2.2 What Happened and Why

The most horrifying words ever penned in human history were written by Paul to Timothy. – “Adam was not deceived.” Paul also said that Adam “knew” God. This was a qualified knowing of God, of the Spirit, yes, but Jesus did not yet live inside his heart. Paul traces out what actually happened in Romans 1 and 5. We will construct a series of events drawing from many Scriptures; we are not inventing anything.

Adam and Eve entered the clearing in the center of Eden BECAUSE their hearts were drawn – called – summoned to the Tree of Life. They were created for Life, and their hearts ached that they might be filled with Jesus.

A Personal Choice. Receiving Jesus must be a personal choice, a fact inherent in the being of God, who is always liberty. Thus no one ever draws near the Tree of Life without passing first by an alternative, another way to fill the need inside. You see, all humans are symmorphic, designed specifically to be the dwelling place of other Persons, to be the embodiment of Father and Son inside creation. Until Jesus would enter into their knowing, Adam and Eve could never be complete.

Adam was drawn straight to the Tree of Life, but Eve made note of the beautiful and glorious angel in the other tree. This angel was unfallen and anointed of God. Paul is very clear, sin entered creation through Adam and no one else.

No Beauty. The words of the serpent in the garden were for Eve and for the Church coming 4000 years later, but not for Adam. We will consider them in Chapter 5, “The Enemies of Christ.” Adam was aware of those words, for he was not deceived, but his heart was fixated upon Jesus inside the Tree of Life.

Adam did NOT like what he saw, as Paul and Isaiah said. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men (Isaiah 53:2-3). Adam saw himself, the very image and likeness of God; he saw weakness. He saw a man stumbling under a cross he could not carry, a man giving himself for the sake of others.

He Became Unthankful. Some say that the Tree of Life was an acacia tree, a thorn tree, and to obtain its fruit, Adam would have pierced his hands and his feet and thrust his brow into the thorns.

Adam did not glorify God. That means that he did not like God and did not want to be like Him or to share life with Him. He had lost any interest in God’s just approval. It means he hated the way God had made him; he did not want to be like God. Paul said that he became unthankful.

Then Adam turned and saw the other tree, the angel, and his wife. Adam understood everything, for he was not deceived. Yet it was the image of the angel that gripped Adam’s imagination the most. – “You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:12).

Heavenly Beauty. The difference between the two forms, the serpent and the Lamb, could not have been greater. Adam perceived an outward form of all heavenly beauty, all heavenly wisdom, and all heavenly strength, the greatest outward form God had designed. Adam LIKED what he saw, having become unthankful already, even distressed about looking like God. In that moment Adam lusted after heavenly superiority.

We conclude, then, that as Adam and the serpent looked one another in the eye, a knowing passed between them. In that moment, both of them turned away from the glory and desire of God, but sin had not yet entered creation.

Not Impressed. What benefit was there for the serpent in this turning away? He was the greatest of all the angels, leading them in the creation of heavenly worship. He was anointed to cover, in his appointed role, all the works of God’s hands. The serpent was, in short, very pleased with himself, which was not wrong or incorrect. But then he heard something that shook him to the core. – “Let Us make – “humans,” who LOOK LIKE US – who look like God.”

The tree of outward obedience, of the knowledge of right and wrong was an angelic tree. His role was to anoint that tree. Yet in his heart, he wanted to see just exactly “what God looked like.” The serpent was NOT impressed.

A Contract of Barter. Yet the serpent was also fully aware that Adam was the master and he the servant, and that what Adam commanded, he must obey. In that moment, both of them knew who held all authority, for neither of them was deceived. Even before Adam turned to look into his eyes, however, the serpent had already formed an overwhelming desire in his heart, he WANTED to be called “the likeness and image of God,” as Isaiah said, thus cementing his outward heavenly perfection to be “what God looks like” in the eyes of all.

It was a simple trade, a contract of barter, initiated by Adam, who understood the serpent, for he was not deceived. Adam would grant to the serpent the title of “the image and likeness of God,” which he now despised. In return for – .

Enter the Fatal Flaw. You see, Adam’s fatal flaw was that, in being given all authority, he possessed NO power, no ability to accomplish what his heart could command, no ability to fulfil his dreams. Yet he was looking into the new-found lust of a being who possessed more outward power than any created thing. The serpent was a deceiver at that point, yes, but Paul said that he failed to deceive Adam. Adam knew what everything meant. Adam granted the serpent his “dubious” title, in return for the energeia of angels, the sensation, the imagination, the fake story line, that he could DO anything he wanted to do.

Then Adam turned and saw his wife. He saw how STUPID she was to fall for such an obvious deceit, and in that moment he HATED her. With all authority, he wanted CONTROL.

He Refused. Adam was not deceived. He knew that everything was going all wrong so fast. And he knew that three words were all that was needed, three words out from the cry of his heart. “Jesus, save me.” But those words would be surrender, and he knew what they meant, a crown of thorns, a stumbling way, a life given for the sake of others. It did not interest him; he refused.

Instead, Adam’s eyes opened fully to the law of God, to word on the outside, word under his own control, right and wrong, good and evil, obey – do not disobey. A further knowing passed between Adam and the serpent, and Adam knew how he could control his world, how he could force all these annoying people to do what he wanted.

Pain, Contempt, and Control. Yet it is now that Paul’s staggering claim that Adam was NOT deceived becomes most horrifying. Adam saw Eve, he saw their children, and he saw his wife weeping over them. He saw six thousand years of awfulness, of pain and agony, of murder and hurt. He saw unrelenting accusation piercing into God the Father, causing PAIN beyond comprehension, pain that just does not end.

Adam was filled with CONTEMPT, towards himself, towards all other humans, and especially towards a God who would enclothe Himself with such contemptuous weakness. He saw that he would be surrounded by irritating people for nearly 1000 years, and he wanted one thing – CONTROL.

What It Means. Now, it is evident that sin and death flooded into creation ONLY at the moment that Adam’s teeth pierced the fruit of the wrong tree, as Paul said in Romans 5. Yet we must understand what that means.

Grace is God’s immediate presence with us. Faith is our acknowledgement that God is always present with us. And Salvation is the wondrous LIFE God and each of us share together. Christ Jesus, as our shared Life, enables it all.

Adam chose to know himself without God, after the image of created things, especially the superiority of the heavens, but always inside the drive to imagine himself “in control.” Vanity is not knowing God, but filling the space made for God with nonsense about everything is DEATH.

Self-Deception. The moment Adam’s teeth pierced the fruit meant for angels, the delirious nonsense began for himself as well as Eve and the serpent, that is, everything now became self-deception. Understand that Eve was a victim of two who should have protected her, and that sin did not enter creation through her. Although most of what the serpent said to Eve was pure nonsense, complete gobbledygook, he had lied to Adam.

Angels cannot empower humans, the energeoing of demons does nothing more than impart fleeting sensations of “being in control,” sensations like a drug, always needing more. And the image of superiority that Adam now called “God” was nothing more than a crawling thing, the devil, a “God” who knows good and evil.

Ashamed of God. The immediate, piercing, and overwhelming sensation that filled Adam and Eve was not “power,” but an all-pervasive sense of SHAME. Adam and Eve were now deeply and intrinsically ASHAMED of looking like God, of being patterned after Jesus.

And so began the life-long human work of spinning a fake self-story, a psychotic story of self, the many ways by which humans enclothe themselves with things that cannot be true. All of which is to cover the intense HATRED of looking like God, all of which is the fruitless effort to try to be better than God. And all the while hiding from a God who is always utterly present, who always cares, a God who still sustains all.

Shame, Blame, and Lostness. That was not the end of the pit into which Adam flung all of us, however. Real DEATH came after God called to Adam and said, “Where are you, Adam?” Adam was fully aware that all he needed to do was step out into the light and say, “Here am I; I have sinned. Please help me.” But that is not what he said.

Adam BLAMED his wife and his God for all of his own troubles, caused only by himself in every moment. By blaming others, Adam sealed all humans and one third of the angels into death, with hades following after. But shame is the worship of self; blame is the worship of demons; and “lostness” is externalizing everything, pushing it all “far away from me right now.”