Why Do We Need To Be Saved?
What Happened In the Garden of Eden When Eve Sinned?
Inspired by Dwight R. Brown, who was inspired by God
Written by Rebecca R. Brown
1 Peter1: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Part One
This is a question that many in Christianity have answers for, answers that they feel are true and very important. But do you really understand the whole story? Sometimes we get a measure of truth, which affects our life, not knowing that there is more to the story.
I would like to share some truth that will hopefully enlighten and help others to realize more of the blessings that God has for them. Go with me, if you will, on a journey into the Word of God.
To begin the study of 'Salvation,' let us first consider what this word 'saved' actually means. Then we can go into the scriptures to see why it is that we are in need of being 'saved.'
In the English language, according to http://www.websters1913.com/words/Save - 'save' means “1. To make safe; to procure the safety of; to preserve from injury, destruction, or evil of any kind; to rescue from impending danger; as, to save a house from the flames.
2 (Theol.) Specifically, to deliver from sin and its penalty; to rescue from a state of condemnation and spiritual death, and bring into a state of spiritual life.
3 To keep from being spent or lost; to secure from waste or expenditure; to lay up; to reserve
4 To rescue from something undesirable or hurtful; to prevent from doing something; to spare.
5 To hinder from doing, suffering, or happening; to obviate the necessity of; to prevent; to spare.”
To be 'rescued,' then, would be to be saved from something to something. Example – to be saved from the water in which you are drowning - to – land or to a ship
To be 'made safe' would be to be taken out of danger. To be preserved would be to be kept from harm.
If every man needs to be saved, what is it he needs rescued from, and what is the place of safety he needs rescued 'to'?
While for some, the answers may seem simple enough, it is valuable for us to take a closer look at what happened in the Garden of Eden and get a clear understanding of the process that took place there. Why would God be willing to send His Son to die for what His creation had done? So, let us go back to the day of mankind's creation and see if we can come to a better understanding of the things that happened there, that still affect our lives today.
God prepared the earth in all of its fantastic beauty, before creating the first man and woman. Every tree, from the softer evergreen to the towering, giant sequoia and massive cypress, - every blade of grass and the multitude of fragrant flowers that dotted the earth, every bubbling brook, stream, river and ocean, and all of the amazing animals of every size, shape, and characteristic – were created before God made his most wondrous creation of all.
The atmosphere was perfect for sustaining life and growing herbs and fruits for food. Every planet in the heavens was in place. And who can tell what the colors of the sky might have been in all of God's perfection? After setting the earth in order, God made a most telling statement. A statement that tells us many things that are too often overlooked. He said –
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (e.m.)
When God created man, he was creating an image or reflection of Himself. Because of this, mankind was God's most wondrous creation. We know there is no imperfection, no sin or darkness in God. Therefore, we can also know that there was no such thing in the makeup of mankind.
The first man and woman who God created, Adam and Eve, were created perfect – blameless.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Interestingly, the word in these verses that is translated in the English as 'God' is actually the word elohiym in the Hebrew. (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance) It is the plural form of the word 'elowahh.' ' In Hebrew, elowahh means, “… a deity or the Deity: - God, god.” (Strong’s)
But God did not choose to use the word Elowahh – the singular form because He is a composite being. That is, He is three who are a part of each other, connected to each other in a way that is hard for humans to comprehend. Because it is hard to comprehend, many refuse to believe it to be so. But nonetheless, God – Elohiym spoke and said “let us (a personal, plural pronoun) make man in our (another personal, plural pronoun) image, and let them (a plural pronoun) ....
God made two individuals, out of one body - Eve out of Adam's body. Even though she was an individual, Eve was Adam's flesh and bone. She was part of Adam. Since she was made of his flesh and flesh has blood in it, Adam's blood probably flowed through her veins.
God was making a reflection of himself and showing mankind how that two can be a part of each other, a composite being. He said in John – John 10:30 I and my Father are one. So even though Jesus was sent to earth by his Father, yet they were only one God. –
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me ....
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.
So then, in the creation of man and woman – husband and wife – God shows us that two can be, 'one'. After receiving his wife, Adam made this statement –
Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
This truth was also spoken in the New Testament –
Matthew 19:5-6 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mark 10:8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
Adam knew that God was not going to put every man to sleep and remove a rib and some flesh from his body in order to create a wife for him, as he had done with Adam. This had been done to show the representation of the Father and Son being one, and also to show how much God considered them to be one. But after this, it would be up to each individual man, to leave his father and mother and join himself to his wife, seeing her now as literally a part of his body as Christ saw her to be.
These two who were now one, would have unhindered fellowship with and influence of the Holy Spirit, as long as they remained in obedience to God, sin free. In Genesis chapter five, we are told that, in the beginning, God even called the man and woman by one name.
Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God (Elohiym) created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
Some translations wrongfully leave out the word 'name' in their Bibles. But it is an important word that was in the original manuscripts. It is the word – shem – (shame), and is an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality.
An appellation, according to - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ -appellation an identifying name or title.
God made each individual to be a reflection of himself, but he also made the marriage to reflect the oneness of the Father and Son. And he called them both by one name – Adam. It was the man who later gave his wife a separate name.
Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
The meaning of the name 'Eve,' according to the Hebrew is – lifegiver.
Now, here is a beautiful bit of information that science has discovered.
Male-and-Female-Brains-Wired-Differently
New research on the neural connections within the human brain suggests sex-based differences that many have suspected for centuries: women seem to be wired more for socialization and memory while men appear geared toward perception and coordinated action. The female brain appears to have increased connection between neurons in the right and left hemispheres of the brain, and males seem to have increased neural communication within hemispheres from frontal to rear portions of the organ.
If females have increased connections between neurons in the right and left hemispheres of the brain and men have increased neural communication within hemispheres from frontal to rear portions of the organ, then could we not reason that by bringing the male and female together as one, there would be a greater wholeness?
These things can be studied more in another study, but suffice it to say, that the man and woman were truly made in the image of God, the two to be a part of each other and to need each other. And when God made them, he did it well and with intricate detail. When he finished, his creation was indeed - very good!
Everything God made was 'very' good. The word 'very' in the Hebrew is the word – m`od, mehode' and means -properly, vehemence, that is - (with or without preposition) vehemently; by implication, wholly, ... especially, exceeding (-ly) ...
According to the www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary, 'vehement' means - : marked by forceful energy : powerful a : intensely emotional : impassioned, … b (1) : deeply felt … (2) : forcibly expressed …
So, we see that God was altogether pleased and satisfied with his creation. We get the idea that he saw it as powerfully good and may have had very strong, even passionate feelings about what He had created.
For those who think that people sin because they have a sinful nature, please notice that God could not have created Adam and Eve in his own likeness, with natures that were in any way ungodly or sinful, and still called them - very good. God did, however, give mankind a free will.
Some believe that we only sin because we have a sinful nature, but please consider that Eve did not need a sinful nature in order to be able to make the choice to do something against God's instructions.
Even Satan was perfect when he was created (Ezekiel 28:15), and yet he was able to rebel against God.
There are some Bible translations that translate the Greek word ‘sarx’ as ‘sinful nature,’ but this is an error. According to the Strong’s Concordance, ‘sarx’ is defined as – “flesh (as stripped of the skin), i.e. (strictly) the meat of an animal (as food), or (by extension) the body (as opposed to the soul (or spirit), or as the symbol of what is external, or as the means of kindred), or (by implication) human nature (with its frailties (physically or morally) and passions), or (specially), a human being (as such):-- carnal(-ly, + -ly minded), flesh(-ly).
The only mention of ‘nature’ in this definition of ‘sarx’ is – “human nature (with its frailties (physically or morally) and passions.) There is a great difference in having ‘frailties,’ which has to do with weakness, and being sinful. Human nature without God, who is our source of power, is weak and more susceptible to giving in to temptation.
If we take the definition of 'nature' as given by the www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary which defines 'nature' as -1 a : the inherent character or basic constitution of a person or thing :... b : disposition, temperament, we can see that, being in God's own image, Adam and Eve’s 'nature' was also good. Their inherent character, their basic constitution, even the instincts which God wired into the man would have been good.
Adam and Eve were created without sin. They were blameless, or that is, innocent of wrongdoing, when they were created. But, as we know, something happened that left them in an altered state. It is widely believed, throughout the church world, that when the first man and woman sinned, their nature was changed. It is further believed that every man born after this was born in that same altered condition. A little further on, we will us see if the scriptures bear this out.
First, however, there are a few more things to consider concerning mankind, before their act of disobedience.
Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
God put Adam into the garden of Eden to do two specific things, dress the garden and keep the garden. The actual Hebrew word that has been translated as 'dress' is the word abad – (aw-bad,) which means - work (in any sense); by implication, to serve, till, ... husbandman, keep, labour(-ing man, bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve(-ing, self) ...
Adam was to be the husbandman, or caretaker and gardener of the Garden of Eden. He was also put there to 'keep' the garden. The Hebrew word that has been translated as 'keep' is the word shamar - (shaw-mar,) meaning - properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.: - beward, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep(-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch(-man).
So, Adam was given a responsibility and authority to be the husbandman and the protector of the place that was to be his and his wife's home.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Mankind - both the male and the female - were given dominion over every other living thing, everything except mankind. However, although he was given authority over the living creatures of the earth, man was still under the authority of God and always will be.
Psalms 24:1 The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
1 Corinthians 10:26 For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.
All the authority that man had was delegated authority, given by God, who could take it away if he chose. Their authority was authority 'under' God, not over or above God. This is seen in that he told them what they were to do and what they were not to do on the earth.
He specifically told them that they could eat of every tree in the Garden except for one. The one tree which they were never to eat of was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Make no mistake, no matter what you have heard. It was not the tree of good and evil, but rather the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There is an important difference. Eating of that tree would give them a knowledge that God did not want them to experience.
Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Had Adam and Eve obeyed God's commandment to them, they would never have had a need to be saved. Authority came with the dominion they were given, so they had no need to fear anything. And they had God, his power, and his authority to back them. Their sin of disobedience gave them a knowledge, through experience, that was not good. At that point they needed saved from their sin and its consequences.
Now, so far, some fundamental truths have been presented about how things were before Eve sinned. These are very important things to consider because these truths impact our lives today. Some of the things I have presented may have already been familiar to you, while some things may have been quite surprising and different from what you have thought, heard or been taught. But let us see what the value of these things may be when it comes to our salvation. Let us go on to see what really took place on the day of the very first sin of mankind, why we need to be saved and how the sin of the first man and woman still impacts us today.
While many think that we need to be saved in order to one day go to Heaven, there is far more to it than that. We need to better understand how sin affects us on a daily basis, in life, here and now. By not knowing this, people suffer many things.
As we go on, be patient as we uncover truths one step at a time. Now back to the Garden of Eden.
Part Two
It is doubtful that God would have told Adam to protect the garden without telling him anything about what the possible danger was. However, no matter what he might have told the first man and woman, they had never witnessed evil in action nor seen the consequences of it. It was a completely unfamiliar thing to them.
To really 'know' something is more than to hear that it exists. It is to experience it. You might meet an individual, be introduced to them, and speak to them, but not really 'know' them. You can know that there is such a thing as love. You can hear about it, believe it exists and even see people who seem to be in love. But you will not really 'know' love until you experience it.
God wanted his man to 'know' good but not to 'know' evil. Before the serpent tempted Eve, they had experienced much good. Everything God had made and given them was very good.
It is important, as we go on, to understand that Satan is also known as the devil, the dragon, Lucifer and the serpent. All these titles or names are given to the same person and he is the enemy of God.
Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
The serpent, who is Satan, did not like this man and woman being in the image of God and having authority on the earth. Surely, he would not like the thought of them bearing children who would grow up, marry and fill the earth with more images of God. He would not like them producing children who could cause him trouble as they served the true and living God. So, he set about to bring about their downfall by getting them to disobey God. Keep in mind, as we go forward, Eve's lack of experience with evil.
Genesis 3:1-4 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The serpent was 'subtil,' which comes from the Hebrew word aruwm – (aw-room') and means - cunning (usually in a bad sense): - crafty, prudent, subtil.
Though on the day she was created, Eve was an adult, still she was a new creation - with no experience. When God created her, He must have filled her mind with all the knowledge she needed to be able to walk, talk and think as an adult. But all of life was a new experience for her. Though she was inexperienced with evil, before her encounter with the serpent, she was soon confronted with the master of it. She was confronted by the father of lies.
In speaking to people who sought to kill him, Jesus said these words which gives us information about the devil –
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil ... He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
With his sneaky, cunning ways, the father of lies, Satan (the serpent) was able to deceive Eve. She did not have an evil nature. She was in the image of God. But she was naive when it came to the cunning devices of Satan.
1 Timothy 2:14 ... but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Genesis 3:6-7 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
“When the woman 'saw' …” This word - 'saw' - is very important. One of its meanings is 'perceive'. The scripture is speaking of how Eve perceived something. It was the understanding she had or her view of what she was looking at. The fact that she saw it to be a certain way, or that is, that she perceived it to be a particular way, does not mean she was seeing or perceiving correctly. Satan influenced her to see it as he wanted her to. He is a master of illusion and trickery which he used to influence Eve to see the tree and its fruit the way he wanted her to see it.
It was when Eve 'saw' that the tree was good for food, was pleasant to the eyes, and that it was something to be desired to make her wise, that she disobeyed God and ate the fruit. She did not eat the fruit before she was deceived into perceiving it in a way that would tempt her.
How could she 'see' that it was good for food?
The serpent may have said more to her than what is recorded; we do not know. It could even be that he was eating a piece of the fruit as he talked to her; we do not know. We are told in the New Testament, that Jesus did many more things than what is recorded. Therefore, there may have been more to Eve’s conversation than what is recorded in scripture. These are things we do not know.
John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
So, the serpent may have used many deceiving words and expressions by which to deceive and entice Eve. If he was eating of the fruit, juice dripping from his mouth as he spoke his lying words, and a delicious aroma was filling the air, we can imagine how enticing it could be. The Bible does not say this happened. But somehow Eve got the picture that the fruit of that tree was both pleasant to the eye and good for food. And, if she saw him eating the fruit and not dying, that could have added to the deception. Remember though, that the Bible does not say that the serpent would die if he ate it, only mankind.
Perhaps she had avoided the tree up until that time, knowing it was forbidden, and, as Satan drew her attention to it, she may have begun to find it more appealing, as she saw its beauty and perhaps noticed an appealing fragrance.
What we do know is how she began to 'see' it. She also began to see it as something that would make her wise. No one was as wise or wonderful as her creator. Yet, the serpent probably seemed to have an understanding of things Eve did not know about, and he was telling her that the tree would do her good and not evil.
Yes, it was wrong of Eve to disobey God. And yes, Adam should have warned her not to listen to the serpent. He should have told the serpent to leave the garden. He had the position of authority to do so. But do not forget that Eve also had the authority to shut the serpent up and cast him out.
Genesis 1:26-28 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the eath, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
These scriptures tell us that God created both the male and the female, told them both to subdue the earth, and both to have dominion.
Yet, we know that Eve's first experience with the father of lies ended up with her considering his words, being totally deceived, and disobeying her maker.
Now let us consider what effect this disobedience had on her and the effect it has had on every human being since that time.
We know that Eve was told that in the day she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or in other words, the day she disobeyed God, she would die. It's important to understand the connection between sin and death. People think of Adam and Eve dying as being a punishment but let us take a closer look at the process. First consider what death is.
Death is - https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/death -
1 The action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism. 1.4 The destruction or permanent end of something. - ‘the death of her hopes’
1.5 A damaging or destructive state of affairs.
We see according to the dictionary, that one kind of death is the destruction or permanent end of something. We hear this term used many times throughout our lives. People will say things like, “My hope has died, my faith has died, the love has died, etc.
In the case of Adam and Eve, their death was far more all-encompassing than people sometimes realize. They died in every way. Let me explain.
God is light. There is no darkness in Him at all
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
What is said in these scriptures was true in the beginning before Adam and Eve sinned. They could fellowship freely with God.
The word 'fellowship in verse 6, actually means – (Hebrew) – koinonia, (koy-nohn-ee'-ah) - partnership, i.e. (literally) participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction:-(to) communicate (-ation), communion, (contri-) distribution.
When first created, Adam and Eve could walk in God's light. But when they sinned, darkness entered their lives and that fellowship 'died.' God, who is light, does not fellowship with darkness. Their sin resulted in the death of fellowship, and the death of a relationship. To be able to walk in fellowship with God once again, would require them to be cleansed from their sin. This is something they could not do for themselves in their sinful condition.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (e.m.)
Sin became a wall of separation between them and God.
How and why did sin separate mankind from God? To answer this, we need to understand that when Eve sinned, she sinned in her body. That may sound very strange at first, and some might think I am speaking heresy. But the Bible itself tells us of this fact.
Romans 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. (e.m.)
Where does it say that the motions of sin worked? It says they worked in his 'members.' In the Greek this word members is the word – melo, (mel'-os) - of uncertain affinity; a limb or part of the body: - member.
Romans 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Now, here, it says that the law of sin is where? “… in my members” This is the same word as in verse 5. So then, the law of sin, he says, was in his body.
Romans 6:12,13 +19 Let not sin therefore reign (rule) in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. (p.m.)
See how often our body (members) is referred to? Don't yield, or give your body over to uncleanness and iniquity, as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves, which includes your body, to God. Notice also, that writer says not to let sin rule in your 'mortal' bodies. So, he is clearly not speaking of their spirit which is eternal, but truly is speaking of sin in their physical bodies. This is important, for as we will see; in order to bring us salvation, Jesus took our sins in his 'body' on the cross.
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Here is an important truth. When Eve was tempted by the serpent, she had the ability to resist him and even to tell him to leave. She could have seen that the fruit of the tree was appealing and yet not acted on the temptation. It was when she reached out with her arm (a body part), took the fruit in her hand (a body part), and put it into her mouth, (a body part) and began to eat (with body parts) that she actually sinned. While it was a thought in her mind, she could have brought her thoughts into submission to the instructions of God and her conscience, and she could have refused to sin. But she did not. She acted out sin, 'in her body.'
And why does the writer say that he is telling them not to let sin rule in their bodies? It is because of the 'infirmity' of their flesh. This is both interesting and very important.
This word 'infirmity; in the Greek is - astheneia, (asthen'-i-ah); feebleness (of mind or body); by implication, malady; morally, frailty:--disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness. (Strong’s)
And the word 'flesh' here, in the Greek is - sarx, which we looked at earlier.
Notice that the definition given for ‘sarx’ includes the flesh as stripped of the skin. We are literally speaking of 'flesh.' If you pull the skin off of a chicken breast, what you will see is the flesh. The meaning given above also says - “the body as opposed to the soul or spirit. Although the word could, at times, have the meaning of human nature, it does not say 'sinful' nature, but rather human nature with its frailties etc.
Frailty is weakness. Sin brought physical death to our bodies and thus weakened them. It also separated us from our life source, the Holy Spirit. In this weakened condition it is hard for us to resist the power of sin. No part of our being was ever supposed to be without the Holy Spirit. Without him all that we are, including our natures, are left in a more frail- weakened - condition.
Now be careful here not to misunderstand. Rather than thinking that when mankind sinned in their bodies God cut them off just as punishment or because of anger.
Understand that God and mankind were functioning in a partnership or covenant.
The earth and everything on it belonged to God. Even the dust we were created out of belonged to him. Therefore, man belonged to God as well. They were his creation. It is not a matter of whether ungrateful people like it or not. That is the way it was and is!
In this partnership, God’s part was that he gave them life by giving them his very own breath. Though they belonged to him, he gave his man, both male and female, dominion under him over every living thing. He remained their creator, their God. He provided everything they would ever need for sustenance, for health for body, mind, and spirit. He gave them each other to love and have a close, loving relationship with. And he gave them control over all living things.
For their part, they needed to stay connected to God who was their source of light and life. They needed to listen to and obey their source of all knowledge, love, light, and life. To do this, they had to obey him.
Parents know that it is hard to teach and protect a child who refuses to listen to them or obey them. And so it was that without obeying God and giving him his rightful position, mankind could not stay connected to him.
Now, we know that God only withheld one thing from mankind. Rather than saying, ‘Why would God deny them access to that one tree?’ Why not ask, ‘Why should God give them so much?’ After all, he gave them their existence! They should have been grateful and thankful, and appreciated and love him for giving them so much. But how they responded to God whas their choice.
If they chose to disobey him, and go their own way, they would be denying him his rightful place in their lives and choosing to cut off their connection to him. If they did so, they would have to experience what that fully meant. They would be the ones pulling the plug so to speak from their source of life, for God is life! If they chose to turn away from him, of course, without life, they would die! They could not leave their source of life and still keep it!
If they chose to break their connection to God, they would have to give up ‘life’!
As God told his people in Deuteronomy, God set a choice before his people and let them choose for themselves.
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Mankind was designed to exist and function with and through a certain source of life, and that source was God the Holy Spirit. It is the divine power of God that gives any person all the things he needs that pertains to life itself and to godliness.
2 Peter 1:2-3 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
At the moment of their creation, Adam and Eve had a lifetime ahead of them in which to experience many. It is one thing to have information in your mind and another to actually experience those things. Adam and Eve were designed in such a way that their source of understanding and wisdom was to come from their power source – their teacher – their father - God himself. It was God who filled Adam and Eve’s computer (brain) with all the information that they had and any understanding that they had, before Eve’s encounter with Satan.
As long as Adam and Eve had an intimate relationship with God, he could minister to them by and through his Spirit. He was their source of everything they needed, not only physically but also in every other way. They could not function at full capacity without him. He was their life source and their power source.
So then, we can see the importance of this partnership in which God’s part was in being their God and father, their source of life and all that they needed for life and joy. He gave and they received. Their part was to honor him for he is, love and obey him.
Disconnected from him, the power would go off. And this is true of all mankind yet today.
When Adam and Eve sinned in their bodies, that sin disconnected them from God. They disconnected from him, and he turned away from them. As we saw in the meaning of the word 'fellowship,' one of the meanings for this word is 'partnership.' God is holy and he cannot partner with anyone who is unclean. He will not be contaminated with any unclean thing. Their sin brought –
DEATH OF A RELATIONSHIP
Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Adam and Eve being husband and wife had no reason to be ashamed of being naked in each other's presence, especially since they were 'one' even in God's eyes. Scripture does not tell of anyone else existing on the earth yet, at the time Adam and Eve sinned, so they would have had no one else to be concerned about at that time. Their sin seems to have taken place soon after they were created. Before they sinned, we are told –
Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
As soon as they sinned, however, their eyes were opened. What do you suppose their eyes were opened to? Apparently, for the first time, they saw their bodies as sinful. Their bodies were good in the beginning, pure, and sin free. Now they were bodies with sin in them. They felt the guilt and shame and what did they do? They sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. The act of this sin was recorded in their brains and would remain in their memories.
Not only were they physically naked, but when God would see them, they would be naked in His sight, in the sense that He would be able to see the sin in them. On that day there was the –
DEATH OF INNOCENCE
Now consider another aspect of the death they died. Where is our spirit? It is inside our bodies and cannot leave until death. Therefore, if God separated from them physically, their spirit, which was in their body, was also separated from him. Our spirit is not free to leave our body and go and do whatever it desires. Their spirit could not say - “Well, since God had to separate from my body, I will just leave my body and go spend some time with him.”
No! Our spirit is confined within our body until we die. People in some religions or cults, believe that their spirit can leave their body. But when they think they are experiencing such a phenomenon; it is actually a demonic illusion.
2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Once our spirit leaves our body, it either goes to the place prepared for the unbelievers or is taken into the presence of the Lord. Being separated physically from God, Adam and Eve were also separated spiritually. They suffered –
SPIRITUAL DEATH
Another fact to consider is that our minds are also confined within our bodies. With sin in the body, the mind is also separated from God. As blood is pumped from the heart to every part of our body, every limb, and every organ, giving it physical life, so the Holy Spirit was to give life to every part of our body, soul, and spirit. To have the mind separated from God is a dangerous and deadly thing.
The spirit of fear loves to torment our minds. Satan loves to accuse us by speaking lies to our minds. And he loves to adulterate the Word of God, telling us it means something other than what God intended. Evil actions proceed from an evil heart in which evil thoughts have been planted, conceived and taken root.
This is why, in the world today, there are people who truly want to do good and help others, but the way they sometimes go about it only brings on more trouble. They have a conscience, they care, but they do not have the spiritual knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to actually know what is best. People call good evil and call evil good.
WE NEED TO HAVE OUR MINDS SAVED AND GIVEN NEW LIFE!
In all of this, please understand that mankind needs to be saved from the terrible disconnection from our God our source of life, love, and all that is good! And we need saved from the thing that separated the first man and woman and that separates man form God to this day.
Once we are saved from the sin that separates us from God, we can once again have the Holy Spirit to teach us what we need to know. Our minds need fellowship with God.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
A mind without the Holy Spirit has no spiritual food to give it health and life.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
A carnal mind is a natural mind, by itself, separated from God. The thoughts that will be thought in such a mind, are often filled with uncertainty and confusion. They contain judgments without spiritual truth and are plagued with a multitude of influences other than God. The thoughts of a carnal mind can kill our spirit and our hope. The Bible has plenty to say about our minds. It instructs us to have our minds renewed.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
It tells us to cast down all the things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.
2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Satan wants to give us all sorts of knowledge. But it is deadly, unclean knowledge that he wants us to respect more than God or the true knowledge of God. So, God tells us to cast these things down and bring every though into captivity, or that is, take control of your thoughts, and bring every one of them into obedience to Christ.
We cannot do this as long as our thoughts are separated from God, and we do not have the Holy Spirit to give us the power we need. But once we are saved from that sin that is the wall of separation between us and God, we can take authority over our own minds. Then we can yield our thoughts to the guidance of the Spirit of God.
OUR MIND NEEDS TO BE SAVED! - IT CAN BE RENEWED!
When we are saved, we can do what Ephesians 4:23 tells us to do.
Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind….
In the 'loins' is the creative power. Let God inspire your thoughts and give you revelation. Let holy creativity begin in a godly mind.
The sin in the Garden of Eden brought all these kinds of death and yet there is one more death to be considered in this study.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The wage they earned for their sinning was death. It was the consequence of that sin. In other words, there was no death until that time. Not only death in the sense we have just addressed, in the sense of separation, but before sin entered the world Adam and Eve were immortal. However, the sin that entered their bodies caused the death of their bodies as well.
They had not been created for sin. The weight of it was never to be carried. It went against what they were to be, - a reflection of God. It was a poison to their minds, their spirit, their emotions, and their physical bodies.
Many have taught that the death Eve died when she ate of the forbidden fruit, was only spiritual death, but the scriptures show us that it was this and far more. Yet, it is understandable why a person might have trouble understanding how it could be said that they died physically, when they did not completely cease to live that day. In fact, Adam lived to be nine hundred and thirty years old before he died.
Genesis 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
So how could he have died physically on the day he ate of the forbidden fruit? On the day they ate of the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve went from being immortal to becoming mortal. Cells began dying and the dying process began. Look at what the Webster's Dictionary tells us about death.
(https://www.websters1913.com/words/Death) - Death = Huxley. [1913 Webster]
“1. The cessation of all vital phenomena without capability of resuscitation, either in animals or plants. – Local death is going on at all times and in all parts of the living body, in which individual cells and elements are being cast off and replaced by new; a process essential to life. General death is of two kinds; death of the body as a whole (somatic or systemic death), and death of the tissues. By the former is implied the absolute cessation of the functions of the brain, the circulatory and the respiratory organs; by the latter the entire disappearance of the vital actions of the ultimate structural constituents of the body. When death takes place, the body as a whole dies first, the death of the tissues sometimes not occurring until after a considerable interval. –
2. Total privation or loss; extinction; cessation; as, the death of memory.”
Death took place in Adam and Eve the day they ate of the tree. Local death began taking place in all parts of their body when sin entered it. Individual cells began being cast off and replaced. The life that was in them that they had received from God began to fade away and, being disconnected from him, no more life flowed into them. This would continue through the aging process until they breathed their last breath, which for Adam was when he was nine hundred and thirty years of age. But in every year that he still breathed, the dying process was taking place.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Where does it say that sin entered? Does it say that sin entered into man and changed his physical makeup and nature? No, it does not. It says that sin ENTERED THE WORLD!
What does it say passed upon all men? Sin? No! DEATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN!
Adam and Eve became mortal as did their seed. Every child being born of mortal seed would also be mortal, in a dying body, separated from God. He was born into a world where sin was. Being separated from their power source, which was God, they too would sin. It would be one vicious circle unless something was done to save them!
WE NEED TO BE SAVED IN ORDER TO ONCE AGAIN HAVE OUR LIFE SOURCE!
Without our life source - God the Father, the Son who is the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit - we will sin! There will always be things that appear appealing and draw our attention. There will always be the god of this world, Satan himself, to try and deceive us and lure us to sin. Without the Holy Spirit to teach us, guide us, and empower us, we will sin. Our sin will remain a separation between us and God. Without being saved, it is one endless cycle with no hope.
Think of why a person needs saved from a disease in his body. If the disease did not affect his quality of life in any way, he might see no need to worry about it or try to eradicate it. The reason you want healed of a disease is because of the havoc it plays on your body until it eventually kills you completely. A disease may cause you pain and render you so weak you have trouble getting around and thinking clearly. So, what you really want is to be cured of the consequences of the disease or the effects of the disease. This is how it is with sin.
WE NEED SAVED FROM SIN BECAUSE IT TAKES OUR LIFE AND SEPARATES US FROM GOD!
Sin affects our thinking, our reasoning, our emotions, our health; it causes us pain and suffering and separates us from the one who could keep us healthy and whole. It kills meaningful relationships and causes heartbreak and sorrow.
Many believe we need saved from a sinful nature that has been inherited from Adam and Eve. If I had a portion of scripture that actually said this, I would have to agree. There are some versions of the Bible where the word for 'sarx' that is translated accurately in the King James Bible as 'flesh,' is taken and translate as ‘sinful nature’ and the like. I believe this is based more on assumption than Biblical teaching. Please look again at the definition of ‘flesh.’ –
sarx, (sarx) n - flesh (as stripped of the skin), i.e. (strictly) the meat of an animal (as food), or (by extension) the body (as opposed to the soul (or spirit), or as the symbol of what is external, or as the means of kindred), or (by implication) human nature (with its frailties (physically or morally) and passions), or (specially), a human being (as such):--carnal(-ly, + -ly minded), flesh(-ly).
We see in the definitions for the word 'sarx,' is - (by implication) human nature (with its frailties (physically or morally) and passions), or (specially), a human being (as such). It does not say either sinful or evil nature only ‘human’nature and ‘a human being.’ However, if you assume human nature is sinful or evil, this translation may seem to be applicable.
However, it is a mistake to overlook what is actually said in the definition, just after these words. It says - carnal(-ly, + -ly minded), flesh(-ly).
As has already been mentioned, something that is carnal, is something by itself, without the Spirit of God. The nature of a human who is separated from God is frail (weak). It does not have the strength of the Holy Spirit. In that weakened condition, a human who is separated from God will do things that defile him, and it will affect his thinking and his conscience. But this does not mean that he is born defiled. He is born separated from God, and because of this, he is born vulnerable to the influences of Satan who is the God of this world.
There are scriptures in the Old Testament that speaks of people corrupting themselves. It does not say that they were born corrupted but rather that they corrupted themselves. This happened because they are separated from God and were living in death.
The writer of Jude speaks of people who speak evil about things that they really do not know about. Remember that before we are saved, our minds are separated from God.
Jude 1:10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
These people corrupt themselves with the things that they know physically as opposed to spiritually. They speak of things that are based on irrational, unreasonable, fleshly instincts, as merely living creatures, who are animal like, in that they are spiritually dead.
The word ‘naturally’ in the verse above is translated from the Greek word, phusikos, meaning – “foo-see-koce') - "physically", i.e. (by implication) instinctively: - naturally.” (Strong’s)
Consider the definitions for the words ‘brute and beasts.’ Brute is translated from the Greek word alogos, (al'-og-os); irrational: - brute, unreasonable. (Strong’s)
Beasts is translated from the Greek word, zoond, (zo'-on) - a live thing, i.e. an animal:--beast. (Strong’s)
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
When all you are left with is yourself, body, mind, and spirit, with your life source missing, you are left dead while you live. If you give in to every impulse of the flesh with no filter of the Holy Spirit, you will corrupt yourself until you are left functioning in ways that corrupt you. It is not that you are born spiritually corrupted, but you are born without the knowledge or strength you need to know how to be able to keep from sinning.
Though you are a creation of God, created in his image, you have need of the life-giving bread of life. God has wired certain instincts and needs into you. But without him you do not understand these things, nor do you know how to meet those needs. You may crave a certain food, not knowing what it is nutritionally that your body is needing. You may crave the physical relationship with the opposite sex, not knowing that God has wired this into you for the purpose of marriage and becoming a reflection of God on the earth.
Desires and needs are there, but you are ignorant of their purpose and value. In your ignorance you will try to satisfy the need with things that will only do you harm, and you will sin!
If you were to take an infant, who was just old enough to crawl, and set him outdoors on a grassy lawn, at just about lunch time, what might happen? At first, he might look around excitedly. He might examine the warm grass he feels against his chubby legs. If he should see a butterfly, he might try to chase it. If he is getting very hungry, he might reach down and pick up whatever he finds and put it in his mouth. If he should put a stone in his mouth, it is not because he is wanting to hurt himself or do something wrong. He only knows he is hungry, but without his mother's guidance, he does not know what is good for him and what is not. Should he see a berry bush, he might crawl to it, reach up and grab a berry and put it into his mouth. He has no concept of poison, so does not wonder if the berry might be good for him or do him harm. The berry is appealing, and he is hungry. He could harm himself in a deadly way, because of his ignorance, if he did not have his mother to watch over him, protect him, guide, and teach him.
So, it is with a person who enters this life separated from his guide, protector, and teacher - God. Without any particular desire to hurt himself, God, or anyone else, he may in fact do so. Why? Because he does not have the knowledge and wisdom to be able to always discern what is right, best, bad, or harmful. He does have a conscience that God has wired into him, that can warn him to some degree. Still, being separated from the one who created him and who knows what it is he truly needs, the one who can teach him to receive the good and refuse the bad, he is going to make wrong choices and hurt himself.
Every time a man sins, that sin is recorded in his memory. It contaminates him and he corrupts himself. Sin can become such a habit that his conscience becomes seared and hardened. The thing that he did not know would wound his own spirit becomes so habitual it seems natural to him.
In this sense, his nature may change. But this is because of the effects of the sin he has committed not because of sins committed by Adam and Eve. Their sin made him mortal and separated from God. But their sin did not put sin inside of him. He did that to himself. He has corrupted himself. It is not because he was born corrupted. He has lived separated from the one who loves him and could keep him from the damage of sin, and he needs to be saved.
Even if he should read some of God's instructions given in the Bible, he still needs the Holy Spirit to make it come alive to him so that he can learn the truth. Without God, he too is going to be deceived in the same way that Eve was. As a baby, left to himself, without the care of his mother will die, so a man without God will do the thing that will kill him – he will sin.
A child is born without the Spirit of God dwelling in him. Separated from God before salvation, he lacks the knowledge of the truth that can free him from the power of sin and the wicked one. He does not have the strength of the Holy Spirit or the authority of the name of Jesus the Savior. Left to himself, he is carnal (not connected to the Spirit of God) and he will sin. His sin, in turn, separates him from his God. And so, goes the vicious circle.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ,
How does it say their minds could be corrupted? Does it say they are born corrupted? No! Born separated, yes. Born weakened by the lack of their life source, yes. Born vulnerable to sin, yes. Born too weak to resist the cunning deceitfulness of the enemy, yes. And because of this their minds, if not surrendered and dependent on God, indeed can be corrupted through the subtilty of Satan (the serpent) in the same way that Eve was. Eve was able to be beguiled, though she was sinless in the beginning. We too can be beguiled if we are not born again and saved from sin. Paul did not want this to happen.
Look at the Greek word that the word ‘subtilty’ was translated from and its definition. Subtilty - (Greek) – panourgia, (pan-oorg-ee'-ah) - from [panourgos]. Panourgia is – ‘adroitness, i.e. (in a bad sense) trickery or sophistry:--(cunning) craftiness, subtilty.
Sophistry (is - https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sophistry) – 1. The use of clever but false arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving. 1.1count noun A fallacious argument.
Satan is good at producing many a clever, though false argument by which to deceive those who are separated from God.
Speaking of what is going to happen to Satan, the Bible says -
Romans 20:2-3 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more …
Satan also uses other men to deceive.
Matthew 24:4-5 And Jesus answered and said uno them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
WE NEED SAVED SO WE WILL NOT BE DECEIVED – BUT WILL INSTEAD KNOW THE TRUTH THAT SETS US FREE
John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Because of Adam and Eve's sin, death has passed on all of us. Every person born, is born of mortal seed. They are formed of the seed of their mortal father and the seed of their mortal mother. They are carried in a mortal womb and thus, enter the world separated from God. We enter a world where death is ruling mankind. It has its grips on mankind, like evil tentacles, ever choking out the life we were meant to have. This death is physical, mental, and spiritual separation from God. It is physical death that we deal with on a daily basis, causing the aging (dying) process.
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned (rule) from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (p.m.)
We are born in this mortal state without having sinned ourselves. But because we are separated from God, we will sin. Yet, because of what Jesus did to save us and redeem us back to a relationship with God, we are born to opportunity. The opportunity is there for each of us to believe on the Savior, when we reach an age of maturity, and to once again receive everlasting life.
The opportunity is there for us, to be united to God and receive the Holy Spirit to indwell us and give us the power, through him, to refuse the sin that brings death.
Yes, we are born separated from God, but we can be born over again as a child of God, restored to a relationship with him. We can be born again. When we become his child, we receive the right to use his name, which is hisauthority, to take control over the works of darkness. We can rule, through Christ, rather than be ruled by sin and Satan.
WE NEED TO BE SAVED TO TAKE BACK THE LIFE AND AUTHORITY GOD MEANT FOR US TO HAVE IN THE BEGINNING.
When we are saved from sin and death, through believing in the work of Jesus Christ, repentance, and submitting ourselves to him, we can then resist the devil, and he will flee from us.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Then we will not have to allow sin to reign (rule) our lives. And why is this so? It is because the sin that separated us from God has been removed – AND – at that moment. –
We are born of the Spirit of God!
John 14:15-23 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
When Jesus was speaking these words, he had not yet died and rose again. At that time, the Spirit of God could be with the disciples, but he would not live ‘in’ them until after Jesus gave his life for the salvation of the world. So he told them that the Spirit of Truth was ‘with’ them, but there was coming a time when he would be ‘in’ them! Hallelujah!
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Jesus assured his disciples that even though he had to leave them for a time, he was going to come to them again. The Father was going to send the Holy Spirit who is the comforter. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us life. Jesus and the Spirit are one. When the Spirit of God comes to live in the person who has repented of their sins and given themselves to God, Jesus comes along with the Father to live in him as well, for they are one! This is an experience of new birth.
This is being born of the Spirit of God!
John 3:1-6 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Without the Spirit of God, we can never fully understand the things of God. As long as we are separated from God’s Spirit, we are in the dark and our minds are blinded.
This is why we need to be saved!
We need to be saved so that we can have fellowship with God, we can be born of God’s Spirit, and we can be taken out of darkness into the glorious light of God!
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Luke 11:36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
Do you hear what is said here? If your what be full of light? Your whole body – which once was full of darkness because it had sin in it and was separated from God who is the light of the world. Separated from God, the world is in darkness. But when the light takes up residence in us, when we are born of God, we have his light in us!
John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Ephesians 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
Like many today, Nicodemus, did not understand what Jesus was saying to him.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
When we are in our mother’s womb, we are in water. When we are born physically, we might say that we are born of water. However, Ephesiand 5:26, in speaking of what Christ did for his church, we read this –
Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
God cleanses his people at the moment of salvation, and he does so by the water of the Word, that is, the Word is the cleansing water. Not only so, but Jesus himself is the Word of God. And God’s Word is both Spirit and life. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work in unison in our salvation! The word of God, which we find in the scriptures are words coming from God. These words are seeds that are planted in us, and they are watered by the Holy Spirit, making them the words of life! When we receive them, believe in them, and surrender to the living Word, Jesus Christ, we are born of his Spirit!
Luke 8:11 … The seed is the word of God.
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Hallelujah! We are born of incorruptible seed, which is the word of God! This seed – God’s Word can never be corrupted, and it lives forever!
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
God draws every person. and he draws by his Spirit and his Word. However, you can never get to God unless you come through Jesus, the one who bore our sins in his body, killed the body of sin, and brought victory over all sin and death! God calls us to come, and to come, we must come through the one and only door that leads to him – Jesus Christ, the living Word of God!
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
When we walk through that door, we are born of the Spirit of God. We are saved!
1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
As long as the Word of God remains in us, we have the power to live without sinning, for God’s Word is both Spirit and life!
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
In the Old Testament, mankind was separated from God because of the sin of Adam and their own sins. They had a law, the Law of Moses to live by, but that law did not have the power to remove their sins and reconnect them to God. Without God’s Spirit, they did not have the power to keep all of the law at all times. So, the law itself became the means of their sinning as they broke it and in so doing their sin produced death. But Jesus has brought us a new and better law, the law of the Spirit of God. His Spirit directs our steps through the Word of God and gives us both light and life. He gives us the power to do the will of God.
2 Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Dear reader, come to Jesus. Listen to him calling.
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Take his yoke upon you, that is come into partnership with him, enter the covenant with him that Adam and Eve had with him in the beginning. Willingly become bound to him as a bond servant. And when you do, you will learn of him. You will learn his heart and will find that all he does and all he requires of you is for your good, for your joy, and for your true freedom. You will find that being bound to God is the most satisfying, fulfilling, rewarding relationship you could ever know. And it is a relationship of the purest love that is in existence.
Come to the water of life, the Spirit of God, and drink freely!
1 Corinthians 12:13 For we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Drink the water that satisfies, and that ‘quickens,’ that is makes you alive. Your flesh, your body, by itself, separate from God cannot give you life. It can do nothing that will profit toward eternal life. But the words that Jesus speaks to us are spirit and life. When his and Spirit come into your body, our body, mind, and spirit are made alive. They are given life that will last forever. We need never again be separated from our source of all that is good, all light, life and love – our precious God!
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
THERE IS SALVATION!
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Definitions come from the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Where a notation is added in parenthesis, it is noted by (p.m.) for ‘parenthesis mine.’
