A New Window on Revealed Truth
I am so excited! I believe that God has revealed another window/angle for looking at His Truth and understanding Him. Each time I see something from a different angle, it helps me to understand it better. In this case, the window has always been there. The problem is that some windows need to be “defrosted” before you can see out of them. This window deals with Adam, The Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil, and the purpose of the Garden. Once this window is “defrosted”, it has the potential to change your view and your life. But then again, that’s what Truth does…It sets us free. This is going to be fun, and I hope that you enjoy reading this.
THE FROSTED WINDOW
Here is what I’ve always been taught about Adam: “Adam and Eve were clothed with the glory of God. They shone as His image, and were radiant in the Holy Spirit. They were adorned with the grace of God and every virtue. At this time our first parents were perfect in knowledge, and in all that they said and did.” Have you been taught something similar? Have you been taught that Eden was perfectly utopian? Have you been taught that Adam and Eve had perfect harmony and communication? I was taught that Eden was full-blown, fully mature utopia. I never questioned it. Even as I began researching it, I could see how we came to these conclusions. But are these the right conclusions? Was Eden a full-blown, fully mature, perfect utopia? Is that what the Bible teaches? Does the Bible teach that Adam and Eve had a type of celestial clothing before the Fall? Were they perfect in knowledge, and in all that they said and did? Did they have no need for teaching? Well, let’s look at the Scriptures, find the clues, and see what we can uncover…You may discover something new. Chances are, you’re going to learn something about yourself…And that could change everything.
? Did Adam & Eve have some type of Celestial (Heavenly) clothing before they sinned?
Were they clothed in God’s light/glory? A lot of the basis for Celestial clothing is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Macarian homilies, and several Apocryphal readings. They believe that Adam & Eve were covered in light similar to Moses’ face after Moses came down from the Mountain with God. They explain their reasoning this way: “How else can you account for the fact that Adam and Eve only realized their nudity after the Fall unless they were clothed before the Fall. They must have been clothed with the glory of God. They were made in the image of God and were therefore clothed in something before the Fall”. Because they can’t figure out how Adam could be naked and not be ashamed, they believe that Adam & Eve had to be covered in some way.
But what does the Bible say?
Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. The Hebrew here for naked means NAKED, BARE. It literally means bare naked. Let’s grasp this. Before God and EACH OTHER, Adam & Eve were naked physically, emotionally, spiritually. In other words they could hide nothing about themselves from God or each other, and they felt no need to hide. Catch this. “Were not ashamed” means they had nothing to hide from God or each other. If they were not ashamed, if they had nothing to hide from God or each other, then why would they need clothing? They had no need for any type of clothing of any kind. They were sinless and there was nothing to hide in any way, shape, or manner. I can’t emphasize this enough; they had nothing to hide from God or each other. Keep this in mind.
But wasn’t Adam stripped of the Image of God when he sinned? Well, I Corinthians 11:7 says, For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. Looks to me like man still carries both the image and glory of God.
? Adam & Eve were sinless, but were they perfect? Up until last week, I would have answered yes, but now I’m not so sure. Just because they were sinless and God said they were “very good” didn’t mean they were perfect or mature. Teachers speak of Adam & Eve as if they were near Deities or Gods themselves. There is no doubt that Adam was smart. He did name all the animals. But does Sinless necessarily mean that he was perfect or completely mature? Was Adam so perfect and mature that he didn’t require teaching?
What did Adam have to do to remain Sinless? Avoid breaking God’s Law. What was God’s Law for Adam? Do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. ONE LAW! Do you see that? ONE LAW! Do you see where I’m going with this? ONE LAW! Guess what? That was the only Law Adam knew…period. (God also told him to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the Earth. But this was the only Don’t Law).
That was the ONLY law for which Adam was held accountable. Think about that. What does the Scripture say? Romans 5:13 For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Romans 7:7”.. I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died.” What does this mean??? It means that Adam was ONLY ACCOUNTABLE FOR OBEYING ONE COMMAND. In the beginning Adam had only 1 command to keep and he had no conscience to tell him the difference between good and evil (that would come later through the tree). Hypothetically, Adam could have lied, cheated, and stolen and it would not be imputed to him (Rom 5:13) It wouldn’t count. It wouldn’t be sin. It couldn’t be sin! Sin comes by transgressing the law. Sin comes by disobeying God. But there was no other law and Adam had no conscience to sin against. He could have done these things and it wouldn’t be sin by any standard, by any measure…And it certainly wouldn’t have been sin according to God. If we even think that this would have been sin, we would be going against God’s written Word. Adam could have been far from perfect and still be sinless! If Adam did those things it would not be recorded in scripture because God doesn’t keep a record of things that aren’t held against a person! PRAISE GOD! That makes me shout now because I know where all this is going!
Let’s be real and graphic for a moment. Adam was a red-blooded man who had never seen a woman before. He was lonely and if all his organs were working, he was yearning. All of a sudden God makes a naked woman who is the answer to all his yearnings. Adam says, “For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh.” That clearly shows that “cleaving” and “becoming one flesh” was on the forefront of Adam’s mind when he saw that naked woman. Honestly, it was the first pick-up line. Now what do you think happened next? Do I have to pull out the Hebrew here? Cleave means to join, stick together. Adam wanted to do some Cleaving and be one flesh! I doubt that he pulled out a chair and said let’s talk over dinner. Let’s be honest. He probably started reaching for things on her body. Now, imagine you are Eve. You just took your first breath and you’ve got a naked man breathing down your neck. You don’t even know his name! He’s a lot bigger than you, he’s got a wild excited look in his eyes, he’s breathing real hard, he’s grabbing at you, and he’s acting like the animals because that’s all he’s seen so far. She’s scared for her life! What does Eve do? She knees him in the nuts and bites his hand. Adam yells, cusses, and before you know it they are yelling, throwing coconuts, and having a knock-down drag out! But all that fighting, and cussing isn’t sin. There is no law against those things. They haven’t disobeyed God’s one law. They have no conscience yet. God’s probably laughing his head off at them. They’ve got a lot to learn about loving and relating. Adam and Eve are still sinless, but they aren’t perfect. Now, this was all hypothetical, but the point is that the only sin they could be held accountable for by God’s Standard was, “Don’t eat from that Tree…” Anything else would have been unaccountable and remained sinless. They could be imperfect and yet, be sinless (Romans 5-7).
? Were Adam & Eve Perfect in all that they said and did?
The simple answer is no. Being Sinless doesn’t necessarily mean that you are perfect, complete, or fully mature. Being Sinless means that you haven’t broken any laws or defiled your conscience. Let’s look again at God’s ONE Law.
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
He clarifies His command once again after they sinned. Genesis 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Now watch this,
Genesis 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Did you see that? Eve said that God told them that they shouldn’t even touch the tree. God never said that. Eve is putting words in God’s mouth that God never said. If someone is perfect in all that they say and do, then they don’t put words in God’s mouth. We could argue that this is just a minor technicality and that it doesn’t really affect anything. But then you have to ask yourself, if this was just a minor technicality, then why did God in His wisdom think it was so important to allow Eve’s mistake to be recorded and included in the sacred scriptures? As I said earlier, I don’t believe God records behaviors that people aren’t accountable for. In light of that, my opinion is that I personally don’t believe that Eve’s mistake is something that you could ever call a sin. However, I do believe that it is God’s way of letting us know that although Adam & Eve were sinless, they weren’t perfect either. Utter utopian-like perfect people don’t make this sort of mistake. Reader, you may be asking, “If this is all true, then why doesn’t God just spell it out for us? God enjoys a good mystery. He likes to drop hints and clues. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. If everything was spelled out for us, then we wouldn’t need to seek Him for understanding. We wouldn’t pray, ask or seek the Author. God wrote the Book, but He doesn’t want us to worship the Book. He wants us to read the Book and then come to the Author and ask Him questions, reveal truth, speak to us, and change us. Adam and Eve were people, real people, red-blooded people who were sinless, but weren’t perfect.
? Was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil a Sinful Tree?
I don’t believe it was. Adam & Eve sinned by disobeying God. Adam did not obtain sin from the tree. What did Adam receive from the tree? He received a Conscience, the ability to discern good from evil. Some versions of the Bible translate the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as the Tree of Conscience. God had this same knowledge that Adam now had. Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil..” This knowledge did not make God sinful. It is not sinful to have this knowledge. I personally believe that one day God would have later said, Now you can eat from this tree. A Conscience is a good thing to have! Hebrews 5:14 makes it clear. It’s good to know the difference of Good & Evil.
? Why do you think that God didn’t want them to eat from this tree?
I think it was all about the timing. God told Adam, don’t eat from this tree. If God had told Adam to wait, I think Adam would frustrate wondering when he could eat from the tree. Maybe God never intended for Adam & Eve to eat from this tree. I really don’t know. But as I read Hebrews 5:14, part of me thinks that he would eventually let them eat from this tree. I’m guessing that Adam & Eve just weren’t ready for the burden of Conscience. If Love isn’t strong enough, Conscience/Discernment will have you pointing out everyone’s right and wrongs (Genesis 3:12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”). If your Conscience is stronger than your Love, then you will be more focused on doing right and wrong, than on loving God and loving others. As I said earlier, Adam hadn’t matured enough in Love Relationship. He still needed several more walks with God in the cool of the day, before God would say, “Adam, now that you’re fully established in Love, now that you’ve received a fuller revelation of the vastness of my love, now that you fully trust in my Love for you and I know you’re mature enough, let me show you how to protect Love-relationship with me and others. Adam, one of the ways to protect Love relationship is to know good from evil; holy from profane. Now, I’m going to let you eat from that tree. Yes Adam, that tree. Adam, I needed you to wait and develop in Love so that Love would always be your main focus. If I had allowed you to eat from that tree earlier, your focus would have been on pointing out right and wrong. You and your descendants would have gone hog wild on doing holy deeds like giving all your goods to feed the poor and giving your body to be burned, but without Love as the established focus, it would all be vain. Adam, now I want to teach you about Holiness. Holiness protects Love. Holiness is Love’s bodyguard. Love produces Holiness like a snail produces it’s shell. Every “do” and every “don’t” is meant to protect love, protect you, protect your honor for me, protect others, and protect the relationships between all of us. Adam, that’s the purpose of Holiness: to protect and perpetuate love in all its forms. Holiness is not an end in itself; it serves Love. Remember that. Oh, by the way Adam & Eve, let’s put some clothes on you now. I know you don’t understand any of this but you are naked and there’s fixing to be a lot more people on this Earth.”
? So What Happened When They Ate? Why Did They Start Wearing Leaves?
Adam & Eve disobeyed God. As a result, things happened when they ate from the tree: 1. They disobeyed God and sinned. 2. They obtained a Conscience (Gen 3:7 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened”). 3. Their Conscience told them that they were on the wrong side of Good & Evil (Genesis 3:11″Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”) 4. They now felt overwhelming shame and guilt. They felt the need to hide from God and from each other. Not only had they sinned against God, but they had helped each other to sin and they knew that they had let each other down. Their sin had nothing to do with being naked, but now they felt exposed and needed to hide from God and cover themselves from each other.
? WHAT’S THE POINT OF ALL THIS?
If this is true, I guess the biggest thing for me is the stark realization that Sinless doesn’t mean Perfect. I hear that I’m the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and yet there is a part of me that can’t fit that in with my imperfection. If I’m so righteous than why am I so imperfect? NOW, I know that you don’t have to be Perfect to be Sinless! My frosted window, my incorrect picture of Adam has always held me back. I thought Sinless = Perfection. WRONG PICTURE! Adam wasn’t perfect, but he was sinless. Why, because Adam wasn’t under the Law except for one. He could be truly Sinless while being truly imperfect. I don’t need to go around beating myself up and feeling rotten all the time…I’m Sinless in Christ. Do you hear that? I’m Sinless in Christ! I’m not perfect, but I am Sinless in Christ! I need that branded into my brain. The guilt around my head is false guilt! I am not under God’s wrath. I can’t be under God’s wrath. Christ has fulfilled the Law, paid the penalty, and I am now free from the Law! Adam wasn’t under the Law, and now I am truly freer than Adam. I’m not going to go backwards; I am free to pursue Loving God, Loving Others. I am free to get back to the Garden and fulfill God’s original intent to pursue Love. Christ has freed us and leads us by His Spirit. We are under grace. This alone can empower us to live a life that pleases God. I am free to please God!!! Sin isn’t held over my head. I could sin now and it would not be imputed to my account because I am not under the Law. My deeds yesterday, today, and tomorrow are not capable of separating me from My Father because they are already removed by Christ’s blood. What can separate me from the love of Christ? Nothing. I’m not just forgiven (I got that), I’m not just redeemed (I got that), but I am Sinless even when I’m imperfect (that’s starting to sink in)! I don’t have to be perfect to be sinless!!!! Yahoooooo! Glory to God, I’m crying! He did it for me! He really loves me and I can throw the guilty card away from over my head. This is really Good news. Romans 5:13b sin is not imputed when there is no law Romans 7:4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code..
I’m so glad His truth has set me free from frosted windows,
Dan-o
More “out of the box” from Dan Baker.
Tags: CHRITSIANITY, SIN, WITNESSING
A New Window on Revealed Truth
I am so excited! I believe that God has revealed another window/angle for looking at His Truth and understanding Him. Each time I see something from a different angle, it helps me to understand it better. In this case, the window has always been there. The problem is that some windows need to be “defrosted” before you can see out of them. This window deals with Adam, The Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil, and the purpose of the Garden. Once this window is “defrosted”, it has the potential to change your view and your life. But then again, that’s what Truth does…It sets us free. This is going to be fun, and I hope that you enjoy reading this.
THE FROSTED WINDOW
Here is what I’ve always been taught about Adam: “Adam and Eve were clothed with the glory of God. They shone as His image, and were radiant in the Holy Spirit. They were adorned with the grace of God and every virtue. At this time our first parents were perfect in knowledge, and in all that they said and did.” Have you been taught something similar? Have you been taught that Eden was perfectly utopian? Have you been taught that Adam and Eve had perfect harmony and communication? I was taught that Eden was full-blown, fully mature utopia. I never questioned it. Even as I began researching it, I could see how we came to these conclusions. But are these the right conclusions? Was Eden a full-blown, fully mature, perfect utopia? Is that what the Bible teaches? Does the Bible teach that Adam and Eve had a type of celestial clothing before the Fall? Were they perfect in knowledge, and in all that they said and did? Did they have no need for teaching? Well, let’s look at the Scriptures, find the clues, and see what we can uncover…You may discover something new. Chances are, you’re going to learn something about yourself…And that could change everything.
? Did Adam & Eve have some type of Celestial (Heavenly) clothing before they sinned?
Were they clothed in God’s light/glory? A lot of the basis for Celestial clothing is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Macarian homilies, and several Apocryphal readings. They believe that Adam & Eve were covered in light similar to Moses’ face after Moses came down from the Mountain with God. They explain their reasoning this way: “How else can you account for the fact that Adam and Eve only realized their nudity after the Fall unless they were clothed before the Fall. They must have been clothed with the glory of God. They were made in the image of God and were therefore clothed in something before the Fall”. Because they can’t figure out how Adam could be naked and not be ashamed, they believe that Adam & Eve had to be covered in some way.
But what does the Bible say?
Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. The Hebrew here for naked means NAKED, BARE. It literally means bare naked. Let’s grasp this. Before God and EACH OTHER, Adam & Eve were naked physically, emotionally, spiritually. In other words they could hide nothing about themselves from God or each other, and they felt no need to hide. Catch this. “Were not ashamed” means they had nothing to hide from God or each other. If they were not ashamed, if they had nothing to hide from God or each other, then why would they need clothing? They had no need for any type of clothing of any kind. They were sinless and there was nothing to hide in any way, shape, or manner. I can’t emphasize this enough; they had nothing to hide from God or each other. Keep this in mind.
But wasn’t Adam stripped of the Image of God when he sinned? Well, I Corinthians 11:7 says, For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. Looks to me like man still carries both the image and glory of God.
? Adam & Eve were sinless, but were they perfect? Up until last week, I would have answered yes, but now I’m not so sure. Just because they were sinless and God said they were “very good” didn’t mean they were perfect or mature. Teachers speak of Adam & Eve as if they were near Deities or Gods themselves. There is no doubt that Adam was smart. He did name all the animals. But does Sinless necessarily mean that he was perfect or completely mature? Was Adam so perfect and mature that he didn’t require teaching?
What did Adam have to do to remain Sinless? Avoid breaking God’s Law. What was God’s Law for Adam? Do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. ONE LAW! Do you see that? ONE LAW! Do you see where I’m going with this? ONE LAW! Guess what? That was the only Law Adam knew…period. (God also told him to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the Earth. But this was the only Don’t Law).
That was the ONLY law for which Adam was held accountable. Think about that. What does the Scripture say? Romans 5:13 For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Romans 7:7”.. I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died.” What does this mean??? It means that Adam was ONLY ACCOUNTABLE FOR OBEYING ONE COMMAND. In the beginning Adam had only 1 command to keep and he had no conscience to tell him the difference between good and evil (that would come later through the tree). Hypothetically, Adam could have lied, cheated, and stolen and it would not be imputed to him (Rom 5:13) It wouldn’t count. It wouldn’t be sin. It couldn’t be sin! Sin comes by transgressing the law. Sin comes by disobeying God. But there was no other law and Adam had no conscience to sin against. He could have done these things and it wouldn’t be sin by any standard, by any measure…And it certainly wouldn’t have been sin according to God. If we even think that this would have been sin, we would be going against God’s written Word. Adam could have been far from perfect and still be sinless! If Adam did those things it would not be recorded in scripture because God doesn’t keep a record of things that aren’t held against a person! PRAISE GOD! That makes me shout now because I know where all this is going!
Let’s be real and graphic for a moment. Adam was a red-blooded man who had never seen a woman before. He was lonely and if all his organs were working, he was yearning. All of a sudden God makes a naked woman who is the answer to all his yearnings. Adam says, “For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh.” That clearly shows that “cleaving” and “becoming one flesh” was on the forefront of Adam’s mind when he saw that naked woman. Honestly, it was the first pick-up line. Now what do you think happened next? Do I have to pull out the Hebrew here? Cleave means to join, stick together. Adam wanted to do some Cleaving and be one flesh! I doubt that he pulled out a chair and said let’s talk over dinner. Let’s be honest. He probably started reaching for things on her body. Now, imagine you are Eve. You just took your first breath and you’ve got a naked man breathing down your neck. You don’t even know his name! He’s a lot bigger than you, he’s got a wild excited look in his eyes, he’s breathing real hard, he’s grabbing at you, and he’s acting like the animals because that’s all he’s seen so far. She’s scared for her life! What does Eve do? She knees him in the nuts and bites his hand. Adam yells, cusses, and before you know it they are yelling, throwing coconuts, and having a knock-down drag out! But all that fighting, and cussing isn’t sin. There is no law against those things. They haven’t disobeyed God’s one law. They have no conscience yet. God’s probably laughing his head off at them. They’ve got a lot to learn about loving and relating. Adam and Eve are still sinless, but they aren’t perfect. Now, this was all hypothetical, but the point is that the only sin they could be held accountable for by God’s Standard was, “Don’t eat from that Tree…” Anything else would have been unaccountable and remained sinless. They could be imperfect and yet, be sinless (Romans 5-7).
? Were Adam & Eve Perfect in all that they said and did?
The simple answer is no. Being Sinless doesn’t necessarily mean that you are perfect, complete, or fully mature. Being Sinless means that you haven’t broken any laws or defiled your conscience. Let’s look again at God’s ONE Law.
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
He clarifies His command once again after they sinned. Genesis 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Now watch this,
Genesis 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Did you see that? Eve said that God told them that they shouldn’t even touch the tree. God never said that. Eve is putting words in God’s mouth that God never said. If someone is perfect in all that they say and do, then they don’t put words in God’s mouth. We could argue that this is just a minor technicality and that it doesn’t really affect anything. But then you have to ask yourself, if this was just a minor technicality, then why did God in His wisdom think it was so important to allow Eve’s mistake to be recorded and included in the sacred scriptures? As I said earlier, I don’t believe God records behaviors that people aren’t accountable for. In light of that, my opinion is that I personally don’t believe that Eve’s mistake is something that you could ever call a sin. However, I do believe that it is God’s way of letting us know that although Adam & Eve were sinless, they weren’t perfect either. Utter utopian-like perfect people don’t make this sort of mistake. Reader, you may be asking, “If this is all true, then why doesn’t God just spell it out for us? God enjoys a good mystery. He likes to drop hints and clues. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. If everything was spelled out for us, then we wouldn’t need to seek Him for understanding. We wouldn’t pray, ask or seek the Author. God wrote the Book, but He doesn’t want us to worship the Book. He wants us to read the Book and then come to the Author and ask Him questions, reveal truth, speak to us, and change us. Adam and Eve were people, real people, red-blooded people who were sinless, but weren’t perfect.
? Was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil a Sinful Tree?
I don’t believe it was. Adam & Eve sinned by disobeying God. Adam did not obtain sin from the tree. What did Adam receive from the tree? He received a Conscience, the ability to discern good from evil. Some versions of the Bible translate the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as the Tree of Conscience. God had this same knowledge that Adam now had. Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil..” This knowledge did not make God sinful. It is not sinful to have this knowledge. I personally believe that one day God would have later said, Now you can eat from this tree. A Conscience is a good thing to have! Hebrews 5:14 makes it clear. It’s good to know the difference of Good & Evil.
? Why do you think that God didn’t want them to eat from this tree?
I think it was all about the timing. God told Adam, don’t eat from this tree. If God had told Adam to wait, I think Adam would frustrate wondering when he could eat from the tree. Maybe God never intended for Adam & Eve to eat from this tree. I really don’t know. But as I read Hebrews 5:14, part of me thinks that he would eventually let them eat from this tree. I’m guessing that Adam & Eve just weren’t ready for the burden of Conscience. If Love isn’t strong enough, Conscience/Discernment will have you pointing out everyone’s right and wrongs (Genesis 3:12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”). If your Conscience is stronger than your Love, then you will be more focused on doing right and wrong, than on loving God and loving others. As I said earlier, Adam hadn’t matured enough in Love Relationship. He still needed several more walks with God in the cool of the day, before God would say, “Adam, now that you’re fully established in Love, now that you’ve received a fuller revelation of the vastness of my love, now that you fully trust in my Love for you and I know you’re mature enough, let me show you how to protect Love-relationship with me and others. Adam, one of the ways to protect Love relationship is to know good from evil; holy from profane. Now, I’m going to let you eat from that tree. Yes Adam, that tree. Adam, I needed you to wait and develop in Love so that Love would always be your main focus. If I had allowed you to eat from that tree earlier, your focus would have been on pointing out right and wrong. You and your descendants would have gone hog wild on doing holy deeds like giving all your goods to feed the poor and giving your body to be burned, but without Love as the established focus, it would all be vain. Adam, now I want to teach you about Holiness. Holiness protects Love. Holiness is Love’s bodyguard. Love produces Holiness like a snail produces it’s shell. Every “do” and every “don’t” is meant to protect love, protect you, protect your honor for me, protect others, and protect the relationships between all of us. Adam, that’s the purpose of Holiness: to protect and perpetuate love in all its forms. Holiness is not an end in itself; it serves Love. Remember that. Oh, by the way Adam & Eve, let’s put some clothes on you now. I know you don’t understand any of this but you are naked and there’s fixing to be a lot more people on this Earth.”
? So What Happened When They Ate? Why Did They Start Wearing Leaves?
Adam & Eve disobeyed God. As a result, things happened when they ate from the tree: 1. They disobeyed God and sinned. 2. They obtained a Conscience (Gen 3:7 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened”). 3. Their Conscience told them that they were on the wrong side of Good & Evil (Genesis 3:11″Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”) 4. They now felt overwhelming shame and guilt. They felt the need to hide from God and from each other. Not only had they sinned against God, but they had helped each other to sin and they knew that they had let each other down. Their sin had nothing to do with being naked, but now they felt exposed and needed to hide from God and cover themselves from each other.
? WHAT’S THE POINT OF ALL THIS?
If this is true, I guess the biggest thing for me is the stark realization that Sinless doesn’t mean Perfect. I hear that I’m the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and yet there is a part of me that can’t fit that in with my imperfection. If I’m so righteous than why am I so imperfect? NOW, I know that you don’t have to be Perfect to be Sinless! My frosted window, my incorrect picture of Adam has always held me back. I thought Sinless = Perfection. WRONG PICTURE! Adam wasn’t perfect, but he was sinless. Why, because Adam wasn’t under the Law except for one. He could be truly Sinless while being truly imperfect. I don’t need to go around beating myself up and feeling rotten all the time…I’m Sinless in Christ. Do you hear that? I’m Sinless in Christ! I’m not perfect, but I am Sinless in Christ! I need that branded into my brain. The guilt around my head is false guilt! I am not under God’s wrath. I can’t be under God’s wrath. Christ has fulfilled the Law, paid the penalty, and I am now free from the Law! Adam wasn’t under the Law, and now I am truly freer than Adam. I’m not going to go backwards; I am free to pursue Loving God, Loving Others. I am free to get back to the Garden and fulfill God’s original intent to pursue Love. Christ has freed us and leads us by His Spirit. We are under grace. This alone can empower us to live a life that pleases God. I am free to please God!!! Sin isn’t held over my head. I could sin now and it would not be imputed to my account because I am not under the Law. My deeds yesterday, today, and tomorrow are not capable of separating me from My Father because they are already removed by Christ’s blood. What can separate me from the love of Christ? Nothing. I’m not just forgiven (I got that), I’m not just redeemed (I got that), but I am Sinless even when I’m imperfect (that’s starting to sink in)! I don’t have to be perfect to be sinless!!!! Yahoooooo! Glory to God, I’m crying! He did it for me! He really loves me and I can throw the guilty card away from over my head. This is really Good news. Romans 5:13b sin is not imputed when there is no law Romans 7:4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code..
I’m so glad His truth has set me free from frosted windows,
Dan-o