By Elliot Ritzema
The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre wrote in his book After Virtue, “I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’” Genesis 3 contains important details of the story of a fallen humanity that God’s people find themselves in. Genesis 1 and 2 establish that the world was good and that all had been created by a good God. Genesis 3 tells us what went wrong to make the world not as good as it was meant to be. Yet it also continues to tell us what sort of God we worship.
What went wrong? In the form of a serpent, evil entered the good world God had made and tempted the first humans to distrust God. The first humans gave into this temptation, and in a way what the serpent said would happen did happen: their eyes were opened and they did become aware of good and evil (Genesis 3:5,7). But with this knowledge came the knowledge that what they had done was evil, and so they were ashamed. This evil was not limited to these first humans alone but affected all humanity and all of creation. And yet, the good God did not give up on what He had made; He promised a way to make it good again.
The first Christians also saw themselves as part of this story. But where the first Adam sinned and brought death, the “last Adam”—Jesus—came to bring life (1Corinthians 15:45). As Paul wrote, “For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). On this side of Jesus’s death and resurrection, we know even more about the character of God. He has not only committed to make humanity and the rest of His creation good again, but He has acted to accomplish it by giving us a way to be made righteous.
When we know that this is the story we are a part of, we know what to do. What’s wrong with the world is not merely that we lack freedom, leisure, education, control, recognition, or resources. Getting more of those things will not ultimately make things right. No, the story we are in is one where evil entered God’s good world; humanity gave into evil’s temptation and then lacked the ability to restore goodness after this decision. But Jesus has come to rescue us from our sin and shame and to heal our separation from God. United with Him, we can once again live out our calling to work in God’s garden with Him.
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