Chapter 3
Looking at the Bible – a First Glimpse
Although not a history book, the Bible is loosely held together by a historic timeline, describing first the creation of the universe, creation of life in all its forms, then through the unfolding relationship between God and humankind through God making a promise – a covenant, to a people group, with the people’s responses to the outworking of this covenant among individuals and the nation. It records history, it even records history before it happens, but its main purpose is to interpret the events in terms of “God’s Story”.
Quite simply, The Bible is the way God chose to communicate with the world.
Covenant is a word which needs explaining, as it forms the basis of the Bible. A Covenant is a promise which cannot be broken. Taking it further, it is legally binding. It can be unconditional, or it can be conditional. For instance, in a domestic setting, a parent may say to a child, I promise that when you are 18, I will buy you a car. That is an unconditional covenant. Or to a delinquent child, if you give up shoplifting, I will buy you a car when you are 18. That is conditional. It is saying, “I will if you will ”.
The Bible is divided into 2 sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament, sometimes referred to as “the Book of the Covenant” containing both unconditional and conditional covenants, covers the first 39 books of the Bible. Most were written in Hebrew, some in Aramaic, and later ones in Greek, between about 1200 and 100 BC. They comprise the chief texts of the law, history, poetry and song, prophecy and wisdom literature of the ancient people of Israel.
However, this Covenant failed due to the chosen people ceasing to follow God, disobeying their part of the covenant, by choosing false gods to address their worship.
The New Testament, a New Covenant, again conditional, is a new offer to the whole of humankind, comprising 27 books and letters. The first four are devoted to the life and work of Jesus. These are followed by accounts of the development of the infant church, with accounts and letters relating to the challenges which the church was facing as it grew and spread further and further from its birthplace in Jerusalem. The final book, Revelation, contains imagery predicting what it is going to be like when this finite world, the world as we know it, ends. But the overriding message is one of hope, but only for those who keep their part of the covenant.
Some Facts about the Bible
The Bible is a unique book, the contents of which were written over a period of 1500 years, beginning around 3500 years ago and ending around 2000 years ago. The first chapters are documented stories that were handed down by word-of-mouth from generation to generation. No other book of history or otherwise covers such a great time span or is comparable in its content or structure. It is formed into one volume, but the collection of the 66 books, booklets and letters, in reality comprise a whole library. Here is another approach to the question of whether we need to read it all. When I consider my own library, I look at the shelves and see a variety of subject areas – history, poetry, literature, reference books and novels. Have I read them all from cover to cover? The simple answer is no! Some I bought for one particular chapter; some have ceased to have any relevance. Yet there are favourites which have become dog-eared from reading and re-reading.
Completed some 2000 years ago and ignored by many, it is still a bestseller. To date, the full Bible has been translated into 670 languages, the New Testament has been translated into 1,521 languages and portions or stories into 1,121 other languages. In others, the language has been adapted and simplified so that the narrative of the Bible is accessible to children, even very young children.
A recent translation, the New International Version, published in 1985, has already sold more than 450 million copies. The Bible business is booming. In all, there are annual sales of 40 million Bibles – from study Bibles to family Bibles to pocket Bibles. What is there about it which keeps more and more people wanting it? Does this not indicate that it might be relevant not only in previous generations but also our own?
Moreover, looking at the diversity of the writings the writers came from three continents, Asia, Europe and Africa. It has more than 40 authors who, as I have said, wrote in three different languages. Each writer had his own personality, writing style and worldview. The biblical authors lived in different eras and came from different cultures. Some were Jews and some were non-Jews. Some were kings and some were paupers. Some were highly educated and some had little formal education. Some were religious leaders, some were political leaders, some were prophets, and some were simple ordinary people. Such diversity is unparalleled in the written word.
The first edition of the Bible as we know it today was assembled around 400 AD, containing the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament.
But what about the nature of these writings? With such diversity, it is surprising that it has the one continuing, unifying theme from the first book to the last. The overarching consideration with each author and work is its careful examination and outworking of human nature. Taken together, they reveal the human condition in all its many forms, be they good or bad. Similarly, it may go without saying that they also share a theme in examining the nature and character and promises of God, over the whole 3500-year period. But most importantly it examines the interrelationship between God and humankind.
So, to read it as a historical document misses the point of what the Bible is about. The Bible tells us that God cares for the whole of his creation and that we can know him personally, love him and follow his way, and guide us away from the massed forces of greed, hate, cruelty and the rest of the forces which disfigure humankind, and offer us a future which goes beyond death of our body. It is these considerations which make this book, the Bible, unique in history and why it is read and followed around the world today.
Perhaps in answer to the question of why the Bible is still a bestseller, it is because the people who use it do find it is relevant, making a difference in their lives and the lives of others – indeed, to the whole world.
So then, what do we find in the library which is the Bible?
The Bible makes some statements as scientific facts, but again, it is not a scientific book. The role of science is to probe the observable world, while the role of the Bible is to reveal the unobservable. Science, in its ongoing task of observing the world, must respond to the question how? How did it all come about? What processes were at work? When the findings of science endorse what is written in the Bible then we have greater cause to believe and accept what we read. It is this angle which we will be pursuing throughout. But the Bible does not focus primarily on the how – rather, it goes on to answer the question that science can never begin to answer. And that question is – why? Why are we here? What was God’s purpose in creating? What is the basic reason for our being alive? We must hold these questions in tension for the time being and address them later. But since the Bible record stops around 100 years after Christ’s birth it does not provide the whole answer. That is why we need the church to help us interpret the Biblical concepts and statements for each new generation. Church is the place where character is made and remade, where we can be guided and encouraged in following “The Way”.
If you do not have a copy of the Bible, it is worth buying one, preferably in a modern translation. I find the New International Version excellent. You may prefer a different version, of which there are several. The Good News Bible deserves a special mention as it combines reliability with simple and straightforward language.
A recent newcomer on the scene is “The Book of God” by Walter Wangerin, published in 1996. It is the Bible written as a blockbuster novel. If you like novels where 800 pages or so of text don’t daunt you, then this book will give you a unique overview of the whole Bible in just a few days of reading, although the writer uses his imagination to embellish the Bible narrative.
But if you do not wish to buy one yet, the text and much more, is readily available on a number of websites including www.biblestudytools.com and www.biblegateway.com
It is not like any other book. It is a book about life the way it really is. It is a book about people who at one and the same time can be both believing and unbelieving, innocent and guilty, honest and dishonest, full of hope and full of despair. In other words, it is a book about us and as I have already said, about God. If it is not about the God we believe in, then it is about the God we do not believe in. One way or another the story we find in the Bible is not just God’s Story but our own story.
Chapter 4
The Foundations
Over the course of this book I will from time to time invite the reader to read verses or chapters of the Bible. Whilst one can to some extent continue without following the actual texts, be assured that by reading the text, your understanding will be greatly enriched.
In the Beginning
It is now time to look at what is written in the Bible. Read chapters 1, 2 and 3 of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
But first I want to address the question of what sort of writing is represented in the first few chapters of Genesis.
Myth
Here is another word which needs explaining. The simple fact is that these chapters and later ones are Myth. I hear the comment that if it is all a myth then you are admitting that it is not true!
Yes, in common usage, a myth purports to be true, but in reality, is simply pure fiction. But we must differentiate between three applications of this word – Myth, A myth and Mythology.
- Myth is a proper noun. It is a traditional story, one concerning the early history of a people group or explaining an observable phenomenon, typically involving a super-natural being.
- A myth suggests a widely held but false belief or idea.
- Mythology is similar to Myth, except that the stories are as a rule unsubstantiated by relating to an observable situation. In Greek mythology for example, the stories related to a multiplicity of gods whom they worshipped. They resembled humans, except that they surpassed them in beauty, stature and strength. They were not exempt from human emotions, frequently exhibiting revenge, deceit and jealousy. Inter-marriage with humans is often described. For instance, Hercules was the son of Zeus, the king of the gods, and the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus, who was always chasing one woman or another, took on the form of Alcmene’s husband, Amphitryon, and visited Alcmene one night in her bed. Thus Hercules was born, a demi-god with incredible strength and stamina.
Not unique to Greece, similar stories abound in cultures across the world.
Unfortunately, in modern usage, the second definition is the one many people think of when the term is used – that a myth is pure fiction.
Here are some modern myths. Drinking coffee dehydrates you. Although it does have a minor dehydrating effect, the fact is that it irritates the bladder, and we all know the effect of that! It is a myth. In ancient times, Greek parents believed they could choose the sex of their child by eating orchid tubers. If the father ate thick tubers, the child would be male. If the mother ate thinner ones, the child would be female. There is of course no truth in this myth.
Hence it is necessary to state categorically that it is the first definition which will be used exclusively hereafter. Myth is a style of writing, a genre of written text, in the same way as narrative, novel, poetry, biography, prophecy, parable and allegory are all genres of the written word. Of course they should not be taken literally.
So you will see that the creation accounts are Myth.
If you find the use of the word Myth distracting here just substitute story or stories about God.
Genesis Chapter 1
The passage begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. Now the Earth was formless and empty, Darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters.”
In those few words it is stating: –
- There is a Supreme Being, which we call God.
- There was a beginning and God created matter out of nothing – just emptiness.
- The universe exists only because God was there to initiate creation. He was there before the creation of the universe. He is outside the universe. He could no more create the universe from the inside than a joiner make a box from the inside.
- God created by his Word, his spoken words.
- God’s Spirit was there at creation.
In paraphrasing the next section of the text, we see that God spoke on different days and different things were brought into being, and he did it in an orderly manner.
God said, “Let there be Light,” and there was light. God separated the light from the darkness. He called the light, day and the darkness, night. At that time, water covered the face of the Earth, but God said, “let the waters be gathered in one place and let dry land appear”.
He called the dry ground “land” and the water he called “seas”. Here we include inanimate matter, solids, liquids and gases. He created vegetation and all plants, then life in all its forms – insects, fish, birds. He created mammals. Finally, he created humankind, male and female, the pinnacle of the created world, created in his image, with the instruction to be fruitful and multiply.
And yes, he even created sex. I think he must have had a great sense of humour when you consider the actual reproductive act. I know when it was explained to me as a child it seemed most strange, beyond my comprehension. I just could not believe what my parents had had to do in order to produce me! More so considering the dual function of the parts involved. Yet it provides the pinnacle of human intimacy, surpassing that found in all other mammals.
God saw that what he had created was good. He was pleased with what he had made. Humankind, unlike any other creature, has a point of contact with God and is able to respond to him in a different way from the other animals. Moreover, the world means much to its creator.
Finally, on the 7th day he rested.
He created humankind in his own image! What does that mean? I stated in chapter one that I wanted to subject the statements in the Bible to current knowledge but as we begin to read even in the first few pages we encounter a statement which is beyond complete understanding. We are created In the image of God. Its simplest interpretation would say that we are made like Him. Each of us has a minute fraction of his intelligence, his power, his judgement, his reasoning, his love, his appreciation of beauty. But there is so much more.
Some understand the Image of God to mean those qualities that make us human, for example: possessing a soul, higher-order reasoning, self-consciousness, consciousness of God and the ability to have a relationship with Him. This seems like a good definition, since only humans are in God’s image, and these are qualities that make us human.
In the previous section we saw that the Image of God in Genesis 1:26-27 means people being God’s representative rulers in his creation.
- Richard Middleton (Roberts Wesleyan College) puts it well in The Liberating Image. He offers that the image of God describes, “The royal office or calling of human beings as God’s representatives and agents in the world.” Image of God means that humans have been given power to share in God’s rule or administration of the earth’s resources and creatures.
But supremely, the apostle Paul, describes Jesus as the image of the invisible God. Not like Adam who was made in the image of God. Jesus is the exact copy of his nature. Thus, to know Jesus is to know God.
And he gave us free will to use or misuse what he has given us. That is a lot of responsibility! But without free will you cannot have real love. You can’t be forced to love somebody. God loved the whole of his creation and that of course includes every person he had made, and he wants each one of us to love him in return.
In Genesis Chapter 2 we read a second account of the creation. Here we have Myth coming from a different source, it does differ, but it mainly complements the first account. It describes how he created the two genders, placing the man and the woman in a beautiful environment, named as the Garden of Eden and giving them the responsibility of looking after the created order. But it is not just the story of one man and one woman. It is the story of every man and every woman.
I would comment here that the Bible does not shy away from conflicting accounts of events. I repeat that its purpose is not to chronicle history, but to tell us about God. We will unpack this further when we look at the question, “What is Truth?”
An Illustration from the Humble Ant
If you find this concept of creation coupled with caring difficult to accept, let me tell you about a visit I made recently to the tropical house at Roundhay Park in Leeds. There, in a carefully controlled, completely enclosed environment, which was specially designed and created for them, live a colony of leaf-cutting ants. (As an aside, ants have a highly structured society, second only to that of the human race.) They can be observed going about their business of cutting and collecting leaves on which they grow their food, a sort of fungus, taking the leaves to the nest, attending to the pupae, attending to the queen, removing waste. All this, completely oblivious to the people watching them through their glass enclosure, oblivious of the keepers who provide for them and care for them – bringing fresh supplies of leaves, maintaining the correct temperature and humidity. Provision and protection. This seems something of an analogy to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were placed.
Also, I am reminded of a story of a vicar of a village church, returning to the vicarage after the morning service. Along the way he saw old Bert tending his flowerbeds. He stopped to admire the beautiful garden and commented, “Fine garden you and God have there, Bert.” Bert replied in his broad dialect, “Aye Vicar, but tha’ should’ve seen it when God ‘ad it to hissen.” The simple fact is that God gave humankind the responsibility of continuing the work of maintaining his creation, continuing to bring order out of disorder.
Unfortunately that responsibility has been misused and abused. Nature has been exploited. One only has to look at, for example, a rainforest, seeing the beauty of this natural ecosystem in all its complexity and variety to wonder at and realise what God can do on his own. Then we see destruction of thousands of acres of rainforest replaced with plantations of palm trees, producing palm oil to satisfy consumer demand, although justified as fulfilling the needs of the developed world. Need or greed? All this is a by-product of having free will.
Yet we are part of God’s purpose and plan for the universe. And it is an unfolding story.
Before we proceed further, I would ask the question, to what extent can we believe the creation accounts? Already I understand absolutely how preposterous the whole thing must sound to most people, so we must ask the question, “Is there any truth in these statements?”
What is Truth?
In a criminal trial, the jury or magistrate has to decide whether the accused is guilty or innocent. He hears evidence from witness statements and on the basis of these and other evidence he makes his decision. But what becomes clear is that the witness statements can vary – each seeing the event from a slightly different standpoints, resulting in a number of minor discrepancies between the statements. Even though the evidence of each witness may be true, the judge has to decide what is the truth in order to reach his verdict. Conversely, if two witnesses are identical in every detail there is suspicion that there has been collusion between them and the reliability of the evidence is under question.
This happens often in the Bible. We have seen this in two differing, but complementary accounts of the creation story in the first two chapters of the book of Genesis. As in the case of witnesses, we see accounts written from different standpoints. So we should not ask the question why there is a difference and is one true and one false, but we should be exploring what is the truth contained in such instances.
Jonah and the Whale
We probably all know the story about Jonah being swallowed by a whale. Going into the detail, Jonah is given the task of going to Nineveh and warning them that God was angry because of their wickedness and he would destroy them after 40 days unless they changed their ways.
There was nothing that Jonah would have liked more than to see Nineveh destroyed because of their corrupt practices, so instead of taking the boat to Nineveh, to flee from the Lord, he took a boat going in the opposite direction. But God intervened, sending a storm which resulted in Jonah being thrown overboard, swallowed by a whale, spending three days inside the whale before being regurgitated. From there he obeyed God, went to Nineveh, and warned the people of their oncoming fate. They repented, and Nineveh was saved from being destroyed.
Asking the questions, Is it true, or is it just a fairy tale? Did a whale really swallow Jonah? misses the whole point of the story. Whether the whale did swallow Jonah or indeed if Jonah swallowed the whale for that matter is irrelevant to the central message. Although examples have been recorded of a person surviving after being swallowed by a whale, feel free to conclude that it is just a story, but a story with a message, demonstrating a truth.
First, we need to fill in some missing parts of the account, which contains even more unlikely details.
Jonah was angry with God – he waited in the east of the city still hoping that God would bring the destruction that Jonah so desired. In the heat of the afternoon God caused a vine to grow to provide shade for Jonah and so ease his discomfort, but during the night God caused the vine to die so in the morning the scorching sun made Jonah feel wretched. He was angry with God for killing the vine.
God’s response contains the climax of the story. He pointed out Jonah’s concern about the vine justifying his own concern about that great city of 120,000 people, even though they were so misguided.
The primary theme of the story of Jonah and the Whale is that God’s love, grace and compassion extend to everyone, even outsiders and oppressors. God loves all people. Whatever we have done no-one is beyond God’s forgiveness.
The important question is not whether it is true, but realising the truth contained in the story.
Otherwise, in looking at the authenticity of the Bible, we ask the question, how does it stand up to what we know today? Is it contradicted or is it substantiated and supported by current knowledge?
A scientific study will start with a statement of an idea, a premise, a theory, a hypothesis and attempt to explain the reason for some current observations on the basis of that theory. The theory is only demonstrated to be correct if it continues to provide correct explanations of current observations. As laymen, we may not understand, but we accept the findings, having faith in the integrity of the scientists.
Let me explain using some simple statements which have been shown to be incorrect.
The Earth is Flat
We can probably all remember reading that at one time, the best scientists told us that the world – the earth – was flat. Theologians built their faith on a flat earth. That worked alright for a time, but they couldn’t answer the question of what happened at the edges. It was only when explorers began to sail across the seas, they began to realise that this may not be so, and of course explorers eventually discovered that the Earth was round, or a globe, which is now easily verified. The Flat Earth theory was proven to be wrong, but for a time, those who believed in a spherical globe were condemned as heretics. A theological shift had to be made then and shifts in our understanding should still be able to be made today.
Father Christmas
And then there is the Father Christmas story. What parent doesn’t tell their children that it is Father Christmas who brings all the presents, describing his special clothes, his beard, reindeer driving his sleigh through the sky, leaving the presents they included on the list and posted to Father Christmas in Lapland… I could go on. This forms the experience of children around the world. But it’s not many Christmases before the child’s suspicions grow and they begin to realise that the whole thing was a very pleasant, a very cosy story, with the whole scenario made up. It was all down to Mum and Dad. Sadly, in this generation, the true meaning of Christmas so often fades into the background. It is Jesus’s birthday, but we give presents to each other!
We have a similar scenario with the tooth fairy. But we are back in the realms of myths again!
Thus, if observation disagrees with prediction, we would have to conclude the hypothesis was false. If the observations do agree with the predictions, we can still rely on the original proposition. We like to think that science provides correct, true and accurate explanations of natural phenomena but that is not always the case.
Every student of elementary physics has been taught that light travels in straight lines. But Einstein demonstrated that light passing a large mass is deflected somewhat towards that mass.
I like the definition of Tom McLeish which says, “Good science is arguably about being false in a constructive way that takes us nearer to the truth.”
Although we do not have all the answers, we do not abandon the whole theory. There are so often fuzzy unexplained edges to scientific theories.
With Einstein came a new branch of physics which explored the fuzzy edges beyond traditional physics. Even newer branches of astrophysics are finding more fuzzy edges of our knowledge of the universe. Terms like black holes, antimatter, negative energy, quarks, bring the realisation that our understanding of how the universe was created is still far from complete and tidily buttoned up. This is the universe that God created. So what can we say but ……only God Knows!
In the Beginning
The Bible states that the universe had a beginning. How does that tie in with scientific evidence?
Early in the 20th century the prevailing wisdom in the scientific community was the Steady State Theory which said that the Universe has always been here and while it may fade away at the edges it is being replenished from the centre – not so good for the statement, “In the beginning, God created.”
The Big Bang
However, “Big Bang” changed all that. The Big Bang theory was propounded in 1927. Scientists believe that the universe began as a very hot, minute and dense single tiny point, when there was a big explosion generating tremendous heat and subsequently light and energy. Atoms, molecules, photons (light), the theory decrees, were created out of nothing at a particular moment in time, creating matter and propelling it outward to make the billions of galaxies of our vast universe. Astrophysicists dubbed this unique explosion as the Big Bang. This process did not happen immediately; it was a process occupying many millions of years.
Observations by astronomers and physicists of the behaviour of stars and galaxies have established a date for the Big Bang to a point in time some 13.7 billion years ago. Their observations can follow the steps from the first second of the Big Bang onwards. Much has been written on this subject explaining and justifying the theory, (a theory on which subsequent observations have been checked and found to be correct). However, the first minute fraction of a second following the Big Bang is still beyond the scientific explanation, (but it is getting us closer to the truth) before which there was nothing but an empty void. And what initiated it in the first place is still beyond science. Again, only God Knows! Not a blasphemous remark, but a statement of truth, probably the ultimate truth. God Knows! He should – He is the one who initiated it. God said, “Let There Be Light,” and there was light. Not bad for a statement from 3500 years ago, that God did the creating – out of nothing! He is all powerful. To use the theological term, He is omnipotent. Here is the truth of what science has established, but is still striving to address the question, how it was achieved by this Being, this supreme being whose whole identity we are endeavouring to explore. But like the limits of scientific exploration, God can never be fully known. There will always be aspects of his being, character and nature which will remain a mystery! It responds to the who, what, when, but doesn’t get anywhere near the where, how and why. Why did God create? Was there a reason? Did he have a purpose? I’ll let those questions hover above us for the time being. Again, only God Knows! He is all knowing. Again, He is Omniscient!
What about creation taking seven days? Note that it is not God who is defining days but the writer describing the activity of God. If we follow the chronologies and genealogies through the Bible we would arrive at the age of the world being 5779 years from the day of creation – a discrepancy, it may seem. But we must remind ourselves that these earlier accounts are stories handed down by word of mouth over many generations, many centuries before actually being committed to a written document.
There is no need to be alarmed at this discrepancy. Remember that it is the words that God spoke that are important and not the timing. Remember that we are looking for the underlying truth behind these descriptions. The timing is a writer’s interpretation of the flow of events that happened, the results of which are plain for all to see. Moreover, we are dealing with a God who is outside time and in any case his timing is not our timing. He is Omnipresent. God occupies the atmosphere as we occupy our bodies. Remember also that we are dealing with Myth.
But as the disagreement over the age of the earth does not tell us anything about the nature of God, the nature of humankind, or their interrelationship, it is outside the scope of this book. The question I would pose is, does it make any difference to the way we live our lives whether the Earth is young or old? Again, the following chapters will be exploring in much more detail how God wants us to live our lives. The God who is a God of events. The God who is outside time. The God who even created time!
So what have we observed about the nature of God, the nature of humankind and the relationship between the two from reading these first few chapters?
Whereas every culture throughout history has had its own picture of something Other, an external Power, a god, often a multiplicity of gods – a sun god, a moon god, a god who controlled the weather, a god of fertility and so on, having to be appeased by sacrifices, even child sacrifice. Here is a God who is different. A God who is the creator of everything, a creator who is involved with his creation, created solely by his Word.
A God of Justice
But God has demonstrated some things which could be seen to be cruel. How does this fit into the concept of him being a caring God? Adam and Eve were banished from the beautiful garden; woman is committed to pain in childbirth; man is committed to toil to get the ground to produce food. As we read on in Genesis 4, we read about two of Adam’s sons, Cain and Abel. Out of jealousy, Cain kills Abel. The Lord had been watching over what happened and put Cain under a curse and committed him to be a restless wanderer, a nomad. Thus, we see God as a God of justice. But as we continue reading, we will never get away from the fact that God loves his creation and cares about it and is involved with what he created. He is also a God of mercy. We could say that he is Omnibenevolent.
We have seen some basic characteristics of our nature. Adam and Eve had the choice whether to obey God or not. The first thing we find out about Adam and Eve is that they were curious. “Will I really die if I eat the fruit?” Secondly, they, like all people since and always, had free will, more of that later. But Adam and Eve disobeyed and then tried to shift the blame. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent and, as they say, the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on. Better get back to being serious. Here we see the introduction of a Tempter, figuratively represented here as a serpent, one who exploits the gift of free will given to humanity, present from the very beginning. Later, he will be described as the devil or Satan.
The serpent told Adam and Eve that the King cannot be trusted. He says the love of God is not genuine and his word is not true. “Don’t listen to Him” the liar whispers. “Find your own way. Make your own rules. Satisfy your own desires. Freedom awaits you. Be like God.”
Adam and Eve are enticed by the promise of personal autonomy and the allure of the sovereign self. The Kingdom is torn by revolt. But rebellion does not bring freedom, though. Instead, it brings brokenness, disgrace, guilt, slavery and struggle. In a word, the action of Adam and Eve, this turning away from God was – back to that word – SIN. Sin came into the world through Adam and Eve. The serpent accused God of lying. Adam and Eve believed the serpent. They suffered the consequences. We are still suffering the consequences. The political systems around the world today, in the wars and desire for self-aggrandisement demonstrate this on a daily basis.
This deviation from God’s instruction in Eden consisted in Eve and Adam thinking they were capable of facing an unknown future without God, provided they had sufficient knowledge. This is what has been described as original sin, meaning the sin that is part of being human. We have arms and legs and a body, and we also have not only free will, but original sin, the temptation and giving in to that is built into us. We all have something of that serpent living in us – instilling doubt, mistrust, disobedience.
And as humankind becomes more advanced and resourceful in a developing world so too do his choices, and his distancing from awareness of God.
So, summarising what we have observed so far: –
- He operates in ways which are outside the boundaries of mathematical, physical, chemical, in fact all natural laws – which gives a word with a particular definition in the Bible, Super-natural.
- How did he effect creation? It was by his Word alone. Moreover, he was pleased with what he had created, and it was good.
- He recognised that rest is an essential part of the cycle of living. The concepts of recreation and re-creation come to mind here.
- God is outside time. He was present to initiate the creation of the universe, matter and life. He continued to be present with Adam and Eve, who heard not only the sound of him walking in the garden in the cool of the day, but heard his voice speaking to the
- Cain left the area and left God’s presence, but God still protected him.
- God is a God of justice, but also a God of mercy.
So far nothing discussed discredits the statement “In the Beginning, God”.
Adam and Eve were trying to make their own standards, but disobedience has its consequences. The ultimate standards of good and evil are not ours to settle. Humankind must recognise their limits as creatures under authority, and it is God’s prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong. But this is what men and women try to do. The temptation to make their own standards of right and wrong, to flout God’s authority, to run the world in their own way often proves irresistible. Pride and greed is their undoing. Their pride makes them want to be on the level with God. Inevitably disaster follows. Human relationships are tarnished. The world becomes a hostile place. Worst of all a barrier divides man from God.
Finally, we have seen some basic characteristics of man’s nature. Adam and Eve had the choice whether to obey God or not. The first thing we find out about Adam and Eve is that they were curious. Will I really die if I eat the fruit? Secondly, they like all people then and now have free will. Free will gave them the opportunity to choose God’s way or their own way.
Next week we finish Part 1 and move on to the first couple of chapters of Part 2… Building on the Foundations – See what God can do.