What Happened in the Garden of Eden
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Satan knew God better than Adam and Eve. When God laid the foundation of the earth, Satan was among the sons of God who shouted for joy (Job 38:4, 7). So it is apparent that Satan had knowledge of creation which Adam and Eve did not have. Satan even had knowledge about Adam and Eve which they did not have. Satan knew that the `ear' (Hebrew word OZEN) is the part of the body where God implanted what is needed to give balance to the living being. So Satan spoke into the ear of Eve. Satan did not take her hand and move it to the fruit. Neither did Satan bring the fruit for Eve to smell. Satan did not show Eve the tree and the fruit. He didn't have to; Eve was already looking at the tree and desiring the fruit. What Satan did was to address Eve's sense of hearing. He spoke into her ear. Eve listened!, without strong objections or firm resistance. Consequently, Satan troubled Eve into loosing balance. That is to say, Eve stumbled from her steadiness in the Word, the Word which kept her whole in the image of God. Consider this: when anyone receives an ear infection, it causes dizziness, sluggishness and sometimes disorientation. An ear infection infects the ear canal. If left untreated, an ear infection would progressively cause damage to the ear drum and speech. That is why Satan went not to any other senses of Eve but to the ear, to cause her either deafness or blindness (Mark 4:11-15; 2 Corinthians 4:4-5). Satan infected her hearing. The more Eve listened to Satan, the deeper the infection. Eve should have known that “…faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of God” (Romans 10:17). Eve should have also known that the words coming from the Serpent was not the Word of God. Knowing this, Eve should have asked the Serpent “…whose spirit has come from you” (Job 26:4b). But Eve continued to listen. Eve listened too long. During her conversation with the Serpent, Eve knew that “…the ear tests words as the palate tastes food” (Job 34:3). The more Eve talked to Satan, the knowledge of who she knew she was: a living being in the image of God, became obscured and reframed by Satan into a different knowledge of who she was. Eve would think like Satan (Proverbs 26:4). Eve would exist no longer as a living being, but like a fallen human being. This is the result of the sin and fall. All created beings can only have one nature which put a stamp on their being. They are either like God or like humans, existing as living beings created in the image of God or as humans contaminated with sin after the fall. Yet, through faith in Christ Jesus, one who has fallen in sin is declared righteous (Romans 1:16-17). That is, through faith, a sinner is a saved human being, not yet a holy living being as Adam and Eve were in the pre-fall. Jesus' passion, His death and resurrection, reveals the sum total of God's grace towards sinners. God reveals it in a two-fold way: 1. “He (Jesus) leads me in the paths of righteousness…” (Psalm 23:3b). By thus, through grace, a fallen human being is made right with God, while still living with the flesh. “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…” (Galatians 2:20b). 2. God connects human nature to its divine source. “He restores my soul…” (Psalm 23: a). By this, through grace, a redeemed sinner becomes a new Adam, a living being in Christ, created in the image and likeness of God. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20a). As living beings in the pre-fall period, Adam and Eve had no desire to sin; they had no sin. Only during what I have been referring to as “the freedom period,” did Adam and Eve gain a sense of choice and freewill to do anything, even to act contrary to the commandment of God. This is the period between the pre-fall and the fall. This is where sin came in. The freedom period began when God's commandment was given to Adam and Eve. It ended with the fall of Adam and Eve. I was amazed to discover the ease with which Satan was able to convince Eve to eat the fruit. Could it be that Satan was so convincing because he came to Eve not in the form of a living being, but appearing Serpent-like with human expressions and desires. A masked deception indeed! This is interesting and difficult to understanding. But Jesus helps us to see it clearer. Jesus identified Satan through what he heard coming from the lips of a human being. In this case, Jesus exposed Satan as speaking through or next to Peter in Matthew 16:23; and Jesus spoke of Satan as being an evil spirit acting through a human being who he seems to enter at will (Luke 11:24). So the fall transformed the spirit being of Adam and Eve into a fallen human being. Like Satan, Adam and Eve became totally depraved. They were subject to the penalty for their sin, condemned to the wrath of God. As such, only God could offer them a covering for their sin. It is the blood of skin in the Old Testament, and the blood of the righteous Son of Man in the New Testament. And God did. What kept Eve so interested in what the Serpent was saying? Did Eve listened to what the Serpent was saying because, what she was hearing was precisely what Eve had already determined she was going to do? Shouldn't Eve have known that the voice speaking to her was not the voice of God? In the Bible “voice” is translated 383 times. A noise (of God): 49 times. A sound: 39 times. A thunder: 10 times. At the very least, even if Eve couldn't discern or recognize who was speaking to her, surely she should have known the voice of God. Eve indeed knew the voice of God and the sound of God. Soon after speaking with the Serpent, Eve and Adam would hide when they heard the sound and voice of God. So Eve knew she was talking to the Serpent when she desired to eat the fruit. His voice is distinct from the voice of God. How do we know this? God tempts no one to do wrong. Thereby, Eve despised the authority of God in a twofold way: 1. Eve had no regard for her relationship with Adam. She failed to be a partner fit for Adam; 2. Eve disobeyed the commandment of God. She ate the fruit (Genesis 3:13). I wonder why didn't God step in and rescue Eve at the moment of her reaching for the fruit. God would later rescue Lot and rescue Job. At one point during the ordeal of Job's suffering, Job said to God: Are you just there to visit...every morning, and test the (humans) every moment? (Job 7:18). Is this the way God relates to us? Can we find a trace of evidence that God may have offered to rescue Eve, and she would not? Is this what 1 Corinthians 10:13 hold against Eve? In any event, I believe God rescued Adam and Eve, as I would explain later.
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About the Book
If you want to understand who you are, get to know Adam and Eve. They spoke for you. They lived for you. Most importantly, Adam and Eve tell you who you really are. You are either a living being or a fallen human being. You are one or the other. This perception is made clear from the author's discussion on the lessons from Adam and Eve. Eve was seeking knowledge while Adam was seeking selfish ambitions. In the pre-fall, Adam and Eve had no sin. But each one turned to their own desires to find pleasure and a righteousness of their own in the garden, when God them free will and the right of choice. During the freedom period in the garden, Adam and Eve sinned against God. After their fall, Adam and Eve attempted to inaugurate a new religion, distinct from the religion they had before the fall.
About the Author
The author takes issue with many theologians and Bible interpreters who conclude that there are two periods, pre-fall and fall, involving Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The author names a third period as "the freedom period." This presupposes that there were ongoing activities and relationships of all living beings in the garden, one with another, and all with God. What is fascinating and fresh about the authors work is that the reader is challenged to consider a different way of thinking and understanding just what happened in the Garden of Eden. The author finds biblical justification for viewing Adam and Eve as living beings who had prior contact with Satan, and that Satan had prior contact with God, giving a definite advantage over Eve, when he met her by the tree. According to the author, Eve submitted to the way of Satan because Eve listened too long to him. The author cites biblical truth to support this insight. There are twelve discussions in the book. At the end of each discussion, the author presents the reader with questions to be answered about the life of Adam and Eve, and the readers themselves. This book is a cogent Bible study resource, a bold new look at Adam and eve and all humanity. The author is a pastor for 28 years; and is an adjunct professor of Religious Studies. He has written about "The Lordship of the Holy Spirit;" "The Gospel and the Church;" "Key Messages in the Bible: From Genesis to Jesus;" and "God and the Future."