“This
day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you
life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your
children may live” (Deut. 30:19).
God did
not force Adam and Eve to love and obey Him. Rather, He gave them a choice. He
placed them in the Garden of Eden that was full of wonderful delights and
invited them to partake of any tree except one, the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. If they chose to pursue their own desires for what they had been
warned not to, consequences would result. The primary consequence would be a
separation from the One who greatly loved them, God Himself. And that is the
type of death that Adam and Eve experienced on that day for we know that they
chose their own desires rather than God (Gen. 2:17).
True
love demands a choice. Likewise, love cannot be forced; it requires a freewill
decision. With the freedom of Adam and Eve’s choice came the potential for the
highest love or the gravest peril. Unfortunately, they chose not to love the
One who gave them life, and the One who sought to protect them from the dangers
of going down the wrong path.
This
was a catastrophic decision. “The corruption and condemnation resulting from
sin are experienced not only by human beings but also by the entire universe.
Man as the image of God is designed to stand in a particular relationship with
both God and the world. When sin corrupts the image, these relationships are
also distorted. Thus, when the human race fell into sin, in a real sense the
physical creation as a whole experienced a fall. The penal consequences of sin
apply not only to human beings, but also to the whole of creation. Thus, in
addition to human death there is a kind of cosmic death, a cosmic curse” (Jack
Cottrell, The Faith Once for All, p. 215).
Much of
the evil and suffering that is in our world today is a result of Adam and Eve’s
sin. Like it or not, other people’s choices do impact us. An example of this is
the choice of one person to drink and drive which can result in the death of an
innocent individual who was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. And
unfortunately, the consequences of our original parents in the Garden have far
reaching affects. Much of the suffering, cancer, diseases and death are a
result of the fall.
On the
other hand, we should not point the finger too harshly at Adam and Eve since,
given time, every one of us would have done the same thing. How do we know
that? Ecclesiastes 7:29 states, “God made humankind upright, but they have
sought many evil schemes” (NET). And Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God.”
While
mankind has maintained the likeness of God despite the fall in the Garden
(James 3:9), we are not fully like God as prior to the fall. Wayne Grudem
explains this in the following way. Man’s “moral purity has been lost and his
sinful character certainly does not reflect God’s holiness. His intellect is
corrupted by falsehood and misunderstanding; his speech no longer continually
glorifies God; his relationships are often governed by selfishness rather than
love, and so forth.
Though
man is still in the image of God, in every aspect of life some parts of that
image have been distorted or lost. The full measure of the excellence of our
humanity will not be seen again in life on earth until Christ returns and we
have obtained all the benefits of the salvation He earned for us. Nonetheless,
it is encouraging to turn to the New Testament and see that our redemption in
Christ means that we can, even in this life, progressively grow into more and
more likeness to God” (Systematic Theology, p. 444). For example, Paul
says that we as Christians have a new nature which is “being renewed in
knowledge after the image of its Creator” (Col. 3:10).
Therefore,
as we grow in Christian maturity, we grow and radiate more of His glory (2 Cor.
3:18). The evidence of this glory can be seen in the fruit of the Spirit being
present in our life: such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Thus, may we make the
choice to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
In His
service,
Matt
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