Sin's Doorway

Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

In Genesis 2:15 we read that the man (Adam) was dedicated by God in the Garden of Eden (not simply "put") with a very specific ministry: to serve/cultivate (Hebrew ‘abad’) and watch over (Hebrew ‘shamar’) the woman.  Most English translations botch the translation here and render it something like, “to work it and take care of it.”

The problems with this rendering (or translation) are extensive, but suffice it to say that firstly, it fails to convey the significance of the man’s divinely ordained ministry to the woman (to לְעָבְדָ֖הּ abad and וּלְשָׁמְרָֽהּ׃ shamar her –not- ‘it’) whom God is about to create from the man’s own body; and secondly it fails epically as a polemic (argument) against other Ancient Near Eastern culture cosmogonies, which typically explain the creation of humanity to do the ‘work’ of maintaining the earth to relieve the gods from these burdensome tasks.  In other Ancient Near Eastern cultures humanity is not created for fellowship or relationship with the gods, but to do the labor the gods despise.

If Elohim, the triune God of the Bible, had merely created humanity “to work it and take care of it,” referring to the Garden of Eden, then the polemic is moot and the profound significance of humanity exclusively being made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27) would be diminished to novel inconsequence. Additionally, there would be little significance to God’s curse upon man in Genesis 3:17-19. It would merely change man from a happy-go-lucky farmer to a disgruntled one.

Adam’s failure is evidenced in Genesis 3:6 when we find out that THROUGHOUT the entire theological debate between the crafty, slick, devious, and wily (Hebrew ‘arum’) serpent and the woman, whom God gave Adam to care for and watch over, Adam stood idly by.  In Romans 5:12 we read, “sin entered the world through one man…”

Apathy is the doorway of sin.

“Perfunctory” is a great way to describe Adam’s attitude in the midst of the serpent’s philosophical and spiritual warfare.  Adam was idle, careless, apathetic, disinterested, uninterested, inattentive, and thus negligent.  The Bible doesn’t tell us why – so there is no point in speculating.  Adam was negligent and the result was sin entering the world.

In the midst of humanity’s self-induced death sentence God blessed all humanity with His mercy and grace via a prodigious proclamation of hope.  The man and woman might have simply died apart from ever experiencing God’s teleological gift of procreating and subduing the earth (1:28) since they failed so miserably in exercising dominion over it (not ruling over the serpent) as God had ordained; but instead God heralded the future advent of a male offspring who would destroy the serpent and all those who followed his crafty, slick, devious, and wily ways.  Humanity would endure by the grace of God, albeit marred by sin; meanwhile the serpent and its crafty ‘offspring’ are guaranteed immanent destruction that comes at the hand of the woman’s future male offspring.

Unlike Adam, this foretold male offspring of Eve would most certainly not stand idly by, but would actively and zealously crush the serpent’s head.

In their desperation and futility the man and woman “sewed fig leaves together.” Their efforts were grossly inadequate, therefore God “made garments of skin” (3:21).  The Bible does not say that these ‘garments of skin’ were made from an animal – that is a human invention.  Scripture does tell us elsewhere (Rev 13:8; 1 Peter 1:20) about a Lamb that was slain “from the creation of the world.”

In yet another act of grace Elohim, God, placed “cherubim and a flaming sword” to watch over (Hebrew ‘shamar’) “the way to the tree of life.”  Watching over was something that the man was supposed to do for the woman – now God is graciously watching over all of humanity until they can be brought back into right relationship with God through the ‘skin’ of the Lamb of God – the male offspring who will destroy the serpent and all his wily offspring – the “brood of vipers” Jesus refers to (Matt 3:7; 12:34) who lead people astray and deny Him as the Lamb of God.

God sacrificed Himself, as the Lamb of God slain before the creation of the world, in order to cover over humanity’s rebellion and sin.  Additionally, God placed powerful angelic beings (cherubim) and the Holy Spirit’s presence as a flaming sword.  Throughout the Bible cherubim are identified with the presence of God. They appear on the throne of the ark where God’s presence dwelled (Exodus 25:18); in Ezekiel (22 times); in Psalms 18:10, 80:1, 99:1; and also throughout the New Testament: Matt 10:34; Luke 22:36; Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12; and Rev 1:16.

All throughout the Bible we read about people who idly sit and allow events to unfold around them with little or no interest in anyone or anything but themselves.  God told us that the Messiah/Christ was coming.  God tells us that standing idly by is no different than vehemently opposing Him, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  God tells us that we can either be part of the solution “all the people of the world will be blessed through you,” or continue to be the problem.

There will be no sin in heaven because there will be no apathy – no doorway, entry point, or portal for sin to enter.  Satan is overthrown, death is defeated, and everything that opposes God will be thrown into the eternal lake of fire (Rev 20:14).

There is no apathy in the children of God – the members of the Bride of Christ.  Instead, we are intimately identified with the will of Father, the obedience of the Son, and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

-Revelation 3:16

This Christmas season let us not be lukewarm, apathetic, perfunctory Christians.  Let us herald the Good News of Christ, the joy of His first advent, and the immanence of His second.  Let us not be found sleeping when He returns.

Blessings,

-Kevin