relationships

The Great Defection and Its Infection

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Background

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Romans 5:12

The narrative of Scripture from the Cross of Jesus shows humanity infected with sin — this impulse to act independent of God and His Word. Adam’s defection from the communion of God radically altered the innocence, honour, and trust humanity had enjoyed. The consequence is death — a brokenness permeating everyone and all our relationships: with God, with self, with people, and with the stuff of earth.

Living disconnected from the communion of God has brought death. I hate it. This viral death has spread among us and it takes ugly forms in its rage and its apathy, its blindness and its rebellion, its strange delight in evil and its self-righteousness.

Everyone sinned.

The narrative of the Cross tells us the truth about our brokenness and it tells us of God’s hope and healing for humanity:

15But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. 16And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

18Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. 19Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:15-19 NLT

Brokenness, shame and the cover-up.

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6The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. Genesis 3:6-7

My professor Dr. Hunt described this snapshot of The Garden days in the alliteration of preacher-speak: “They listened, looked, lusted, and lunched.” That’s the common progression we have inherited from Adam and Eve when we give way to temptation. But that’s not all we share in common.

What is not yet seen in this moment is the depths of brokenness that will infect all of their relationships. A great shift has happened in respect to themselves as they have abandoned trust in God. “They suddenly felt shame.”

Their capacity for industry latched on to it (shame) and the cover-up began. No shouting voices, no pointing fingers were required. They knew shame. Shame infected their psyche as a consequence of their break away move from God.

Evil enters in.

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1The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

2“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3“It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

4“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5

When evil enters the picture it starts with lies. Evil calls into question what God has said. Evil always tests our grasp on God — who God is and what God has said. Will we diminish God in our lives by eroding His Word – either by taking from it or by adding to it?

Then the outright confrontation comes. “You won’t die!” “Your eyes will be opened.” “You will be like God.”

The serpent presents God as one who is holding out on them, who can’t be trusted. The serpent presents the experiential knowledge of evil as a necessary prerequisite for being divine, complete, and powerful. He lies.

The consequence of separation

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15The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—17except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Genesis 2:15-17

To hold the power of life and death in our hands is almost unimaginable. But that power is exactly what God announced to adam. “If you eat [of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] you are sure to die.”

God is the Source of life. To remain connected to Him is to live. To remain in His Word is to live. To remain in Him is to live. The choice to remain in His communion was given freely to adam. It was a choice of life and death.

When I cut a head of lettuce from the garden and leave it on the porch, it will die; it will rot. It is corruptible. So it is with the created ones. Separate from The Source of our life, we rot, we die. Life diminishes and death reigns.

God laid out the consequences of independence from Him. For Adam and Eve the power for life to its fullest was already available to them. The power for life was not in this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Trust was the currency of their power; They were already truly powerful in the communion of God.

Your love choice.

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15The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—17except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Genesis 2:15-17

This tree of the knowledge of good and evil appears to be the problem when we look back through the lens of our suffering and evil. Why did God do this? The tree is the hinge on which love turns. God created humanity with capacity and opportunity to choose love. So it is with the “image of God.” Love maintains a mixture of awe and respect with trust. Love cherishes the other. Love enters communion. These are all choices. Without “the tree” there are no choices and humanity resides in the garden as automatons, puppets on a string, acting only within a predetermined script.

Just as relationship within the communion of God is dynamic; so relationship between God and those who bear His image is dynamic.

Love for God is to live in respect to God with trust in Him and in His Word. The image of God has been bestowed on us and with it comes both capacity and responsibility to choose.