Eyes Opened
God has given us a story to explain a central theme of the Bible: how sin and death entered the human race. When I say “story”, I do not mean to suggest that such a story was invented or is fictional. Stories in both the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Esther, etc.) and the New Testament (the four Gospels, Acts) are in fact what scholars call, ‘historical narrative.” Did you observe that word “historical”? The stories did occur in history. But such stories are the author’s inspired representation of past events for the purpose of our instruction. The story of Genesis 3 is historical narrative. It is Moses’ representation of a past event for the purpose of instructing us about the fall of the human race.
The story begins when a supernatural creature in disguise appears in Paradise, in the Garden home located in the eastern part of Eden, the first temple and place where Adam and Eve as priests and God’s vice-regents enjoy fellowship with the LORD.
This mysterious creature engages in conversation with a human couple by asking them questions and listening for their answers. The human couple appears to be foolish and slow to believe what God had said earlier to them about the topic of eating. Then, exploiting their foolishness and lack of discernment about what God had said, the mysterious creature, at first a guest, assumes the role of host at the meal. At the creature’s subtle suggestion, the human couple takes the food and eats it.
Upon eating the forbidden fruit, the eyes of the human couple are opened and they know[1] that they are naked, indicative of their guilt and promised punishment, barred from access to the tree of life and God’s presence, with the ensuing sentence of death. It was a meal of death, an eye-opening experience.
The story is instructive: it teaches us how sin and death entered the human race. It occurred at a meal in the shadow of a tree with a mysterious stranger who approached people in disguise and exploited their weakness.
Moses, the Genesis author, argues his case for the fall of humanity by showing us what happened rather than by telling us editorially. He teaches us a major doctrine of Scripture by showing, by means of a carefully crafted historical story.
So, if we as Bible readers are taught one of the major doctrines of the Scripture—the entrance of sin and death into the human race, barred from God’s presence--by means of a story, should we also not expect to see the tragic effects of sin and death reversed by means of a follow-up story?
Should we not expect see another mysterious stranger in disguise engage a foolish and slow to believe couple in conversation in the Promised Land? And, if there was food in the story of the fall of humanity, wouldn’t there also be food in the story of the reversal of the fall? And if the first story occurred in the shadow of a tree, should we not also expect the second story to play out in the shadow of a tree? Such a canonically shaped story would clinch the nail for us, providing hope and certainty that God has indeed overcome sin and death. The curse in reverse.
The answer to these questions is yes, we should expect to encounter a second story that is keyed to the first with similar characters (a mysterious stranger, a foolish looking couple), parallel events (conversation, questions, a guest becomes the host), and the repetition of key elements (the shadow of a tree, food, eating, eyes opened).
And, the good news is that there is such a story in the Gospels. That’s right. There is a canonical story in the Gospels that virtually mirrors the story in Genesis 3, almost a Xerox copy. It is a story written for our instruction and encouragement because it shows how God overcame sin and death for the sake of humanity.
This coming Sunday morning (April 11, 2021), we will unpack these two parallel stories, another example of a canonical approach to Scripture. Why not come and join us at Redeemer Bible Church?
Thank you for reading.
[1] Many English translation render this phrase, “and they realized they were naked.” But such a rendering masks the connection to Genesis 2:16-17 and 3:5. The Hebrew verb is “to know”, a clear recall of the same verb in Genesis 2:16-17; God alone knows what is good and not good for the humans. 3:5: “God knows…knowing good and evil.”