or enticement toward evil. The second is to permit intent to form and an act to occur. As James describes it, "desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin."
Notice that the symbol he employs is that of conception and birth. There is a gestation period in temptation, for once desire is aroused there occurs a process which sooner or later issues in sin, an act that is wrong. The third stage is that the Devil immediately acts upon the opportunity afforded by the evil act to move in and to produce results which Scripture describes as "death." "Sin when it is full-grown brings forth death."
This is the Devil's ultimate aim. Jesus said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. He delights in mangling, smashing, twisting, destroying, blighting, and blasting. We can see his activity present everywhere; it is going on around us, in our own lives, and in the lives of others. These are "the works of the Devil," says the Scripture. He brings them about by the process we see in this story.
For the moment, we will consider only the first stage of this process. Let us watch now how the Tempter cunningly moves to arouse desire within Eve's heart.
He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will he opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:1-5)
His first task is to make the woman want to sin. That is not very difficult with us. We respond quite readily to these desires, these urges within us to do wrong. But it was quite a different story with Eve. Remember, at this time she was innocent, she trusted and loved God. She felt no wrong desire springing up from within her, such as we must wrestle with. The Tempter had to awaken a wrong desire in her heart. His opportunity was provided by the gift of free will which God has given to man. This helps to explain the question that many ask: "How is it that the Devil was allowed access to the garden of Eden in the first place? Why does the Tempter appear in this story? How did he get into the garden?"
The only possible answer of course is that God allowed him to come in. He was permitted to come. He came with the full knowledge and consent of God because it was necessary that man be tempted. He must be able to respond voluntarily to God. The greatest gift God has given to us is the ability to make moral choices; we have the right to be wrong if we insist. God himself does not violate this. He does not coerce us. He does not force us to be right. We have the right to reject his love, and the right to turn off his grace, refuse his mercy, and go our own stubborn way. God allows that to be. It is the greatest dignity given to man.
Many people struggle with this. They say, "Why doesn't God make us behave?" Well, if he did, he would have taken away this great dignity. These same people are the ones who say, "Well, I don't want anyone telling me what to do. I want to make up my own mind." But you can't have it both ways. Because God is a God of love--and love never coerces, never forces someone to love in return--it is absolutely essential that man be given the chance to choose whether he wants to continue to love God or to go another direction. So the Tempter comes into the garden and because of the gift of free will he is given the opportunity to tempt the woman. Free will is that which makes us men, but it is also what makes us temptable. Even the Lord Jesus faced this same relationship. He was given the gift of free choice, too, and therefore he was exposed to the power of Satan.
Seed of Doubt
Now notice that in trying to arouse desire in this woman the Tempter follows a threefold plan. This again is very instructive to us, because it is the same way in which he will move with us. His first step was to implant distrust in her heart, a distrust of God's love. He raised the question, "Did God say you shall not eat of any tree of the garden?" He means by this obviously, "Could God have said a thing like that, really? How well do you know him? Do you think that a God who loves you would ask you not to eat of a tree of the garden?"
With that question he plants a seed of doubt in the woman's heart. He is seeking to alter the image of God in her thinking. He is saying in effect, "Either you misunderstood him and he didn't really say that, or if he did say it, he obviously is not quite the kind of a God that you have imagined him to be." With this single question he casts a small cloud over Eve's trust in God, and the response of love in her heart. Could God really have said a thing like that?
Have you ever heard this question? Can a God who loves you forbid anything to you? Is it really love if he forbids something? The question hangs over the whole human race and has done so ever since this first occasion in the garden.
You will notice that the woman's answer is perfectly forthright, without guile. She says immediately,
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die!"
There are some who have attempted to accuse the woman of adding to God's statement when she says, "Neither shall you touch it," because that was not part of the prohibition given in verse seventeen of chapter two. I do not think we need to view it that way. No doubt the woman is giving a fuller account of what God had said. Very likely he did say, "You shall not touch it." God is thereby saying, "Look, this tree is harmful and therefore don't get near it. Don't expose yourself to its temptation."
Most impressively in the Lord's Prayer we are taught to pray, "Lead us not into temptation." Notice the prayer does not say, "Lead me out of temptation once I have gotten into it." No, by the time we have gotten into it, we are already half lost. When we feel the raging of desire within us, it is a late hour to start praying. The Lord teaches us to pray beforehand, "Lead me not even into the realm of temptation. Don't let me come to the place where I shall feel this tremendous arousing and awakening of desire within."
Point of Limitation
Notice that temptation always comes to us at this point of limitation. God said to the man and the woman, "Here is an area in which I must limit you. There is only this one place. The whole world is yours, the whole planet. You may eat of any fruit, any tree, anywhere, except for this one tree." Haven't you discovered that God is forever saying this to us also, in one way or another? In this sense, the tree of good and evil is still right in the midst of the garden of our lives. Wherever we may turn we are confronted by the fact that we are limited in some way. The testing of our humanity is whether we are willing to accept and abide by the limitations God puts upon us.
As a child, are you willing to accept the authority of your parents in the home? As a student, are you willing to accept the fact that you are not a mature person yet that you can't make the rules of life, for you are still learning them?
As a married woman, are you willing to accept the authority of a husband in your life? Are you willing to recognize that God has made a distinction between the sexes and that the man is given a role of leadership that the woman does not have? That is the testing place in your life. As a man, are you willing to accept the fact that you are a man and not God? That there are things you cannot know and mysteries which you can't yet explore?
You are not an infinite being; you are a finite creature. You don't know everything. You must sit at the feet of God and listen to his voice and learn from him. You are not equipped with all that it takes to explore life adequately. You are a man. Are you willing to accept that limitation? Throughout the whole history of our race the violation of this limitation has brought sorrow, heartache, and misery.
Now see how the Tempter moves in quickly. He now dares to deny openly the results that God has stated will occur. "You will not die," he says. He openly substitutes a lie for the truth, but he does it in the realm of the future where you can't check the results. Notice his cleverness here as he says, "It is not going to happen as God says. Don't take God so seriously. Surely these issues are not that important. If God is a God of love, then this can't be a life or death matter. After all, don't make a federal case out of this! It is really rather trivial."
Do you see how this is repeated in life today? It is so easy to say, "These things are simple matters which have to deal only with secondary issues of life. This is not what the Bible says it is--a life or death matter--at least you can't take it that way if you believe in a God who loves you." So the Devil cleverly uses the great truths about the being and character of God to plant a doubt in this woman's heart, and to support it with an outright lie, declaring that what God had predicted would not happen.
Then notice the third step. Quickly he moves in to support his lie with a distorted truth. If we look closely at the many cults of our day, we can see that every false faith is made up of a certain amount of truth--ten percent error and ninety percent truth, mixed together. But ultimately it is the ten percent of error that leads men astray. This is exactly the Devil's tactic here. He said to Eve,
God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Now that was perfectly true. Look at verse seven of this same chapter. "Then the eyes of both were opened." And look also at verse twenty-two, "Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.'"
This is exactly what the Devil said would happen. But with this difference. Their eyes were opened and they did become able to know good and evil as God knows it but they learned to relate everything to themselves. They used, as the measurement of good and evil, their own feelings. That is the way God does. But what the Devil didn't tell them was that this would be the most disastrous thing that could happen to them. They thought that the Devil meant something expansive, something glorious. But when their eyes were opened it was shameful, sordid, and sad. "Oh," you say, "how diabolically clever." Exactly! That is the way the Devil always works. Eyes are opened but not to what is expected.
But now the Devil is through with the woman. He has succeeded in arousing desire, and that is all he wants. The other two stages will almost certainly follow, and they do for Eve is now deceived. All the Devil wishes to do is to leave Eve standing before the fruit, hanging there in all its luscious fascination, tantalizing her, offering her an experience she never dreamed would be possible. He has planted the seed he wants in her heart. He has caused her to slightly distrust God's love, to believe a lie, and to expect an unwarranted result. That is all he needs to do. Now she stands aroused and deceived, in the presence of the fruit, and the Devil can safely leave her, even though she has not yet sinned. He is fully certain that the desired results will follow.
"Well," you say, "what went wrong here? How could she have avoided this? Where was the battle lost?" As you look through the account you can see that the battle was lost right after the first sentence, when he raised the question, "Did God say... ?" From the moment she mentally accepted the idea that God was not fully to be trusted, she was whipped, beaten, and lost. Immediately after that the Devil becomes bold and comes right out in the open to lie to her blatantly. And she believes him.
Have you experienced this kind of thing? This is the process the Tempter uses when he tries to get you to have an affair with another man's wife or another woman's husband. This is the process he follows when he wants to get you involved in a shady business deal, or to cheat in an examination, or simply to tell a lie in your relationships with others.
God's Way--Satan's Way
The interesting thing about this is that there was nothing wrong in arousing desire in this woman's heart, because God does that too. God is at work also to arouse our desires, to make us want to do his will, to stimulate us and activate us, to move us out. The difference lies in the way he does it. If we don't get anything else out of this story we will have learned a tremendous lesson if we can differentiate between the ways God and the Devil arouse desire in the heart of man.
How does God do it? First, he demonstrates his love to us. That is always God's first approach. He comes and touches us somehow, blesses us, pours out upon us his sunshine and his rain, all the blessings of our lives. He comes in Christ and moves in among us and lives with us, blessing us. He gives himself.
Second, he declares a promised result. He gives his word to us. He declares what will happen. He opens to us a new vista of what life can be like. Third, he offers us his presence to bring about the fulfillment of that promise. Jesus said, "Come unto me," and "If any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him" (Revelation 3:20) God offers to enter life personally and to be with us. This leads on to fulfillment, to blessing, to joy, and oneness.
Do you see the contrast between the way God works and the way the Devil works? The Devil first implants a distrust of God's love; the Lord demonstrates his love. God declares a promise to us; the Devil declares a countering lie. God strengthens his promise by offering himself, the truth itself, to us. The Devil distorts that truth and makes it look like something else, makes it vague and undefined. That is the way you can tell the difference.
Are you being tempted to do wrong, take a course that is wrong, make a decision that will lead to death or disaster down the line? How do you know whether it is from God or Satan? It all looks so good, doesn't it? Well, ask yourself these questions. Do I feel cheated, deprived, or limited right now? Do I feel as though God is somehow holding out on me, that I am not being given all that I ought to have, that my rights are being violated, that I am being cheated of something life should give me? Well, then you are listening to the voice of the Tempter. That is his first approach. "Did God say this? Would a God who loves you say a thing like that? Would he hold out on you? Would he postpone the blessing he wants you to have?"
Then ask yourself if what you want contradicts the truth that God has revealed. Can you find in the Scriptures that what you are after, what you are seeking, is wrong, yet all the world is telling you that it is right and that it will bring you blessing? Does the Word of God stand in opposition to what you are after? Then you are listening again to the Tempter's voice, for he lies, outrightly, blatantly. He says the results will be different from what the revealed word says.
Finally ask yourself if the promised result is rather vague and uncertain. Is it just a general promise of blessing or happiness; or is it specific--clearly and precisely defined? If it is unspecific, you are listening again to the voice of the Tempter. This is why the Scripture comes back again and again to this simple theme:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight (Proverbs 3:5).
You are but men, only human. You don't know all there is to know about life. You can't know. There isn't anyone who knows. You desperately need the revelation of truth which can come from God alone. No one else can supply it. No other book will give you the answers. There is no other place where you can find out what life is all about except in the Word of God. Therefore, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths" (Proverbs 3: 5,6)
Prayer: How long it has taken us, Father, to learn the truths that are declared to us in this passage. How ignorant we have been. What dupes, what stupid victims we have been of the Devil's lies, so many times in our lives. How foolish we have been to distrust your love, to believe that you who love us could tell us a lie. Father, open our eyes; help us to see that the only place of fulfillment, the only place of happiness, the only place of joy, is in a heart that trusts and completely rests with quiet acceptance upon your love and grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.
We have watched Eve in the garden of Eden being assaulted in mind and will by the Tempter. As a shining one he appeared to her and sought to arouse a desire in her for the forbidden fruit. The basic nature of temptation, then, is always a pressure upon us to exceed the limitations which God has placed upon us. God has established these limitations for