Biblical Worldview - Part 5 - The First and Last Adam
By Ben Quine
**The way we act is shaped by the way we look at the world. Our lives are shaped by our basic assumptions and convictions. These Worldview Articles will explore what a “worldview” is. Each person has a worldview, whether they know it or not, and it determines every decision and choice a person makes. Do you have a Biblical Worldview or are factors other than the Bible informing your choices and decisions. In this series of articles, we will take an in-depth look at 7 Vital Worldview Questions, as the starting place for building a Biblical Worldview. (These articles are adapted from David Quine’s Answers for Difficult Days “Seven Vital Worldview Questions.” David is Ben’s father and the founder of Cornerstone Curriculum a Biblically based Homeschool Curriculum.)
Frankenstein. Just that one word conjures up so many images! Countless books, movies, and stories have been based on the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley. But did you know that Frankenstein is not the name of the monster, but the name of the doctor who created him? And did you know that in the original book, the monster was not evil by nature? He only chose violence because he was mistreated and rejected by society.
Maybe that is an accurate picture of all humanity. Maybe we are all like the creature in Frankenstein, basically good on the inside, but we choose evil because of our environment or circumstances. This is a profoundly important worldview question, and to find the true answer we must turn to the Bible.
Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
In our previous articles, we considered God as the Creator and the importance of the first chapters of Genesis in establishing the Biblical Worldview. The living, eternal, and triune God created everything that is, out of nothing. He created non-living things (stars, planets, rocks), plants (trees, flowers, grass), animals (fish, birds, land animals), and finally humans (Adam and Eve).
All creation is finite and subordinate to our infinite Creator (infinite — God; finite — humans, animals, plants, and machines). Humanity is unique because we are also created in God’s own image (spirit — God and humans; without spirit — animals, plants, and machines).
“What is the essential difference between man as God intended [him,] and the rest of the animal kingdom? God has given to man what He has not given to any other form of created life - the human spirit... intrinsically indivisible from the human soul. As the marrow within the joints, so is the human spirit buried deep within the human soul, remaining essentially distinct, yet together forming that complete immaterial entity capable of endless survival after physical death, as opposed to the purely ‘animal soul’ common to the rest of the animal kingdom, which possesses no such capacity either to survive or to be held morally responsible beyond the grave.” (Major Ian Thomas)
Man is distinct from animals, plants, and the machine parts of creation because man, like God, is personal and has a spirit.
However, man is like the animals, plants, and machine parts of creation because they are all finite.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good… (Genesis 1:31)
Adam, Eve, and their descendants were created to display the image of God to a world that could not see Him; they were stamped with His likeness and recognizable as belonging to Him.
And they were crafted so that the Spirit of God could live within their spirits, bringing life to their lives.
God’s nature and character were meant to flow from humans, not because they were trying hard to imitate God, but rather because God Himself was living in and through them. Adam and Eve, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, were spiritually alive!
In these opening verses, we find Adam, made in the image of God, spiritually alive, in a perfect environment, and having a personal relationship with God - they walked together. Man was in harmony with the whole of creation, and “it was very good.”
Clearly, something has happened to change that. Looking at man’s behavior today, one would certainly wonder about the image of God in man…
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) …So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)
Although God said that Adam would die the day that he ate the forbidden fruit, (Genesis 5:5) also says that Adam lived 930 years and then died. What did happen to Adam when he ate the fruit?
Though retaining his physical existence, Adam died a spiritual death the day he ate the fruit. And the image of God was instantly broken and marred because the Spirit was no longer living within or bringing life to his spirit.
After the Fall we read that Adam became the father of a son “in his own likeness, after his image” (Genesis 5:3).
Adam passed on to his children the marred image of God, spiritually dead, with its ungodly character and behavior patterns. The whole human race has been born “in Adam”, and are therefore the antithesis of the living image-bearers we were created to be!
For the wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23)
For as in Adam all die… (I Corinthians 15:22)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3)
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. (Ephesians 4:18)
The Bible’s teaching is clear. As the result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s command, all of us (their descendants) have been born in Adam’s image: rebellious, disobedient, and evil from the inside out.
We are not like Frankenstein’s creature who was turned bad by his environment. We are not “depraved because we are deprived,” as is taught in the Broadway musical West Side Story. We are not basically good on the inside, as taught by every non-biblical worldview. Every one of us “was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment [our] mother conceived [us].” (Psalm 51:5, NET)
Therefore we, and not our circumstances, are responsible for our own sinful character and choices. (This is why our culture is particularly intent on discrediting Adam and Eve as historic people: if Adam and Eve were real, only the Biblical worldview can provide the solution.)
Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
Humanity is indeed in a desperate state as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin. We are sentenced to eternal spiritual death because of our congenital sin. We need a hero, someone to undo the damage done by Adam. Someone to rescue us from the debt we owe but cannot pay.
Someone who is human, but who wasn’t born already spiritually dead. Someone born of a virgin, who did not inherit the marred image from Adam.
For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9)
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (I Corinthians 15:22)
Christ Jesus is that hero. He is the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Word who is God and was already with God in the beginning when he created the world (John 1:1). He “became flesh and dwelt among us,” making the invisible God known to us, as mankind was meant to do, originally (John 1:14, 18).
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
In the Old Testament God required the blood of a spotless lamb to temporarily cover human sin. But Jesus came as the sinless Lamb of God and shed his own blood to permanently take away the sins of his children. He alone was still spiritually alive, so he alone could pay the penalty for our sins.
When we accept the gift of his blood, this free cancelation of our sin, the Holy Spirit returns to dwell within our spirit, and we become instantly alive again! Hallelujah!
Perhaps you’re still experiencing the spiritual death that comes from Adam? If you are separated from God by your sin, I urge you right now to repent of your sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, ask God for forgiveness, and hand over your entire life to be an image-bearer for Him. It is the most wonderful thing you can ever do!
Ben Quine is Vice President of Christians Engaged and is the Director of Curriculum Development and Strategic Ministry Partnerships.
Learn more about Ben on our website: christiansengaged.org/leadership
Find Ben’s corresponding “Answers for Difficult Days” books in our Christians Engaged Store.