We approached the topic considering the discussion of Nicodemus with Jesus Christ concerning the issue of salvation. The most misinterpreted subject of the scripture is the subject of salvation; this becomes necessary to go back to the bible to know the nitty gritty of salvation so we don’t jeopardize our eternal life. To understand the message of salvation, we need to understand the creation of man.
TEXT: Genesis 1:26, Isaiah 40:6-8, 1Corinthians 15:21, 45-46, 1Timothy 2:13-14, Genesis 4:1-, 2Corinthians 11:1-4, Proverbs 30:18-19, Psalms 51:5
IMAGE AND LIKENESS
When God was to create man, he proclaimed creating him in both his ‘image’ and ‘likeness’, these are two different things. ‘Image’ talks about the spiritual nature of man; ‘likeness’ talks about the physical characteristics of man. This means that after the fall of the first man, Adam, man generally loses to be in the image of God. The first man was created perfect, only he was created in the image and likeness of God.
It is also important to know that although we are the ‘creation of God’, we were not created by God. How do I mean? There was a law of creation that we see in Genesis 1:24, the earth was to bring forth living creatures after their kind, meaning after the creation of the first Adam, every other man to be on earth will come from him, he was to continue with the procreation.
This will give us hint as to how we became sinners -we came forth after the fall. So what made you a sinner is not the lie you told, or the fornication you committed, you were born a sinner, your nature was tainted. However, nothing was wrong with the nature of Adam in itself.
THE FALL
We’ve all read that Adam and Eve fell into transgression, and that is why we became sinners, but what is the transgression? It is not possible for them to have eaten Apple or any fruit (like the general belief) and by that, we became sinners. First, understand that the soul displays the character of a man. So, what the descendant of Adam lost was the image of God. And the original nature of man which was supposed to be after the image of God cannot be lost by eating any fruit that God created.
Let consider from this angle: Eve at the beginning was not called Eve, she was called the woman; the fall made her name changed to Eve. And Eve means the ‘mother of all living’. That seems to be a promotion right? But it’s not, something is wrong. Eve, called the mother of all living signifies that all the offspring on the earth was from Eve but not necessarily from Adam.
Here’s another way to understand: in Genesis 4, when the children was to be introduced, the Bible says that Abel was a keeper of the sheep but Cain was the tiller of the ground. Why the word “But?” the conjunction, but is usually used to separate two different things. So if the children were from both parent, ‘and’ should be the conjunction. We found out that in scripture that Eve was the one that named Cain; and if a child is named by the woman and the man is silent, something is wrong with the paternity! Have you considered that the name “Cain” means “acquired?” also, when God was passing the judgement,
CONSIDERING THE WORD “DECEIVED AND SUBTLE”
When God confronted the woman after their sin, she said that ‘the serpent deceived her.’ In the Greek context, the word ‘deceived’ means ‘cheat, or to be cheated.’ Adam did not cheat, nor was he cheated; he was not cheated because he had not met with Eve before. Eve cheated herself, or we say that the serpent cheated Eve through his subtlety.
From scriptures, we found out that the word ‘subtle’ was not so used, but when used, it’s either a virgin was deceived, [2Samuel 13:1-5, Matthew 26:4, 2Corinthians 11:3] or someone’s inheritance has been taken away, [Genesis 27:35].
In the case of Eve, she was deceived (cheated) by the serpent subtly, which shows to us that Eve was a virgin.
Adam was not deceived, he did not fall into the transgression, he only took a stand with his wife, which was exactly what God wanted him to do, which was also a prototype of what Jesus was coming to do.
THE OFFERING –BLOOD
After a while that the two seeds were to bring offering, they each displayed what they were made up of –their nature. The offering is not an offering of thanksgiving, no, it was an offering of identification. But there is need of a revelation of what went wrong so as to know what to give God. If apple was what caused the fall, then apple is needed in your salvation.
The first blood that was spilled on earth was the blood of Eve, the serpent fornicated with Eve, and being a virgin, her blood was spilled. Thus, in the redemption process of salvation, blood is needed. Of course, Adam must have explained to them how they fell, but Cain, because he was an outsider wouldn’t accept revelation; when he was to bring his offering, he brought fruits. But by revelation, Abel brought a lamb and slain it. Blood is needed!
This two seeds are separated, thus, the lineage of God through Adam was spelt out from the lineage of the serpent through Cain. We inherited the serpentine nature, not from Adam, but from the time of Noah, when they inter married. Intermarriage is what brought about blood group. In the beginning, it was not so.
When God was to rewrite his Bible in Genesis 5, the bible says that Adam begat Seth; nothing was said about Cain and Abel. Abel was from Adam, but was killed, and then was replaced by Seth. The name Seth means “Replace” He was the one that continued the lineage of Adam before intermarriage set in.
THE NATURE OF THE SERPENT –MAN BECAME GRASS!
The serpent was not a snake, he was a beast, close to man, who could understand and speak the language of man. And being a beast, his food was grass. So when the devil was able to subtly creep into the lineage of man through this serpent, to Eve, infusing his seed into the womb of the woman, and intermarriage set in during the time of Noah, man became grass. The intermarriage was what made man to become grass, even as God said in Isaiah 40:6-7. So in order for God to redeem man back to Himself, he needed to flush away the beast nature that we inherited. And this was promised through the last man.
THE LAST ADAM, SALVATION GUARANTEED!
God created man twice, -the first Adam, and the last Adam. They are the two principal men God created, in which our first and second birth would come from respectively! Again, Adamic nature is not a bad nature, so God did not send Jesus to us to redeem us from Adamic nature.
The first Adam was ‘earthy’, not spiritual. But because we’ve inherited a wrong nature, we need to be born again. How?
God came into Jesus, to reconcile the world, (those who belong to him) back to himself. So, when Nicodemus came, Jesus told him, “Ye must be born of the water and the Spirit”. That is the law of salvation, which without it, no man can be saved.