We come to the last few verses of this third chapter, a monumental chapter; some would say the most monumental chapter in the entire Bible. Remember, Genesis is the book of beginnings. It is the inerrant, inspired, divinely-authored, historical record of origins. Genesis, particularly chapters 1 through 11, is history written by God through Moses to explain to us why the world is the way it is; physically, socially, morally and spiritually. Everything that we need to know about origins is found in these first 11 chapters of Genesis.
Now, we have gone through the first two chapters, which deal with the world the way it is physically. And there is more about that in the section later to come on the flood, which dramatically altered the physical form of the earth itself. We have come from dealing with the way things are physically — chapters 1 and 2, the material world — into the way things are in Chapter 3 in the immaterial world. And here we learn about social matters, and moral matters, and even spiritual matters. As the first two chapters tell us about the creation of the universe in six 24-hour days and constitute a perfectly accurate history of the material creation, Chapter 3 tells us perfectly accurately about the problem of sin, which affects man socially, morally and spiritually.
I understand that we can’t expect the unbelieving minds of our world to accept this divine history. I expect that. And it’s so. Unbelieving world has never accepted the history of the book of Genesis. Godless, unbelieving people are not subject to the word of God. That is a sad truth. But far sadder is the reality that most who call themselves Christians question the literal, historical accuracy of Genesis. And thus, they, too, are guilty of rejecting scripture at a very most critical point; it’s very opening chapters. Now, we chronicled something of the rejection of the quote unquote “Christian world” of a six-day creation.
And just for a moment, I want to let you know that what Genesis Chapter 3 says about the history of sin, about man’s social and moral and spiritual condition, is also rejected by those who claim to be Christians. That’s sad, because this is a perfectly accurate history. And again, we would expect unbelievers to reject the history of the way things are morally in our world, but we’re somewhat surprised to see Christians distrust this account. You say, well, what are you saying? Well, I’ll give you an illustration.
I was given an article written by Ken Ham, who was a notable creationist and scientist. And in the article he writes this: “I can recall a number of instances over the past year where Christian leaders, pastors and theologians have insisted that Genesis 1 through 11 was written as a metaphor; that is, figuratively. I even specifically asked some of these leaders if the account of Adam, the garden and the fall were metaphorical. And the reply was a resounding ‘Yes.’ “In a recent phone call,” he writes, “a man who writes for a well-known ministry made the statement to me that, quote, ‘It’s not a matter of whether there was a literal fall or not, but whether the fall was literal.’” Confusing? Well, what he is saying is that the written account of Adam, the garden and the serpent is not literal history, but a literary device to teach us that we are fallen, that we are sinners.
Why would anybody reject Genesis 3? Why would anybody who calls themselves a Christian, who says they believe in the Bible, reject Genesis 3? Well, they reject Genesis 3 in order to accommodate their rejection of Genesis 1 and 2. If you’re going to reject Genesis 1 and 2, and you’re going to have to allow for billions of years and not six days, in order to accommodate that approach to Genesis in chapters 1 and 2, you have to also reject the historicity of Genesis 3. And so, they say Adam was a metaphor, not a real man. And when the Lord God called to Adam, “Where are you?” was He saying: Where did I put that metaphor, to Himself?
Some facts: Adam’s name is used 27 times in the Bible. Luke Chapter 3 Verses 37 and 38 includes Adam in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. In fact, the genealogy of Jesus Christ starts with Jesus Christ and goes all the way back to Adam. The 14th Verse of the epistle by Jude says Enoch was the “seventh from Adam.” 1st Chronicles Chapter 1 includes Adam in the genealogy of real people. And Romans 5:14 says: “Death reigned from Adam to Moses.” And 1st Corinthians 15:22 says: “In Adam all die, in Christ are all made alive.” And 1st Corinthians 15:45 says: “The first man, Adam, became a living” being. Even Job 31:33: “If I have covered my transgressions as Adam,” says Job. And so we could conclude that if Adam is only a metaphorical type or a literary device, then is that true of all the other people in all the other genealogies and all the other comparisons to Adam? And then to be logically consistent, is Jesus Christ nothing more than a metaphor?
I say that because this is the key for us tonight. It is in this account of Adam that the elements of salvation first appear in biblical history. Let me say that again. It is here in this account of Adam that the elements of salvation first appear in biblical history.
Ken Ham said in that article: “If the gospel is based on a metaphor or literary devices, then it has no real basis in history and can be interpreted many ways, opening the way for many meanings for salvation.” End quote. It is foolish to believe anything other than that Adam was a real man, and Eve a real woman, and what is recorded in Genesis Chapter 3, as in Genesis 1 and 2, is actual history. That becomes critical at this point, absolutely critical. Because here at the end of Chapter 3, God introduces the plan of salvation, and it is tied specifically to the man and the woman and the events that are chronicled in this chapter. Let me read Verses 20 to 24 to you.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
