Hi Mike, you wrote:
>TG wrote: Scripture seems pretty clear that Adam is head, not only
>covenantally but also biologically, of the whole human race.
>
>I don't believe the Bible clearly teaches any such thing. I think the
>scriptures are simply saying that Adam's disobedience formally established
>the fact that men are sinful and are, thus, unworthy of eternal life. Because
>Adam in paradise, a perfect human specimen without a problem in the world,
>could not manage to obey one simple command from God, he clearly demonstrated
>the fact that the entire human race, including those who had lived before him
>and those who would live after him, were unworthy of eternal life.
>
>So, with these things in mind, Paul accurately referred to Adam when he
>wrote, "By one man's disobedience many were constituted sinners." ( to
>"constitute" means to "formally establish." Romans 5:19, Amplified Bible) So,
>after Adam failed a simple God given test of his righteousness, God had good
>reason to retroactively condemn the entire human race as being deserving of
>the deaths they had been suffering, and undeserving of eternal life, a gift
>God had not yet given to any human being.
Well put.
>TG wrote: I don't find the attempts to see two different human creation
>accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 to be convincing.
>
>Notice that in Genesis 1:29 God told the people He had created, "I give you
>... every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."
>Compare those words of God spoken to those people to the restricted diet God
>gave to Adam. "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must
>not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Gen. 2:16,17) That
>sounds like two different creation accounts to me. If not we have a big
>contradiction.
"Big contradiction"? Hebrew lacks the precision you are trying to
exact from it. Plus "all" and "every" are used repeatedly throughout
the OT where you know it is in a restricted context.
An example of Hebrew terminology is found in Psalm 22. This is a
psalm of David, yet a prophecy of the crucifixion, "... they pierced
my hands and my feet" (Psa. 22:16).
Matthew harkens back to David, "the prophet," and quotes Psalm 22:18
in his account of the Roman soldiers casting lots for Jesus's
garments (Matt. 27:35). Yet, David the psalmist also wrote, "... and
all my bones are out of joint" (Psa. 22:14).
Should the word "all" in this verse cause heartburn? That's 206
bones out of joint. No! It is entirely consistent in Hebrew usage.
Further, you and I both agree that the flood was local. You don't
interpret Gen. 7:14 to mean that "every beast," and "all cattle," and
"every creeping thing " were loaded on the boat, or that "all flesh"
died in the flood. Be consistent.
Let's paint a scenario. God points to the vast countryside with Adam
at His side and says, "I give you ... every tree that has fruit with
seed in it. They will be yours for food." Then he points to the
garden and says, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden,
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
I can't say that is what transpired, but you can't say it didn't.
Yours in Christ,
Dick Fischer - The Origins Solution - www.orisol.com
"The answer we should have known about 150 years ago"
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