Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Story of Scripture: The Fall

The Story of Scripture
Chapter 2: The Fall

Genesis 2 and 3, John 3:16-21, Romans 5:12-21

Today's story is about the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. We still live with a fair amount of uncertainty when it comes to what we must know in this world.

On the one hand, they say, Ignorance is bliss.
But on the other, Knowledge is power.
Is there a middle way for the people of faith?
Trust is our calling.
Trust knows and knows when it doesn’t know.
Trust in the Lord is our calling.

Genesis:
Brueggeman (40):
Delightful creation is finished. Sabbath is celebrated as a sign of new life. Now human destiny in that world must be faced. The destiny of the human creature is to live in God’s world, not a world of his/her own making. The human creation is to live with God’s other creatures, some of which are dangerous, but all of which are to be ruled and cared for. The destiny of the human creation is to live in God’s world, with God’s other creatures, on God’s terms.

Last week: we began our series on the Story of Scripture. We read of creation and God's reaction to the creation: it was good, it was very good. And it was so.
This week: The story of beginnings continues. Both good and bad.
Interesting enough, when it comes to Evil: The narrative gives no explanation for evil. The OT is not concerned with origins, but with faithful responses and effective coping. (Brueggeman, 41)
The anxiety of life

Brueggeman’s 4 Dramas
1. man in the garden
2. the formation of a helper
3. the disruption in the garden
4. judgment and expulsion


2:15-17
Purpose: take care of the garden
Permission eat from the fruit
Prohibition don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good/evil


The succumbing to the serpent:
Loses purpose, abuses permission and violates the prohibition.
The result of which is sin, death and an anxiety-filled life.

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (no other place in Scripture)
Be careful what you wish for.
“They now know more than they could have wanted to know, and there is no place to run” (49)


5 Questions That I Have
1. Why do we add to God’s words 3:3?

2. Why do we blame 3:12?

3. Why is God making clothes 3:21?

4. Who is God talking to 3:22?

5. Why is living forever bad in 3: 22?
Because we were marred by sin. And sin cannot dwell in the presence of God. It reminds me of the series finale of the TV show Alias. The bad guy (Sloan) had been searching for the formula to everlasting life, and he found it. The good guy (Jack), is trying to get the formula away from his maddened friend. Sloan takes the formula, and will now live forever. But Sloan had been doing evil. So Jack throws an explosive into the cave in which cave in which Sloan is, and the boulders come crashing around him. Sloan got what he wanted: to live forever, but at what price? And was there a better way?

John: Jesus Answers for Us
We learn in the gospel that God has a plan for us to live forever, in Christ-like bodies. We learn that we are not to perish. We learn that God does not desire to condemn

God loves the world, despite its state of fallenness. The perfection that he places upon fallen creatures is his perfection.

Romans: The Two Man Group.
The first man is Adam, the prototype of humanity.
1 man + 1 sin=death in this world (for all have sinned)
The second man is Jesus, God’s desire for humanity.
1 man + 1 free gift=life (for all justified by faith)


There was a fall. But God will get us up. It is called salvation. It is resurrection to new life.

1 comment:

  1. Great sentence: "God loves the world, despite its state of fallenness. The perfection that he places upon fallen creatures is his perfection."

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