Adam and Eve in paradise
In the study ‘The origin of the world’ we explained that man was created as spirit, soul and body.
We also explained that the soul is our personality, who we are, that we have a body so that we are able to express ourselves in the visible world, and a spirit so that we are able to express ourselves in the invisible world.
In the study on the Trinity we explained the power there is in the Trinity and how man, as a unity of spirit, soul and body, has authority in the spiritual, invisible world, and in the visible world.
‘Adam and Eve in paradise’ is the first study of the series ‘Man as spirit, soul and body’
In this series we explain how man is living on the border between the visible and the invisible world.
The Garden of Eden.
When God had completed the creation of the world,
– … Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. (Genesis 2:8)
He also brought all the animals to Adam, so that he could give them a name. As a result of this, Adam discovered that he was alone, and God formed Eve, from one of Adam’s ribs.
Adam and Eve lived in complete harmony with each other.
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. (Genesis 2:25)
They lived in complete harmony with God.
They were used to God being present in the Garden.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden … (Genesis 3:8)
Adam and Eve’s commission.
God had also given them a commission.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule
- over the fish of the sea
- and the birds in the sky
- over the livestock
- and all the wild animals
- and over all the creatures that move along the ground. (Genesis 1:26)
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
God blessed them and said to them,
- Be fruitful and increase in number;
- fill the earth and subdue it.
- Rule over
- the fish of the sea
- and the birds in the sky
- and over every living creature that moves on the ground. (Genesis 1:28)
Presented schematically.
God entrusted the dominion of the earth to mankind, to Adam and Eve and their posterity.
Adam and Eve ruled over creation in accordance with God’s will, in an open relationship met Hem.
Two important trees in the Garden of Eden.
God placed two important trees in the Garden of Eden:
The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
- In the middle of the garden were the tree of life,
- and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9)
The tree of life.
This tree stood ‘in the middle of the garden’, in the centre of Adam and Eve’s world.
Adam and Eve were created perfect, so that they would live forever. That is what the tree of life testifies to.
When Adam and Eve had to leave paradise, as will be explained in the following study, God said:
“He (man) must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” (Genesis 3:22)
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Adam and Eve, created in God’s image, lived completely naturally in an open relationship with Him.
God longed for them to live in accordance with His will, but not as robots, because He had created them as such, but out of their own free will.
That is why He gave man the possibility of making a choice.
To that end God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.
And the LORD God commanded the man, (ordered the man, commissioned the man)
- You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
- but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
- for when you eat from it you will certainly die. (Genesis 2:16-17)
Before proceeding further with the life of Adam and Eve in paradise, attention must first be given to an important event, described in ‘Rebellion in heaven’.
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Adam and Eve in paradise.