What Should Adam Have Done?
These are notes for an incomplete "Concept" page.
- Information is being added as the Bible Pages are added. In the end, everything will be compiled, further information added (as necessary), broken links connected, etc.
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[This is my OPINION. Scripture does not make a direct statement on this topic.]
- - - - -Some thoughts on the matter
Obviously, Adam should have refused to eat the fruit. But then what?
Eventually God would have arrived in the garden, the woman would have had to confess what she did, and she probably would have been given the sentence of death. BUT THEN WHAT?
Anything we might say at this point is speculation. But in my opinion, based on the actions taken by the "Last Adam" (Christ, see 1 Corinthians 15:45), I would suggest that Adam should have offered to die in his wife's place. His unwillingness to eat the fruit (thus potentially lose his wife) would have been his highest expression of "love for God"; and his willingness to die for his wife would have been his highest expression of "love for neighbor." By making such a decision, Adam would have fulfilled both of the "two greatest commands" (Matthew 22:37-40), to the fullest extent possible.
Had he done this, I don't know what would have happened. Maybe he would have been put to death. But can righteous people stay dead? (It was impossible for righteous Jesus to stay dead - Acts 2:24.) Whatever the final outcome (in this theoretical scenario), I suspect that things would have ended up a whole lot better than they are now.
An interesting observation
The New Testament tells us that the husband-wife relationship is to be a reflection of the Christ-church relationship. In Ephesians 5:22-27, we read:
- Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body. As the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.
- Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Obviously, in the garden, neither of them did what is described here. (Nor do most people today.) But it may be interesting to note that, based on the parallel that this relationship has to Christ and the church, the husband is to love his wife with a willingness to "give himself up" for her. Now suppose Adam had done this...
Notes
- Nothing in Scripture says that the fruit they ate was an apple. That idea came from tradition.
- In the Ephesians passage, the word "church" refers to people who have repented of their sins and have trusted Jesus for salvation, and are now willing to obey him. It does not refer to mere "church-goers"!
Scripture Passages that Link to Here
- An account of Adam and Eve's sin.
Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.
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