ADAM THE GARDENER- WHAT HE WAS REALLY LIKE
Even though we see others write of Adam regarding the events in Genesis, the Genesis account itself gives the clearest picture for us of what Adam was really like. We see in ch.1 that he was made on the 6th day in God's image and likeness. We also see that God made them male and female. And in a more detailed explanation of why God made Eve God says that it was because it was not good for Adam to be alone. So God made a woman from Adam's side, a rib, to be a helpmeet and to be fruitful and multiply.
One thing we should be careful to notice here, in case you have ever heard anyone say there were people created before Adam, is that God said Adam was alone until He made Eve. So there weren't other "people" around from an earlier creation of God's as some are prone to believe.
Now even though we see in these verses some of the things God said about Adam and what he was when He made him, a closer look is needed to see what he was really like. What kind of man he really was. Not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. What made him tick.
The garden was given to him to dress and keep. Which is why I refer to Adam as the gardener. And his being alone was taken care of when God gave the woman to him. But, the real discovery of his true character is made when we see how he responded to God when he begins to make choices. His answer when he was asked about eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
But, even before that we see a glimpse of that when he accepted the fruit that Eve gave to him. He took it and ate it seemingly without hesitation. Even though God had told him that if he ate it beginning to die he would die.
What must have been going through his mind that without hesitation he would accept it from her and eat? Could it be that since he did not see anything happen to Eve when she ate it he saw no reason not to eat it himself? Sort of weighing it out in his own mind concluding that since she was ok it would be ok for him to eat too. Certainly a possibility given what we know from the narrative about God's instructions He gave to them about eating the fruit.
But, the important thing we see here is that he had in and of himself a natural ability to reason through what he was experiencing in his natural surroundings that aided him in making his choices. A reasoning ability that existed apart from any knowledge of good and evil. Without any ability to discern between good and evil. So this reasoning ability was a very natural thing for him to do. Placed in him by God when He made him.
The next thing we see that tells us what Adam was really like is his answer to God when He asked them if they had eaten the fruit. At a glance one might think Adam's reply was an attempt to blame Eve and Eve was blaming the serpent.
But, when we take a closer look we see that what they actually did was tell God the whole truth and nothing but the truth about what just took place. That's right. Everything they told God can be found in the events in Gen.3:12,13 when they ate the fruit that they then related to God.
The fact that they told God the whole unvarnished truth about what just took place tells us much more about Adam and Eve than we might think. 1.We can see that they would only tell the truth. 2.We also see that they believed what they were told no matter who told them.
They even believed what the serpent told them when he said they would "become as gods knowing good and evil". Something that God Himself implied when He told them of a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And something God Himself confirmed when He said "The man has become as one of us to know good and evil" in Gen.3:22. What a wonderful characteristic to have. A pure innocence.
But, it wasn't theirs because they thought of or believed the best in people. Nor because they though the worst of people. The reason they believed whatever they were told was because God created them with nothing in them that would help them discern between good and evil or right from wrong or a lie from the truth. This is what it means to have no knowledge of good and evil.
Only by knowing these is it possible for discernment between good and evil. And only when we know these does one begin to be equipped to make moral choices of consequence.
Choices that show the difference between knowing what good is and what evil is, and only being told about them as Adam and Eve were, without any understanding of what they are.
So this is who Adam was. They were people that were so completely innocent that when evil was staring them right in the face they had no idea what they were looking at. And even more importantly, when they were staring ultimate good in the face they had no idea that was what they were seeing.
They had no impulse to lie to God when asked where they were and had they eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Nothing they did or said had any good or evil inclination, thought, or intent from either of them.
I read once that to truly judge a man he must only be judged against the canvas of his own time. I think this a lot of truth in this. In the case of Adam and Eve it is the equivalent of judging them by their knowledge, or in their case the lack thereof, of good and evil. This is how we need to view Adam and Eve before we will really begin to understand who they were and what actually happened in the garden.
This is why Paul taught in Rom.5:12-14 that because from Adam to Moses there was no law their sin was not imputed to them. This is also why in Deut.1:39 we see that the children of the Israelites who sinned in the wilderness were allowed to go into the promised land. While their parents who sinned were not. Because like Adam and Eve when God made them, the Israelite children also had no knowledge of good and evil.
This is why Paul wrote in Acts17:29-31,
"Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
So the difference between us and them who were in the time of ignorance is that we have the much more favorable, and responsible, position of looking back at the cross. And we also have the indwelling presence of God by the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth.
But, is it possible for us to know the difference between right and wrong and good and evil when there is no law? Sure we can. Because in our time, in this dispensation, we have the leading of the Holy Spirit who guides us in all truth. Truth that gives us the ability to discern between good and evil without the law.
But as we have seen, Adam and Eve never had such leading. Neither the law, nor the Holy Spirit's indwelling. Or the ability to understand it even if they did. Because according to Paul not only were they not made spiritual, but natural as 1Cor.15:46 says. But, as Gen.3:22 shows us they also had no idea what good and evil are. So they lacked in every way possible the where with all to be able to make a moral choice. Because they had no way to discern between good and evil.
This is what Adam and Eve were really like. And according to 1Cor.15:47,48 is what all men are like when they are conceived and born into this life. "Innocent as new born babes" as the saying goes.
And this is why they are liars who say that because Adam was our "federal head" his sin was not only imputed to him, but was also imputed to the rest of mankind. By this they show they haven't begun to learn even the first thing about who Adam was or what he was like. Let alone the effects of his choices on the rest of mankind. Even though it couldn't be more plainly written than it is in the Genesis account.
So in this getting to know what Adam was really like message we have also discovered some very important things about ourselves.
1.We know that we are innocent when we are conceived just as Adam was when he was made.
2.We also know that we are natural when we are conceived, not spiritual, just as Adam was when he was made.
3.And we know that being nakedness does not bother us, until we learn differently, just as Adam did.
4.And we know that our flesh is the same in every way as Adam's was when he was made. Just as Jesus' was when He lived as a man as Heb.2:14 tells us. A very critical point in knowing who Jesus is, why the law was given, and what the atonement is for.
We are so blessed that we have the knowledge of good and evil, as well as the indwelling Holy Spirit, to help us with discernment. And it is because we do, we know that if we sin it is by choice. And not by nature.
This is why we are responsible before God for our own choices. And not those of another. Because God is love. And He is just in His judgments. Giving us all we need to make the choices necessary to receive the gift of eternal life and to be made heirs of His kingdom.
Because it is by free will that we believe the gospel message when it is preached. And when we believe the message God gives us the gift of faith. And it is the gift of faith by which we receive the deliverance that is eternal life. And having received we continue to hear so our faith, which is our side of our relationship with God, is increased.
Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So it is by hearing and continuing to hear God's word that Paul said we grow from faith to faith and from glory to glory. To become the spiritual man that God has called us to be.
Have you believed in Jesus? Have you confessed that He is Lord and believed He has raised from the dead? This is all that is needed for you to have the gift of eternal life that Jesus died and rose again to provide you with.
See you there or in the air!