Q. What task is Adam and Eve given in the garden?
1. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth
2. Subdue and rule over the earth
3. Guard and keep the garden
Q. Adam and Eve are created in the image of God, what does it mean to be created in the image of God?
- The word for image is tsalem which is the same word used for idols. An ideal is a
representation of God.
- In the Ancient Near East the king was the image of God. The phrase refers to man’s
position of authority as God’s representative.
- Ancient near east kings would also set up images of themselves to represent their
sovereignty and presence.
The picture that emerges is that humanity would be fruitful and multiply filling the earth with more humanity that bear the image of God. Humanity would expand the garden as they subdued and ruled over the earth. Subdue and rule is a symbol of kingship or authority. We often view these words as negative, however, a king is to rule with wisdom. Our negative view is because sin has so distorted this mission that is frequently done incorrectly. Humanity retains this authority but presently is only a parody and distortion of humanity’s task.
The result is that God’s glory would fill the earth.
Q. Adam and Eve are told to work 6 days and then rest because God created the universe in 6 days and then rested. In what way does humanities work imitate God’s?
- God subdued chaos ruled over it and created and filled the earth with life. Adam and Eve’s task is the same.
Q. What is the significance of rest?
- Rest is not ceasing from activity. It is a picture of the great king taking his seat on the throne and ruling creation after he has defeated his enemies.
- By holding out the pattern of work followed by rest and charging humanity with imitating that pattern, the promise is held out that if humanity completes its appointed task it can also enter into rest.
- There is a goal to creation.
Take home message - God wants to fill the earth with His glory and He wants humanity to be the means of accomplishing this task.
Adam is given delegated authority much like a king and a vassal. The arrangement in the garden can be thought of as a covenant. Adam is given stipulations as well as sanctions. The sanctions are symbolized by the two trees. Successful completion of the task results in eternal life symbolized by the tree of life as well as sharing in God’s sabbath rest. Disobedience is symbolized by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which results in death and exile.
- One of the tasks given was to rule over creation and to keep and guard the garden. Keep and guard are words used of priests who were charged with keeping unclean things out of the tabernacle. The meaning of the tree of the knowledge of good evil is murky, but knowledge of good and evil indicates wise judgment elsewhere in the O.T. By listening to the serpent and not condemning the serpent and exercising their God appointed authority to judge they fail at their task.
Q. What was the result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience?
- Exile and death.
- The job of guarding the garden is given to the cherubim with the flaming sword to prevent access to the tree of life. The only way to access the tree of life is to pass through God’s judgment.
Q. God does not end His plan for filling the earth with His glory and doing so through man. What does God do to ensure His plan continues until completion?
- God allows the human race to continue and promises a seed who will defeat the serpent. We are left wondering the identity of this seed and how this plan will play ou. The word seed continues to recur throughout Genesis indicating that one of its themes is the development of this seed.
- Adam responds to this in faith by naming his wife Eve or life.
- Genesis 5 makes clear that the image of God is something that is still retained by humanity.
Q. After the fall until Abraham we have the story of Cain & Abel, Lamech, the story of the sons of God taking the daughters of man, the story of Noah, and the story of Babel. Why does the Bible include these stories, what is the point?
- Humans are still made in the image of God and the task is repeated.
- These stories demonstrate the effects of sin and also how God deals with sin. A pattern recurs similar to the one in the garden, man sins, God executes His judgment, but also demonstrates a measure of grace.
- We also see the line of the seed being narrowed throughout Genesis. Cain and his line are contrasted with Seth and his line who call on the name of YHWH. Calling the name is better translated calling themselves after the name. They identify themselves as people of YHWH. The seed will further be narrowed down as a descendent of Shem who will one day incorporate the sons of Japeth.
Q. What is the significance of Abraham to this story?
- The theme of filling the earth, subduing the earth, and filling the earth with God’s glory is given to Abraham. It is through Abraham and his seed that all the nations will be blessed and God’s plan for humanity will come to completion.
Q. There is something different about the task given to Abraham than the one given to his predecessors, what is it?
- The task is now given in the form of a promise along with the promise that God would be with Abraham.
- This promise is given to Abraham and his descendants and is repeated throughout Genesis.
Q. Abraham’s descendants become enslaved into Egypt and He frees them. What is the reason for God’s freeing the Hebrews?
- God frees the Hebrews because God had promised Abraham that He would. This is necessary if the promises given to Abraham are to be fulfilled.
Q. What parallels do we see between Adam and Eve in the garden and Israel?
- In freeing the Hebrews from Pharaoh, we see the themes of Genesis repeated. God defeats chaos and the nation of Israel is born as His new creation. Israel is given a holy land and a task. Their task is the same as Adam’s, to subdue and conquer the land, to be obedient to the commands of God, to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with God’s glory.
- God’s task for the world, begun in Adam, is to be fulfilled by Israel.
- We can say that Israel is a recapitulation of Adam and the garden. They are both given a land where the presence of God dwells. They are given a task to fulfill and commands to obey. Both fail in their task and the result is exile from the presence of God.
- Israel’s story is Adam’s story. This story will reach a dead end, but God is determined to fill the earth with His glory and to do so through humanity and through Israel as He promised Adam and Abraham that he would. Eventually a son of Adam and a descendent of Israel representing the seed of the woman as well as the promised king of Israel will obey the law, complete the task, and defeat the serpent. Kingship is going to be a theme we are going to develop as we look at Numbers and Deuteronomy. The result will be that God will fill the earth with His presence.
- The three stories are built on top of each other and overlap.
The exodus tells the story of the deliverance of Israel from enslavement to Egypt accomplished by the parting of the Red Sea where the Israelites find salvation and the Egyptians judgment. Deliverance leads to the law and with the law comes God’s presence and the promise of the inheritance of God’s holy kingdom established for His people in Canaan. Israel is a new creation of God. Israel is called the son of God. This son is given a task to fill the earth with God’s glory. God tamed the forces of chaos and created His son Adam in His image. Adam is given a task to fill the earth with God’s glory.
Now let’s read Romans 6-8 to see how this understanding of God’s plan helps us understand Paul.
Romans 6:3-7
Q. Before we look for parallels, let’s try to figure out what Paul is saying. What is Paul comparing baptism to?
- Paul says that baptism is a parallel to the death and resurrection of Christ. Christ passes through God’s judgment to emerge on the other side. Notice also the image of slavery and freedom. We see baptism functioning as the Red Sea freeing God’s people from enslavement to sin and death.
- Paul then goes on in the rest of Romans 6 explaining that though set free from sin and death, God’s people are slaves to righteousness which leads to sanctification and eternal life. Just as the Israelites were freed from Egypt but now served God.
Chapter 7:1-6 What is Paul saying about our relationship with the law?
- The actual point of enslavement was the law. A woman whose husband dies is free to marry again. We have died to the law and are now free. However, we are free to serve the new way of the Spirit.
Chapter 7:7-12 In this section Paul is defending the law while he acknowledges that he had been enslaved by the law. What is the problem with the law then, why does it enslave if it is good?
- It is not the law that is the problem but rather sin. Sin uses the law to do its damage.
Q. How does the serpent attempt to thwart God’s plan for His creation?
- The serpent corrupts Adam and Eve by the commandment that they not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Romans 8:9-11 In this section Paul talks about the spirit dwelling in His people.
Q. Where have we seen the Spirit of God in our story?
- The spirit inhabits the tabernacle, now it inhabits those in Christ.
Romans 8:16-17
Q. Receiving the spirit of God means that we are sons of God and what benefit do the sons of God receive?
- The sons of God are heirs and the next section tells us that the inheritance is none other than all of creation.
Romans 8:19-21
Q. What does the creation hope for?
- The creation hopes for the revealing of the sons of God. It too hopes to achieve freedom but under the rule of its rightful master - humanity.
What Paul is trying to say here is that Christ has brought about a new Exodus. One that is freedom not from Egypt but from sin itself, this freedom is accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ pictured in baptism as a new Red Sea that vindicates His people and brings judgment. This leads to freedom but freedom to serve God under a new law under the way of the Spirit. This way of the spirit guides us to the inheritance just as the cloud and the pillar of fire guided Israel through the wilderness. God’s people are given the holy spirit just as the spirit of YHWH filled the tabernacle and now all of creation is given as our inheritance just as was the point of Adam and Eve.
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