February 27
What happened to Adam and Eve on ‘that day’?
By Brian McLaren[Editor’s note: Someone recently said to Brian McLaren: “God told Adam and Eve that if they ate “the fruit” they would die. Did God change God’s mind after they ate it? Or was their consequence to die in a gradual manner?”]
Thanks for your question. Your question points to the often-underestimated role interpretation plays in every serious engagement with the Bible. Many who say, “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it” would be more honest to say, “The Bible says it, I interpret it, I believe my interpretation, and that settles it.” From its first few pages, the Bible presents us with fascinating, but often vexing, challenges like this one.
A common interpretation of the passage in Genesis is to say that on that day, Adam and Eve died “spiritually.” That interpretation, as I interpret it, assumes that a dualistic body-spirit/matter-energy/forms-appearances model of the universe is divinely revealed (even though that is the model of the ancient Greeks, not the ancient Jews).
Others might say that on that day, it was inevitable that Adam and Eve would die — although that is not what the text actually says.
Here are two other possibilities. Both assume Genesis — at least its earliest chapters — is not intended to be interpreted literally as historical fact, but that it is rather a poetic or metaphorical story that conveys an actuality of meaning that doesn’t depend on the factuality of every detail. To modernist readers, the latter approach seems inferior, but I think to both pre-modern and post-modern readers, the latter approach is actually richer and more valuable.
These possibilities, among many others, are not mutually exclusive but suggest ways of taking the text more seriously than a literalist approach.
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The character named “God” or “the Lord” in the text is not necessarily the real God in whom we trust. (In a similar way, we might say that a talking snake is not necessarily the real problem in the world.) In this approach, the character named “God” in the text represents a developing concept in the story … and the truth about God is revealed, not in simply in character named “God” or “the Lord” in the text, but in the unfolding of the story itself … which reaches a grand climax at the end of the book, as Joseph makes a profound observation about God’s intentions and agency in the world.
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The point or meaning of the story is that God is again and again more merciful than a simple mind would expect. A simple mind says Adam and Eve must die, but God transcends and shows them mercy. A simple mind says Cain must be killed for killing, but God transcends and shows him mercy and even protects him from revenge. A simple mind says Earth will be destroyed, but God mercifully saves a seed of creation to be replanted after the flood. A simple mind says Babel should be destroyed, but God mercifully decentralizes it rather than destroying it. A simple mind would say Jacob was a deceiver and impossible for God to work with, but God mercifully matures Jacob through the experiences of life. And so on.
Again, there are many other possible approaches, but those are two to consider for starters. As you read A New Kind of Christianity, you’ll see that in almost every chapter I try to model a reading of a Biblical passage with this approach that values actuality of meaning over factuality of detail. Whether or not you find this approach attractive, I hope you’ll see that whatever our approach, we are all involved in interpretation, and the process of interpretation is both rich and fascinating. There is no meaningful reading without interpretation.
Brian McLaren is an author, speaker and activist who writes at brianmclaren.net, where this blog post originally appeared.
Comments
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Brian presents himself as a progressive, evolving wisdom thinker in that he proposes the assumption that Genesis — at least its earliest chapters — is not intended to be interpreted literally as historical fact, but that it is rather a poetic or metaphorical story that conveys an actuality of meaning that doesn’t depend on the factuality of every detail.
He also states that the character named “God” or “the Lord” in the text is not necessarily the real God in whom we trust. Apparently in Brian’s mind, God is whatever we want him to be. Using his same theology, the first part of Genesis can be considered poetic or metaphorical or whatever you want it to be and the later part more historical or whatever you want it to be. Later he refers to the flood as a historical event, to Joseph as a historical character and that God (which God??) showed Cain mercy and protected him. James warns believers in chapter 1, verse 8, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
Brian refers to people who take the Bible literally as simple minded. In Acts 4:13, Peter and John were also accused of being simple minded by the religious wisdom thinkers of their day.
Genesis 5:5 states that Adam died as God said he would after living 930 years. Adam’s death may be poetic or metaphorical in Brian’s mind, but in my simple mind is factual as if a signed death certificate was issued by a funeral director.
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I am not sure if Brian has answered the question?
God states that the day Adam and Eve eat the fruit, they will die (Gen 2:17). Up until this point in time, death does not exist in the world. There was no sin, the world was created perfect. Death is a direct result of sin (Rom 6:23).
So why didn’t Adam and Eve die on that day? I can think of two basic reasons: Firstly, I do agree with Brian in that God treated them mercifully by sparing them. Whether or not people will understand pain in childbirth and thorns in your garden as ‘merciful’ is I guess up to the individual. But if the alternative was death, then I for one am grateful for God’s mercy!
Secondly, physical death did occur on that day when God slaughtered an animal for clothing (Gen 3:21). In other words, God used something else to pay the penalty due to Adam and Eve.
Until death entered the world, Adam and Eve were immortal. Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden so as they could no longer live forever (Gen 3:22). John Wesley explains it like this ‘In the day thou eatest, thou shalt die - Not only thou shalt become mortal, but spiritual death and the forerunners of temporal death shall immediately seize thee’ (John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible).
As to the problem of the first few chapters of Genesis not being factual, how and where can one draw a line in the book of Genesis and say that this part is historical fact, this part is poetry?
The other problem with the article is Brian’s perception of God. To say that ‘God’ in the early chapters of Genesis is a mere ‘developing concept’ is just plain crazy! Remember, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8); God is not a developing concept!
Thanks Dale for your ‘simple mindedness’!
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