What If The Story of Adam and Eve isn't About The First Man And Woman?
Hopefully I won't get too much hate mail for this one :)
Since I was a child in Sunday School I've been taught the story of Adam and Eve. That famous account documented in Genesis that chronicles the fall of man through the failure to resist the temptation to eat from a mysterious tree. From the time I can remember, this tree has always fascinated me. Mainly because I was mad at Adam and Eve for eating from it and spoiling everything for the rest of us.
The last few years I've been revisiting this story and as an adult I tend to look at things a little differently. For much of my life I never took the time to examine the possibilities that would present themselves if the story was looked at from a symbolic perspective.
So, what if it is? What if this story really is symbolism? I find it interesting that Adam and Eve were "sinless" until they gained the knowledge of good and evil. After all the only criteria given was not to eat of the tree. So would this mean that prior to eating of the tree they could have done things that would be considered sinful and not been held accountable for it? If Eve got mad at Adam and slapped him would things have still been okay as they had not yet eaten from the tree?
It really goes back to the age old question of whether someone can sin if they honestly don't know that what they are doing is a sin. In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul makes some interesting points about the relationship between knowledge and sin. He says in verse 7 that he would have never been aware of sin were it not for the "law" which is essentially, God's rules for living. He then uses coveting as an example. He says that he would not have known what coveting was were it not for the law. Once he learned through the law that coveting was wrong, he began to covet like crazy. He actually states: "Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died." (Romans 7:9 NIV) Essentially, he was alive until he came to the knowledge of sin, then once he became aware, that knowledge led to his spiritual death. Does that sound at all familiar?
Clearly the significance of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not for nourishment but for knowledge. What gives us a greater understanding of the knowledge of good and evil than the "law?" Is it possible that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil actually represents the law?
Think about it, Adam and Eve begin completely innocent of right and wrong. They honestly don't know the difference. They even run around naked and think nothing of it, then they become aware of right and wrong and "die." Sin takes the opportunity through their new knowledge and "kills them." Why do they die? They die because now they are fully accountable for their actions. They are no longer innocent, they know the difference between right and wrong so when they choose wrong, they are left without an excuse.
Now, compare that to each of us. You may have heard it said that what is cute at 4 is not cute at 14. When a child throws a tantrum we are not as critical due to the child's innocence. But when an adult throws one, we are much more disturbed because the adult should "know" better. In essence, the story of Adam and Eve isn't just the story of the first man and woman, it is the story of every man and woman. We all begin our lives naked and innocent and as we grow older we begin to take bites of that tree of knowledge of good and evil and the more we learn about right and wrong the more accountable we become for our decisions. When we choose evil our consciences are slain as we know some things are wrong yet choose them anyway.
I guess I can't really get mad and Adam and Eve anymore because their story is really my own.
Since I was a child in Sunday School I've been taught the story of Adam and Eve. That famous account documented in Genesis that chronicles the fall of man through the failure to resist the temptation to eat from a mysterious tree. From the time I can remember, this tree has always fascinated me. Mainly because I was mad at Adam and Eve for eating from it and spoiling everything for the rest of us.
The last few years I've been revisiting this story and as an adult I tend to look at things a little differently. For much of my life I never took the time to examine the possibilities that would present themselves if the story was looked at from a symbolic perspective.
So, what if it is? What if this story really is symbolism? I find it interesting that Adam and Eve were "sinless" until they gained the knowledge of good and evil. After all the only criteria given was not to eat of the tree. So would this mean that prior to eating of the tree they could have done things that would be considered sinful and not been held accountable for it? If Eve got mad at Adam and slapped him would things have still been okay as they had not yet eaten from the tree?
It really goes back to the age old question of whether someone can sin if they honestly don't know that what they are doing is a sin. In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul makes some interesting points about the relationship between knowledge and sin. He says in verse 7 that he would have never been aware of sin were it not for the "law" which is essentially, God's rules for living. He then uses coveting as an example. He says that he would not have known what coveting was were it not for the law. Once he learned through the law that coveting was wrong, he began to covet like crazy. He actually states: "Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died." (Romans 7:9 NIV) Essentially, he was alive until he came to the knowledge of sin, then once he became aware, that knowledge led to his spiritual death. Does that sound at all familiar?
Clearly the significance of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not for nourishment but for knowledge. What gives us a greater understanding of the knowledge of good and evil than the "law?" Is it possible that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil actually represents the law?
Think about it, Adam and Eve begin completely innocent of right and wrong. They honestly don't know the difference. They even run around naked and think nothing of it, then they become aware of right and wrong and "die." Sin takes the opportunity through their new knowledge and "kills them." Why do they die? They die because now they are fully accountable for their actions. They are no longer innocent, they know the difference between right and wrong so when they choose wrong, they are left without an excuse.
Now, compare that to each of us. You may have heard it said that what is cute at 4 is not cute at 14. When a child throws a tantrum we are not as critical due to the child's innocence. But when an adult throws one, we are much more disturbed because the adult should "know" better. In essence, the story of Adam and Eve isn't just the story of the first man and woman, it is the story of every man and woman. We all begin our lives naked and innocent and as we grow older we begin to take bites of that tree of knowledge of good and evil and the more we learn about right and wrong the more accountable we become for our decisions. When we choose evil our consciences are slain as we know some things are wrong yet choose them anyway.
I guess I can't really get mad and Adam and Eve anymore because their story is really my own.
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