Adam and Eve were immaculately created and came to
life, pure, innocent, and without sin. They were placed in a garden paradise
by Lord God to be immortal and live in eternal happiness. They were made in the image and likeness
of God with free will to do as they like in the paradise of Eden. Adam was given dominion over all the earth's creation of God. He gave them
a command, a single command nothing more but it involved the nature, mind,
senses, and spirit of man. One command against everything that God did for them
and all the things they have in paradise. Just one and unfortunately they could not give that
to God. They failed and committed the grave sin of disobedience to God’s
command.
In the article, The Unforgiven Sin, we explained the doctrine of Original Sin in a fresh perspective sans the theological terms that times hard to understand. Explaining it on layman's term that is easily understood. You may go back to it for reference.
In the article, The Unforgiven Sin, we explained the doctrine of Original Sin in a fresh perspective sans the theological terms that times hard to understand. Explaining it on layman's term that is easily understood. You may go back to it for reference.
There are several lines of biblical evidence for the
historic Christian doctrine that we are all born into the world with sinful
natures, due to the sin of Adam. Psalm 51:5 states that we all come into the world as sinners: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my
mother conceived me.”
We are born to
sin and we are in that state of sinfulness until our redemption by Jesus Christ since such sin which is not
committed by free act can’t be repeated by us.
Since it can’t be repented it can’t be forgiven except by the act of God's saving grace. The first sin or known as the original sin is the concupiscence to sin. It a sin that is in our human nature and therefore it is the only sin that is inherited from generation to generation. A sin that is passed on and caused the man to keep sinning. Since it is inherent to men, it can't be repented by those who inherit it. Many are not even aware that they have it. It is the motherload of all sins and so there is no one that can save us from that sin but God alone saves. All sins can be repented but the original sin can't so how can God forgive a sin that is not caused by the free action of man.
From the time of the fall of man, the battle already began. In the early period, the Serpent identified by Jesus as Satan had the upper hand snaring souls to his kingdom except for a few like Enoch and Noah. It came to a point that in the eyes of God, man was a hopeless creature, beyond salvation that he even regrets he created them. God who is perfect created man in his image and likeness, a perfect being but the Serpent who has opposed God made him imperfect by successfully causing his fall to the sin of disobedience.
And so from then on as man multiplied and became many, his sins also multiplied and became so many that his sins filled the earth. God could no longer contain his anger and regretted that he ever made man. For a while, the devil may have thought that God, may have forgotten his mystery decree of deliverance through the woman and her seed because God has willed that it was time to end the reign of man under the influence of Satan on earth by destroying them with a flood.
God who is the King of the Universe and King of kings, created Man and gave him freedom from the beginning to rule and have dominion over all the physical creation. But the man gave away his dominion to Satan by becoming under him rather than under God. By following the voice of Satan, Adam and Eve lost everything even the paradise that God personally made for them. What was in Adam and Eve that Satan used to make them disobey God? Was it just out of curiosity or a lethal combination of curiosity and greed? Of wanting to have more than what God has already given them. We believe the sin of disobedience is caused by the freedom of choice that makes man guilty of disobeying God by choice.
Knowing what man has gotten himself into and having his great love for man more than all his creation, God made a decree of deliverance from the one that caused the man to fall, deliverance from the evil one. But the decree was clouded with mystery if one will hear or read of it in the ancient time covering the entire Old Testament. Genesis 3:15 states "I will put enmity between you and woman. between your seed and her seed. She will crush your head and you will bruise her heel." This is the original translation which was later on translated to him. But whatever the translation be of the words, the essence of the decree of God is clear, he promised deliverance of man from the power of Satan through the woman and her seed. And this is a mystery, who is the woman and her seed that will defeat Satan and crush his head. We know that the serpent can not be easily killed by hitting its body for it can still bite, the serpent must be killed by crushing its head.
The battle is drawn between the woman and the serpent called Satan, the evil one for the Lord said: "I will put enmity between you and the woman". Enmity means the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone. Actively opposed to the woman? How is that possible if the woman was still to come or was she? The woman can't be Eve, theologians and scholars agree because she was already defeated by the devil. In fact, the serpent did not approach Adam first but Eve meaning that she is vulnerable and can easily be deceived. It's Eve who convinced Adam to disobey God. So, the woman who will be in active opposition against the Devil and vice versa is not Eve but another woman, but who?
In the New Testament, we already know and it was revealed to us that the woman is the Blessed Virgin Mary. But she only existed sometime in the year 20 BC more or less as she conceived Jesus and delivered him to the world of men as God in the flesh sometime about 4 BC when she was about 14 or 16 years old. Was the Blessed Virgin Mary already existing in Genesis 3:15 to be in active opposition against Satan? Here is the mystery of who the Blessed Virgin Mary is and why is she so special to God that she is found to be full of Grace by the angel even before she conceived Jesus to be his mother in the flesh. To know about this mystery we need to comb the scriptures for an answer.
And God said to the serpent in the Garden of Eden
which tempted Eve and caused the downfall of man as a slave of sin, “I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your
head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15). This is also known
as Protevangelium in Christian theology which prefigures the plan of salvation,
the coming of the Messiah, the savior that will redeem man from the slavery of
sin which began from the fall of Adam and Eve. While the focus is on the Savior
alone and it is fitting and right but there is one person who has not been given
much attention, the woman.
1. There
are 2 by 2 personages in the Protevangelium Genesis 3:15, not just one. On one
hand, the woman and her seed and on the other hand the serpent, that is the
devil, and its seed. The words of God are clear, “I will put enmity between you
and the woman”. The enmity is between the “you” that is the devil and the woman.
They will be in continuing opposition from the beginning and certainly to the
end of age when the devil is crushed by the head.
2. The
other is likewise similar but different, “between your seed and her seed”. There
is the other enmity and it is between the seed of the devil and the seed of the
woman. Here it is clear the offspring of the woman will be in opposition
against the offspring of the devil.
3. We
also have to take note that the passage talks of the seed of the woman. The seed
is the offspring of the woman but since it tells of only the seed of the woman
and not of man then the verse has prefigured the virgin birth. There is no
human father.
4. The seed of the serpent which is an animal is also personified and will be in opposition to the seed of the woman and since the serpent is an animal, the seed of the serpent must be a beast like him.
All agreed that the “seed” of the woman is our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ and therefore it logically follows that the woman is
the Blessed Virgin Mary who brought forth the seed into the world, her
offspring who is the Word of God incarnate. Some however despite obvious
and logical conclusions would still try to reason out that the woman is really
Eve for God was talking to her and the serpent and addressing her also as a woman. But if the woman is Eve then there will be a problem in the consistency
of the scriptures because she was in a fallen state like Adam and she is powerless
against the devil as already shown so how can she oppose it when she brought the fall of men?
If Eve is the tree from which the seed, the Messiah
will come is not that in itself a contradiction? The scriptures tell us
that: "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree
bear good fruit (Luke 6:43). Another
contradiction is how the Lord comes from a woman who is of a fallen state
since it is written “But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit
with him” (1 Corinthians 6:17) can we say Eve becomes one spirit with the
Lord? Certainly not!
Therefore we can only conclude that in verse 3:15
God was not referring to Eve but to another woman. And who could that
woman be that the Lord was already referring to her in Genesis which was the
beginning? Certainly, before the awaited seed comes, the woman comes first, but
is there a woman already existing aside from Eve that God was referring to in the
verse? Yes, there was and she is Wisdom personified in the scripture as she.
Wisdom is female Sophia in Greek, but who is she?
The serpent and the woman will be in opposition against each other. It's going to be a continuing hostility a battle. This battle will not only be between the Serpent and the woman but between their offspring. Now if the Blessed Virgin Mary is the woman of Genesis then her seed or her offspring is Jesus Christ.
The serpent and the woman will be in opposition against each other. It's going to be a continuing hostility a battle. This battle will not only be between the Serpent and the woman but between their offspring. Now if the Blessed Virgin Mary is the woman of Genesis then her seed or her offspring is Jesus Christ.
Who is the Blessed Virgin Mary?
How is it possible that the woman with a human father and mother be untouched by original sin for even in her original state without Jesus in her womb she was already found FULL OF GRACE. The Angel of the Lord came to Mary and he greeted her with an unusual greeting given only to royalty "Hail, "Full of Grace", and the "Lord is with you". The young Mary who is the complete opposite of Eve being humble, obedient to God's will, trusting and loving God since she was a child, growing up serving in the Temple as a virgin consecrated to God's service was somewhat shy at the greeting of the Angel. She was used to the angels according to the story of James but the greeting given to him by Gabriel was different on the day of the annunciation of her chosen to be the mother of God concerns her. To which the Angel gave assurance to do not be afraid Mary...
And the angel of the Lord came to Mary and said unto her: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God."
TO BE CONTINUED...
By Bro. Manny OTFS Chief Apologist
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