FALL AND THE ACCOUNT OF THEIR STEWARDSHIP HE REQUIRED FROM THEM.
V. 8. _And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden
in the cool (breeze) of the day: and the man and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the
garden._
This is now the third evil of original sin, bearing its additional
proof, that original righteousness was lost. But here again Lyra is
entangled in the opinions of Rabbins, some of whom interpret the
expression in the breeze of the day, _ad auram diei_, as referring to
place, or to the climate between the south and the west, while others
explain the expression as referring to time, holding that this sacred
circumstance occurred in the evening. When the heat begins to subside,
the winds commence their breathing.
My mind is however that we should receive breathing (_spiritum_) here,
as simply signifying "the Word," and understand the passage as meaning
that after the conscience of Adam and Eve were convinced by the divine
law, they were terrified at the sound of a leaf. Just as we see to be
the case with all fearstricken men, when they hear the creak of a
beam, they dread the fall of the whole house. When they hear a mouse
moving they are terrified lest Satan should be at hand with an intent
to destroy them. For by nature we are so wholly filled with alarm,
that we really fear even those things which are perfectly safe.
Adam and Eve therefore, as soon as their consciences are convinced by
the law and they are brought to feel their turpitude in the sight of
God, and of themselves having lost their faith and confidence in God,
are so filled with fear and alarm that when they hear a breeze or
breath of wind, immediately imagine that God is at hand as an avenger,
and hide themselves from him. I believe therefore that by the voice of
the Lord walking in the garden, Moses really means a breath or sound
of wind which preceded the appearance of God before them. Hence Christ
says in the gospel, when speaking of the wind, "Thou hearest the sound
or voice thereof," John 3:8. For when Adam and Eve heard the rustling
of the leaves as if shaken by the wind, they thought on a sudden
within themselves, Hark! there is the Lord coming to take vengeance
upon us!
When therefore Moses adds "in the breeze of the day" to the words "the
voice of the Lord God walking in the garden," he seems to me to do so
by way of particular explanation of the meaning he intended to convey.
As if he had said by way of comment, This voice was like a breezy
blast of the day; and as if he wished the emphasis of his expression
to rest on the word day. For he does not speak concerning a wind in
the night, in order to exaggerate the greatness of the terror which
follows upon sin; as if he had said in further explanation they were
so stricken with fear that they were alarmed at the sound of a leaf,
even in the clear light of day. What therefore, he seems to intend to
intimate, would have been the result if God had come to them in the
night and in the solemn darkness? Then the terror must have been more
dreadful still. For as the light gives animation, so the darkness
increases dread. This terror therefore, with which Adam and Eve after
their sin were struck in the very broad light of day, is indeed a
manifest proof that they had fallen utterly from the confidence of
faith.
This I believe to be the true sense of the present passage, and it
fully agrees with that threatening of Moses, Lev. 26, where he is
speaking of the punishments which should assuredly follow the
commission of sin, that the sinners should be chased by the sound of a
shaking leaf and that they should flee from it as from a sword, Lev.
26:36. For when the conscience is truly alarmed on account of sin, the
man is so oppressed by it that he not only cannot do anything, but
cannot even direct his thought to any purpose. And just as they say is
sometimes the case in an army when the soldiers, overpowered by fear,
cannot move a hand, but give themselves up in entire helplessness to
be slaughtered by the enemy; in the same manner so horrible is the
punishment which follows sin that the conscience of the sinner is
struck with alarm at the sound of a leaf. Nay, that he cannot endure
that all-beautiful creature, the light of day, by which all nature
besides is enlivened and refreshed.
Here therefore you have another sight of the magnitude of that
original sin which is born in us at our birth, and implanted in us by
the sin of our first parents. And this sight, as I have said, enables
us to understand negatively or by a comparison of contraries, what
original righteousness was. It contained in it such a beautiful
confidence in man toward his God, that he could not have feared even
though he had seen the heavens falling in ruins upon his head!
With what complete confidence did Eve listen to the serpent? We do not
talk to a little house-dog brought up in our family circle and to whom
we have been accustomed for years, nor with a favorite chicken, more
familiarly than Eve did with that then beautiful creature. Before
their sin therefore Adam and Eve sought no hiding-places; but stood
upright in all their created wisdom and righteousness, praising God
with uplifted eyes. But now they are terrified at the sound of a
shaking leaf. O! how awful a fall! To fall from the safest security
and delight in God into fear and dread so horrible, that man can no
longer endure the sight of his God, but flees from his presence as
from the presence of the devil! For it is not the devil from whom Adam
and Eve are now fleeing. They are rushing from the sight of God their
Creator, whose presence is now more dreadful and intolerable to them
than that of Satan; Satan is now more congenial to their feelings than
the adorable God; for from Satan they flee not, nor are filled with
his dread. This dread therefore, is actually a flight from and a
hatred of God himself.
It is instructive here to mark the gradual increase and progressive
steps of sin, which goes on until it becomes, as Paul is wont to
express it, "exceeding sinful," Rom. 7:13. For man first falls from
his faith into unbelief and disobedience. Upon unbelief follow the
dread and hatred of God and fleeing from him; and these are soon
succeeded by despair and impenitence. For whither shall the heart flee
when thus dreading the presence of God? Shall it flee unto the devil?
That of course is vain, and is never expected to be the case; and yet
to this it all comes. For this history shows that God created man and
made him lord over all created things. And yet that same man now flees
from him and considers nothing more hateful or intolerable than the
presence of this same Creator. Were it not so he would not now thus
turn away from his God nor flee from him in instant dread of the voice
of his approach. For all this is not during the night, not under
thunderings and lightnings as at the mount of Sinai, but in the bright
light of "day" while a gentle breeze is breathing and the leaves of
the trees softly rustling by its touch! There is nothing therefore
more intolerable to endure, nothing filled with greater misery than a
conscience alarmed by the law of God and by the sight of sins
committed.
This it was that made Adam and Eve do the worst of all things they
could do, namely, to shun their Creator and their God, and to flee to
the truly vain refuge of fig leaves, in order to cover themselves from
his sight and to hide themselves among the trees! And what could be
more indescribably horrible, than thus to flee from God and to hide
themselves from his sight?
Wherefore this affords a further view of alterations of the rectitude
of the will and of the understanding after the sin of the fall. The
very facts show that the will was corrupted and depraved. For Adam and
Eve long for those very things which God had prohibited, and they so
long for them as to become disobedient to God and obedient to Satan.
Nor can we entertain any doubt of the corruption of the understanding
also, when we see the counsel of covering themselves which Adam and
Eve adopted, and by which they thought they were safe. Was it not, I
pray you, the very extreme of folly, first to attempt impossibilities
in trying to flee from God, whom no one can escape or avoid? And was
it not in the next place greater folly still, to attempt that escape
from the presence of God in so absurd a manner, as to believe
themselves safe when hidden among the trees of the garden, when they
must otherwise have known that no walls of iron nor mighty mountains
of brass can save from the presence or the grasp of God?
All confidence in God being thus lost by sin, there now follows a
horrible dread upon the will. And all wisdom and understanding being
lost, those most beautiful gifts of God, there follows in their place
the extremity of folly; such folly that men attempt impossibilities by
means the most absurd. So inexhaustibly deep is the evil of original
sin! And even all these calamities are but the prelude to that which
is yet to come. For we are not yet brought to the judgment of God.
Then follows:
V. 9. _And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where
art thou?_
Here we have a description of the judgment of God. When Adam,
terrified by the consciousness of his sin, fled from the presence and
sight of God he found not only paradise, but the whole world too
narrow in which to find a corner where to hide himself from God in
safety. But all his anxiety makes manifest the folly of his mind in
seeking a remedy for his sin by fleeing from his God. But he had fled
from him much too far already. For his very sin was, that he,
departing from God at the first, needed not therefore to flee farther
from him still. But so it is. That is the very nature of sin, the
farther a man departs from God, the farther he wants to depart. And
thus the man who has once departed and apostatized from God, goes on
departing and departing to all eternity. Hence it is truly said
concerning the punishments of hell, that its greatest punishment is
that the wicked there are always wishing to flee from God, but feel
that flee they cannot. Just in the same manner Adam, though found out
and apprehended of God, yet ceases not to attempt to flee out of his
hands.
When therefore Moses here says, "Jehovah God called unto Adam," we are
to understand that the Lord called him to judgment. But a question is
raised here concerning the person by means of whom Adam was called of
God, and it is by no means out of the way to suppose that all these
things were carried on by the ministration of angels, and that an
angel here acted in the place of God, as God spoke all these things to
Adam. Just as magistrates when they say or do anything, say and do it
not in their own person, but in the person of God, as his
representatives. Hence it is that the Scriptures call those judgments,
which are exercised and administered by appointed men, the judgment of
God. It by no means displeases me therefore that it should be
considered that Adam was here called by an angel, and that it was
shown him by that same angel that all flight was impossible.
It is here especially to be noticed moreover that Moses expressly
tells us that it was Adam who was called; seeing that it was to Adam
alone that the Word of God was spoken on the sixth day, concerning
that tree of which they were both forbidden to eat. As therefore Adam
alone heard the command, so he alone is first called to judgment. But
as Eve herself also had sinned and departed from God, she also hears
the judgment at the same time and becomes a partaker of the
punishment.
The words, "Where art thou?" are the words of the law, spoken by God
and reaching unto the conscience of Adam. For although all things are
naked and open unto the eyes of God, as it is written, Heb. 4:13, yet
he speaks unto our sense, feeling and understanding; for he sees us
aiming at the one thing of fleeing away from him and attempting our
escape from his sight and presence. When therefore God says, "Where
art thou?" it is as if he had said, "Thinkest thou that I see thee
not?" For he will have Adam to see and feel that though hidden he is
not hidden from God! And that though he flees from God, from God he
cannot flee. For this is the very nature of all sin; it causes us to
attempt to flee from the wrath of God, from which wrath we find it
impossible to flee. It is indeed the utmost folly to think that we
shall find a remedy in fleeing from God, rather than in returning to
him; yet it is the very nature of sin that the sinner cannot return to
God. What then can we possibly conceive to have been the exceeding
folly and state of mind in Adam? He had heard the voice of Jehovah,
and yet he hoped that he could conceal himself from his presence; when
lo! he was now standing before the tribunal of God and was demanded of
God for punishment!
V. 10. _And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was
afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself._
As it was the utmost folly that Adam fled from God, so in the utmost
folly he answers him, so utterly deprived by sin is he of all wisdom
and counsel. He now really wishes to teach God that he is naked, who
had himself created him naked. Thus does he wholly confound himself,
and betray and condemn himself out of his mouth. He confesses that he
heard the voice of Jehovah and was afraid. And had he not also heard
the voice of Jehovah before, when Jehovah forbade him to eat the fruit
of that tree? Why did he not then fear also? Why did he not then also
hide himself? How was it that then he stood with uplifted countenance
and with joy before him, rejoicing in his presence and delighting to
hear him speak? Now he trembles at the sound of a shaking leaf! It is
at least evident that he is no longer the same Adam he then was; he is
totally changed, and become quite another man; he now looks about for
a lie and a false cause for his defense. For how can it be true, that
"the voice of Jehovah is the real cause of his fear," when before he
feared not that divine voice, but heard it as the voice of his God
with happiness and joy?
Learn then from this solemn history that perverseness and folly ever
accompany sin, that transgressors by all their excuses only accuse
themselves, and that the more they defend the more they betray
themselves, especially before God! Thus Adam here attempts to conceal
his sin and to adorn himself as innocent, in that he alleges, as the
cause of his fleeing, not his having sinned, but his having heard the
voice of the Lord; and he makes that to be the cause of his alarm and
of his being ashamed because he was naked. Poor wretched man! He never
thinks that he had no such fear as this when he heard the same voice
of God at first. He never recollects that he was not then ashamed
because he was naked. For as that nakedness was the creation of God,
why should he the creature be ashamed of that which God had made! He
then walked in all his nakedness in the sight of God and of the whole
creation in paradise, perfectly secure and happy that such was the
will of God and delighting in God on that very account. But now he is
covered with shame, because he is naked and flees from God and hides
from him on that account. Every one of these things is an argument by
which Adam condemns himself, and betrays his present state of sin. And
just in the same manner will the wicked condemn themselves in the
final judgment, when all the darkness shall be driven away from all
the hearts of men and the sins of all men shall be read in the "book"
when "opened"!
God knew perfectly well that Adam had sinned and was guilty of death.
Yet he calls him that he might be condemned by the testimony of his
own mouth, as having sinned. For he flees from God when he calls him,
which fact was itself the very essence of sin, even as it is the very
essence of righteousness to flee unto God as a refuge. This fleeing
from God therefore is the strongest possible testimony of Adam against
himself. Yet even still he vainly hopes that his sin can be covered by
a lie, for he alleges as the real causes of his flight the voice of
God and his own nakedness.
From this we learn therefore that such is the nature of sin, that
unless God bring the medicine immediately after it is committed and
call back the sinner to himself, he will flee from his God farther and
farther, and by mendaciously excusing his sin he will add sin to sin
until he runs at length into blasphemy and despair. Thus sin draws
after it by its own weight as it were sin upon sin, and causes eternal
ruin, until the sinner finally will rather accuse God himself than
acknowledge his own sin.
Adam ought to have said, Lord, I have sinned! But this Adam does not.
He rather actually accuses God of sin; and in reality he says, thou,
Lord, hast sinned. For I should have remained wholly in paradise after
my eating the fruit, if thou hadst remained perfectly quiet. For the
words of Adam bear all this import in truth, when he says in
substance, I should not have fled if thy voice had not terrified me
from thy presence. Thus man, when accused of sin by his God, instead
of acknowledging his sin, rather accuses God as being the cause of it
and transfers his sin from himself and lays the blame of it on his
Creator. Hence sin increases to infinity, unless God by his mercy come
to succor the sinner. And yet Adam all the while considers this
excusing himself and blaming his Creator, the highest wisdom. For he
is so confounded by the terror of his conscience, that he knows not
what he says nor what he does. Although by thus excusing himself, he
only accuses himself the more grievously and increases his sin to the
utmost extent.
Let us however by no means think that all this happened to Adam only.
Every one of us does the very same thing; nor will nature of herself
ever permit us to do otherwise. For after having sinned we all rather
accuse God than acknowledge our sin before him; just as Adam here did,
who asserted that the voice of God was the cause of his fleeing from
him; thus actually making God himself to be the cause of his flight.
And next, upon the back of this sin quickly follows another and
further sin. For he that spares not his Creator himself, how shall he
be likely to spare the creature? Therefore Adam next charges God with
his nakedness, thus making him the Creator of a thing that was vile
and base. For by his sin Adam is so deprived of his senses that he
turns the glory of his nakedness into a reproach to his Creator.
V. 11. _And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou
eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not
eat?_
Here the conscience of Adam is pierced with the true sting of the law.
It is as if God had said, Thou knowest that thou art naked, then and
therefore thou hidest thyself from me. But nakedness is my creature.
Dost thou condemn that creature then as vile and base. It is not thy
nakedness therefore that hath confounded thee, nor is it my voice that
hath terrified thee. It is thy conscience that accuseth thee of sin,
because thou hast eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree. This is the
cause of thy flight from my presence. Here Adam being thus pressed by
the law and by his conscience is in the midst of death; yea, in the
midst of hell. For he is compelled to confess that there was no evil
in his nakedness, because it was so created of God. But he was forced
to acknowledge that the mighty evil was that he now had a guilty
conscience concerning his nakedness, in which before he had gloried as
in a beautiful adornment; and that he now dreaded that same voice of
God, which before he had heard with supreme delight.
It is to this state of mind, which the Lord now perceives in Adam,
that the words of this passage expressly speak. As if Jehovah had
said, Since thou hast an evil conscience and art filled with dread,
most assuredly thou hast eaten of the forbidden tree. For thou
receivedst no command from me that thou shouldst not commit murder nor
that thou shouldst not commit adultery, but that thou shouldst not eat
of the fruit of this tree. As therefore thou art filled with terror,
thou thereby makest it manifest that thou hast sinned against that
commandment.
Thus those very things which were Adam's thoughts, those same things
he now hears from the mouth of the Lord. Adam was thinking thus: I
have eaten the fruit, but I will not say that I have fled from God on
that account. I will say nothing about my sin. I will say that I was
afraid, because I was naked, and that I was terrified into flight by
his voice. But while he is saying these things to himself he is
compelled to condemn himself, and he hears his conscience within
convicting him of a lie and condemning his sin. In addition to this
accusation of his own conscience, the Lord himself now accuses him of
his sin openly, and in the plainest words. But not even now can Adam
be brought to the honest acknowledgment of his sin. For now follows,
V. 12. _And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me of the tree, and I did eat._
Only mark the true colors, the essential evil and real nature of sin.
It is depicted in this excuse of Adam. It shows that a man can in no
way be brought to an open confession of his sin, but that he will deny
his sin or excuse it as long as he can find that there is any hope or
any probable ground of excuse left him. For it was not so wonderful
that Adam should at first hope that his sin could be covered, and that
he should rather accuse God than acknowledge the sin he had committed.
The great wonder was that after he was convicted in his own
conscience, and after he had heard his sin declared from the mouth of
God himself, he should still persist in excusing that sin. For he does
not say, "Lord, I have sinned; forgive me the debt of my sin; be
merciful unto me;" for the very nature of sin is, that it will not
suffer the mind to flee unto God, but instead compels it to flee from
God. But he transfers all the fault from himself to the woman.
It is a well known rule, taught in the schools of legal and civil
orators, that when a charge of crime is brought against the defendant,
the act should either be denied totally or defended as having been
done rightly. Adam here does both. He first of all denies his sin
altogether and asserts that his terror arose, not from his sin, but
from the voice of the Lord. And then when so far convinced of his sin
in what he has done he attempts to defend the act, as having been done
rightly and unavoidably. "If," says he to the Lord, "thou hadst not
given me this woman, I should not have eaten the fruit." Thus he
further lays all the blame of what he had done on God himself, and
positively accuses him as being after all the real cause of his sin.
Wherefore there is no end to a man's sinning, when he has once turned
aside from the Word. Adam at first sinned by unbelief and
disobedience, and now he heaps upon that sin reproaches of God and
positive blasphemy, saying in effect, It was not I who listened to the
serpent; it was not I who was captivated by looking on the fruit of
that tree; it was not I who stretched forth my hand to pluck the
forbidden fruit. The woman whom _thou_ gavest me did all this. In a
word Adam has no desire to acknowledge his sin. On the contrary he
wishes to be considered pure and clean.
This portion of the divine record contains a further description of
sin and of the real nature of sin. For whenever the promise of the
remission of sins or faith in that promise is not immediately at hand,
the sinner cannot do otherwise than Adam did. If God had said, Adam,
thou hast sinned, but I will pardon thy sin, then Adam would have
acknowledged his sin with all humility and candor and with the utmost
detestation of what he had done. But because the hope of the remission
of sin was not present to his mind on account of his having
transgressed the commandment of God, he can see nothing, he can feel
nothing but death, the certain punishment of such transgression. And
because human nature cannot but be shocked at the sight of that
certain death, therefore Adam cannot be brought to the confession of
his sin, but he tries all possible means by which he has the least
hope of warding off the blame of his sin. And thus does every sinner
hate the punishment of his transgressions; and because he hates that
punishment, he also hates the justice of God, and God himself, and
endeavors by all means in his power to persuade both God and men that
he suffers innocently.
Just in this manner does Adam here endeavor to lessen his sin by
saying that it was not he who listened to the serpent, nor he who
plucked the fruit. "The woman whom thou gavest me," says he, "offered
me the fruit of this tree." In the same state of mind as Adam are
those who, when they have come to a knowledge of the sins they have
committed, filled with despair, either cut short their life with a
halter or curse God as the cause of their transgressions. The words of
Job are familiarly known: "Let the day perish wherein I was born; why
died I not from the womb?" Job 3:3, 11. For such lay all the fault of
their sin on God, and complain against God that they were ever created
to destruction and damnation. Nor can any sinner do otherwise, when
the hope of pardon and the promise of grace are not present to his
soul. Because death is intolerable to human nature, therefore it
produces desperation and blasphemies.
It is an utterance full of pain and of wrath against God, when Adam
says, "The woman whom _thou_ gavest me." It is as if he had said, thou
thyself has laid upon me the burden of this evil; if thou hadst given
to the woman some separate garden to herself and hadst not burdened me
with thy command that I should live with her, I might have continued
without sin. As therefore I have sinned, the fault is thine in adding
to me a wife. In the case of Adam therefore is set before us an exact
example of all those who sin and who despair under their sin. They
cannot do otherwise than accuse God and excuse themselves, for seeing
as they do that God is omnipotent they consider that he could have
prevented these their sins. So horrible is sin, whenever the minds of
sinners are not soon relieved and lifted up with the promise of the
forgiveness of sins. And this is the true effect of the law, whenever
the law is alone, without the gospel and the knowledge of its grace,
it always leads to despair and to final impenitence.
V. 13. _And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast
done? (Why hast thou done this?) And the woman said, The serpent
beguiled me and I did eat._
Here the example of Eve is also set before us, who being corrupted by
sin is seen to be in no degree better than Adam.
Adam wished to appear innocent, and laid the blame on God, because he
had given him a wife. Eve also attempts to excuse herself and accuses
the serpent, which also was a creature of God. She confesses indeed
that she had eaten the fruit, but she says, The serpent, which thou
createdst and which thou permittedst to go about in paradise, imposed
upon me. Now is not this actually accusing her Creator and removing
the fault from herself? Hence we see that sin is always and everywhere
the same and works in the same way. It is never willing to be punished
as sin, but ever wishes to appear to be righteousness. And as it
cannot accomplish this it turns the blame from itself upon God; so
that when God accuses a man of sin the man actually charges God with
falsehood in that accusation. So that sin, from being a human sin,
becomes positively a devilish sin; and the unbelief of the man is
turned into blasphemy, and his disobedience into reproach against his
Creator!
I term this a devilish and not a human sin; because the devil hates
and accuses and condemns God, and justifies himself to all eternity;
nor can he possibly from his heart say, "Lord, I have sinned; pardon
my sin." Were it not so the devil would not eternally despair of
pardon. But that pardon is impossible, as long as he acknowledges not
his sin, but blasphemes God as exercising unjust cruelty against him
as a creature without just cause.
Hence we see Adam and Eve so deeply fallen and sunk under sin, that
they could not sink any lower. For upon their unbelief followed the
disobedience of all the powers and all the members in man. Upon this
disobedience, immediately afterwards, followed the excuse and defense
of their sin. This defense was next followed by an accusation and
condemnation of their God. This is sin's last step, to reproach God
himself and to make him the author of sin. This nature of ours can
ascend no higher than this in its sin against God. And these are the
onward steps of sin, unless the minds of fallen sinners are lifted up
by a confidence in God's mercy.
Wherefore the state of the Church under the pope, was most horrible;
for in it was neither seen nor heard anything whatever which could
lift up the mind of a sinner, laboring under his sin and guilt; except
that once a year the history of the passion of our Lord was slightly
taught. And the statement of that history showed forth in some slight
manner the source from which pardon was to be sought. But everything
else on every side led men away from the promise of the remission of
sins to their own righteousness. Hence it was that we saw in many
monasteries men alarmed by their sins through their whole life time,
who were filled with despair as they walked about, and at length died
in agony, worn out with sorrow and pains of spirit. And as to the rest
of their brethren, this doctrine of pardon being wholly unknown, they
did nothing but stand in their places and procure the protection of
their saint by idolatrous prayers. Thus were these miserable creatures
worn out and consumed with the most terrible pains of soul, without
hope, without counsel and without any help whatever. Was not this
then, I pray you, a horrible state of things?
Wherefore if the papacy and all the monasteries together could be
overturned by the touch of one finger, it ought at once to be done on
account of the whole papal church being this most wretched
slaughter-house of consciences! For there is nothing more horrible
than for a man to be under the weight of his sins, and yet never to
hear or have the remission of sins and the promise of grace. Now the
pope was the very cause of the remission of sins being utterly kept
out of men's sight. For no sound doctrine nor any true worship
whatever was retained in the church. And if any were saved in these
times they were saved by the bare annual recital of the sufferings of
Christ, apprehended by faith, contrary to the will of the pope and in
defiance of his opposition. For through him men in the extreme perils
of their souls were brought down to the necessity of imploring the
intercession of Mary and of the saints. For these sayings filled every
place: that the mother Mary showed her breasts to her Son, and that
the Son showed his wounds to his Father, and that the man was thus
saved; not by the intercession of the Son, but by the intercession of
his mother.
I earnestly entreat you therefore with all the persuasion in my power,
to set the highest value possible upon the doctrine of the Gospel. For
what do we see in this history of Moses that Adam and Eve suffered
when their sin was before them, and this knowledge of the promise of
grace and of pardon was out of their sight? The very same do we also
see in the damnation of Satan; for as he is destitute of the promise
of grace he is not able to cease from his sins, nor from his hatred of
God, nor from his blasphemies against him. Hence it is that the
condition of Adam was so different from that of Satan, and so much
better and more blessed. For Adam was called to judgment that he might
acknowledge his sin, that being terrified by his sins he might
afterwards be lifted up again and comforted by the promise of the
remission of his sins; as we shall now further see in this most
beautiful part of the sacred history of Moses, in which we shall also
find the preaching of Christ.
For as the issue of this whole transaction sets forth the very great
goodness and mercy of God toward man, seeing that God calls him back
to the remission of sins and to eternal life through the _Seed_ that
was to come; so also these very beginnings of this divine mercy, if we
view them aright, are much better and greater than Adam deserved at
God's hand. For we have not here a display of that terrible majesty of
God, which was witnessed on Mount Sinai, where there were thunderings
and lightnings mingled with the loud soundings of trumpets. Here God
approaches with the soft sound of the gentle breeze, signifying that
he came in this case to seize with the tender hand of an affectionate
Father. He does not drive Adam from him on account of his sin, but
calls him away from his sin to himself. This fatherly care however
Adam, overwhelmed with his sin and its terrors, does not at first
understand or perceive; he does not consider how differently God deals
with him than with the serpent. For he did not call the serpent to
him. He did not ask the serpent why he had sinned, in order that he
might call him from his sin unto repentance. He charges the serpent
with his sin, and pronounces his doom. These things show us that
Christ our deliverer interposed himself even then, between God and man
as a mediator. For it was the greatest display of grace, that even
after the sin of Adam God was not silent, but spoke; and that too in
many and plain words, with the intent of showing forth evidences of
his fatherly mind toward sinners. His carriage towards the serpent was
altogether different. Wherefore although the promise concerning Christ
was not yet given, it may be plainly discerned in the thoughts and
counsel of God on this occasion.
Thus far therefore Moses has set before us the judgment which God
exercised after the sin of the fall of our first parents. He calls
them to his tribunal, and convicts them, and interrogates them, and
hears them. They, poor creatures, desire indeed to escape that
judgment, but they cannot; nay, while they attempt to excuse
themselves they doubly accuse and betray themselves. The woman
acknowledges what she had done. Adam attempts to conceal the fact,
although according to the very nature of sin he does not wish it to
appear to be really sin at all. For as long as grace is withheld from
the sinner it is impossible for him to do otherwise than excuse
himself, and try to make his sin appear to be righteousness. God
therefore is always compelled thus to contend with us by his laws,
until he extorts from us the confession of our sins and brings us to
justify him; as it is written in Ps. 51:4, where this confession is
fully described. But as long as the law rules alone and galls the
conscience, the conscience thus terrified cannot bring out this
confession, as the examples of Adam and Eve here fully show.
From this portion of the sacred record of Moses the holy prophets drew
many divine truths; for they studied this book of Moses with far
greater diligence and stronger faith than we do. From this source they
derived the following holy sentences: "The wicked flee when no man
pursueth," Prov. 28:1. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, for it
cannot rest; there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked," Is.
57:20, 21. "He that believeth shall not be ashamed," Is. 28:16. "The
righteous are bold as a lion," Prov. 28:1. "The just shall live by his
faith," Hab. 2:4. From this same place of Moses Christ also drew that
memorable saying of his, which we find in the Evangelist John, "For
every one that doeth evil hateth the light," John 3:20. For it is the
very nature of sin that whoso committeth sin desires to remain hidden
in darkness, and not to be brought into the light, just as Adam
covered himself with fig-leaves and fled to conceal himself among the
trees.
And we must also here touch upon that passage of the Apostle Paul,
1 Tim. 2:13, 14, "For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was
not beguiled but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into
transgression." This passage nearly all interpreters understand to
mean that Adam was not deceived, but that he sinned knowingly; not
from yielding to the persuasion of the devil as Eve had done, but from
being unwilling to distress the delight of his life, that is, his
wife; and thus preferring the love of his wife to the command of God.
And they attempt to render this interpretation likely and probable by
saying, that the serpent reverenced the male as his lord, but that he
attacked the female, whom, although she was holy as the man, yet as
being the weaker creature, he considered to be the better adapted to
yield to his persuasion, and that therefore Eve was deceived by the
serpent, and not Adam. Adam, they maintain, was deceived both by
himself and by the woman, but not by the serpent; by the woman when
she presented to him the fruit to eat; by himself when, because he did
not see Eve die immediately when she had eaten the fruit, he was
induced to believe that the punishment which God had threatened would
not "surely" follow. Just as a thief, when he has found his theft to
have succeeded once or twice, goes on stealing in security. Whereas
had the law-officer or the gallows been kept before his eyes, he would
have ceased to steal.
Wherefore I do not altogether condemn the above interpretation, for it
makes both views to stand true, that Adam was deceived and that he was
not deceived. He was not indeed deceived by the serpent as Eve was,
but he was deceived both by his wife and by himself, when he persuaded
himself that the punishment which God had said should follow would not
really come. Then follows the execution of judgment upon all the
parties concerned.