Cracks in the Foundation - part 3

In this series of posts I propose that dismissing a literal interpretation of the biblical account of Creation will undermine our confidence in what we believe about the rest of the Bible?

In my concluding post in this series we’ll be looking at The Fall and Eve.

In Genesis 3:1-7 we read this…

The 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?”

“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “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.’”

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.  “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.”

The 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. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

Moving into Genesis chapter 3, and out of the specific Creation account, we find that Adam and Eve still feature in the biblical text. It’s clearly a continuation of their story which can’t be separated from the previous two chapters. 

Without this deception scenario in the Garden of Eden - for those rejecting a literal interpretation of these early books of Genesis - we are left devoid of a defining entry point for sin. Or, for that matter, a cause for sin. Is sin simply an unhealthy disposition that evolved over time? Was it there in any of the supposed pre-human species or did it only emerge once we had evolved into what we call the human race? 

To some extent, any conclusion we come to has to be set alongside references to The Fall that appear further on in the Bible.

Romans 5:12 references both The Fall and Adam. 

‘Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—’

Once again, dismissing the veracity of the first chapters of Genesis causes a massive crack in the foundations of our confidence in a significant book of the New Testament, namely Romans.

Dipping back into the Old Testament, Isaiah 53:4-6 also has something to say about there being an entry point for human sin and which was addressed by Jesus on the cross.

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

The more we seek to consign sections of the Bible into categories of believable/unbelievable the more we end up discovering that we pull one thread, we unravel them all. 

And lastly, Eve.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

Genesis 2:20-22

Although, to some degree, Adam and Eve come as a set - their story is intertwined - there are also some aspects of this biblical narrative that specifically relate just to her.

Having informed us about how Adam and Eve succumbed to the serpent’s deception, and of the consequences, Genesis 4:1 continues the story with the birth of their firstborn, Cain. 

Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”

You’ll note that the existence of Eve has bled seamlessly even further into Genesis - there is still no convenient stopping off point from which to exit. Sidestepping a literal interpretation of the Creation narrative so that we can get stuck into the parts of the Bible that we find more acceptable isn’t quite so easy. 

Inconveniently, Eve also gets a couple of direct mentions in the New Testament, and both from Paul. In 1 Timothy 2:13 he says this.

For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 

If the Genesis account of Creation is not to be believed, is this another nail in the coffin of our confidence in Paul’s theology? Is this another crack in the foundation that will cause us to question all of Paul’s writing? Just for the record, that’s about half of the books of the New Testament! (I felt this statement deserved an exclamation mark).

In 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul adds to his Creation theology.

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

And then, in Ephesians 5:31, Paul directly quotes from Genesis 2:24.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

If the Creation narrative is to be relegated to the realms of fiction, a large chunk of the Bible will have to accompany it.

In conclusion.

The case I’ve sought to make, isn’t, of course of an academic standard, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s simply a matter of reasoning, revelation and, of course, faith. And the same principles and processes I’ve applied to the Sabbath, Adam, Eve and the Fall can also be employed on other early passages in Genesis and which also bleed into other parts of the Bible. 

Below*, I’ve suggested a few additional threads that you may wish to investigate. This isn’t only to help us to see that dismissing a literal interpretation of the biblical account of Creation will undermine our confidence in what we believe about the rest of the Bible - but for the purpose of giving us a confidence in the word of God that is unshakeable.

*The Garden of Eden - Ezekiel 31:9 and Joel 2:3 both reference Genesis 2:8

*Genealogies - Luke 3:23-38 and Genesis 5 both present Adam as the progenitor of the human race.

*Tree of Life - not only does this appear in Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:1-6 but it also pops I again right at the end of the Bible in Revelation 22:1-2.