We live in a paradox. We see wonderful things but marred things.
We are made in the image of God. We bear a measure of His faculties; His breadth of emotion, His sophistication of thought, His capacity for planning, decision-making, creativity.
Yet these very amazing capacities have been dulled, corrupted and diminished by the Fall. In fact, they were never activated into their full potential because in Adam we did not eat of the Tree of Life. Our humanity was to remain a shadow of God's intent for us until we had passed a test of obedience in Adam. But we did not pass the test. Instead we failed to trust God and keep His Word. Our primary sin was to fail to heed God. Secondarily, we opened a door to Satan. The sum total result we call the Fall, which is recorded in Genesis Chapter 3. However, almost immediately the Redeemer was promised. The Christ would come from the seed of now fallen woman! Regarding Satan in the form of the serpent, God says:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." (Gen 3:15 NRSV)
This promise (a negative one for Satan, to whom it was addressed, of course) tells us that the Messiah, as offspring of the woman, will fatally strike the power of Satan.
The Incarnate Deity, Jesus Christ, is, was, and will remain both man and God. He is now in a 'resurrection model' body, but still a human body. He alone was and is the doorway or gate to our full potential as men and women. He is the gate to present spiritual regeneration, and to future bodily regeneration.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Cor 15:20-22 KJV)
We will put on the full, physical, 'HD' version of our humanity at the resurrection. However the spiritual realities are ours now:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5:17 KJV)
Jesus is the gate by which we enter the Kingdom, whether initially by spiritual regeneration, or finally and physically by bodily regeneration. The second will certainly follow for those who have received the first.
Promise and Seal
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:14 NRSV)
Redemption of what?
......we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Rom 8:23 NIV)
Again, our bodies. In other words, restoration of our bodies to God's original fully intended, heavenly design.
But for now...
Before the resurrection, and since the Fall, our condition is not so good...
........until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Gen 3:19 NIV)
Notice that man, 'adam', was taken from the earth, meaning here 'the soil'. The Hebrew for 'soil', incidentally, in Genesis 1v25, is 'adamah'. In the beginning, man could have gone two ways; to decay, as he did, or to glorification, if he had cleaved to the Word God gave him, and had kept Satan 'firewalled' out of his God-given domain. The cosmic tragedy is told in Genesis 3v1-8.
We see that man was formed from the earth, but the curse that returned him to the earth was not pronounced until after the Fall.
Man's Spirtual Context through the Ages
The Fall marks the transition between two spiritual contexts for mankind. Man has been, or will be, subject to four spiritual contexts. The first two are outside of Christ. The second two are only available in Christ. Briefly:
Before the fall, man was innocent of sin but not invulnerable to it.
After the Fall, man was guilty of sin and unable not to sin.
In Christ in this age, we are declared innocent by faith but are still bodily vulnerable to sin.
In Christ at the Resurrection, we will be innocent of sin again, and in fact, unable to sin. This will be because our bodily nature and environment will fully reflect the nature of God. God is not even tempted by sin. It does not occur to Him to sin.
No one, when tempted, should say, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. (James 1:13 NRSV)
We are made in the image of God. We bear a measure of His faculties; His breadth of emotion, His sophistication of thought, His capacity for planning, decision-making, creativity.
Yet these very amazing capacities have been dulled, corrupted and diminished by the Fall. In fact, they were never activated into their full potential because in Adam we did not eat of the Tree of Life. Our humanity was to remain a shadow of God's intent for us until we had passed a test of obedience in Adam. But we did not pass the test. Instead we failed to trust God and keep His Word. Our primary sin was to fail to heed God. Secondarily, we opened a door to Satan. The sum total result we call the Fall, which is recorded in Genesis Chapter 3. However, almost immediately the Redeemer was promised. The Christ would come from the seed of now fallen woman! Regarding Satan in the form of the serpent, God says:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." (Gen 3:15 NRSV)
This promise (a negative one for Satan, to whom it was addressed, of course) tells us that the Messiah, as offspring of the woman, will fatally strike the power of Satan.
The Incarnate Deity, Jesus Christ, is, was, and will remain both man and God. He is now in a 'resurrection model' body, but still a human body. He alone was and is the doorway or gate to our full potential as men and women. He is the gate to present spiritual regeneration, and to future bodily regeneration.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Cor 15:20-22 KJV)
We will put on the full, physical, 'HD' version of our humanity at the resurrection. However the spiritual realities are ours now:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5:17 KJV)
Jesus is the gate by which we enter the Kingdom, whether initially by spiritual regeneration, or finally and physically by bodily regeneration. The second will certainly follow for those who have received the first.
Promise and Seal
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:14 NRSV)
Redemption of what?
......we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Rom 8:23 NIV)
Again, our bodies. In other words, restoration of our bodies to God's original fully intended, heavenly design.
But for now...
Before the resurrection, and since the Fall, our condition is not so good...
........until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Gen 3:19 NIV)
Notice that man, 'adam', was taken from the earth, meaning here 'the soil'. The Hebrew for 'soil', incidentally, in Genesis 1v25, is 'adamah'. In the beginning, man could have gone two ways; to decay, as he did, or to glorification, if he had cleaved to the Word God gave him, and had kept Satan 'firewalled' out of his God-given domain. The cosmic tragedy is told in Genesis 3v1-8.
We see that man was formed from the earth, but the curse that returned him to the earth was not pronounced until after the Fall.
Man's Spirtual Context through the Ages
The Fall marks the transition between two spiritual contexts for mankind. Man has been, or will be, subject to four spiritual contexts. The first two are outside of Christ. The second two are only available in Christ. Briefly:
Before the fall, man was innocent of sin but not invulnerable to it.
After the Fall, man was guilty of sin and unable not to sin.
In Christ in this age, we are declared innocent by faith but are still bodily vulnerable to sin.
In Christ at the Resurrection, we will be innocent of sin again, and in fact, unable to sin. This will be because our bodily nature and environment will fully reflect the nature of God. God is not even tempted by sin. It does not occur to Him to sin.
No one, when tempted, should say, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. (James 1:13 NRSV)
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