Building on what has
been said then, not only would glorifying the Creator God have consisted of Adam
and Eve (the original image and covenant bearers) following His direct command,
but through disobedience they would, apparently for the first time according to
the story told in Genesis, fall short of His glory as well (sin), thereby
losing the ability to adequately and properly and perfectly reflect the glory
of their Creator into the world.
Though this was supposed
to be rectified by the call of Abraham and Israel, this expected rectification would
ultimately be left undone until Jesus placed a foot on to the stage of
history. Clearly then, Adam and Eve can be understood to have not been
thankful for the responsibility with which they had been charged, nor the exalted
position with which they had been blessed. Continuing to allow an
overplay between the first chapter of Romans and the beginning of the
Scriptural narrative, with the influence of the serpent, their thoughts did
indeed become futile. It could certainly be said that their thoughts were
turned towards themselves and away from that which was their God’s purpose for
them.
It could even be said
that the inward turning of thought was the beginning of futility, along with
being the beginning of idolatry, as Adam and Eve were convinced to focus on
themselves and that which they could gain for themselves (becoming like God,
knowing right and wrong), rather than on what their God had done for them and
what it was that they were supposed to be doing in and for the world, and for
His glorification.
In consideration of
the statement from the Apostle Paul that “their senseless hearts were darkened,”
could it not be said that, prior to the ill-fated taking from the tree and the
subsequent fall, that they had no sense of nakedness, no sense of shame, no
sense of fear, no sense of the knowledge of good and evil, no sense of remorse,
and no sense of guilt? Now and quite unfortunately, following the
cataclysmic act of the fall, these senses were all present, having been
darkened by the presence of sin---falling short of the glory of the Creator God
(bearing His image in and for the world). The insistence of Scripture is
that prior to this paradoxical livening and deadening of their senses, they
lived in a conscious state that were devoid of these things, but with what had
been done, that condition was darkened by an evil presence.
Yes, they ate from
the tree. It is said to have been the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. As the story goes, the serpent told them that if they did so, they
would become like divine beings. The serpent said that their eyes would
be opened. The serpent said that they could have power.
Power? Yes, because they understood the power of their God; and because
this tree was connected with knowledge, it could be said that on display here
is the first human premonition that knowledge is power, and they wanted
it.
It is said that part
of the motivation for taking and eating from the tree was that not only was the
fruit “attractive to the eye” (Genesis 3:6b), but that it was also “desirable
for making one wise” (3:6c). Did wisdom come? What is to be found in
the next verse here in Romans? “Although they claimed to be wise, they
became fools” (1:22). Fools! What is it that the Scriptures have to
say about fools? The Psalmist writes that “Fools say to themselves,
‘There is no God.’ They sin and commit evil deeds; none of them does what
is right” (14:1). So what one here observes is that Eve first, and then
Adam, desiring wisdom but becoming fools. In essence and effect, as they
cast off their right bearing of the divine image, they declarie that “there is
no God.” Is this not what they were truly expressing in their desire to
become like gods, beings that know good and evil?
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