Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Genesis

[Captain Chaz]

Why did Adam and Eve get the choice we never did?

Pretty simple question: under the Christian paradigm, why don’t we each get the same choice Adam and Eve got if we have some version of libertarian free will (if you don’t agree with that then this question isn’t for you)? Not getting a choice of whether we’re born into sin seems antithetical to the idea of free will, when Adam and Eve did get the choice (though I would say they were highly uninformed).

[jimwalton]

You get the same choice every day: Are you going to let God be the wisdom that guides your life and brings order to it, or are you doing to make yourself the center of wisdom and order?

The idea of you being "born in sin" are the words we use to say you are born separated from God. It doesn't make you evil, but instead that you are estranged from Him. It means that not one of us is in a place to deserve heaven. Not one of us can please God by good works. That's what you inherited by virtue of your humanity.

It's as if your parents were citizens of one country, let's say Greece, and then decided to emigrate to Germany. Through no fault of your own, you were born a German citizen and raised as a German. But you also have a choice, at any time you wish, to return to Greece and become a citizen there. (For the sake of argument), there is nothing stopping you.

Adam and Eve chose to rescind their "citizenship" with God and become citizens of their own "country." But God extends the invitation to all: He has open borders. Whoever wants may return at any time and become part of His family. You will only stay separated from God if you make the conscious choice to not return to Him. But don't blame him for that, or your "parents."

You have the exact same choice Adam and Eve did: who is going to run your life?

[Captain Chaz]

I find this answer to be disingenuous. We clearly don’t have the same choice under the same circumstances with the same implications for the rest of the human race. This hardly seems controversial. The question is, why is this the case. Not “is this the case”. Big difference.

[jimwalton]

I'm certainly not intending to be disingenuous. We clearly do have the same choice, but it's not under the same circumstances. Adam & Eve's choice is the same one we have every day: to let God be the source of wisdom and order or to abrogate that role to ourselves. In Romans 5.12ff., it is clear that Adam is perceived as representing all of humanity, and thus an archetype, just as Jesus is also portrayed as a representative of all humanity. Genesis 3 is no different. Adam and Eve represent all humanity in that they do what any of us would have done under the circumstances, and even under different circumstances. We humans have a tendency to want to run the show ourselves, and that's the point of Genesis 3 and of each of our own lives.

Our decisions don't have the same implications for the rest of the human race, but our decisions show that the whole human race is in the same basket: We choose self over God time and again.

Why is this the case? God is an uncreated being, and therefore anything created is not God. We, as created beings, will never rise on our own to a place of perfection. It's just not part of our nature, by definition. We are created beings and we are less than God. So what would a being who is in the image of God but less than God do in a test situation? Eventually every one of us would pick an option oriented to self rather than God—exactly the same as A&E do.

The story of the Bible is that this is never the final straw, however. God know that we were going to need help, and the story of the Bible is that He is there for us and had a plan all along to redeem us. God knew that we weren't gods and would need His intervention, which is exactly what happened. We flubbed (as any human would) and God stepped in, as a real God would do. That's what the Bible is about.