Why couldn’t God just forgive Adam and Eve and not expel them from Eden and consign them to death?

“To err is humane (human):to forgive is divine.” Alexander Pope (1688-1744).[i] 

        As you read in Genesis 3:1-24 the account of how sin entered our world and what God did in response, how do you feel? Was God fair and just to have expelled our first parents from Eden and consign them to death?  Are we not told that to err is human but to forgive is divine?  In 1709 Alexander Pope wrote his celebrated essay in which he penned the words above, “To err is human, but to forgive is divine.” How does this impact the Adam and Eve account?  There is more to the Adam and Eve account than meets the eye. Let us look a little closer.

        Notice God’s command to Adam when He created him, Gen. 2:16, 17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17.  It is very clear from that verse that Adam and Eve knew of God’s prohibition against eating from a particular tree in the midst of the Garden called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  And they knew that the consequences of eating from the tree would bring death.  Whether or not they were forgiven the consequences was death.  In other words, God can, and he certainly did forgive the guilty pair for their transgression, but the consequences would still be there.  So, the actual question should be, why did God not remove the consequences from them?  We therefore need to explore why God did not remove the sentence of death.

        We know from the Bible that God did indeed forgive the couple the same day he talked with them after their sin. In Gen. 3:15 we read: ‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.’  This text has been understood to mean that while satan will bruise the heal of Eve’s children, they in turn will bruise his head. They will give him a mortal blow to the head. Paul the apostle makes it clear that the seed of the woman is a clear reference to Jesus’ victory over satan on the cross. Romans 5:19 says: “For as by one man’s [Adam] disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one [Christ] shall many be made righteous.”  And finally, we read in Romans 5:8, “But God showed his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  From these texts we see that not only did God forgive them, but since He could not remove the penalty of transgression, which is death, He paid that penalty himself, in Jesus Christ. Wow, what a strange act of the creator God. The big question then, is, why did anyone have to die for transgression? Could not God have removed the penalty of death for disobedience or sin?

        This leads us to another question in order to answer the previous question, what then is ‘sin’ that makes a man die when he or she indulges it?  Let us explore some Bible passages.  In Romans 6:23 it says that the wages (or consequences) of sin is death. So, God told Adam and Eve that if they ate the forbidden fruit they would die, not because He would kill them, but because disobedience brings death! How so? Another text: 1John 3:4 Whosoever commits sin also transgresses the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. The text says the person who sins transgresses the law for sin is transgression. What is the meaning of the word transgression?  The word means lawlessness; the Gk. word is anomia, meaning ‘without law.’ So, the text reads literally, “all who do sin do also lawlessness for sin is lawlessness.” So, when someone commits a sinful act he acts lawlessly.

        Now note this, in order for this world to exist or anything or anyone to live it can only be done in accordance with law. There is not one thing in our world and universe that exists by its own self or its own inherent power. It only exists because law keep it together. Can you think of anything that lives or exists by its own power or without any law?  Without law nothing can survive.  Every act or action has a reaction for weal or woe. 

        Another thing to bear in mind is that Adam’s sin of eating, or breaking God’s law or commandment, was not primarily an outward act. It was first a mental decision to disobey (regardless of the reasons why), and as such that mental decision transformed his mentality from one of obedience and fidelity to God to one of disobedience and lawlessness. That means that his mental capacity to faithfully obey God was changed to distrust and rebellion. This mentality first came when he made a determined decision to transgress and eat the forbidden fruit.  By this act of disobedience Adam’s and Eve’s minds became irreversibly corrupted.  No longer could Adam and Eve have the capacity on their own to do only righteousness. They had unwittingly surrendered themselves to sin and satan when previously they were entirely committed to God. This was a free decision or choice irrespective of the circumstances or consequences.

        Adam and Eve now came under the control of satan and lawlessness (doing as one pleases without respect to God’s law).  Here is how the Bible puts it: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon,” Luke 16:13. Here is another text: “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek — God.  Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that does good, no, not one,” Psalms 53:2-3.  And again, from Isaiah: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away,” Isaiah 64:6. This next text makes the point clear: “Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.” James 1:15.

        The above texts show clearly that sin has to affect the mind first before it is displayed in actions.  Yet we read In Genesis1:31 that “God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”  How then did perfect Adam and Eve become sinful? The answer is in James 1:15 above. When Eve lusted (strongly desired) after the secret knowledge that the devil said was hidden from her by God and when she ate of the fruit, she committed an act which the Bible terms as rebellion (or transgression). That one act of choosing to disregard God’s commandment transformed irreversibly her entire attitude towards Her Creator and Master.  She now no longer remained a servant or subject of God, but became a servant and subject of satan, obedient to him. Likewise, her husband. It was not that God put death upon this couple, it was they themselves that brought death upon themselves by rebellion against God.

        So, what is the crucial point here?  The crucial point here is that first, satan who had himself become rebellious (sinful) and was consequently removed from heaven, became subject to death. Here again from the Word: Ezekiel 14:12-15. In verse 12 God laments the decision of Lucifer to rebel against Him and caused the nations of earth to be overthrown (by sin).  But verse 15 concludes that the consequences of his actions will only be his death.  And in the New Testament Jesus confirms satan’s fate when He said, “depart from me, you who are cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” Mat. 25:41. So, when Adam and Eve obeyed satan and disobeyed God, they too became subject to death by their choice.

        Finally, is there a source in this universe that is self-existing? Here is what the Bible says in the Gospel of John, speaking of Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, John 1:1; and verse 4 says, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men, John 1:4.”   Let us read another text, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live,” John 11:25.  And again we read, ”Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life,” John 14:6.  And here is that beautiful text from John’s second book, the Revelation, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Revelation 21:6. The New Testament tells us that Jesus is God, that he is ‘life’ and gives it to all who repent and turn to Him.

        Does the Old Testament concur on the status of Jesus as God and as possessing life unlimited?  Let us see. When God asked Moses to go to Egypt and fetch His people to take them back to their homeland, Israel, Moses complained that they would ask him ‘who this God was?’ ‘What is his name?’ God gave Moses the following answer: “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. Exodus 3:14. Very interestingly, ‘I AM’ in Hebrew is from the Hebrew verb “to be.” God’s name Yahweh is also derived from the verb “to be” and relates to the self- existing one; the one who always is, has no beginning nor end.  The one that made all things in earth and the universe. 

        In Amos 4:13 we read: “For, lo, he that formed the mountains, and created the wind, and declared unto man what is his thought, that makes the morning darkness, and treads upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.” The word LORD here is Yahweh (the I AM, the self-existing One) and he is God of hosts. Does the Bible specify at least one name that we can say, “see, he is the creator?”  Read this text: “Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel…  I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King,” Isaiah 43:14-15. The one that created the world and Israel is the Redeemer, the Holy One, the King of Israel.”  Do we know this God? 

        Here is what the devil said of Jesus, “I know you who you are; the Holy One of God.” Luke 4:34. In John 1:3 speaking of Jesus the Apostle John says, “All things were made by him; and without him was nothing made that was made.”  And the apostle Paul says, “for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him,” Colossians 1:16.  And the Roman governor said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

        The foregoing texts show us that Jesus is the One from whom all life flows. It was he that said, “Let there be…and it was so.” It was He who told Adam and Eve that He was the life-giver and if they separated themselves from Him, the life-giver, by disobedience, then they would become rebellious and disobedient, and consequently, they would die.  And unfortunately, they chose of their own free will disobedience and death. 

        And this, then, is why, my friends, we all die.  When our first parents separated themselves from the life-giver by rebellion or transgression they became subject to death and passed on this sinful nature to everyone that is born into the world. So, we ask the question, what hope is there for us humans?  This will be the subject of our next article. Happy New Year to each one of you and may God bless you and keep you safe.

[i] Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, The Project Gutenberg E-book, Posted Feb. 8, 2015 [Ebook #7409])

If you have any comments or questions please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at ronhende@outlook.com.