I lived in Nottingham, England in 1999 and 2000. As you probably know, if Nottingham is famous for anything, it's famous for Robin Hood. There have been debates for centuries about the validity of the Robin Hood stories. Some academics believe that Robin Hood was a real-life person, while others believe that he never really existed. Still other scholars think that Robin Hood is a kind of amalgamated character formed from legends of many different individuals who lived in parts of Britain throughout the centuries - a bit like King Arthur. What is certain is that the stories we now have about Robin Hood are "fictional". Certain aspects of the stories might have been based on real events at different times, but they are almost certainly not based on the exploits of any one individual. But does that make the stories untrue? I would argue no. There are many truths to be gleaned from stories like the Robin Hood tales.
Something like what occurs in the Robin Hood stories is happening at the beginning of Genesis. The human characters in Genesis 2-11 are not real historical individuals (though some of them may be based on real people or may be the amalgamation of many different historical figures into one individual). Rather, the people we read about in Genesis 2-11 represent all of humanity. We are all Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth, Noah etc. And Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth, and Noah are meant to represent all of us. Though these stories might be described as "fictional", they are true in ways that transcends basic facts and figures.
So, when one considers "The Fall" or the first "Original Sin" of humanity, one should expand this idea to encompass all of Genesis 3-11. All of these stories describe in various ways and from different angles the story of humanity's sinfulness and brokenness. These stories do not describe sin in the sense of being inherited or passed down from generation to generation, rather they describe a world in which sin is inevitable for everyone. We are not born sinners, but it doesn't take long for us to become sinners.
So, as we begin our journey through these foundational narratives, let's go back to the garden with Adam and Eve.
Idolatry is at the Heart of Human Sin
If you've never read Genesis three or if it's been a while, I encourage you to spend five or ten minutes perusing this narrative. We've all been exposed to artwork depicting the serpent seducing Eve into eating the fruit (note the text doesn't say which kind of fruit - just picture your favorite). We've probably also seen paintings of Eve sharing the forbidden delicacy with her husband. But on the surface the idea of one tree being off limits for the first humans seems a bit arbitrary. Why were they not allowed to eat from this particular tree? This is where the symbolic nature of the story comes in. The tree is described in chapter two as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is implied that by eating of its fruit an individual would gain the understanding of the difference between good and evil. As the serpent says to the woman, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God.
The idea that Eve might become like God is what is so tempting to this archetypal woman. It is the temptation to usurp God and to place him in a lower place than his status rightly demands. It is a form of self-worship. Essentially it is idolatry. And as Eve shares this idolatrous act with Adam, both of their eyes are opened, and they discover that they are naked. They recognize that they have sinned and so to cover the shame of their sin, they cover their bodies with fig leaves.
Adam's and Eve's idolatry immediately damages their relationship with one another. They are no longer as innocently and intimately connected. As chapter two ends, the man and the woman are naked, but feel no shame. Now they must cover up their exposed flesh. But it's not just their relationship with each other that is damaged. So too is their relationship with God.
As God walks in the garden in the cool of the day, the humans hide from their creator. Their shame has extended vertically, as well as horizontally. At the heart of this story, we discover that every act of human sin is on some level an act of idolatry on our part. Rather than seeking God's way, we search out our own way. We seek to be the divine authority in our lives, and we alienate ourselves from the truly divine.
Sin Has Consequences
The remainder of Genesis three describes the consequences of human sin. Again, it is important to remember that this story is highly symbolic. On a literal level, women don't have pain in childbirth because Eve partook of the fruit. On a literal level, women have pain in childbirth because human babies have enormous heads, and it stretches a woman's birth canal to the extreme to give birth to these big-headed babies. Likewise, farming is hard because the soil produces thorns and thistles as well as grasses and grains. But on a symbolic level, we learn that life is not made easy in the wake of human sin. Life becomes harder for all of us as we sin and as we are sinned against.
And relationships are damaged by our short-sighted and selfish human choices. Consider the relationship of men and women. In the garden, they related to one another on an equal plane, but east of Eden, it is the man who will dominate and the woman who will yearn for the man's position. We've seen this played out in the world throughout human history. Notice, God does not prescribe this breakdown in the male and female relationship, rather he simply describes it. God's ideal is for men and women to both complement one another in their relationships and to form a partnership of equality. That's one of the things that will be finally realized in the age to come. But in this age, unfortunately, we continue to struggle.
And struggle is at the heart of this narrative. We discover from the very beginning that life will often be a struggle. Our idolatry and sin have made life far more difficult than it had to be. The story of Genesis three is not the story of original sin, it is rather the tale of unoriginal sin, because all human sin begins with idolatry and leads to broken lives and broken relationships.
God's Grace is Evident from the Very Beginning
Though this is the first story of human sin, it won't be the last. But it is not only a story of brokenness, it's also a story of grace. In verse 21 we learn that God provides the humans with skins to cover their nakedness and their shame. And even the cherubim and flaming sword guarding the garden of Eden from the man and woman is an act of grace. Transformation and redemption must first be accomplished before flawed, sinful, and broken people are fit to partake of the eternal life of the age to come, for otherwise eternal life would not be worth living.
There's far more to explore in Genesis chapter three, but that can be for another time. In the meantime, read on...Genesis four is waiting! - Shay
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