A closer look at the Pre-Fall Adam and its Implications.
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 15 viewsNotes
Transcript
If you were to place the Pre-Fall Adam next to the Post-Fall Adam what would the difference be?
Is there something that the Pre-Fall Adam had that the Post-Fall Adam lost?
Is there something that the Post-Fall Adam had that the Pre-Fall Adam did not?
The answer is both: Yes. And they are connected.
The Pre-Fall Adam possessed something that was lost forever: Innocence.
Note:
I am saying Innocence not righteousness.
The Post Fall Adam gained something from the fall that would rob every human being of their innocence:
The Knowledge of Good and Evil.
16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”
I believe that this is very important.
When we look at the Fall we often only consider Adam”s disobedience and the curse of death.
This is true, however it is also only half the story.
Adam gained a specific kind of knowledge from eating the fruit.
A knowledge that he did not posses before he ate: The knowledge of Good and Evil.
I believe that this has significant implications:
-
Before the Fall and the eating of the fruit Adam did not know of Good and Evil.
This is important because Morality deaths with Good and Evil.
Since Adam did not have any knowledge of good and evil, and since such knowledge is required for morality - we can easily conclude that therefore Adam was NOT a moral being.
However Adam was not an animal and was made in the image of God.
Also note that God gave Adam a command to obey:
16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”
So Adam was not a Moral being, but by giving him a command to follow God showed us that Adam was still a responsible being.
What does this mean?
It means that before the Fall Adam was an ETHICAL being.
After the fall Adam became a MORAL being.
-
Lets make sure we understand the difference:
Morality deals with issues of Good and Evil.
Ethics deal with issues of Right and Wrong.
This may sound like semantics but its not.
Something can be ethically right but Morally Evil:
Look at a lawyer defending a criminal. Using the law to defend his client is ethical, but since the client is guilty, its morally wrong.
The same is true vice versa:
Something can be ethically wrong but morally good:
If a doctor believes that a certain treatment will not work, denying you the treatment is ethically wrong, but knowing it will just cost a fortune and do notyhing, denying you treatment is morally right.
-
Ok so back to Adam:
As an ETHICAL being Adam understood that obeying God is the RIGHT thing to do (Not the good thing but the right thing) and Adam understood that disobeying God was the WRONG thing to do (not the Evil thing but the wrong thing).
Adam knew that to disobey God was WRONG, but Adam did not know that to disobey God is also EVIL.
We see this clearly again in their nakedness:
they go from:
25 And the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.
This is them as Ethical beings.
But when they gain the knowledge of Good and Evil and become Moral beings:
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.
Here is what i want you to notice about this “birth” of morality:
To even consider disobeying God is itself Evil.
To have believed Satan’s lie about God is Evil.
To entice your spouse to disobey God is Evil.
BUT notice: It was only AFTER they gain moral knowledge that they hid and felt shame.
IE
Adam knew disobeying God was wrong, but only after gaining morality did Adam know it was EVIL.
-
Application:
Now this is all fine and interesting but does it matter and why?
I believe this issue does matter - specifically when it comes to the spiritual condition of children.
Here is my proposal, that we will look at in the next video:
Every human being born experiences the life of Adam.
Children, like the Pre-Fall Adam are merely ETHICAL beings, since like the Pre-Fall Adam they lack any knowledge of Good and Evil, understanding only RIGHT and WRONG.
39 Moreover, your little ones who, you said, would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall take possession of it.
Also prophetically speaking of Jesus;s incarnation:
16 For before the boy knows enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be abandoned.
So we can see very clearly that bionically:
Children are born and exist as Ethical beings without morality.
Since there is no Morality in them, they retain the Pre-Adamic condition of INNOCENCE.
Notice again i say innocence NOT righteousness.
Children lie, children steal - children do not behave righteously.
However, they are declared judicially innocent by God till the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the birthing of Morality occurs.
More next week.
