Rev Gav

Can we ‘Adam and Eve’ it?

Introduction

The story of Adam and Eve is a type of writing that we don’t really have in our modern, contemporary culture, but it’s best thought of as a kind of drama or play. It’s found in the book of Genesis, and although it does have a heading ‘Another account of the Creation’ it is not a parallel to the creation accounts but is a story about human destiny, power, and freedom. Humanity is the pinnacle of God’s creation and the story of Adam and Eve is a story about how humans were called to live in God’s world, with God’s creatures, and on God’s terms, however as the story develops we learn about a crisis and the alienation of humanity from God.

Before we explore the text in a little more detail, it is worth bearing in mind that there is probably no other text that has been more misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misused by the Christian Church, and before we explore what it is, we need to understand that it is not a definitive text on which everything else that follows hangs. For example, it is not a proof that humans cannot ever be obedient to God; it is not an explanation for how evil came into the world; it is not an explanation of how death came into the world (note that no-one dies in the story); and it is not in any way a definitive text to be used to teach about sex and sin!

Now, for those of you who have read the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, you may be thinking, “but doesn’t Paul  refer to Adam in terms of sin and death?” Well, yes, but Paul’s explanation has been relied on more heavily by the church than Paul himself, and he is less concerned with an analysis of the origin of evil, sin, or death, but is dealing with a specific issue in the Roman church and with the proclamation of the good news. This is beyond the scope of this Insight, as we want to focus on the story itself.

Perhaps the most difficult thing for us to overcome in our Christian culture is our approach to the Bible where we see it as an answer-book for our questions such as, how did sin and death come into the world? We can project such questions onto a text that was never designed to answer them. The truth is that there is a lot of stuff we don’t need to know and a lot of stuff we just don’t know, however, as Christians, our job is to focus on the gospel that has been entrusted to us.

So, to summarise, the story of Adam and Eve is not a treatise on sex, sin, evil, or death, but to affirm our divine calling to live in God’s world, with God’s creatures, and on God’s terms. The rest of the Bible, and specifically the gospel message, is about God’s unwavering determination to overcome our alienation from God.

The Story of Adam and Eve

The story of Adam and Eve was written to be read or listened to as a whole, therefore, now is a good time to pause and go and read Genesis 2.4 – 3.24. Try not to bring any cultural assumptions or questions to the text but simply sit with it and try and gain a flavour of the whole.

[Read Genesis 2.4 – 3.24]

The story is a drama in four parts:

Firstly, humans are placed in the garden in which we are called to work — to tend it, to care for it, and to shepherd it — and it is our vocation as human beings. The garden will provide and sustain us and in this garden there are things we are permitted to do (freedoms) and things we are prohibited from doing.

Secondly, we are not called to do this work ‘alone’ but in community. As humans are created in the image of God, humanity itself creates and bears humanity. Adam literally means ‘human of the ground’, and Eve literally means ‘bearer of all life’. Humans are ‘one’ in vocation and purpose in the garden and are to live in mutuality and equity.

Thirdly, a serpent appears in the story — not as a phallic symbol or satan, or representing evil or death, but as a player in the story to move the story along and introduce and also represent a new idea. The prohibition is now presented as an option, and obedience is replaced by theology or ‘thinking objectively about God’. Adam and Eve eat the fruit and they are no longer focused on the garden but on themselves. The prohibition is violated, the permission is perverted, and the vocation to be stewards of creation is neglected.

And finally, humans wanted knowledge and once they had gained this there was no place to hide. God’s will and purpose had never changed and God still wanted the garden to be tended, cared for, and shepherded. Remember how Adam and Eve focused on themselves rather than obedience to God and the garden? This pride is found in their answer to God — “I was afraid.” I. Me. One commentator remarked that, “life had turned back on itself.” Yet, importantly, God doesn’t smite Adam and Eve but lets them live. Yes, they are sentenced, but they are sentenced to life — a life separated from the goodness of the garden, and a life filled with conflict, pain, sweat, and a desire, not for God but for each other — but, and this is super important, God provides for them.

What does it mean?

So, what is this Adam and Eve drama all about? What is the dramatist trying to convey in this play? Well, I suggest it is all about how the acquisition of knowledge over trust and obedience relates to human self-sufficiency and independence, and how this separation from God leads to death. This concept is not something relegated to ancient texts, but we see it in our modern, contemporary world. The more we know and discover, the more we become ‘godlike’ and think we don’t need to trust in God, and this, as the writer of this play suggests, is a very dangerous thing indeed.

As I previously asserted, none of us approach biblical texts without bringing to them our own perspectives, agendas, and cultural baggage, and it is very possible to ‘betray the text’ and Christians have historically done this in two significant ways.

Firstly, some have used this text to justify the subordination of women — firstly because the woman was derived from the man, and secondly, because they argue that she tempted the man. It is important to note that no-where in the text itself does it imply or suggest the subordination of women! God’s will for creation was that there should be mutuality and equity between man and woman, and any resulting distrust or distortion of God’s creation due to their actions is not how things are meant to be. Therefore, rather than projecting misogynistic biases and prejudices onto the text, we can, perhaps, hold our culture to account and use it to advocate for mutuality and equity between genders and extend this to include races, ages, and abilities.

Secondly, some have used this text to justify the rampant consumption and use of resources. I recently heard a Christian radio show where a Christian — harking back to the texts in Genesis — asserted that God had provided us with fossil fuels, therefore we should continue mine them and use them. There is great wisdom in the text that perhaps is more relevant today that it was thousands of years ago, given the environmental disaster we have wrought on the planet. The play reminds us of our vocation as gardeners, carers, and shepherds of creation, and that this is a combination of freedoms and prohibitions. Yes, we are free to be sustained by the world — to eat of its fruit — but not to decimate, plunder, or violate it.

Of course the subjugation of women and raping of the environment are two of the consequences of taking knowledge into our own hands, and this thinking we know ‘better‘ than God — our arrogant superiority — leads to oppression and persecution, the denying of rights, and a whole raft of situations where we exploit others and the world around us.

The story of Adam and Eve does not definitively answer questions, but should give us thought to the nature of humanity and God’s will and purpose for us all. There is nothing wrong with the acquisition of knowledge, and we are absolutely called to explore and understand the world, but we are to do so remembering that it is God’s world filled with God’s creatures, and we are to do so on God’s terms.

Amen.

This Insight draws heavily on the work of the late Walter Brueggemann. If you’d like to read more, I recommend his Interpretation commentary on Genesis.

Photo by Andy Bodemer on Unsplash