If you are starting this study with this post I strongly encourage you to go back to the first post and read the studies in order in order to avoid misunderstanding or confusion regarding what I am saying.
We have been looking at the life of man, the life of God and the nature of the three-fold man. Over the course of the last four studies we have established that God is a spirit and that it is likely that when God said “let us create man in our image,” He was referring to His spiritual nature. We have seen that Jesus talked of two separate types of births that are available to man. First of all the natural birth, and then the spiritual birth or the birth from above. Paul refers to the born again man as being body, soul, and, spirit. However, he refers to the man that is not born again, or born from above, as a natural man, dead in their sins. Let’s look again at the end of the record regarding the fall of man and Adam and Eve’s actions after they took of the forbidden fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 3:7a
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked;
One of the first things that took place is that Adam and Eve began looking at the world around them through their own eyes. I want to be clear that I am not saying that they were physically blind before they ate of the fruit. What does seem to be the case is that they began looking at the world around them only through their eyes and it seems that they began making their decisions regarding the world around them based only on what they saw.
Genesis 3:7b
and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Their reaction was to make a change in their physical appearance. They made this decision based on what they saw and realized about themselves. God did not appear to have a problem with them being naked, but once they began looking with their own eyes and making decisions based on what they saw and what they thought, they did have a problem with their nakedness. There are a lot of theories about whether they were covered with something prior to their eating of the fruit that prevented them from seeing their nakedness and protected them. One of the current ones is that they were encased in the glory of God. From what I can see this is pure speculation. It is possible, but I would say that it is unprovable from the word of God. Such theories may simply be man’s attempt to justify covering their naked bodies. I also want to point out that I am not advocating nakedness. I am only pointing out that prior to this event in human history nudity did not appear to be much of a problem. What is important to see is that whether they were covered in some way prior to this or not, they started looking at the world through their physical eyes and made their own decisions regarding whether something was right and proper.
Genesis 3:8a
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:
Notice that they heard the voice of the LORD God, They heard, this would imply that they were using their senses. This is the first record of God having any kind of physical manifestation when talking to man.
Genesis 3:8b
and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
This was a very unusual response from both Adam and Eve. Prior to this moment they seemed to have a close relationship with God. They worked together with Him. We can see this in Genesis 2:19.
Genesis 2:19
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air: and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
If there was not a close personal relationship between God and man, there was at least a good working relationship.
Genesis 3:9
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
This seems like a very unusual thing for God to say. Why would God say this to Adam? I can think of only two reasons, either to test Adam or because that part of Adam which God created in his spiritual image was no longer there. I put it to you that God was looking for Adam’s spirit and did not find it. We have looked at what happened next already. One of the more interesting things about what happens next is at no point does God ever say that Adam and Eve received any punishment other than being expelled from the garden. There is no outward appearance of death, but God had said that “on the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die?” Where is the fulfilment of God’s command? Think carefully about this, because either Adam and Eve were dead, or God lied. If they were already dead then why did they live so long? If God lied, then we might as well throw away the book as a guide to life.
Jesus spoke of being “born again,” or “Born from above.” A new type of birth. Paul talked of a three-fold being. A being of “spirit, soul, and body.” We could also go through his writings and find many references to the spirit man: which he seems to apply only to those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. He speaks of the natural man, who cannot see or understand the things of the spirit. This natural man is spoken of being dead in trespasses and sin. We as Christians are said to be “alive to God.” Let’s take a second look at the passage in Genesis 2:7 before I lay this out more clearly.
Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [The creation of the body of man] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [the spirit of life – that which was made in the image of God]; and man became a living soul. [natural breath life]
From what I can see humans were created originally as a three-fold being. They had a body. They had a spirit created in the image of God and they had a soul, or breath life. But from the day that they ate of fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the spirit part of them died. From what I can see, that spirit died in Eve the moment that she ate of the fruit. In Adam, it was the same, his spirit died the moment he ate of the fruit. It was at that moment that the human race died in terms of the God kind of life. As a race, and a creature, humans were no longer spiritually alive. They still had breath life, or a soul. But they were completely dead in terms of the God kind of life. With the exception of a brain that was designed to do more and process information better than the other animals, man was no different from the rest of the creatures of God’s creation. They had Body and soul, but no spirit life. This spirit life was never again going to be available to us until the coming of the messiah; The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ who paid the price for our sins, and made the new birth, the birth from above available to us. It is at this point, and this point only that we become “alive to God.”
1 Corinthians 15:45-50
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [Jesus Christ] was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man [Adam] is of the earth, the second man is the Lord [Most texts omit “is the Lord”] from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Adam was a living soul, but the last Adam, Jesus Christ was made a quickening spirit. We are capable of having two totally different births. One contains our soul life. The living breathing life that was created in Adam and every other living creature. That life is passed down from one to another through conception, through the blood and every human has gone through this birth process. The other birth is available only to those who accept the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. It is the “birth from above.” A spiritual birth. We have been given the God kind of life. The life that Adam and Eve lost when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is once again available to us. Once we have gone through that birth process we are again alive and living before God. If we read this carefully we will notice that it is not the flesh and blood part of us that will inherit the kingdom of God, but the spiritual part of us.
1 Corinthians 15:51-54
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
All of us who are born from above will be changed. We will not bring our bodies with us into the coming kingdom of heaven. If we are dead we will be fashioned a new body of some kind, if we are alive we will be changed into this same new body. It is not our breath life that will continue, but our spirit life that will continue.
What exactly does this all mean? It means that on the very day that Eve and Adam ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil they died. It was the not physical death that affects all creatures in God’s creation. It was the death of that part of man that was created in God’s image. That part of man that no other creature that God created had. That spirit part of man died. It was not passed on from generation to generation. Every human that has ever lived after Adam and Eve at of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was totally dead spiritually. Humans became creatures of only body and soul. They had a body and they had breath life, but they were no longer spiritually alive in God’s eyes. Spiritually, they were dead as doornail. When Jesus paid the price for our sin, he made it possible for us to possess that spirit that was made in the image of God. We received a new birth. A birth that was not naturally conceived, but was from above. When man becomes born again, or born from above, that spirit that is created in us is created in God’s image. We become a new creation, a creation of spirit, making the born again Christian a being of spirit, soul, and body. And just like the first birth that spirit being is like a small baby. It must be nurtured and grown, and one does not mature spiritually right away. It is us up to us whether we are going to need to listen to our spiritual father.
Keith Carter Ministries 