When We Left the Table

Excerpt taken from More Than Reconciliation: Coming to the Table of Grace by Andrew Southwick

 

Chapter 3
When We Left the Table

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). These are the first words of the Bible, and they point to an intentional Creator. The first two chapters of the Bible explain how God created the world and everything in it, and how one aspect of creation, human beings, were distinct from all the rest. Humans are distinct from the rest of creation because we are the only creations made in the image of God.

The creation account in Genesis also says that God “walk[ed] in the garden” (Genesis 3:8) where He’d placed Adam and Eve (the first two humans). Last I checked, God didn’t walk with any other part of His creation. Furthermore, Jesus didn’t die and rise again to offer salvation to any other part of creation. God did all this for created humanity. Yet it was that very created humanity that would betray Him and usher sin and death into the world. And not only that, but it was that very creation that would betray one another and, in many cases, look for ways to justify their selfish and sinful hatred of each other.

Consider Adam and Eve. When they disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they left God’s Table of Grace. And with them, we left, too. To be sure, this is a foundational point that warrants explanation. Many Christians have learned at one time or another that because Adam and Eve sinned, all people thereafter inherited a sin nature through them. Specifically, through Adam.

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5 that sin came into the world through one man (v. 12), Adam, and likewise, sin was overcome and defeated through one man, Jesus Christ. It is worth noting that these two men were two of only three people in history (Eve being the third) who did not have physical, earthly fathers.

Why is that important?

The biblical implication is that our sin nature is passed down through our earthly fathers. And since the payment required for our sin is a blameless, sin-free sacrifice, just any old person who lived a “good life” wouldn’t do. Even the most moral of people on earth are stained with sin by way of being born of man and woman. Adam and Eve, of course, were directly created by God, and they were created before sin was present in the world. Therefore, they were not infected with sin until they invited sin in through their disobedience in the Garden of Eden.

In the same way, Jesus was born of a woman but did not have an earthly father. This is why His Virgin Birth is so critical. If Jesus were born naturally, He would have been infected with sin, and thereby would be an insufficient and unacceptable sacrifice before God. But because God Himself was His Father, He did not inherit the sin nature that we all inherit from our earthly fathers.

I go through all of that because it is important for us to establish at the outset that we are all infected with sin, and that none of us are impervious to feelings, mindsets, and/or lifestyles that are either influenced or led by some form of hate. Hate is the natural fruit of sin. To put it another way, Galatians 5:22-23 says the fruit of the Holy Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” In contrast, the fruit of the sinful spirit is hate.

In the story of Adam and Eve, we see a key hallmark of hatred toward another person: blame. It is more than a noteworthy plot point that, immediately following Adam and Eve’s sin, they felt shame, and their defense before God was to pass blame.

And what does blame do?

Blame is an attempt to justify one’s own sin at the expense of another. Furthermore, blame is also an attempt to justify punishing another person in order to alleviate one’s own guilt over the very sin they are trying to justify.

I mentioned earlier that I grew up in an at times abusive home. My stepdad was brutish, and, at least from what I could see, it seemed like he enjoyed knowing he could physically intimidate us and make us fear him. At the same time, I, like many children, would find a selfish satisfaction when one of my siblings got in trouble instead of me. Nevermind the fact that the wrath they would face would serve to traumatize them in different ways, and nevermind the fact that sometimes they would face that wrath because I did not want to take the blame myself.

What a disgusting thing! To allow someone else to be punished so that you can get away with whatever sin you enjoy at the moment. And moreover, for your sin nature to be satisfied in the punishment of others. Underline that sentence. Our sinful flesh only feels satisfied when others are punished and even destroyed. Our sinful flesh is not satisfied when we are held accountable for our own sin, or when others are forgiven and restored. Nope. Only when others are made to suffer and to hurt is our sinful flesh satiated.

We need to understand this point and realize that we are not immune from feeling this way, so that we can actively pray God will keep us from falling into these kinds of traps. Because when we do surrender ourselves to what our sin wants, the only result is the painful betrayal of those around us.

To be sure, God does not discipline us like that. God is not looking for excuses to punish us. Yes, God allows us to experience the consequences of our choices, and yes, God does discipline His children, but there is a significant difference between love-based discipline and fear-based punishment. My stepdad used fear to produce compliance. Jesus extends His love to draw us closer and closer to Himself.

Let me illustrate.

Go back to our conversation about Adam and Eve. When Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit, the Bible says that Adam was “with her” (Genesis 3:6). We can further affirm that point from the fact that Eve did not have to wander around the Garden of Eden looking for him.² Rather, he was close enough for Eve to hand him the piece of fruit. And more than that, if Eve could reach out and touch Adam, that means that Adam was close enough to witness the Serpent, Satan himself, tempting Eve, and yet he did nothing to protect her. Instead, he allowed her to be spiritually assaulted by Satan and then participated in the disobedience himself.

One of the teachings of the Bible that many find controversial, even among Christians, is the idea that the male is the head of the household. Male headship has been grossly perverted in cultures around the world to mean that men oppress their own wives and that women are a lower class and worth of human being. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, when you think about the account of creation in Genesis 1 and 2, you see that even though the world was perfect and without sin, until Eve (woman) was created, creation was not totally “good.” In a perfect world, it was not “good” that man was alone.

Unfortunately, a discussion such as this cannot go too long without recognizing that the same problem has, and in some cases does, exist in the Church today. Churches of days gone by have perverted God’s Word to try and make it say that men are “in charge,” or, “the boss.” In other words, people from all walks of life have misused and misapplied the principle of male headship to mean that the man is the ultimate authority when in reality, God is the authority. God is the authority of the world, He is the authority of the Church, and He is the authority in marriage and family too. When fallen humans try to usurp God’s authority and wield it over others, pain and division are often the result.

Now, why would God remedy this “not good” situation with an inferior creation? He wouldn’t.

He didn’t.

God intended for Adam to protect Eve, which is why He gave Adam the responsibility of making sure neither of them ate the forbidden fruit. It’s a lot like when your parents leave you in charge for the night. It’s not that you are “in charge” as in you are now the boss and can be a complete jerk (which, if we are honest, is how most of us oldest children understood such a command). Rather, it meant that you were ultimately responsible for everything that happens while your parents are away. The same is true with Adam and Eve, wherein Adam was ultimately responsible (Genesis 2:16-17; Romans 5:12-21) for whether or not they obeyed God in the Garden.

This is what biblical headship is. It’s a responsibility, not a license to be a tyrant (Mark 10:35-45). Biblical headship means that if there is an attack on your family, you get in between the attacker and your family. Biblical headship means that you take the slings and arrows so that your family doesn’t have to. Gee, that’s what Jesus did for us on the cross isn’t it?

What a coincidence! (Sarcasm font is on.)

So what Adam did, or actually, what he did not do, meant that he was responsible for letting sin into the world. This is what the Apostle Paul meant in Romans 5 ( alluded to earlier). Adam stood there while his wife, Eve, was attacked by an intruder. And then, he took the intruder’s physical weapon (the fruit) and used it himself.

…

²Faithlife Study Bible.

Order your copy of More Than Reconciliation: Coming to the Table of Grace by Andrew Southwick