Character Studies - ElectronicGospel

a. it was no more a blessing to dwell on Earth continually, for man had ruined its pristine,sinless conditionb. eternal life on Earth would represent an unending battle with temptation and sin, disease anddisappointment, and so God mercifully began to diminish man’s life expectancy by eliminating thatprecious fruit from his diet, all the while making a plan so that man could regain it elsewhereD. What They Represent1. Adam and Eve become fruitful and multiply, producing children, so that everyone here in thisbuilding and around the world share a common ancestry–red or yellow, black or white, we are allultimately brothers and sisters as descendants of Adam and Eve2. Adam and Eve represent mankind, the function of free will and the need for a solution to theinevitable failure to do what is rightII. Some ApplicationsA. In God’s Image1. we learn from Genesis 1:26 that we are made in God’s image, but Bible students have alwaysstruggled to understand just what that meansa. does God have a body like ours, with organs and appendages and skin and bones?b. or does this mean something less tangible?2. remember that man was formed from the ground–the name Adam actually derives from theHebrew ‘adamah, the word for ground–but God is spirit (cf. John 4:24)a. being made in his image has no reference to things physical, for God only figuratively hashands and feet and a back, for he is a spiritb. being made in his image has reference to things spiritual; his likeness includes an endowmentof reason, moral self-awareness, free will, imagination, immortality and limited creativityc. life in the plant and animal world is mostly lacking all of these qualities, so that man alone ismade in God spiritual likeness3. man’s simulation of God’s likeness has been eroded over time as evil has waxed worse andworse, so that a dramatic renewal is required to restore each sinner to that image (Ephesians 4:17-24 andColossians 3:9-14)a. most notably in God’s image you see is the fact that John emphasizes, namely that “God islove” (First John 4:8)b. when we sink into hate or even just apathy, it is that we are deviating from God’s imageB. Family1. Adam and Eve marry and start a family, the kind of family that grows rarer in this world everyday, but the kind of family that matches God’s ideala. Jesus used this family to illustrate his insistence on the ideal for his kingdom’s law (Matthew19:3-9)b. Paul referred to it in ordering the roles in the home (Ephesians 5:22-31)c. the husband’s headship is rooted in Adam and Eve for two reasons, Adam’s previous creationand Eve’s gullibility (First Timothy 2:8-15)2. it is a sad commentary on how far mankind has drifted that it is so common to see mothers andfathers with little affection for their children, sometimes abandoning them, even aborting them3. it is sad to see sex outside of marriage lose all of its stigma, so that even young women areencouraged to experiment and forfeit their innocence4. understand that the devil has spent centuries polishing the fruit on the tree of sexual pleasure toentice males and females to take and eat, deceiving them into thinking that they will not diea. the fruit on that tree seems to have no bitter aftertaste, until you take a big bite and discoverthe worm hiding inside–unwanted pregnancy, disease, hastily arranged loveless marriages, unwanted andabandoned children, welfare dependency, and if left unrepented, eternal deathb. sex outside of marriage is forbidden fruit (First Thessalonians 4:3-8)C. Trees1. the tree of eternal life bore fruit that would have sustained Adam and Eve’s mortal bodiesperpetually112! Jeff S. Smith