Where Did Humanity Come From?

At the church where I serve we are spending our time looking at what we believe as a church as it is contained in the doctrinal statement of our church. This week, I would like for us to look at the third statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This third statement addresses what we believe as a church when it comes to the human condition.

This statement summarizes the answer to the question “Where did humanity come from? Who am I? And what went wrong? Why does the world seem so messed up?” So let’s look at this third statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.

Now, as we have talked about throughout this series, you might be here this morning and right about now you are thinking “Well Dave, I mean that sounds great, but what does all that mean?” So, what I would like for us to do is to break down this statement into parts so that we can come to a better understanding of what is being said here. First, let’s take a minute and unpack the phrase “We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image”.

With this phrase, we are saying that we believe God created Adam and Eve as the first human beings who inhabited the earth. We are saying that humanity started with Adam and Eve. Now a natural objection to this would be “Well Dave how do you really know that Adam and Eve are historical figures? How do you know that the story of Adam and Eve is not some fictitious story about the origins of humanity?”

There are several reasons why we can have confidence that Adam and Eve were historical figures. First, the account of creation in the first letter in the Bible called the book of Genesis presents Adam and Eve as actual persons and even records the important events in their lives. Second, Adam and Eve gave birth to literal children who did the same.

Third, the letters of the Old Testament that record the family tree of humanity place Adam at the top of the list. Fourth, the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible place Adam at the beginning of Jesus’ literal ancestors. Fifth, Jesus referred to Adam and Eve as being historical figures and made their physical union the basis of marriage.

Sixth, as we will see in a few minutes, Paul referred to Adam as a historical figure and compared the life of Adam and the life of Jesus as being literal human beings. And seventh, from logic, there had to be a first real set of human beings, male and female, or else the race would have had no way to get going. The Bible calls this literal couple “Adam and Eve,” and there is no reason to doubt their real existence.

Now that leads us to another question that arises here, which is “What do you mean when you say that God created Adam and Eve in His image? What does it mean to be created in the image of God? We discover the answer to these questions in the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Genesis. So let’s discover that answer together beginning in Genesis 1:26-27:

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."?

Here we see the Triune God’s design and desire for the creation of humanity: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”. To be created in the image of God means that every human being bears the thumbprint of God. We were created in God’s relational image. We were created for relationships. Just as God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit live in relationship with one another, we were created for relationships. We were created for a relationship with God vertically and for relationships with one another horizontally. That is why the most devastating feeling is that of loneliness, because we are living outside of God’s design for our lives.

But not only were we divinely designed for relationships. Here we also see that we were divinely designed to rule over the earth as God’s representative. When God uses the phrase “let them rule” this phrase literally means to have rule or dominion. God created humanity and placed humanity on earth as His representative on earth.

You see, we have been divinely designed to live in relationship with God and one another and have been given responsibility over the earth as His representative here on earth. However, during the life of Adam and Eve here on earth, an event from history occurred that sent shock waves through history. A event from history that is recorded for us in Genesis 3:1:

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Here we are given a glimpse into an encounter that Adam and Eve would have with the serpent. Now a natural question that arises here is “are you saying that Adam and Eve are talking with a snake? Because, Dave, that seems pretty weird”. So who are Adam and Eve talking to?

The serpent who Adam and Eve are encountering is Satan, who had disguised himself as a serpent. Satan begins this encounter by asking Eve a question: "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The Bible then records what happens next in verse 2:

“The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.' The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."?

Satan tempts Eve by challenging God’s character and God’s motives. Satan basically tells Eve “Don’t believe God because God lied to you. You are not going to die if you eat the fruit. God lied to Adam when He told him that. Instead, God knows that if you eat the fruit you will become like Him. You will be like God and God does not want that. Eve, God is trying to keep you from being all you can be. Eve don’t you want to be like God?” We see the decision of Adam and Eve and its consequences in verse 6:

“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”?

Adam and Eve responded to Satan’s temptation by buying into the deception that they could become like God. And it was Adam and Eve’s response that led to sin entering into the world. It is this event from history that is referenced by the next part of the statement “but they sinned when tempted by Satan”. 

And as sin entered the world, we see the consequences immediately affect the world. The relationship between Adam and Eve and humanity throughout history was drastically changed. Now the church mumbo jumbo talk phrase for this event from history and the consequences from this event from history is “The Fall of Man”.

That is what is meant by the very next sentence of the statement, which says “In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath.” This phrase simply means that all of humanity became separated from God and the relationship with God that they were created for as a result of Adam and Eve’s act of selfishness and rebellion.

You see, while Adam and Eve had the freedom and capacity to choose obedience, they instead chose disobedience. And as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin all humanity became separated from God. Through Adam’s act of selfishness and rebellion, all humanity acquired a natural bent toward selfishness and rebellion against God. Through Adam’s act of selfishness and rebellion, all humanity through history has acted on that selfish and rebellious bent to do things that hurt God and others.

And it is this selfishness and rebellion that alienates, or separates us from the relationship with God that we were created for. All humanity is also united with Adam in that all humanity suffers with the consequences that come as a result of Adam’s selfish decision.  That is what is referred to by the word wrath. The word wrath refers to God’s right and just response to selfish rebellion and sin.

Now it is important to understand that God’s wrath is not a selfish passionate emotional response. It is not God blowing a head gasket, so to speak. Instead, it is God’s perfect justice resulting in a rightful response to the wrongdoing and injustice of others.

And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans, we see the Apostle Paul unpack this reality for us in great detail. Tomorrow, we will begin to look at this section of this letter…