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The First SinOur Lord revealed to Adam that if he broke the law he would die. As mentioned previously, this law would also have applied to his wife whenever he got married. Then the evil one, the master of all deceit, began to work on the faith of Adam and his wife. This foul wretch began telling them that they would not die but would be like God Himself if they denied His existence or if they worshiped other false gods above Him. It is doubtful that either Adam or his wife ever received any dreams or visions or anything else of this nature from the devil, for they were both in the state of grace at this time. These ideas probably came to them through normal afterthoughts or reflections upon their belief after they made their profession of faith in the High God. These ideas could also have come to them from unbelieving neighbors or any other conventional method of temptation to which all mankind is subject. Eventually, Adam’s wife either denied the existence of the High God or worshiped a false god above Him. Her soul became filled with darkness, misery and despair. In short, her soul became one with sin and death and her dreams became filled with nightmares. Thus, it was through her actions that the first Mortal Sin entered the world. From the narration, one can conclude that she then induced Adam to commit sin, probably by showing him that she could worship other gods and not physically die. One does not know how this first sin was committed. One can only conclude that she broke the first commandment and then somehow induced Adam to follow her example. After he followed her example, our Lord revealed to Adam, probably through a dream, a vision or some other type of religious experience, what they had done to themselves, what this sin had done to them, who it was that deceived them, and how the evil one did it.
In a dream or vision of some kind God showed Adam that he had allowed a deadly, dreaded beast into his own soul. He had allowed evil to enter into his soul. The devil did not enter into the souls of Adam and his wife earlier because they had not sinned and were not his slaves. They were children of God and could not be approached by Satan whenever they prayed or meditated and retreated into the inner mansions of their own souls. Before they sinned, their consciences were not filled with guilt nor plagued with worry. Our Lord took delight in making their souls a blissful utopia. But after they had sinned, their eyes were opened to evil and they could perceive only through the eyes of sin and guilt. Their sin filled their souls with grief and allowed the evil one to plague their consciences. Their souls were no longer clothed with the grace of God, for their sin had replaced the tree of life in the center of their souls with the tree of death. This is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. By comparing Gen.2:9 with Gen.3:3 one can see that both the tree of life and the tree of death are in the center of paradise. There is no contradiction here. The difference is because in the earlier verse Adam was not in sin and perceived our Lord as the tree of life. God dwelt in the center of his soul. But once he sinned, Satan possessed the center of his soul and took control of his spirit. That wretched beast then became Adam’s master. Adam then perceived the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the center of his soul. Verse six of chapter three reveals that the tree of death appears good to eat to Adam and his wife. This is because to a person with sin on his soul, such frequently causes him to perceive good things as evil and to frequently see evil things as good (Is.55:8-9). Thus, Adam perceives that it is good to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The nakedness mentioned in chapter three, verse seven is the nakedness of sin. That is, because of his sin Adam perceived the nudity of his soul to be evil. One should note that this is not the innocent nudity mentioned in the last verse of the second chapter. God’s revelation to Adam about what he has done to his soul continues.
Our Lord then showed Adam — again it was probably through a dream — that he and his wife have acted like a couple of disobedient children who, upon hearing their parents coming and about to discover their misbehavior, have tried to hide all the shame of their iniquity. What appears to have happened is that after Adam sinned and then realized what he had done, he offered up some kind of atonement to the High God. Thus, in his dream he hid among the other truths of paradise.
Before understanding verse twenty-one (or verse seven) one must first understand that when a person asks God for pardon of his transgressions he is clothing his soul with the works of his own hands. That is, he is clothing his soul with his own prayers. Such a person still needs to get his soul reborn and clothed with the grace of God. Thus, in a dream Adam saw that he and his wife had sewed fig leaves together to clothe their souls and to cover their sin (v.7). In the same dream our Lord manifested that, although He had accepted Adam’s prayer of atonement, neither he nor his wife were in the state of grace at that time. Thus, He made garments of skins for them to wear (v.21). That is, God showed them in a dream that He made the type of clothing for their souls that they wore in everyday life. Thus, their souls would be clothed with the works of their own hands, not the grace of God. One knows that Adam and his wife were no longer in the state of grace, for they were no longer in possession of the innocent nudity spoken of in the final verse of chapter two. In order to be clothed with the grace of God and to be in possession of innocent nudity, one must be born again of fire and the Holy Spirit. Then our Lord will clothe the “feet” or foundation of one’s soul with His grace and the tree of life will be reborn in the center of one’s soul. God did not give Adam a sign that he was again in the state of grace or a sign that he was again in possession of the innocent nudity that he had before he sinned (Gen.2:25). God only gave him a sign that he was clothed with the works and prayers of his own hands. Nowhere in Genesis (or any other passage from the bible) does it say that the foundation or cornerstone of Adam’s soul was again clothed with the grace of God or that Adam was again in possession of innocent nudity. One also knows this to be true because if Adam had been clothed again with the grace of God, then he would not have a need for a Redeemer.
Exactly how this conversation between Adam and our Lord proceeded is unknown. As noted earlier, it was probably through a dream of Adam, although it could have been a vision, a meditation or anything else of this nature. But the important thing to remember is that this is not some kind of mythical or fanciful story. Adam actually communicated with God. Just what form this communication took is better left to those theologians with whom this is concerned to figure out. The message of this meeting and communication between God and Adam is very similar to the moral of the meeting between Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn.4:6-26). When He pointed out to her that she was in sin she changed the subject. The same is true here. When our Lord pointed out to Adam that he was in sin he tried to change the subject by pointing to his wife’s sin (v.12). She in turn tried to blame the evil one (v.13). Verses nine through thirteen symbolize a revelation about all mankind. When someone is accused of sin he will more often than not either change the subject or try to throw the blame onto someone else. This is because man is full of pride. It takes humility — something that most individuals do not possess — for one to admit their sins. One should note that a lack of humility is the major obstacle to understanding the word of God. Verse fourteen is a prophecy to Satan. He will be the most hated of all false gods. The worship of Satan will be the most despised of all false religions. Thus, he will be cursed among all the cattle and beasts of the earth and he will crawl on his breast and eat the dirt upon which he crawls for as long as he exists (v.14). In verse fifteen our Lord foretold what fate awaited the devil. It is a prophecy for the birth of all mankind into Original Sin and the birth of one woman’s sinless child. Thus, there will be enmities between her seed and the evil one’s seed. This woman will defeat this wretched beast by living a sinless life and he must wait for the coming of her child or heel. Verse sixteen is a prophecy to all the women of the world. It foretells of the agonies that women will endure at the hands of their fathers and husbands. Thus, their sorrows will be multiplied. It foretells how the men will mistreat women, exploit them and abuse them as though they were the property or slaves of their husbands and fathers. It reveals how men will enact laws that will unjustly make the wife subordinate to and property of her husband and how husbands and fathers with extremist beliefs will use religion and the law to force women to obey their extremist beliefs. In the next two verses our Lord revealed what fate awaits all the men of this world. It is to be a harsh and cruel life that men will have to live. Any goal that men set out to obtain, any truth that men set out to find and any adventure that men set out to accomplish will not come as an easy task. Every time a person begins a project he will find that he has opponents and set backs. In everything that men do they will have afflictions and adversaries. Thus, the earth will bring forth thorns and thistles. God told Adam that the only way that mankind will be able to overcome these hardships is with humility. Thus, they will eat the herbs of the earth. Then in verse nineteen God revealed that mankind can only find truth and justice by working and sweating for it and that he will have these misfortunes as long as he exists on earth, that is, until he dies.
Finally, our Lord again revealed what it is that the children of God need to be redeemed from. Adam and his wife were both spiritually dead in unredeemed sin and iniquity at this point in the narration. Since Eve committed the first sin, she is the mother of Original Sin. The mother of all the living means that from hence forth Eve will be the mother of all those with cleaned but unredeemed or unabsolved sin on their souls. For Original Sin is associated with unredeemed sin and is removed from one’s soul through Baptism. This is because Original Sin is not in itself a sin unto death. But neither is a person’s soul full of life and the grace of God with this sin on their soul. One must have the foundation of their soul completely cleansed to be filled with the grace of God. One must have their soul absolved with fire and be born again of the Holy Spirit before their soul is filled with the life of God. Such a person will then obtain a new spiritual mother. One’s new spiritual mother will be Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, for She is the spiritual mother of all those souls who are in the state of grace. All this does not mean to insinuate that mankind does not need salvation from the rest of his ill-fated life that is mentioned above. Mankind does need to be freed from this fate. But these other misfortunes can be overcome by man himself, if he only works together in humility with his neighbor by seeking truth and justice in all things and by following a logical, rational course of action in all his dealings with his neighbor. However, the other — the sin — this man cannot overcome by himself. In order to overcome sin man needs help from our sinless Lord. Thus, came the first promise of His coming to redeem sin and to help man overcome sin and death.
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