Posted on 06/26/2009 12:10:06 PM PDT by jxb7076
The biblical story of Adam and Eve suggests that Eve’s disobedience to God introduced sin to the world which ultimately led to the downfall of man and mankind. It is a story repeated over and over again in the Christian arena. It’s the first story a child learns which attempts to explain why there is so much suffering in life. It is a story which puts the burden of death, destruction, disobedience, and suffering at the feet of Eve, Adam’s wife, or as the Biblical writers describes her – Adam’s Helpmeet.
While the story of Adam and Eve is true, according to the biblical writers, it is an unfair and unbalanced story which excludes Adams role in this great epic drama. It is a story which fails to identify the solution which could have saved mankind. It’s a story which describes the most common mistake even men of the 21st century make. It’s a story which, if Adam had his priorities straight could have had a different ending.
(Excerpt) Read more at hubpages.com ...
I’ll post something from another thread, just so I don’t have to type it up all over again... :-)
[ from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2276746/posts?page=82#82 ]
You said — Well...he messed up. I’d like to live in a world of just good.
—
You’re missing a lot, in saying that...
First, the Bible does make it clear that God knew exactly what would happen with Lucifer and Adam and Eve, even with them being made perfect, but being given free will to choose their own way. It is said, in the Bible, that God has already provided the way of salvation for mankind, knowing that this would happen.
So, the question, as I said, was why did God allow free will, that ability to choose one’s way (i.e., to obey what God said is the right way to go and live, versus what He says is the wrong way)?
I believe part of that answer is that God did make mankind “in His image” in that sort of capacity. And thus, God gave mankind (and the angels, too) that capacity, as God has — free will choice.
But, then..., why didn’t God do something when “wrong” or “evil” happened? Well, if God did that, without the “solution” (i.e., “Salvation”) — then all that would happen would be the destruction of those He created. And one might say that Satan would have managed to defeat God, in that God created a perfect universe and Satan managed to end up destroying all of it, and God was powerless to do anything about it.
So, again..., each time an evil was done, why didn’t God just eliminate that person or that angel or whomever, right when it happened, and not let evil continue? As I said, God would have ended up making the angels and mankind and then killing them all, afterwards... LOL...
And if anyone did survive all that “killing” by God, for any evil that they did, the ones who remained would be “scared out of their wits” thinking that a lightning bolt was going to come down at any minute and kill them, too... :-) Not a good way to live life, I would think.
In addition, without the remaining people having “understanding” about what was going on and what was happening, such a way of handling it, might seem to be (to them) an abuse of power and that God was simply killing people because “He said so” and those others just didn’t want to go along, and that there was really nothing wrong with what they wanted to do, in the first place. There would be questions raised, in the minds of those left, as to the real “wisdom” of God and whether He was simply more of a powerful dictator and nothing more. They might think that actually things that they wanted to do “their way” might be better than what God said, and the only reason they would “comply” is that they didn’t want the powerful dictator to instantly kill them if they stepped out of line (from His “capricious will”).
Thus, what God set up, in His infinite Wisdom and in the working of His infinite power and also with His infinite knowledge — is a way that the evil in the world (which would have been partially hidden at first, in the hearts and minds of people and also in angels) would be *fully revealed* to the extent that it is *so thoroughly evil* that it would be (finally in the end) recognized as evil in and of itself, and that God is not simply trying to “impose His capricious will” on His created beings and that, indeed, God did know what we did not know in the beginning as to how evil, evil really is.
And in the course of doing that, God allowed mankind to set up different ways of governing himself and in trying to live with and interact with God — and allow all that to “play out” so that every imaginable option that could be open to mankind and/or to angels could be “played out” to the end — to expose evil for the evil that it is. And then, finally, in the end, when all options have been exhausted and all things “played out” — God will restore all things back to the beginning, where it was perfect, at the end of Day 6, when He pronounced all things good.
In the process of doing that, God worked through His plan of salvation for mankind, through the nation of Israel, and the coming of the Messiah of Israel, while He also allowed Satan to do all that he could to thwart God’s plan of salvation, but to no avail. And also God allowed people to choose, on their own, whether they wanted to be with God and His “way of righteousness” which He will have proven to be righteous and pure and loving, in the end — or — whether they will choose their own way and *still* ignore God and His way. God still will not violate their “free will choice” even then. But, when those who choose, do choose against God, they do so, on their own and they will live with their choice throughout eternity, and they will be forever separated from God and all that is good (again, by their own free will choice).
The others will have chosen, freely, to live in the righteous and perfect way of God, as He knows best, having seen what results from the sin and evil in the world, throughout the history of mankind, and given the power to *do so* through what God has given them, in Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, under the forgiveness of sin that was provided.
And with what you said — God will do...
You said — “ I’d like to live in a world of just good.”
And that’s exactly what God is doing, in working through His plan that He had in place, from before the world was created, knowing what was necessary to carry out your stated desire...
The “picture” is bigger and different and more complex than it seems you’re presenting...
Interesting viewpoint but I’ll have to dissagree as the plan of salvation came generations after the fall - not before it.
True as I do not claim to ‘know’ what happened. The article is simply my viewpoint among many - and its focus is more on relationship as oppose to Adam and Eve. Can you imagine the complexity of the moment whenod appeared to speak to Adam.
You said — Interesting viewpoint but I’ll have to dissagree as the plan of salvation came generations after the fall - not before it.
—
Well, God wasn’t caught “flat-footed” here, because He already knew what was going to happen and He had the plan already laid out...
Genesis 3:14-15
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
—
And God tells us here that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world...
Ephesians 1:3-6
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
—
And iniquity was already in God’s creation, after everything was completed and *before* Adam and Eve sinned. It was still hidden, but God could see it. The plan of God, with Lucifer and Adam and Eve, was to expose it to the whole world, so that not only God would know, but that everyone would know and that God would be glorified, through that plan of Salvation which was established in His own counsels, before the foundation of the world...
Ezekiel 14:11-18
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.
16 “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.
17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.
18 “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you.
—
Lucifer’s iniquity was revealed in the Garden of Eden...
In http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2276746/posts?page=105#105
You said — Perhaps I put more emphasis on Adam and Even that planned as the article was more about letting go of a failed relationship. The emphasis was to encourage those in such a relationship to seek the counsel of God and not the flesh.
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I can understand that kind of teaching *outside* and *apart* from Adam and Eve, but that teaching does not come from Adam and Eve, which sets up the entire rest of the Bible on the basis of sin and what it is and how it came into the world.
And with Adam and Eve, there were no other people around. They were it and they knew it. And I see nothing to indicate or say that God would ever make another “Eve” for Adam. It’s *not there* in Scripture, so to “say that” in support of your idea of “letting go now” (of some other woman that may be dragging someone down) is just not Scriptural. There are other places in the Bible for that — but not in the Garden of Eden and not with Adam and Eve...
No argument here however, the bible does tell us that Cain, the first born of Adam and Eve, after being marked by God moved westward and found himself a wife. Therefore, there must have been more people on the planet besides Adam and Eve. Also, when I suggested that God would have given Adam another Eve this was based on God’s ability to create another Eve, not simply introducing Adam to another woman.
Of course everything we speak on the subject is pure speculation as the only data we have is what was recorded centuries ago and canonized as scripture.
Keep in mind that the article was based on the notion that if you’re in a relationship where the other party want to leave it is best to let them go to prepare for a better relationship. The article waas not intended to be a biblical lesson about Adam and Eve although i appreciate all the comments made on the subject.
In any case, without scientific evidence of the existence of Adam and Eve we’re left with our opinions based on our very own belief system.
You said — No argument here however, the bible does tell us that Cain, the first born of Adam and Eve, after being marked by God moved westward and found himself a wife. Therefore, there must have been more people on the planet besides Adam and Eve.
—
Adam and Eve didn’t have only sons but daughters as well. The sons married the daughters and/or nieces, at that time. There was no problem with that, as they were the beginning of the human race. Adam and Eve are the only mother and father of the entire human race. There is no other for all living.
If God had made any other humans, He would have told us that. And since human beings don’t appear out of nowhere, without either being a direct creation of God or being “from Adam” (in procreation) — and God does not say that any others were created, it’s clear that all came from Adam and Eve.
In addition, only Adam is called a “son of God” and all others are of Adam (not of God). The angels and Adam are called “sons of God” but no one else is after that. That’s because these were the “direct creations” of God — hence “sons of God”. Everyone else was sons (and daughters) of Adam.
Also, when you look in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, you’ll see it goes back to Adam and then it’s said “son of God” (about Adam, but no one else is called that, in the human line).
We’re told that all came from Adam after that (and not from anyone else). That can only happen if Adam was the *original creation* of God and no one else was. It was “out of Adam” that all came and no one else... (Eve being the mother and not the father, hence she receives all [of future humanity] from Adam, and they are born to her).
And then you said — In any case, without scientific evidence of the existence of Adam and Eve we’re left with our opinions based on our very own belief system.
—
We are in no need of scientific evidence in regards to something that comes from the *testimony* of God, Himself. He was there, He created them, and He knows — and so He told us... it’s that simple...
Adam sinned, or so we’re told.
Got evicted, turned out cold.
Sentence just, we must admit
But Lord, we had no part in it.
“Sins of the Fathers” so you said,
But Lord, Adam’s long been dead.
“Third” generation was the limit set
And Adam’a sons are paying yet.
Must we pay and pay and pay
Endlessly ‘til Judgment Day?
Where’s the justice, Lord, in this.
Please, Lord, forget about Genesis.
Here’s a rundown of where Cain got his wife, from a presentation of what the Bible says, in this article...
It starts out by explaining why it’s important to know and understand this...
Why Is It Important?
Many skeptics have claimed that for Cain to find a wife, there must have been other “races” of people on the earth who were not descendants of Adam and Eve. To many people, this question is a stumbling block to accepting the creation account of Genesis and its record of only one man and woman at the beginning of history. Defenders of the gospel must be able to show that all human beings are descendants of one man and one woman (Adam and Eve) because only descendants of Adam and Eve can be saved. Thus, believers need to be able to account for Cain’s wife and show clearly she was a descendant of Adam and Eve.
In order to answer this question of where Cain got his wife, we first need to cover some background information concerning the meaning of the gospel.
The First Man
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
We read in 1 Corinthians 15:45 that Adam was “the first man.” God did not start by making a race of men.
The Bible makes it clear that only the descendants of Adam can be saved. Romans 5 teaches that we sin because Adam sinned. The death penalty, which Adam received as judgment for his sin of rebellion, has also been passed on to all his descendants.
Since Adam was the head of the human race, when he fell we who were in the loins of Adam fell also. Thus, we are all separated from God. The final consequence of sin would be separation from God in our sinful state forever. However, the good news is that there is a way for us to return to God.
Because a man brought sin and death into the world, the human race, who are all descendants of Adam, needed a sinless Man to pay the penalty for sin and the resulting judgment of death. However, the Bible teaches that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). What was the solution?
The Last Adam
God provided the solution—a way to deliver man from his wretched state. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15 that God provided another Adam. The Son of God became a man—a perfect Man—yet still our relation. He is called “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45) because he took the place of the first Adam. He became the new head and, because He was sinless, was able to pay the penalty for sin:
For since by [a] man came death, by [a] Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:21–22).
Christ suffered death (the penalty for sin) on the Cross, shedding His blood (“and without shedding of blood there is no remission,” Hebrews 9:22) so that those who put their trust in His work on the Cross can come in repentance of their sin of rebellion (in Adam) and be reconciled to God.
Thus, only descendants of the first man Adam can be saved.
All Related
Since the Bible describes all human beings as sinners, and we are all related (“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth,” Acts 17:26), the gospel makes sense only on the basis that all humans alive and all that have ever lived (except for the first woman6 ) are descendants of the first man Adam. If this were not so, then the gospel could not be explained or defended.
Thus, there was only one man at the beginning—made from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7).
This also means that Cain’s wife was a descendant of Adam. She couldn’t have come from another race of people and must be accounted for from Adam’s descendants.
The First Woman
In Genesis 3:20 we read, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” In other words, all people other than Adam are descendants of Eve—she was the first woman.
Eve was made from Adam’s side (Genesis 2:21–24)—this was a unique event. In the New Testament, Jesus (Matthew 19:4-6) and Paul (Ephesians 5:31) use this historical and onetime event as the foundation for the marriage of one man and one woman.
Also, in Genesis 2:20, we are told that when Adam looked at the animals, he couldn’t find a mate—there was no one of his kind.
All this makes it obvious that there was only one woman, Adam’s wife, from the beginning. There could not have been a “race” of women.
Thus, if Christians cannot defend that all humans, including Cain’s wife, can trace their ancestry ultimately to Adam and Eve, then how can they understand and explain the gospel? How can they justify sending missionaries to every tribe and nation? Therefore, one needs to be able to explain Cain’s wife, to illustrate that Christians can defend the gospel and all that it teaches.
Who Was Cain?
Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve recorded in Scripture (Genesis 4:1). He and his brothers, Abel (Genesis 4:2) and Seth (Genesis 4:25), were part of the first generation of children ever born on this earth. Even though these three males are specifically mentioned, Adam and Eve had other children.
Cain’s Brothers and Sisters
In Genesis 5:4 we read a statement that sums up the life of Adam and Eve: “After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters.”
During their lives, Adam and Eve had a number of male and female children. In fact, the Jewish historian Josephus wrote, “The number of Adam’s children, as says the old tradition, was thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters.”7
Scripture doesn’t tell us how many children were born to Adam and Eve, but considering their long life spans (Adam lived for 930 years—Genesis 5:5), it would seem logical to suggest there were many. Remember, they were commanded to “be fruitful, and multiply” (Genesis 1:28).
The Wife
If we now work totally from Scripture, without any personal prejudices or other extrabiblical ideas, then back at the beginning, when there was only the first generation, brothers would have had to marry sisters or there wouldn’t have been any more generations!
We’re not told when Cain married or many of the details of other marriages and children, but we can say for certain that Cain’s wife was either his sister or a close relative.
A closer look at the Hebrew word for “wife” in Genesis reveals something readers may miss in translation. It was more obvious to those speaking Hebrew that Cain’s wife was likely his sister. (There is a slim possibility that she was his niece, but either way, a brother and sister would have married in the beginning.) The Hebrew word for “wife” used in Genesis 4:17 (the first mention of Cain’s wife) is ishshah, and it means “woman/wife/female.”
And Cain knew his wife [ishshah], and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch (Genesis 4:17).
The word ishshah is the word for “woman,” and it means “from man.” It is a derivation of the Hebrew words ‘iysh (pronounced: eesh) and enowsh, which both mean “man.” This can be seen in Genesis 2:23 where the name “woman” (ishshah) is given to one who came from Adam.
And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman [ishshah], because she was taken out of Man [iysh]” (Genesis 2:23).
Thus, Cain’s wife is a descendant of Adam/man. Therefore, she had to be his sister (or possibly niece). Hebrew readers should be able to make this connection easier; however, much is lost when translated.
— Objections —
God’s Laws
Many people immediately reject the conclusion that Adam and Eve’s sons and daughters married each other by appealing to the law against brother-sister marriage. Some say that you can’t marry your relation. Actually, if you don’t marry your relation, you don’t marry a human! A wife is related to her husband before they are married because all people are descendants of Adam and Eve—all are of one blood. This law forbidding close relatives marrying was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18–20). Provided marriage was one man for one woman for life (based on Genesis 1–2), there was no disobedience to God’s law originally (before the time of Moses) when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other.
Remember that Abraham was married to his half-sister (Genesis 20:12).8 God’s law forbade such marriages,9 but that was some four hundred years later at the time of Moses.
Biological Deformities
Today, brothers and sisters (and half-brothers and half-sisters, etc.) are not currently permitted by law to marry and have children.
Now it is true that children produced in a union between brother and sister have a greater chance to be deformed. As a matter of fact, the closer the couple are in relationship, the more likely it is that any offspring will be deformed. It is very easy to understand this without going into all the technical details.
Each person inherits a set of genes from his or her mother and father. Unfortunately, genes today contain many mistakes (because of sin and the Curse), and these mistakes show up in a variety of ways. For instance, people let their hair grow over their ears to hide the fact that one ear is lower than the other. Or perhaps someone’s nose is not quite in the middle of his or her face, or someone’s jaw is a little out of shape. Let’s face it, the main reason we call each other normal is because of our common agreement to do so!
The more closely related two people are, the more likely it is that they will have similar mistakes in their genes, inherited from the same parents. Therefore, brother and sister are likely to have similar mistakes in their genetic material. If there were to be a union between these two that produces offspring, children would inherit one set of genes from each of their parents. Because the genes probably have similar mistakes, the mistakes pair together and result in deformities in the children.
Conversely, the further away the parents are in relationship to each other, the more likely it is that they will have different mistakes in their genes. Children, inheriting one set of genes from each parent, are likely to end up with some of the pairs of genes containing only one bad gene in each pair. The good gene tends to override the bad so that a deformity (a serious one, anyway) does not occur. Instead of having totally deformed ears, for instance, a person may have only crooked ones. (Overall, though, the human race is slowly degenerating as mistakes accumulate generation after generation.)
However, this fact of present-day life did not apply to Adam and Eve. When the first two people were created, they were perfect. Everything God made was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). That means their genes were perfect—no mistakes. But when sin entered the world because of Adam (Genesis 3:6), God cursed the world so that the perfect creation then began to degenerate, that is, suffer death and decay (Romans 8:22). Over a long period of time, this degeneration would have resulted in all sorts of mistakes occurring in the genetic material of living things.
[ http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/who-was-cains-wife ]
I should also address this one from the Bible’s standpoint, too...
You said — In any case, without scientific evidence of the existence of Adam and Eve we’re left with our opinions based on our very own belief system.
—
We’re first left with what the Bible says, and in regards to that, I would pay attention to how Evangelical Christians understand what the Bible says and how it says it.
Note the following — and *especially* from the standpoint of what it says in regards to science and creation, which is a critical matter, in terms of “salvation”...
CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY WITH EXPOSITION
Background
The “Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy” was produced at an international Summit Conference of evangelical leaders, held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago in the fall of 1978. This congress was sponsored by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The Chicago Statement was signed by nearly 300 noted evangelical scholars, including James Boice, Norman L. Geisler, John Gerstner, Carl F. H. Henry, Kenneth Kantzer, Harold Lindsell, John Warwick Montgomery, Roger Nicole, J. I. Packer, Robert Preus, Earl Radmacher, Francis Schaeffer, R. C. Sproul, and John Wenham.
The ICBI disbanded in 1988 after producing three major statements: one on biblical inerrancy in 1978, one on biblical hermeneutics in 1982, and one on biblical application in 1986. The following text, containing the “Preface” by the ICBI draft committee, plus the “Short Statement,” “Articles of Affirmation and Denial,” and an accompanying “Exposition,” was published in toto by Carl F. H. Henry in God, Revelation And Authority, vol. 4 (Waco, Tx.: Word Books, 1979), on pp. 211-219. The nineteen Articles of Affirmation and Denial, with a brief introduction, also appear in A General Introduction to the Bible, by Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix (Chicago: Moody Press, rev. 1986), at pp. 181-185. An official commentary on these articles was written by R. C. Sproul in Explaining Inerrancy: A Commentary (Oakland, Calif.: ICBI, 1980), and Norman Geisler edited the major addresses from the 1978 conference, in Inerrancy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980).
Clarification of some of the language used in this Statement may be found in the 1982 Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics [ http://www.bible-researcher.com/chicago2.html ]
—
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
Preface
The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God’s written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.
The following Statement affirms this inerrancy of Scripture afresh, making clear our understanding of it and warning against its denial. We are persuaded that to deny it is to set aside the witness of Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit and to refuse that submission to the claims of God’s own Word which marks true Christian faith. We see it as our timely duty to make this affirmation in the face of current lapses from the truth of inerrancy among our fellow Christians and misunderstandings of this doctrine in the world at large.
This Statement consists of three parts: a Summary Statement, Articles of Affirmation and Denial, and an accompanying Exposition. It has been prepared in the course of a three-day consultation in Chicago. Those who have signed the Summary Statement and the Articles wish to affirm their own conviction as to the inerrancy of Scripture and to encourage and challenge one another and all Christians to growing appreciation and understanding of this doctrine. We acknowledge the limitations of a document prepared in a brief, intensive conference and do not propose that this Statement be given creedal weight. Yet we rejoice in the deepening of our own convictions through our discussions together, and we pray that the Statement we have signed may be used to the glory of our God toward a new reformation of the Church in its faith, life, and mission.
We offer this Statement in a spirit, not of contention, but of humility and love, which we purpose by God’s grace to maintain in any future dialogue arising out of what we have said. We gladly acknowledge that many who deny the inerrancy of Scripture do not display the consequences of this denial in the rest of their belief and behavior, and we are conscious that we who confess this doctrine often deny it in life by failing to bring our thoughts and deeds, our traditions and habits, into true subjection to the divine Word.
We invite response to this statement from any who see reason to amend its affirmations about Scripture by the light of Scripture itself, under whose infallible authority we stand as we speak. We claim no personal infallibility for the witness we bear, and for any help which enables us to strengthen this testimony to God’s Word we shall be grateful.
— The Draft Committee
—
A Short Statement
1. God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God’s witness to Himself.
2. Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms: obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises.
3. The Holy Spirit, Scripture’s divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.
4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives.
5. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.
—
Articles of Affirmation and Denial
— Article I.
WE AFFIRM that the Holy Scriptures are to be received as the authoritative Word of God.
WE DENY that the Scriptures receive their authority from the Church, tradition, or any other human source.
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— Article II.
WE AFFIRM that the Scriptures are the supreme written norm by which God binds the conscience, and that the authority of the Church is subordinate to that of Scripture.
WE DENY that Church creeds, councils, or declarations have authority greater than or equal to the authority of the Bible.
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— Article III.
WE AFFIRM that the written Word in its entirety is revelation given by God.
WE DENY that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation, or only becomes revelation in encounter, or depends on the responses of men for its validity.
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— Article IV.
WE AFFIRM that God who made mankind in His image has used language as a means of revelation.
WE DENY that human language is so limited by our creatureliness that it is rendered inadequate as a vehicle for divine revelation. We further deny that the corruption of human culture and language through sin has thwarted God’s work of inspiration.
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— Article V.
WE AFFIRM that God’s revelation within the Holy Scriptures was progressive.
WE DENY that later revelation, which may fulfill earlier revelation, ever corrects or contradicts it. We further deny that any normative revelation has been given since the completion of the New Testament writings.
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— Article VI.
WE AFFIRM that the whole of Scripture and all its parts, down to the very words of the original, were given by divine inspiration.
WE DENY that the inspiration of Scripture can rightly be affirmed of the whole without the parts, or of some parts but not the whole.
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— Article VII.
WE AFFIRM that inspiration was the work in which God by His Spirit, through human writers, gave us His Word. The origin of Scripture is divine. The mode of divine inspiration remains largely a mystery to us.
WE DENY that inspiration can be reduced to human insight, or to heightened states of consciousness of any kind.
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— Article VIII.
WE AFFIRM that God in His work of inspiration utilized the distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers whom He had chosen and prepared.
WE DENY that God, in causing these writers to use the very words that He chose, overrode their personalities.
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— Article IX.
WE AFFIRM that inspiration, though not conferring omniscience, guaranteed true and trustworthy utterance on all matters of which the Biblical authors were moved to speak and write.
WE DENY that the finitude or fallenness of these writers, by necessity or otherwise, introduced distortion or falsehood into God’s Word.
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— Article X.
WE AFFIRM that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further affirm that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the original.
WE DENY that any essential element of the Christian faith is affected by the absence of the autographs. We further deny that this absence renders the assertion of Biblical inerrancy invalid or irrelevant.
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— Article XI.
WE AFFIRM that Scripture, having been given by divine inspiration, is infallible, so that, far from misleading us, it is true and reliable in all the matters it addresses.
WE DENY that it is possible for the Bible to be at the same time infallible and errant in its assertions. Infallibility and inerrancy may be distinguished, but not separated.
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— Article XII.
WE AFFIRM that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.
WE DENY that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood.
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— Article XIII.
WE AFFIRM the propriety of using inerrancy as a theological term with reference to the complete truthfulness of Scripture.
WE DENY that it is proper to evaluate Scripture according to standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose. We further deny that inerrancy is negated by Biblical phenomena such as a lack of modern technical precision, irregularities of grammar or spelling, observational descriptions of nature, the reporting of falsehoods, the use of hyperbole and round numbers, the topical arrangement of material, variant selections of material in parallel accounts, or the use of free citations.
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— Article XIV.
WE AFFIRM the unity and internal consistency of Scripture.
WE DENY that alleged errors and discrepancies that have not yet been resolved vitiate the truth claims of the Bible.
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— Article XV.
WE AFFIRM that the doctrine of inerrancy is grounded in the teaching of the Bible about inspiration.
WE DENY that Jesus’ teaching about Scripture may be dismissed by appeals to accommodation or to any natural limitation of His humanity.
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— Article XVI.
WE AFFIRM that the doctrine of inerrancy has been integral to the Church’s faith throughout its history.
WE DENY that inerrancy is a doctrine invented by scholastic Protestantism, or is a reactionary position postulated in response to negative higher criticism.
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— Article XVII.
WE AFFIRM that the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Scriptures, assuring believers of the truthfulness of God’s written Word.
WE DENY that this witness of the Holy Spirit operates in isolation from or against Scripture.
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— Article XVIII.
WE AFFIRM that the text of Scripture is to be interpreted by grammatico-historical exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture.
WE DENY the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claims to authorship.
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— Article XIX.
WE AFFIRM that a confession of the full authority, infallibility, and inerrancy of Scripture is vital to a sound understanding of the whole of the Christian faith. We further affirm that such confession should lead to increasing conformity to the image of Christ.
WE DENY that such confession is necessary for salvation. However, we further deny that inerrancy can be rejected without grave consequences, both to the individual and to the Church.
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Exposition
Our understanding of the doctrine of inerrancy must be set in the context of the broader teachings of the Scripture concerning itself. This exposition gives an account of the outline of doctrine from which our summary statement and articles are drawn.
Creation, Revelation and Inspiration
The Triune God, who formed all things by his creative utterances and governs all things by His Word of decree, made mankind in His own image for a life of communion with Himself, on the model of the eternal fellowship of loving communication within the Godhead. As God’s image-bearer, man was to hear God’s Word addressed to him and to respond in the joy of adoring obedience. Over and above God’s self-disclosure in the created order and the sequence of events within it, human beings from Adam on have received verbal messages from Him, either directly, as stated in Scripture, or indirectly in the form of part or all of Scripture itself.
When Adam fell, the Creator did not abandon mankind to final judgment but promised salvation and began to reveal Himself as Redeemer in a sequence of historical events centering on Abraham’s family and culminating in the life, death, resurrection, present heavenly ministry, and promised return of Jesus Christ. Within this frame God has from time to time spoken specific words of judgment and mercy, promise and command, to sinful human beings so drawing them into a covenant relation of mutual commitment between Him and them in which He blesses them with gifts of grace and they bless Him in responsive adoration. Moses, whom God used as mediator to carry His words to His people at the time of the Exodus, stands at the head of a long line of prophets in whose mouths and writings God put His words for delivery to Israel. God’s purpose in this succession of messages was to maintain His covenant by causing His people to know His Name—that is, His nature—and His will both of precept and purpose in the present and for the future. This line of prophetic spokesmen from God came to completion in Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Word, who was Himself a prophet—more than a prophet, but not less—and in the apostles and prophets of the first Christian generation. When God’s final and climactic message, His word to the world concerning Jesus Christ, had been spoken and elucidated by those in the apostolic circle, the sequence of revealed messages ceased. Henceforth the Church was to live and know God by what He had already said, and said for all time.
At Sinai God wrote the terms of His covenant on tables of stone, as His enduring witness and for lasting accessibility, and throughout the period of prophetic and apostolic revelation He prompted men to write the messages given to and through them, along with celebratory records of His dealings with His people, plus moral reflections on covenant life and forms of praise and prayer for covenant mercy. The theological reality of inspiration in the producing of Biblical documents corresponds to that of spoken prophecies: although the human writers’ personalities were expressed in what they wrote, the words were divinely constituted. Thus, what Scripture says, God says; its authority is His authority, for He is its ultimate Author, having given it through the minds and words of chosen and prepared men who in freedom and faithfulness “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (1 Pet. 1:21). Holy Scripture must be acknowledged as the Word of God by virtue of its divine origin.
Authority: Christ and the Bible
Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is the Word made flesh, our Prophet, Priest, and King, is the ultimate Mediator of God’s communication to man, as He is of all God’s gifts of grace. The revelation He gave was more than verbal; He revealed the Father by His presence and His deeds as well. Yet His words were crucially important; for He was God, He spoke from the Father, and His words will judge all men at the last day.
As the prophesied Messiah, Jesus Christ is the central theme of Scripture. The Old Testament looked ahead to Him; the New Testament looks back to His first coming and on to His second. Canonical Scripture is the divinely inspired and therefore normative witness to Christ. No hermeneutic, therefore, of which the historical Christ is not the focal point is acceptable. Holy Scripture must be treated as what it essentially is—the witness of the Father to the Incarnate Son.
It appears that the Old Testament canon had been fixed by the time of Jesus. The New Testament canon is likewise now closed inasmuch as no new apostolic witness to the historical Christ can now be borne. No new revelation (as distinct from Spirit-given understanding of existing revelation) will be given until Christ comes again. The canon was created in principle by divine inspiration. The Church’s part was to discern the canon which God had created, not to devise one of its own.
The word canon, signifying a rule or standard, is a pointer to authority, which means the right to rule and control. Authority in Christianity belongs to God in His revelation, which means, on the one hand, Jesus Christ, the living Word, and, on the other hand, Holy Scripture, the written Word. But the authority of Christ and that of Scripture are one. As our Prophet, Christ testified that Scripture cannot be broken. As our Priest and King, He devoted His earthly life to fulfilling the law and the prophets, even dying in obedience to the words of Messianic prophecy. Thus, as He saw Scripture attesting Him and His authority, so by His own submission to Scripture He attested its authority. As He bowed to His Father’s instruction given in His Bible (our Old Testament), so He requires His disciples to do—not, however, in isolation but in conjunction with the apostolic witness to Himself which He undertook to inspire by His gift of the Holy Spirit. So Christians show themselves faithful servants of their Lord by bowing to the divine instruction given in the prophetic and apostolic writings which together make up our Bible.
By authenticating each other’s authority, Christ and Scripture coalesce into a single fount of authority. The Biblically-interpreted Christ and the Christ-centered, Christ-proclaiming Bible are from this standpoint one. As from the fact of inspiration we infer that what Scripture says, God says, so from the revealed relation between Jesus Christ and Scripture we may equally declare that what Scripture says, Christ says.
Infallibility, Inerrancy, Interpretation
Holy Scripture, as the inspired Word of God witnessing authoritatively to Jesus Christ, may properly be called infallible and inerrant. These negative terms have a special value, for they explicitly safeguard crucial positive truths.
lnfallible signifies the quality of neither misleading nor being misled and so safeguards in categorical terms the truth that Holy Scripture is a sure, safe, and reliable rule and guide in all matters.
Similarly, inerrant signifies the quality of being free from all falsehood or mistake and so safeguards the truth that Holy Scripture is entirely true and trustworthy in all its assertions.
We affirm that canonical Scripture should always be interpreted on the basis that it is infallible and inerrant. However, in determining what the God-taught writer is asserting in each passage, we must pay the most careful attention to its claims and character as a human production. In inspiration, God utilized the culture and conventions of His penman’s milieu, a milieu that God controls in His sovereign providence; it is misinterpretation to imagine otherwise.
So history must be treated as history, poetry as poetry, hyperbole and metaphor as hyperbole and metaphor, generalization and approximation as what they are, and so forth. Differences between literary conventions in Bible times and in ours must also be observed: since, for instance, non-chronological narration and imprecise citation were conventional and acceptable and violated no expectations in those days, we must not regard these things as faults when we find them in Bible writers. When total precision of a particular kind was not expected nor aimed at, it is no error not to have achieved it. Scripture is inerrant, not in the sense of being absolutely precise by modern standards, but in the sense of making good its claims and achieving that measure of focused truth at which its authors aimed.
The truthfulness of Scripture is not negated by the appearance in it of irregularities of grammar or spelling, phenomenal descriptions of nature, reports of false statements (e.g., the lies of Satan), or seeming discrepancies between one passage and another. It is not right to set the so-called “phenomena” of Scripture against the teaching of Scripture about itself. Apparent inconsistencies should not be ignored. Solution of them, where this can be convincingly achieved, will encourage our faith, and where for the present no convincing solution is at hand we shall significantly honor God by trusting His assurance that His Word is true, despite these appearances, and by maintaining our confidence that one day they will be seen to have been illusions.
Inasmuch as all Scripture is the product of a single divine mind, interpretation must stay within the bounds of the analogy of Scripture and eschew hypotheses that would correct one Biblical passage by another, whether in the name of progressive revelation or of the imperfect enlightenment of the inspired writer’s mind.
Although Holy Scripture is nowhere culture-bound in the sense that its teaching lacks universal validity, it is sometimes culturally conditioned by the customs and conventional views of a particular period, so that the application of its principles today calls for a different sort of action.
Skepticism and Criticism
Since the Renaissance, and more particularly since the Enlightenment, world-views have been developed which involve skepticism about basic Christian tenets. Such are the agnosticism which denies that God is knowable, the rationalism which denies that He is incomprehensible, the idealism which denies that He is transcendent, and the existentialism which denies rationality in His relationships with us. When these un- and anti-biblical principles seep into men’s theologies at [a] presuppositional level, as today they frequently do, faithful interpretation of Holy Scripture becomes impossible.
Transmission and Translation
Since God has nowhere promised an inerrant transmission of Scripture, it is necessary to affirm that only the autographic text of the original documents was inspired and to maintain the need of textual criticism as a means of detecting any slips that may have crept into the text in the course of its transmission. The verdict of this science, however, is that the Hebrew and Greek text appear to be amazingly well preserved, so that we are amply justified in affirming, with the Westminster Confession, a singular providence of God in this matter and in declaring that the authority of Scripture is in no way jeopardized by the fact that the copies we possess are not entirely error-free.
Similarly, no translation is or can be perfect, and all translations are an additional step away from the autographa. Yet the verdict of linguistic science is that English-speaking Christians, at least, are exceedingly well served in these days with a host of excellent translations and have no cause for hesitating to conclude that the true Word of God is within their reach. Indeed, in view of the frequent repetition in Scripture of the main matters with which it deals and also of the Holy Spirit’s constant witness to and through the Word, no serious translation of Holy Scripture will so destroy its meaning as to render it unable to make its reader “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).
Inerrancy and Authority
In our affirmation of the authority of Scripture as involving its total truth, we are consciously standing with Christ and His apostles, indeed with the whole Bible and with the main stream of Church history from the first days until very recently. We are concerned at the casual, inadvertent, and seemingly thoughtless way in which a belief of such far-reaching importance has been given up by so many in our day.
We are conscious too that great and grave confusion results from ceasing to maintain the total truth of the Bible whose authority one professes to acknowledge. The result of taking this step is that the Bible which God gave loses its authority, and what has authority instead is a Bible reduced in content according to the demands of one’s critical reasonings and in principle reducible still further once one has started. This means that at bottom independent reason now has authority, as opposed to Scriptural teaching. If this is not seen and if for the time being basic evangelical doctrines are still held, persons denying the full truth of Scripture may claim an evangelical identity while methodologically they have moved away from the evangelical principle of knowledge to an unstable subjectivism, and will find it hard not to move further.
We affirm that what Scripture says, God says. May He be glorified. Amen and Amen.
Webpage — http://www.bible-researcher.com/chicago1.html
You’re quoting both old and new testament teachings. New testament teachings are about the plan of salvation - which is God’s plan for mans’ redemption - again, after fall. Even though God is allknowing He expects us to make prudent decisions and when we don’t He steps in.
The story of the fall in under old testamement teachings which does not include the plan of salvation as adam was expected to make the right decision.
Iam not debating your point of view I am deabting its timeline in relationship to the article. Every text you quoted is accurate but Pauls’ comments are to emphazise the plan for salvation which came after the fall. Yes, there were evil already in the world as there were evil in heaven instigated by lucifer. Adam and eve was created for a new earth but they blew it and was forced from the garden of sinlessness. but because God loved them He wanted their offsprings to return to Him which is why He allowed Jesus to enter the world to futher demostrate His love and plans for salvation. Until then people did not undertstand God’s plan for mans’ salvation.
God planted adam in the garden because He expected adam to follow a simple rule for eternal life in the flesh. I doubt God would have gone through the trouble if He expected such ungreatfulness and disobedience from adam. If this was the case then God would be a petty God with no real purpose.
I believe He gives us choices and protects us from ourselves when we make the wrong decisions - even if he has to destroy us to do so. Read my article titled “What do you do when you’ve done all you can” to get a better feel of where I am coming from on this whole adam and eve thing..
Perhaps you’re correct in that God knew we were going to screw up and He had the plan already in place - but that would not have been fair to Jesus!
You said — God planted adam in the garden because He expected adam to follow a simple rule for eternal life in the flesh. I doubt God would have gone through the trouble if He expected such ungreatfulness and disobedience from adam. If this was the case then God would be a petty God with no real purpose.
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Ummm..., I think you need to do a study on the attributes of God. Take a look at the one labeled “omniscience”... in other Words, God knows it all, and knows the end from the beginning (along with all His other attributes).
There’s no question about God knowing... LOL... He knew *exactly* what would happen and He knew it even before the Universe was created and before the angels were created and before even *time itself* was created...
That’s one of the great proofs of Scripture in that God knows it all from the beginning and is able to give prophecy (which no one else can) and thus is the proof of who He is (as He says, He is the One who knows the end from the beginning and there is no one like Him...).
So, God didn’t just “expect it” (as if he “kinda thought it might happen”) but God *knew it* and knew it exactly to the exact time, to the method, to what Satan would say, to exactly what Eve would say, to exactly what Adam would say, and to every last little detail — and He knew *all this* before He ever created the first thing...
Now, if you say, that if God knew this, then that would make Him a petty God — right there, that tells me you’ve got some serious (real serious) problems with understanding the Bible and God and who He is and His attributes and everything about Him...
It’s just impossible to go past this and on to anything else with such a great misunderstanding of who God is...
A complicated sticky wicket . . .
can argue both sides of some of those points.
Your quoted text are very powerful and relavant however, in the absence of physical evidence of the existence of adam and eve we are left with a personal belief system supported only by faith. Therefore, I hold firm to my previous comment. The entire Bible supports a belief system with faith as its foundation. The faith that God is the creator, Jesus the Christ is the savior, and man is the benefator. The faith that Jesus the Christ was crucified and died physically for our sins. However, as proof we are left with writings which, in the case of the New Testament came approximately 70 to 100 years later. Granted some writings were recorded during the actual event but they wete either lost or destroyed.
New technology in begining to reveal and confirm these writings to be authenic however technology has yet proven the existence of adam or eve.
Again, you can quote text as often as you’re able it all boils down to whether one believe or not. Iam a believer and aparently so are you but its not because we have seen God or adam or eve. We are believers because of a personal belief system supported by faith.
There are many who do not believe and therefore scripture does little or nothing for them unless supported by hard core evidence. I can quote scripture until the Christ come back or until I die, whichever comes first. It would be a waste of time unless one believes.
Again, you argue some valuable, indisputable points but most m$ature Chrintians understand that scripture and the Bible is presented for inspiration. What applied to Paul, or Timothy, Mark, Matthew, etc., means little to the mature Chrintian unless he/she has a Christian belief system which provides a foundation for acceptance of the gospels.
This acceptance can only be manifested through a relationship with Christ. Until that relationship has been formed through faith then the Bible is nothing more than feel good literaturte. This leads us back to my previous comment that without physical evidence one is left with their very own belief system - supported by faith. Jesus says blessed are those who have not seen but still belieeve (I am paraphasing). He knew that the entire message of salvation was based on belief.
Again, I believe in the trinity but because of the inaccurate translations I do not believe everything written about the trinity. However, in the absense of hard core evidence I have a belief system born of faith that keeps me stable in the word. I think of myself as a mature Christian who do not need physical of the existence of God, nor am I dependent of the written word. I’ve seen enough spiritual evidence to justify in my mind God’s existence.
To sumarize my point. In the absence of physical evidence I believe one is left with their own belief system and until one has a personal relarionship with Christ quoting scripture has little meaning or purpose.
Excuse the typo’s I am responding from a small handheld.
This is a very interesting topic but keep in mind that the article which generated it was about letting go. The actions of Adam was merely an example. I had no idea this was going to turn into a Bible study.
Its simple if you have a simple approach to biblical teachings. I am afraid its a bit more complicated than that. The Christian Bible teaches a monolithic viewpoint but comprehension the Hebrew ang Greek tells a slightly different story. Unfortunately inaccurate translations has diluted critical aspects of Christian doctrines. The Bible says to study and show thyself approved. This goes far beyond accepting a single translation. A lot of Christians0are lost today due to a lack of true understanding.
I can not simply accept modern day translations as the gospel. I do however accept the Bible as the inspired word of God. But I feel the need to gop deeper.
Thanks for the comments.
Slow down my friend. Before you go into predefined attributes. let’s bring a conclusion to my first comment regarding hard core evidence of the existence of Adam and Eve! Do you or do you not agree that there is none and therefore we’re left with our very own belief system based on faith?
You said — Slow down my friend.
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LOL..., I slowed down so much on this thread, that I left it 200 posts ago...
I forgot it was even there.. :-)
Slow down my friend. Before you go into predefined attributes. let’s bring a conclusion to my first comment regarding hard core evidence of the existence of Adam and Eve! Do you or do you not agree that there is none and therefore we’re left with our very own belief system based on faith?
You said — Slow down my friend.
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LOL..., I slowed down so much on this thread, that I left it 200 posts ago...
I forgot it was even there.. :-)
[ I think I just experienced a spatial distortion or a time anomaly... LOL...]
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