Inspired Scripture (part 3)

When Scripture is referenced as being God-breathed, one is forced to discern what it means to be God-breathed?  What would the recipient of this letter, immersed within a world of self-identification that was shaped by the Scriptural narrative to which the author refers, have understood when he read about the Creator God-breathed nature of the divinely shaped writings that were set apart to be used by that God for His purposes (holy)?  Answering this question drives necessitates a return to the beginning of the story, to Genesis, and to the creation of the divine image-bearer. 

In the second chapter of Genesis it is written that “The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (2:7).  Here, the Creator God breathed.  In the first chapter, one finds that “God created humankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them.  God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply!  Fill the earth and subdue it” (1:27-28a).  Yes, the second chapter confirms that the Creator God breathed life into the being that He created as and to bear His image into the world---into the being that He intended to tend to His good creation, spreading the knowledge and glory of Himself as His representatives.  Has this mission gone unchanged?  Is this not a great work for which the Creator God continues to train those that are called by His name, doing so through that which is primarily designed to communicate knowledge of Him, that being the Scriptures (and the church)? 

Though this would be a more than sufficient basis upon which to build a doctrinal foundation that should animate all believers in their representation of and service for the kingdom of the God of Israel, this is not an isolated occurrence.  Though this study is certainly not designed to be an exhaustive presentation of the Creator God’s acts of breathing, there are other important instances of such things in Scripture, to which the author of the second letter to Timothy makes reference and most likely expects to be called to mind by this simple reference. 

In the book that bears the name, Job makes reference to the general understanding of the creation narrative and of man’s place in it when he speaks and says “for while my spirit is still in me, and the breath from God is in my nostrils” (27:3).  Later on, Elihu will speak to Job and say “But it is a spirit in people, the breath of the Almighty, that makes them understand” (32:8).  He will continue on to say “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (33:8). 

In Ecclesiastes, the “preacher” insists that “the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the life’s breath returns to God who gave it” (12:7).  In Isaiah, as reference is made to the covenant God’s creation and His creative power, the prophet writes “This is what the true God, the Lord, says---the one who created the sky and stretched it out, the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, the one who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who live on it” (42:5).  Jeremiah and others make the point that “There is no breath in any of those idols” (51:17b).  Idols, which are designed to represent a god, have no breath, whereas a human, a divine image-bearer, is animated by the Creator God’s very breath.  A stark contrast indeed. 

While it is not necessary to take the time to draw all of the possible conclusions that can be teased out from these passages, certainly, these passages from the book of Job, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, which well encapsulates the exile and exodus narrative that appears to be foundational within Scripture, provides a tremendous perspective from which one can view/hear the words on offer to Timothy.    

According To His Own Image (part 2 of 2)

Eve had been told that if she ate the fruit of the tree of which her and Adam had been commanded not to eat, that she would become like a divine being (Genesis 3:5).  Interestingly and with the words of the serpent in mind, it is to be noted that the very first words to be heard from human lips following the expulsion from the garden were “I have created a man just as the Lord did” (4:1b). 

Prior to reading about Adam fathering a son in his own likeness and according to his own image, one finds that “When God created humankind, He made them in the likeness of God.  He created them male and female; when they were created, He blessed them and named them ‘humankind’.” (5:1b)  This is quite the contrast to that which would come to be said of Adam.  The Creator God created humankind in His likeness and image, but Adam was said to have fathered a son in his own likeness and image.  Quite the contrast indeed. 

The being that is the first to be called the son of God (Adam - Luke 3:38), was fathered in and as the image of the Creator God.  He was reported to have been given dominion and rule.  He was given “every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has seed in it” (1:29b).  The Creator said to His image-bearers that “They will be yours for food” (1:29c).  With what is an obviously very careful choice of language, as it is uttered against the backdrop of the cosmic creation mythology, it is said of the first being to be fathered by humankind, that he was fathered in his father’s (Adam) image. 

Unfortunately, due to what is put forth as a faithless rebellion against their God’s command, the dominion and rule had been forfeited.  This son would be told, in stark contrast to that which was first told to his father, that “cursed is the ground… in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field.  By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground” (3:17b-19a). 

So it is to this day.  As the Scripture says: “This is the record of the family line of Adam” (5:1a), as generation after generation come into being and pass away, all fathered in the image and likeness of Adam.  Though today’s generations live within a world in which the kingdom of God has been established, and in which Jesus (the second Adam-Romans 5), Who is the Son of God that is the representation of God’s essence (Hebrews 1:3) and the image of the invisible God that is the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15), Who has rule and dominion because of His death and death-conquering Resurrection through which God began to set His creation to rights, all still struggle with the cursing effect of the fall, in the inaugurated but not yet consummated kingdom of God.   

According To His Own Image (part 1 of 2)

When Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his own image, and he named him Seth. – Genesis 5:3  (NET)

From the beginning, it seems that Seth was looked upon as something of a replacement for Abel.  His name means “placed” or “appointed”.  Upon his birth, Eve, who is said to have named him, declared that “God has given me another child in place of Abel because Cain killed him” (4:25).  In the name that is given to him, and in the statement of Eve, there is a faint echo of what was said by Eve when she gave birth to her first son, Cain. 

When Cain was born, Eve said, “I have created a man just as the Lord did!” (4:1b)  This can be expanded upon, and considering the ordinary course of the process of giving birth, it is possible to hear Eve saying, “The Creator God brought forth this world in which we live from the waters, and I brought forth a man through the waters.”  Given the mindset reflected in “I have created a man just as the Lord did,” one can imagine her repeating this type of statement upon the birth of Abel, and along with what is recorded in the Scriptural narrative, also doing so upon the birth of Seth.  With the name given to Seth, there is almost a sense of “Not only can I create a man just as the Lord did, but I can also appoint and replace that which was lost.  The Creator can restore His creation.  I can do the same.” 

From there, Scripture moves along to the genealogy of Adam, which is then traced through Seth.  It is reported that Adam “fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and he named him Seth” (5:3b).  Seeing these words, and considering that the entirety of the Genesis narrative is shaped and premised by the first two chapters of the story, it is possible to look to the first chapter of Genesis so as to consider the creation of man. 

There it is reported that “God said, ‘Let Us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the creatures that move on the earth’.” (1:26)  In this there is both creation and vocation.  The divine image that humankind was intended to be and to bear, from the outset, included ruling over the earth.  That rule was to exercised in the image and likeness of the Creator God, reflecting His glory into the world and reminding the creation of its Creator. 

Continuing to the very next verse one is able to read the confirmation of the intention of the Creator, as “God created humankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them, male and female He created them” (1:27). In accordance with the plan that went along with His original consideration of their creation, the Creator God is said to have spoken to the human beings that He had created and said “Be fruitful and multiply!  Fill the earth and subdue it!  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground” (1:28b).  When humankind took up the charge to multiply, with this occurring (at least according to the Biblical record) after the fall, doing so induced an understandable measure of pride in the achievement.  Indeed, the words that the serpent is said to have spoken to Eve rang true. 

Israel & Adam (part 2 of 2)

Can one even imagine the providential and creative God’s response to being rejected by Adam?  A sense of it can be had through understanding that God’s response at having been rejected by Israel, as Jeremiah exclaims “Be amazed at this, O heavens!  Be shocked and dumbfounded…Do so because My people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected Me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water” (Jeremiah 2:12-13).  As humankind (via Adam) rejected their life-giver, turning their trust away from their Creator and looking elsewhere for support, ultimately, to other creatures now marred and cursed and corrupted, so too did Israel reject their covenant God that had redeemed them from Egypt and carried them through all their years. 

The Creator God of Israel says, “You have brought all this on yourself, Israel, by deserting the Lord your God when He was leading you along the right path” (2:17).  Effectively, this bears little difference to what that same God can have been thought to have said to Adam.  Again, it should be noted that though the Adam story may very well be a retrojection of the Israel story, it is still the story by which Israel partially defines, understands and presents itself.  Did Adam not desert the Lord and His path, bringing a curse upon all creation, as it is reported, through not heeding the warning promise?  Israel failed to heed the warning promises, and as a result, their faithful covenant God was going to bring a curse upon His people. 

Jeremiah goes on to share that “Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment” (2:19a).  For Israel, the punishment was going to be the curses of siege, destruction, exile, captivity, and oppression.  For humankind, the immediate judgment was that “cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:17b).  Continuing in Jeremiah, the God of Israel informs His people that “Your unfaithful acts will bring about your punishment.  Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you” (2:19b).  Israel’s unfaithfulness was to the covenant, and to their God’s requirements that they do not engage in idolatry, that they reverence the sanctuary, and that they keep His Sabbaths (while also caring for orphans and widows).  Their punishment and their discipline represented their God’s faithfulness to His covenant, in response to His people’s lack thereof.  Adam fared no better.  His unfaithful act most certainly brought about punishment, as it is understood to be the vehicle that carried death into the world for Himself and all living things.  Jumping further along in the story, as the second Adam to come, Jesus reverses this so as to ultimately carry death out of the world by exhausting the curses brought about by both Israel and Adam.   

To Israel, to Adam, and to His covenant people from all nations and generations, the Creator God says, “Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful it was for you to reject Me, the Lord your God, to show no respect for Me” (2:19c).  This is what is spoken by “the Lord God Who rules over all” (2:19d).  The rejection, by Adam, of God’s singular command, brought the curse.  The rejection, by Israel, of their God’s covenant laws and responsibilities (what can be thought of as a singular command) brought exile and captivity.  Later, that rejection would be manifested in the rejection of Jesus as their God’s anointed, crucified, and resurrected King and Lord of all creation.  Submission to His rule means being brought into a fertile land, as were Adam and Israel, so as to enjoy its fruits and its rich bounty in eternal life (the life of the age to come brought into and making itself felt in the present as the Creator God’s people become the place where heaven and earth overlap as part of their service in recognition of their King) and a renewal of God’s good creation.  Rejection means a continued march into the bonds of death, under that curse forever.      

Israel & Adam (part 1 of 2)

Israel was set apart to the Lord; they were like the firstfruits of a harvest to Him. – Jeremiah 2:3a  (NET)

There are interesting similarities to be found between Adam (and Eve) and Israel.  As it is well-nigh possible that the story of Adam is the story of Israel in microcosm, while also being the pre-story for the existence of Israel and the explanation for the superiority of Israel’s God, the similarities make perfect sense. 

In terms of the Scriptural narrative, Adam, of course, was the first of humankind.  He is also represented as the first person to enter into a covenant with the Creator God.  By comparison, Israel was chosen out of all humankind, beginning with Abraham, to be the special, covenant people for the Lord.  As Adam is said to have strayed from the Lord in the matter of the fruit and the rebellion from his simple charge, the actions of God’s chosen, special covenant people would later cause their God to ask why “they strayed so far from Me” (2:5b). 

That straying was highlighted by the prophet Jeremiah and marked by the fact that “They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to Me” (2:5c).  Essentially, they were following the path of Adam, who paid attention (allegiance) to the words of the serpent, as reported by his wife, and thereby relinquished the responsibilities that had been given to Him by God, bringing a curse upon the earth.  It could be said that Adam became worthless to God, and humankind (forsaking covenant responsibility) became a liability in creation. 

The covenant God said to Israel through His prophet Jeremiah: “I brought you into a fertile land so you could enjoy its fruits and its rich bounty” (2:7a).  Likewise, humankind had been delivered into a perfect creation, a fertile land, given responsibility for stewardship and dominion over that creation.  Instruction was provided such that all but one small part of its fruits and its rich bounty could be enjoyed.  However, because Adam could not restrict himself to that which God had offered for Him to enjoy, that perfect creation of God “was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). 

Because of Adam’s actions, “God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful” (6:12).  That is, they had been subjected to corruption and decay because of humankind’s rebellion and faithlessness to the obligations of the covenant as divine image-bearer.  Similarly, Israel had been delivered into the bountiful land but God said that they had “defiled it,” adding that “you made the land I call My own loathsome to Me” (Jeremiah 2:7b).

The Lord goes on to ask, “Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)?  But My people have exchanged Me, their glorious God, for a god that cannot help them all!” (2:11).  The question that is asked and answered concerning Israel, working back through Adam, can then be equally applied to all of humankind.  Just as Israel stooped and fell to the worship of other gods, so too did Adam (first, according to Israel’ story).  For whom did Adam exchange his allegiance?  First, his allegiance went to his wife.  Secondly, it went to the serpent, for the one that could effectively countermand the directives of their Creator, causing humankind to break faith with their God, is the one that is trusted and so worshiped.