Made in God's Image: Part 2

Whenever Eve was eyeballing the fruit that God had commanded her not to eat, I think that there was something different going on in her mind than what most people think. First, we must note that Adam was with her the whole time (Gen. 3:6).

Second, remember that God had made humanity to reign with Him over His creation.

In other words, Adam and Eve had the perfect life. For one, they saw God face to face all of the time. Second, there was no sin or evil in the world at all at this point. And third, the God who created them desired to share His rule over creation with them. He hadn't just made them to be slaves, but to be a people who reign with Him over the earth.

Now, if that was you...if you were in their shoes and someone told you that you could have the same knowledge that God had over good and evil....what would be your motivation to take the bite?

It can only be one of 2 things:

1) Adam and Eve wanted to be exactly like God, knowing all things and never dying. But, that doesn't make much sense because Adam and Eve had never harbored any bitter feelings towards God because they were sinless. This means that they were never jealous of Him...ever.

If they would have been jealous of God before they took the apple, sin would have entered the world at that point. In other words, sin would have started with their jealousy, not the apple.

2) No, I think that there is a better explanation. Again, Adam and Eve already had everything that they could ever ask for...face to face relationship with God, peace on earth, and authority over creation. I don't think that Adam and Eve took a bite of the apple just for the sake of rebelling against God. No, I think that they did it because they wanted to please God by their own merit. Eve saw that the apple would help her gain "wisdom." Why would she want more wisdom? To be a better steward over what God had given her. She wanted to reign with God better. Why know just a little bit about the reality of creation when you can know the whole thing?

I think that Adam and Eve wanted to go above and beyond what God had called them to do, and they wanted to do it by their own works. "If we reign this well with limited knowledge, how much better could we rule if our knowledge was unlimited? If we know what God knows?"

Thus, sin entered the world through a people who desired to please God in an unpleasing way.

The very essence of religiousity. God wanted them to please Him with their relationship to Him and their trust in His Word. They wanted to please Him by their own means, their own religion.

They decided not to trust in His Word (don't eat the fruit), the very Word that brought all of creation into being (and God said "let there be..."), but to trust in their own capabilities and works.

Whenever Adam and Eve took the bite of the apple, they forfeited the essence of what it means to be made in the image of God by not seeking to rely on God's Word but on their own wisdom and religiousity.

Part 3 coming soon.