MISREADINGS IN GENESIS 1-3: WHY HUMANS DIE(1)

What Fall Story?
The “Fall” is not a biblical term; and, unless qualified, it is not a biblical concept.  The so-called “Fall” story, the narrative of Genesis 3, explains the loss of the opportunity to immortality.  Well before there was such people as Hebrews/Israelites, ancient myths addressed why humans are not immortal.  For example, in the ancient Mesopotamian myth, “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” probably going back to the Sumerians, a snake ate the plant of immortal life before Gilgamesh could.  In another Mesopotamian myth, “Adapa,” a god tricks him into not drinking the water of immortality.  The Bible, along with its very different worldview, presents a contrasting account:  God had given Adam and Eve access to immortality through the Tree of Life, but they lost that access when they ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.²  As a consequence, they/humanity face their mortality.

Created Mortal, Not Immortal
The first point to note is that in Genesis, humans are never said to have been created immortal.  That belief came into Christian thinking through the acceptance of Greek dualism.  (In Greek thought, humans were composed of a decomposable body and an eternal soul, the latter possessing the essence of life.  Since this line of Greek thought believed nothing could be lost or gained in an eternal cosmos, the soul had to be immortal; the essence of people is immortal.)  The Old Testament presents a different picture of the nature of humans, a wholistic one.  In the second narrative in Genesis, God takes soil, breathes into it – “breath” being related to “spirit,” and the man becomes a living “soul” (nephesh) (2:7).  The Hebrew concept of nephesh/soul is different from the Greek concept.  The Hebrew term is related to the bodily passages through which the breath flows.  A breathing animal, like a person, is also called a nephesh/soul.  There is no Greek dualism of an eternal soul entering a disposable body.  In the biblical anthropology, people are not alive apart from being embodied.  [For this reason, the first Christians would not have accepted a figurative resurrection.  To be resurrected, Jesus had to be embodied, even if that body was a “spiritual body,” as per Paul’s discussion in 1Cor 15:42-44.]  Moreover, there is nothing in the Gen 1-3 about humans being immortal.  With the cessation of breathing, a person expires (“breathes out”), dies.³  In this biblical revised version of ancient myth, however, the man had free access to the Tree of Life (2:9,16); that is, the man originally possessed the opportunity of immortality.

Facing Mortality
God told the man that if he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would die.  Although there are other key consequences to Adam’s disobedience [to be treated in the next blog post], the main one here that parallels the ancient Near Eastern myths is that now Adam and Eve face their mortality.  In the rebellious state of having chosen to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God bans them from the Tree of Life and from the Garden of Eden in which they had closely walked and talked with God (3:22-24).  Now, apart from God, they must die.

Application
Sin results in death.  Pop-level Christianity should take a fresh look at New Testament texts regarding the consequences of sin and take them more literally than figuratively.  When Paul states that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), he means it literally.  When John’s Gospel states that “that whoever believes in him [God’s Son] shall not perish (John 3:16), “perish” is meant literally.  Throughout the NT, the judgement on sin is death, literally.  All have sinned; all face death.  The biblical logic is crystal clear: cut off from the Source of Life (represented by walking and talking with God in the Garden) and being banned from the Tree of Life, leaves humanity facing death.  How could it not?  This is why Paul writes that because death entered the world through sin (Rom 5:12), “death has reigned from the time of Adam” (Rom 5:14).  So, too, the opposite state is clear: to be reconciled by grace back to the Source of Life results in eternal life.  How could it not?⁴  This simple truth is the heart of atonement message of the Good News.  Those who are reconciled to God now have life now.  They do not die, go to heaven, and THEN get eternal life.  They are now members of the Kingdom of God.  As Paul would say, they are now under the reign of the Spirit and life (see Romans 5-6).

Lord, apart from you, I have nothing, I am nothing, I have no hope.  I am dead.  However, I praise and worship you that solely by your grace, you have taken me back into relationship with you, into Life!  Help me to share that message of restored life with others.  Amen.
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1. For an introduction to this short series on Gen 1-3, see Nov. 22, 2024, “Misreadings in Genesis 1-3: Background.”
2. The specific temptation and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil will be explained in the next post.
3. The Gospels preserve this view of the nature of man in Greek: When Jesus’ dies on the cross, having made his last cry, he breathes out his spirit (e.g. Matt 27:50); he “expires.”
4. I recognize that it is problematic to introduce this OT concept of the nature of humanity in a “devotional” and not explore the implications further regarding judgement.  In brief, I will note that pop-level Christian readings of eschatological texts about judgement tend to face three problems: 1) not understanding what the figurative and symbolic language used meant in the first century AD, 2) foisting the Greek notion of an eternal soul into the texts, and 3) not recognizing that the Greek terms “Hades” and “Gehenna” had distinct meanings in the first century.  In regard to the last item: our earliest Anglo-Saxon translations (c. 10^th century) translated both Greek terms by the same word (“hell” in English) and, by conflating them, created a foreign construct.  I discuss these issues in a couple of academic articles:  Duke, Rodney, "Eternal Torment or Destruction? Interpreting Final Judgment Texts," Evangelical Quarterly 88.3 (2016/17) 237-58 and "The Idiom of 'Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth' in the Gospels: A Funerary Formula" Perspectives in Religious Studies 47/3 (2020) 283–98.

DEATH, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND TRINITARIAN PANENTHEISM

(Some rambling thoughts today.)
1.      I like the concept of panentheism.  That is, all that exists has its beingness within God, but with God still being distinct.  (This is different than pantheism in which all that exists is “God.”)

2.      I like the concept of the Trinity being like an eternal system, in which the “parts” exist only in relationship in the whole (systems theory).

a.      There are many analogies for trying to comprehend the incomprehensible relationship of the Trinity, but one I like most I find/infer in John 1:1 and Genesis 1.  (Background: in this oral culture, what one uttered was by one’s breath/spirit.  Therefore, words had a vitality to them such that they could bless or curse.)
The Father, is the one who utters the Word/Logos (Son) by his Spirit/Breath.
The Spirit is of the Father and expresses the Word/Son.
The Word, through the Spirit, is of the being of the Father and communicates the Father.

3.      Since God “speaks” by God’s Breath/Spirit all that exists into creation (Genesis 1), and through God’s Logos/Word all such things were made (John 1:3), a panentheistic way of looking at creation makes sense to me.  Moreover, that leads me to think about how creation as I know it seems to exist and develop in a similar “systems-theory” approach as the Trinity.

4.      It seems to me that consciousness of our being-ness and consciousness of God are aspects of our nature as emergent systems.  As I mentioned in a note in the previous post, an experience of the Presence of God could be a real neurological event initiated by God in whom we all exist (panentheism).

5.      This leads me to be comforted about the death of ones I love.  I believe I picked up in a writing by John Polkinghorne the idea that who we each were in our consciousness at death exists in the “memory” of God, awaiting to be restored at the resurrection of the dead.  I like that idea but would extend it to saying that who we are exists within the “memory” of God throughout our lives as well as after our physical deaths.  Thinking about how I and my loved ones exist in the “memory” of God, then, comforts me with the promise that I will continue to have relationship with them at the resurrection of the dead.

Application:  Thoughts like this fill me with wonder.

Praise you LORD!  I will extol you with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.  Great are your works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. (adaptation of Psalm 111:1 – 2).  Amen!

 

WHERE IS PARADISE? DOES THE CRIMINAL ON THE CROSS GO TO HEAVEN?

 Note: This post is a response to a private question I received regarding the last post, “The When of Eternal Life: It Matters” (10/11/23).  Basically, the question was, When Jesus told the criminal on the cross that he would see him in “paradise” (Luke 23:42 – 43), does that not mean that he would die and go to heaven?

Short answer:
No.  In this context, “paradise” does not mean heaven as we think of it today.

Background:
Among those at this time who believed in afterlife "holding places" of the dead, there were a couple of traditions about where the dead went:
1) The underworld, Hades, (this was complemented by the depths of seas that will also give up their dead at the resurrection).  In Greek tradition, which got picked up by some Jews, there were different regions in the underworld, uncomfortable places for bad people and comfortable places for good people -- like the Elysian Fields for heroic souls.
2) In one of the levels of the heavens above -- generally the 3rd heaven, often of seven -- in which there were also different places that separated the virtuous and the wicked dead (2 Enoch).  In 2Cor 12:2-4, Paul speaks about being taken to the 3rd heaven, in Paradise, which might be what we would call a near-death experience -- I don't know.

Answer: "Paradise,” then, was a term sometimes used for the place of the virtuous dead apparently in both underworld and heavenly after-death-place traditions.  So, Jesus was saying that this virtuous place is where he and the thief would be upon their forthcoming deaths.  (See comment, too, at NET Bible.)

Application:  A couple of points strike me.  The first is the reminder that we never know the state of another person’s heart and how and when it might soften and surrender to God.  Today, it is almost unimaginable for me to pray for those in Hamas.  (I do not even like writing this.)  But, if Jesus could pray from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34), then that is the model I must follow – like it or not.  The “evildoer” (kakourgos) heard Jesus, recognized Jesus for who he is, and he changed.
Second, I have the joyful reminder that the gates of Hades could not contain my Savior.  His resurrection foreshadows that of all the dead in Christ.  Hallelujah!

Lord, help me to pray for all of those for whom you suffered to redeem.  And, praise to you that the gates of Hades could never contain you, my Hope, my Life, my Redeemer!

THE WHEN OF ETERNAL LIFE: IT MATTERS

 Recently, I read in a popular devotional, “Today we commemorate the Transitus of St. Francis of Assisi (1182–1226), the date he passed from death into eternal life,” and I sighed.  This statement is contrary to the gospel that Jesus preached but is found in pop-cultural Christianity.
Main point: Jesus, and the early Christians, proclaimed that eternal life began NOW (an in-the-present experience) for a person who received the message of the Kingdom of God and entrusted oneself to God.  In short, when Jesus began his ministry, he proclaimed the most wonderful and astonishing news that could fall on Jewish ears,

“And after John [the Baptist] had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’" (Mark 1:14 – 15 NAS)

To a Jew expecting that God would bring about an end to this present age of sin and suffering and start again with a “new heavens and earth,” this meant the awaited moment had come!  They assumed, as would Jesus’ disciples, that this new age, the age of the Kingdom of God, would be ushered in by the Messiah rather promptly.  Jesus, however, reshaped that expectation.  He taught that the new age would be like the planting of good seed in a field now, but that one would have to wait for the later time of harvest – his return – for the last stage and consummation of the Kingdom.
Still, Jesus taught, as particularly seen in his discussion with Nicodemus in John 3, that participation in the Kingdom of God meant being born anew/from above* (3:3,7) and entering into eternal life NOW.  In good Jewish thinking, participation in the Kingdom of God meant that one had been received into a proper and close relationship with one’s Creator and, therefore, had been reunited to Life.  [Note how Jesus speaks of “see/enter the Kingdom of God” in vv 3 and 5 and switches to “have eternal life” in vv 15 – 16, or see how the phrases are interchanged in Matt 19:16 - 24.]  As the good news of Jesus spread to non-Jews, the Jewish expression “entering the Kingdom of God” was often replaced by the Gentile-friendly phrase “entering eternal life” with the result that the former phrase that Jesus proclaimed has all but dropped from church-talk.
Unfortunately, along the road of transmission and tradition, pop-cultural Christianity also dropped the biblical sequence of salvation and adopted a sequence of a person believing, dying, and then getting eternal life despite the popular preaching of being “born again”!  (For years I have had students who could read these texts repeatedly and then turn around and talk about dying and then getting eternal life.)  But, this teaching makes a difference!  It makes a difference in who we are in Christ, our understanding of our call to serve in his kingdom, and how we see and value life now.

Lord, thank you that you have accepted me as a participant of your Kingdom now, that I am in relationship with you now, and that I have life eternal now.  Help me to live up to this gift of grace now.  Amen.

*The adverb anothen can mean “again” or “from above.”  Since John frequently employs double entendre (words that have two meanings), it is likely that he wanted to play off both meanings.

Note: A suggested subject of study: How does the gospel (“good proclamation”) that Jesus preached and sent his disciples to preach prior to his death relate to the gospel of Jesus that the Church began to preach after his resurrection?

OBEDIENT ONE UNTO DEATH

My devotional reading today quoted Phil 2:5-8.

        Have the same mindset toward one another that Christ Jesus had:
            Who existing in the form/essence of God,
                    did not regard equality with God to be grasped,
                    but he emptied himself,
            having taken the form/essence of a slave,

            having become in the likeness of humans,
                    and having been found in the state of a human,
                    he humbled himself,
            having become an obedient one unto death – death of a cross!*

What caught my attention was “having become an obedient one unto death" (v 8).  (The death of loved ones is always a horror, bringing shock and fear of living with the loss.  So, that is another topic.)  But one’s own death, that is different.  Of course, none but Jesus follow his path of divine humiliation and incarnation carried through to obedience to death.  However, as God’s creature, I, too, am called to be an obedience one unto death.  "Obedience unto death" does not proclaim or rest upon resurrection faith.  I think it is a "deeper" faith -- if that makes sense.  Obedience to death has its grounding in a right relationship with God today; that is, we trust God unto death.  ("My flesh and my heart fail, but my heart's rock and my portion is God, forever!" Psa 73:26.)  That is “righteousness,” the right relationship.  That is faith sufficient for today.

Lord, you are my Creator to whom I belong.  In you I trust.  May I walk in obedience to you today and tomorrow and unto death.  Amen.

*My tentative translation.  Notes: 1) I awkwardly use “form/essence” for morphe, because the better choices, "quintessence" or "quiddity," are not used much.  2) Most translations render the aorist participles as present participles, possibly because this is poetry or out of conformity to older translations, but I have tried to capture the “pastness” of the actions (e.g. “having taken the form” rather than “taking the form”).  3)  In the last line, the phrase is often translated, “being obedient,” but since the phrase is parallel to “having become in the likeness of humans,” I think the adjective is being used nominally, “obedient one,” a rendering which to me emphasizes Jesus’ obedience as a human.  4) I have also tried to capture the poetic, balanced, thought-structure.