Board index ‹ Creation and Evolution

[Jeweler]

Why didn’t God create himself as the first two humans and populate the world with himself as humans that can sin but choose not to?

If God wanted people other than himself to exist then why not create them with the same knowledge he has so that they would also be humans that can sin but choose not to?

[jimwalton]

> Why didn’t God create himself as the first two humans

God is uncreated, by definition, so it's impossible for God to create Himself. The "created god" wouldn't be God at all.

> why not create them with the same knowledge he has

Only God has perfect knowledge because He is infinite, so it's impossible for God create a finite being that has perfect (infinite) knowledge.

[Jeweler]

> God is uncreated, by definition, so it's impossible for God to create Himself. The "created god" wouldn't be God at all.

Then what is Jesus? Why wasn’t Jesus in place of Adam?

> Only God has perfect knowledge because He is infinite, so it's impossible for God create a finite being that has perfect (infinite) knowledge.

God doesn’t derive his knowledge from his immortality. If he did then he could make someone with knowledge of their future if they didn’t die, right?

[jimwalton]

> Then what is Jesus?

Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus is uncreated (Jn. 1.1, 3; Col. 1.16). He always existed as the Son of God, the Word, and God (Jn. 1.1; Jn. 10.30).

> Why wasn’t Jesus in place of Adam?

Read Romans 5.12-21; it shouldn't take you but a few minutes. Jesus came at the proper time (Gal. 4.4) to undo what Adam had done. Life, by its nature, shows change, process, and progress. It's no surprise that God does things using processes in the course of time.

> God doesn’t derive his knowledge from his immortality.

Correct. His infinite knowledge is part of His infinite being. We, as created humans, are not infinite beings.

> If he did then he could make someone with knowledge of their future if they didn’t die, right?

Well, first of all, the premise fails because your "if he did" isn't correct. He didn't. He doesn't derive His knowledge from His immortality. It's part of His infinite nature, which any created being would not have, but logic and necessity. A finite being can't also be infinite.

[Jeweler]

Jesus wouldn’t have had to come to forgive sins if he were in place of Adam, right?

[jimwalton]

I'm trying to understand your question, and I certainly don't want to misspeak. If Jesus had been in the place of Adam, since Jesus is sinless, then it would make sense that Jesus would not have to come to forgive his own sins that didn't exist. But since a non-created being can't also be created, it's logically absurd and contradictory to think Jesus could have been created in the place of Adam.

[Jeweler]

I didn’t say created. I said what if Jesus were in place of Adam.

[jimwalton]

I apologize that I misunderstood. I was still assuming the context of your leading question: "Why didn't God create himself as the first two humans..."

But to try to address your question, it's not possible that Jesus could have been in the place of Adam and Eve (both of them, I presume you mean). Jesus was God and human. If I'm hearing you right, you're asking, "Why couldn't the world have been populated with deities that would never sin?"

The answer would be that there is only one God, and He is uncreated (back to what I said originally). If human deities were born of the offspring of Jesus, those "deities" would not be infinite and eternal (as Jesus was), and therefore they wouldn't be deities at all. We're back to the thought that something can't be both finite and infinite.

[Jeweler]

Is Jesus a diety and is he infinite? Then why could other deities be born the way he was to Mary?

[jimwalton]

You're asking good questions. Thank you for that. It's good to be talking to someone who is thinking.

Yes, Jesus is a deity and He is infinite. When He was born to Mary, that was not the beginning of His life, but Him taking on human form. But there were no other deities to be incarnated—that's why Jesus is called God's ONLY begotten Son (Jn. 3.16). If other "deities" were born on the Earth, they would not be incarnated as Jesus was (an infinite being who took the form of a man, and the only one of that type), their lives would begin with conception, so they wouldn't be eternal (as Jesus was) and they wouldn't be deities.