The record of the creation is extremely laconic. Perhaps many people would like it to be more extensive, to encompass more themes, to explain more different aspects of life. But what shall we say, if this in reality is precisely so?
And the god said, "Let us make a man in our image and out likeness, to rule over the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky, and the domestic animals, and all things on the earth, and all reptiles which crawl upon the earth!"
And the god made the man, in the image of the god he made him, male and female he made them. And the god blessed them, saying, "Grow and multiply, and fill the earth, and lord over it; and rule over the fish in the sea, and the birds in the sky, and all the domestic animals, and the whole earth, and all reptiles, which crawl upon the earth."
And the god said, "Behold, I have given you every crop suitable for sowing, which spreads seed, which is upon the earth, and every tree, which has on itself fruit suitable for sowing, it will be your food; and to every beast on the earth and all the birds in the sky and every reptile, which crawls upon the earth, which has in itself a living soul, even every green grass for food."
And it happened so. And the god say these things, all the many he made, and behold, very beautiful/beneficial. And it became evening and it became morning, day six.
And the god formed the man, dirt from the earth, and blew in his face spirit of life and the man became a living soul.
And the lord the god planted a garden in Eden to the East and placed there the man, whom he formed. And the god made to grow from the earth every easy on the eyes and useful for food tree, the tree of life amidst the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of the good and the evil. And out of Eden flowed a river to irrigate the garden and from there split into four branches: the name of the first is Phison, which surrounds the whole land of Eulat, where there is gold and the gold of that land is beautiful; there is ruby and onix stone. The name of the second river is Geoon, which goes around the whole land of Etiopia. And the third river, Tigris, it is the one that passes in front of Asiria. And the fourth river [is] Ephrates.
And the lord the god took the man, whom he sculpted, and placed him in the garden of comfort to cultivate it and protect it. And the lord the god commanded Adam, saying, "From every tree in the garden you will eat for food, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, do not eat from it, but in the day you eat from it, you will die with death. "
And the lord the god said, "It is not good/beneficial that the man is alone, we will make him a helper, similar to him." And the god sculpted also from the earth all the beasts of the field and all the birds in the sky, and brought them to Adam to see what he will call them. And each one Adam called a living soul, that is its name. And Adam called the names of every cattle, and all the birds in the sky, and every beast, but for Adam was not found a helper similar to him.
And the god placed Adam in ecstasy and he fell asleep. And he took one of his ribs and filled with flesh in its place. And the lord the god built from the rib, which he took from Adam, a woman and brought her to Adam. And Adam said, "This now [is] bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh; she will be called a woman, because she was taken from her man. Therefore the man will leave his father and his mother and will adhere himself to his woman and both will be one flesh."
And the two of them were naked, both Adam, as well as his woman, and were not ashamed.
This is the beginning of the human race. The cited texts are from the first and second chapter of Genesis(Origin?)
First is the decision of the god to make someone according to his image and likeness, who would be lord of the earth.
The next is the creation of the man in two different beings: man and woman, as it is also to this day.
Third is the blessing and the command. The blessing is to multiply and to fill the earth with beings like them (that is, men and women). The command is in fact empowering: both the man and the woman are made masters of everything that is on the earth, in the waters, and in the air.
The fourth is the sustenance. It consists of the seed-bearing crops, such as wheat, barley and so on, and of the fruits of the trees, which have seeds in their fruit.
After this follows an expansion of what has already been said and an addition of things, which were not mentioned before this.
One is, that first the man was created and a name was given to him by the god – Adam. And before that by the god himself a garden was planted, where also the man was put, who still is alone.
Second, all animals are brought by the god to the man, in order that he might see them, name them and decide, whether they are suitable for him. It is obvious for us, who live with them, that they aren't.
Third, the god creates the woman in one very specific way, for a particular reason, which is a revelation, that is, understanding (which goes outside the discussed topic).
Now it is necessary to return to the creation of Adam, when people receive the commands for the garden. First they already know that they are blessed to multiply upon the face of the earth, and second they must guard and work the garden, in which specifically there are the two special trees: of life, and of knowing good and evil.
Let us now with the help of the holy spirit try to describe the position of the man in the garden, his rights and obligations, the laws by which he lives, and whatever else can be seen from the already cited texts.
Perhaps the most impressive is the creation of the man according to the image of the god. I cannot launch into very much details, because they are missing. But it can be said, that the man is created to be a master of the animals. Partially we can see this with the domestic animals, which even to this day obey man, even if they “know” that they will be used and after this eaten, they and their offspring. This supposes that at that time they all were subordinate, even if it is not seen that they were eaten. Here it must by all means be said, that man did not rule over man, as it is now. This can be seen indirectly from what is said “rule over”. After it is said “you”, this excludes someone ruling over another man.
After this they had to multiply. Mankind cannot leave this command, it is the same also to this day. There is not something, which has changed, nor can be changed. Also it has settled almost everywhere, with only the places remaining, which are with extremely severe natural conditions, such as Antarctica.
Now we can return to the garden, but let us for a moment think, that even if they were there and had access to the two special trees, they were not limited to live in the garden, but had to live over the whole earth. However they made a mess of things, which goes outside our topic.
Here comes the main thing in our study, which is: man is not a being, which can do whatever he wants in the sense of evil. He has no orders against evil, as we do now with the various laws, which aim to limit evil in society. They have a command not to know evil. The word 'know' in the Bible is a word with which the closest and intimate relationships between the man and the woman, and with the god, are described. So what happened is that man knew evil and today it is part of his nature.
And so, what is the description of their life?
Man had to marry, to bear children and to conquer the earth, which was given to him. He must also work for his sustenance, because it is written to work the garden. And he must also guard it. Naturally the most important for guarding are the two trees. If man guards the tree of life, he will be able to eat from it, as also his offspring. If he guards himself from the other tree, he will guard himself from the evil, for which also the other tree had to be guarded, but not eaten.
And the astonishing thing in this story is, that this has not changed even to the present day, not in the least. Man must become a continuer of the race of man. Man must work for his sustenance. Man must guard the tree of life, which is Jesus, the god, the Bible, the holy spirit, which for us means also to find it first. And man must guard himself from the tree for knowing good and evil, which is the place, where all people upon the face of the earth live. So the garden together with its two trees is accessible for us in Jesus the anointed the son of the god.
However, man first must be freed from the authority of the tree for the knowing of good and evil, which happens through regret/repentance before the god, immersion in water and in the holy spirit, and a subsequent life in Jesus, in the grace of the god and in this life, which had been commanded to us before the fall.
To it, however, must be added that, which we call “spiritual life”. The Bible does not use this term, but says “the spiritual [things]”, or “the spiritual”. But whether you call it spiritual life or the spiritual, or the spiritual things, the truth remains one and the same and it is the following: even if the man is made according to the god's image, at the fall he loses the knowledge of the god – now man is uncertain even whether there is a god.
When Jesus of Nazareth, in fulfillment of the prophetic writings, gives himself up and dies for us, is buried, and on the third day is made alive by the god, he gives us the opportunity through faith in him, to restore our position. It is given to us to be again spiritual people, who can receive the spirit and participate in the spiritual. It must be noted, that Adam has no need of a prophetic gift, since he is with the god and lives in his presence, speaks with him, and knows everything! Nor does he need visions in order for the spiritual to be explained to him. However for us it is not so, for us the existence of spiritual gifts such as prophecy, or dreams or visions, or wonders or healing of the sick, is of extreme importance. Adam was not sick, he did not need to be healed. For us the having of gifts is imperative. And I do not mean the fables with healing with tears from icons and similar religious insanities, not in the least. I mean, as the Bible says, life like that of the god's anointed, doing his works, speaking his words.
Therefore it can be said, that we have our redemption partially, not wholly. We still need the gifts of the holy spirit, which are manifestations of the god in our world. The foolish claims of the orthodox, that the wonders ended with the writing of the scriptures speak that they do not understand the given truth, that the manifestations of the spirit of the god are extremely necessary all the way until the coming of the lord Jesus, because then it will be another world.
30 December 2023