Romans 4:11-12 NAS95 (11)  and he [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, (12)  and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.

There is a lot about circumcision that was a major issue in Paul’s day. In this passage Paul pointed out that Abraham was saved before he was circumcised. And even the Jews who are circumcised must follow in the steps of Abraham’s faith to be saved.

In this course we will follow Abram through each step of faith to learn what he learned. Before we begin following Abraham’s steps, we need to review what happened in the Garden of Eden and at the Tower of Babel.

In Genesis Chapter 1, at the end of each day, God called his creation of the day “GOOD”. On the sixth day, he created man and said it’s very good. Then God put every good thing he created under the authority of humanity, who were the very good. 

The Bible does not tell us how much time elapsed before the first Sunday school class was held in the Garden of Eden. What happened that day revealed even the very good can fail to do good.

Genesis 3:1-5 NAS95 (1)  Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

(2)  The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; (3)  but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'”

(4)  The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! (5)  “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  

The “or touch it” is an example of the dross we add to God’s words. The things we add do not give us the strength to obey God. It is dangerous because what we add, repeated long enough often gets accepted as “God said.” When we obey these added commands, that God never said, we make our worship of God vain.

The serpent asked an innocent question. The problem with questions is the agenda behind them. The serpent already knew they were not supposed to eat of the tree. He had an agenda to convince the people in charge they are wrong about God. God didn’t give them every good thing. He withheld something good and is using fear to manipulate them.

The only evidence Adam and Eve had that they would die if they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil was God’s word.

The only evidence Adam and Eve had that they would not die if they ate from the forbidden tree was the serpent’s word.

To accept they would not be harmed by eating from the tree of knowledge they had to believe that God is a liar, who manipulates people with fear to keep the good stuff for himself.

Who gave them authority and good things?

God.

What did the serpent give them?

Did the serpent see them as very good and give them every good thing to rule over? Why did they believe one of God’s creations, a beast of the field that God put under their authority?

Why didn’t they at minimum ask the serpent to repeat his accusation in God’s presence? God walked in the garden in the cool of the day, yet they could not wait and let God face his accuser before they made such an evil judgment about him. If they loved God, they would have believed the best of him, and asked him to explain before they condemned God as a liar.

Was their treatment of God fair?

Instead, of treating God with fairness, they ate of the forbidden tree, made clothes out of fig leaves, and hid in the bushes with the liar. The fact that Adam and Eve did not immediately die may have embolden the serpent to believe he was right about God. Did he stay to gloat over his handiwork, and smirk at God when God arrived, and saw Adam and Eve are now wise like him and still alive.

None of them repented. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. No one was dead. They might not have been sorry they ate of the tree, just sorry they got caught. But God is not mocked. They lived long enough to bury Abel when his brother killed him because he was mad at God for not accepting his worship. I wonder how many children they buried before they followed their children into the grave.

They did not die immediately but something did happen immediately.

Genesis 3:22 NAS95 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man [Hebrew word means human beings] has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil…

God said humanity has become like God in one way, “knowing good and evil.” Nobody has to tell God what is good or evil. He knows. The likeness of God Adam and Eve’s sin gave all their descendants is an attribute of God that we call conscience.  Our conscience will tell us something is morally wrong before we do it. 

Adam and Eve were naked in the garden until they ate of the forbidden tree. When our children are toddlers, they will run around naked in front of strangers and have no shame. Eventually, they will become aware of their nakedness, and not want Mom and Dad, who saw them naked from the day they were born, to see their nakedness.

No one had to tell Adam and Eve they were naked and needed to cover themselves. And no one had to tell God what they did when he saw the latest fashion in tree leaf attire.

We have an attribute that makes us like God. Centuries of human history prove we can have an attribute of God and still be nothing like God. It is a paradox that justifies God’s claim, there is only one God and there is no one like him.

God judged the one who instigated the problem first.

Genesis 3:15 NAS95 (15) And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The only one God spoke to about the coming seed is the serpent, until God spoke to Abraham. The Amplified Bible says the serpent will be fatally bruised, by the seed of a woman. The serpent will bruise that child’s heel. We are the body of Christ and sometimes God lets evil bruise us, so we can change what we cannot see. The truth about who we really are comes to light when pressure is applied. The way we respond when we are bruised by evil reveals to us and to everyone else who we really are and then we can make a decision if that is who we want to be.

God said nothing about a savior to Adam and Eve who are unrepentant and still not sure who lied to them, but he did not abandon them. He made better clothes for them and then allowed them to suffer the consequence of their actions. The Bible does not tell us if they ever repented. My guess is, they did. Somebody taught Cain and Abel how to worship God.

God made a way to save us from the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin, death, but the only way to keep us is to win our love.