Week 3: The Fall
Week 3: The Fall
The love, joy, and peace of paradise were shattered by human disobedience, or “the fall.”
But is not the story of Adam and Eve a myth, a tale that is true theologically but not historically? Many say so, but I am among the dissenters. Certainly the talking snake and the named trees of the garden appear to be mythical, for they reappear later in Scripture in obviously symbolic form. For “the tree of life” see Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14, and for “that ancient serpent the devil” see Revelation 12:7; 20:2.
But the apostle Paul plainly affirms the historicity of Adam. He draws a careful parallel between Adam and Christ. He argues that as sin and death entered the world through the disobedience of the one man Adam, so salvation and life have become available through the obedience of the one man Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:12–21). His argument would lack cogency if Adam’s disobedience were not as historical as Christ’s obedience.
Sunday: Denying God’s Truthfulness
Monday: Denying God’s Goodness
Tuesday: Denying God’s “Otherness”
Wednesday: Shame and Blame
Thursday: The Disruption of Relationships
Friday: Glimpses of Grace
Saturday: Special Grace and Common Grace