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Eden is not mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis, where everything springs from the will of 'Elohim' -- from a command by Almighty God that it be. Eden is introduced in the second chapter of Genesis as the earthly garden where 'Jehovah', the Lord God, forms everything from the dust of the ground. Here is where we first find Adam and Eve, mortal individuals who think they operate independant of and contrary to God's will. One of the many uses to which this story has lent itself over the centuries is in the establishment of legitimacy for the doctrine of free moral agency. Mortal man, or the so-called human ego, has always felt the need to explain to itself how the offspring of an All-powerful and All-knowing God can think and act contrary to His will. Truth not only explains that he cannot, but it reveals as well that mortal man is not that offspring, as Paul says in his Epistle to the Romans, "The children of the flesh, these are not the children of God." God's man is clearly defined in Chapter One of Genesis. Christ Jesus was the embodiment of that man. His earthly demonstration of that fact revealed clearly that Adam was simply a counterfeit. Back Outline Next Home Order |