Transcript
ADAM, EVE & THE SERPENT
Q&A 07: Why No Warning, and Why Punish Adam’s Descendants?
QUESTION
Adam was a first-time offender who supposedly knew no better. Why did God punish him instead of first warning him? And why were all his descendants punished for what he did?
RESPONSE
God had already given Adam the grace of a first and final offender’s warning. God emphasized the inevitable consequence with the word “surely.” This is the God who cannot lie and whose word created all things. Yet He painstakingly assured Adam “surely,” “verily,” as though under a vow because the ordinary statement might not have seemed forceful enough. Still, a Serpent appearing from nowhere, or a woman bearing forbidden fruit, persuaded Adam that God was not serious. Some would now claim that God’s “surely” was not sound interpretation, but a theological error inconsistent with New Testament grace or revelation. What greater warning could God have given that Adam would have heard? Adam’s punishment and the consequences experienced by his descendants also became a continuing warning. Their suffering, death, and condition in hell formed part of God’s final warning and His plan for humanity’s redemption. Figuratively, the punishment lasted four or five divine days approximately four thousand to five thousand earthly years until the Lord Jesus Christ descended into hell and restored Adam and Eve to Paradise and heaven. Adam and Eve have now been forgiven and restored to an estate more glorious than the one they possessed at the beginning. Unfortunately, not every descendant of Adam and Eve has received salvation, deliverance, or redemption. The present suffering of humanity should not be blamed only upon Adam and Eve, but upon the continuing sin and wickedness of humanity and devils. Ensure that the record of your life places you not among sinners or devils, but among the righteous and holy.