Genesis - Beginnings - The Creation and Fall of Humankind

8/2/2019 Genesis - Beginnings - The Creation and Fall of Humankind

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Despite its familiarity, the creation story from Genesis is as invisible to us as air, or asour own personality. It surrounds us too closely. We cannot stand back in order to see itbetter. ~ Roger Shattuck (Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography)

What does the call of the author of Genesis require of us readers? Not, as some might

insist, a leap of faith or a commitment in advance to the truth of the biblical story, butrather, only a suspension of disbelief. Being awake and thoughtful, we cannot help butnote the difficult questions regarding both our beginning and the beginning, but we will,at least for now, put them aside and plunge right in. We will suspend our doubts andsuspicions and accept the book's invitation to take a walk with the biblical authorkeeping our eyes and ears open and our judgment keen, to be sure. We will proceed inthe hope that we might have our doubts addressed and our uncertainties resolved. If weallow ourselves to travel its narrative journey, the book may reward our openness andgain our trust. Who knows, we may even learn who (or Who) is speaking to us, andwhy. ~ Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis).

Sight hateful, sight tormenting! thus these twoImparadis't in one anothers armsThe happier Eden, shall enjoy thir fillOf bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust,Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,Among our other torments not the least,Still unfulfill'd with pain of longing pines;Yet let me not forget what I have gain'dFrom thir own mouths; all is not theirs it seems:One fatal Tree there stands of Knowledge call'd,Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidd'n?

Suspicious, reasonless. Why should thir LordEnvie them that? can it be sin to know,Can it be death? and do they onely standBy Ignorance, is that thir happie state,The proof of thir obedience and thir faith?O fair foundation laid whereon to buildThir ruine! Hence I will excite thir mindsWith more desire to know, and to rejectEnvious commands, invented with designeTo keep them low whom knowledge might exaltEqual with Gods; aspiring to be such,

They taste and die: what likelier can ensue?~ Satan in John Miltons Paradise Lost -Book 4

Genesis - Beginnings: The Creation and Fall of Humankind
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_4/index.shtmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_4/index.shtmlhttp://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/425673.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_4/index.shtmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_4/index.shtmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_4/index.shtmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/pl/book_4/index.shtmlhttp://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/425673.htmlhttp://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/425673.htmlhttp://books.google.com/books?id=5u3se3N0bZQC&dq=isbn:0156005514http://books.google.com/books?id=5u3se3N0bZQC&dq=isbn:0156005514


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NOTE: The Hebrew word for man(adam) is the generic term for mankind, orhumankind, and becomes the proper name Adam.

The Creation onHumankind

Then God said, Let usmake man [humankind]in our image, after ourlikeness. And let themhave dominion over thefish of the sea and overthe birds of the heavensand over the livestockand over all the earthand over every creeping

thing that creeps on theearth.

So God created man[humankind] in his ownimage, in the image of God he created him [humankind]; male and female he createdthem [humankind].

And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earthand subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of theheavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face ofall the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything thatcreeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every greenplant for food. And it was so.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And therewas evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Gen. 1:26-31).

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree ofthe garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in theday that you eat of it you shall surely die. (Gen. 2:15-17).

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and theyshall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were notashamed. (Gen. 2:24-25).



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The Fall of Humankind

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beastof the field that the LORD God had made. He said to

the woman, Did God actually say,You shall not eat ofany tree in the garden? And the woman said to the

serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in thegarden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit ofthe tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shallyou touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to thewoman, You will not surely die. For God knows thatwhen you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and youwill be like God, knowing good and evil. So when thewoman saw that the tree was good for food, and that itwas a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be

desired to make one wise,b she took of its fruit andate, and she also gave some to her husband who waswith her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both wereopened, and they knew that they were naked. And

they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Gen. 3:1-7).

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongthe trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, Whereare you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid,because I was naked, and I hid myself. He said, Who told you that you were naked?

Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, Thewoman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. Thenthe LORD God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? The woman said,The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

The LORD God said to the serpent,Because you have done this,cursed are you above all livestockand above all beasts of the field;on your belly you shall go,and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life.I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her offspring;he shall bruise your head,and you shall bruise his heel.To the woman he said,I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;in pain you shall bring forth children.



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Your desire shall be for your husband,and he shall rule over you.And to Adam he said,Because you have listened to the voice of yourwife

and have eaten of the treeof which I commanded you,You shall not eat of it,cursed is the ground because of you;in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;and you shall eat the plants of the field.By the sweat of your faceyou shall eat bread,till you return to the ground,for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust,and to dust you shall return.

The man called his wifes name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And theLORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.Then the LORD God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing goodand evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, andlive forevertherefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to workthe ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of thegarden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way toguard the way to the tree of life. (Gen. 3:8-24).

NOTE: Evesounds like the Hebrew for life-giverand resembles the word for living.

Understanding the Creation and the Fall of Humankind

As we saw above, God created humankind in his own image: Then God said, Let usmake man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish ofthe sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earthand over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his ownimage, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen.1:26-27).

Notice some of words that are found in the above passage: Let us, our image,them, his own image, male and female, him, them.

Many (most) people do not take notice these words, which, when we think about them,can raise many questions, such as: Who is the usand the ourthat God is referring tohere, when he says: Let usmake man in ourimage? Understanding this passage inthe context of Genesis is important. Throughout Genesis, and the entire Bible, we



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discover that there is only one God, and we also find that the one God exists in threedistinct persons, whom we refer to as the holy Trinity. This passage refers to God in theplural form of the Hebrew word: El(singular) which is Elohim(plural) and this gives riseto the plural forms of the words used in the Let usmake man in ourimage passage. Ithink it safe for us to assume that God, here, is speaking within the eternal union of the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some believe God is speaking to the angels here, but itsclear, from the entire passage, that humankind is not created in the image of the angels

but in the image of God himself (the one God in three persons). In other words, weimage the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, together, as one.

Likewise, in my thinking, it is humankind as male and female togetherthat images God,and not simply man and woman separately and individually. This is clear from thepassage: So God created man [humankind] in his own image, in the image of Godhecreated him [humankind]; male and female he created them[humankind]. (Gen. 1:26).

God is neither male nor female, yet he is a person, with emotions, who exists as three

eternal three persons; and no one person, alone, can properly image God. As a person,God has thoughts and emotions, and Gods emotions are sometimes what we think ofas male emotions, and sometimes what we think of as female emotions, which is whyonly male and female together properly image God.

We refer to God as hebecause, firstly, the biblical text refers to God as he, and not asshe, or it; and, secondly, because the masculine aspects of Gods personality are moreprevalent throughout the biblical text in his dealing with humankind, although he oftenexhibits the feminine aspects of his personality as well.

There is another account of the creation of man and women, which describes the first

couple as having been created separately, and differently - Adam first: created from theearth; and Eve second: created from a bone (rib) of Adam - yet this account does notmention the first couple (humankind) as having been created in the image of God:

[T]hen the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into hisnostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD Godplanted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant tothe sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the treeof the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen. 2:7-9).

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree ofthe garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in theday that you eat of it you shall surely die.

Then the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make hima helper fit fore him. Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of

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the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what hewould call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to everybeast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD

God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribsand closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from theman he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

This at last is bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;she shall be called Woman,because she was taken out of Man.

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, andthey shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not

ashamed. (Gen. 2:15-25).

NOTE: The Hebrew words for woman(ishshah) and man(ish) sound alike.

This second creation account is much differentthan the first account, found in Genesis chapterone. Personally, I prefer the first creation account,because the order in which God created all thingsis logical, man and woman having been createdlast, or finally, as the crowning achievement ofGods creation, and because Adam and Eve are

created and declared to have been made in theimage of God together, which certainly makessense, logically, to me. And it was not untilhumankind - man and woman together - werecreated in the image of God that God wasfinished with his work of creation (see: Gen. 2:1).

This in not to say that this second creationaccount is uninspired, or unimportant; its simplydifferent, and somewhat contradictory, concerningthe order of creation. God did not dictate these

accounts of the creation to the author of Genesis;rather the author wrote down what he understood to be the story/stories of creation asit/they had been handed down to him, which included the differences and (minor)contradictions.

Thankfully, we do have this second account of creation, because this account alsocontains the prohibition against eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;whereas the first creation account makes no mentions of this important prohibition:



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And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree ofthe garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in theday that you eat of it you shall surely die. (Gen. 2:16-17).

The LORD commanded the first man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good andevil, but there is no mention of this prohibition as having been given to the first woman,although, from the following passage, we can see that she was well aware of it; and shestates this prohibition as it was given to them, by God: We may eat of the fruit of thetrees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in themidst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

The Fall of Humankind

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD Godhad made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in

the garden?And the woman said to the serpent,

We may eat of the fruit of the trees in

the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst ofthe garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman,You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened,and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the treewas good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to bedesired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to herhusband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and theyknew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselvesloincloths. (Gen. 3:1-7).

The original sin of our first parents was to disobey God by violating his prohibitionagainst partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of all other trees in thegarden, they could partake; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they werenot to eat. The many questions this naturally raises: Why? What was it about this treethat made it so different? Why was this tree alone: off limits? Whats wrong with knowinggood from evil? Isnt this a good thing? Why would God prohibit the fist man and womenfrom eating of this tree?

Its often (always?) said that there was no sin, no evil, in the Garden of Eden, which wasa perfect and ideal place; and that had our first parents notsinned, by violating Godsprohibition in partaking of this tree, they would have been established in this perfect,

relational state of grace, with God, forever. But is this what the biblical text, here, isactually telling us?

According to Genesis 3: 1-5,

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD Godhad made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree inthe garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in



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the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst ofthe garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman,You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened,and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Gen. 3:1-5).

The question that first arises in my mind, when I read this passage is: What is this lyingserpent doing in the garden?!

God had told the first man: You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of thetree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of ityou shall surely die (Gen. 2:16-17), so the serpent is certainly lying when he says tothe woman: You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyeswill be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

Notice that the first woman, when she responds to the serpent, tells him: God said,

You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, but she also

adds another prohibition, which we have not heretofore heard: neither shall you touch

it, lest you die.

The question, as I said above, is: If the garden was so perfect and so sin-free, thenwhat the was a lying serpent doing there to begin with?

Obviously, according to Genesis, sin had entered the world in the form of the serpent,which is usually thought to be Satan, in the form of a serpent. Sin had not entered intothe human race, by the time of Genesis chapter one, but it had certainly entered theworld.

The first woman was subjected to the greatest tempter of all: Satan, whose temptation -to be like God by knowing good and evil - proved too much for her to resist:

But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that whenyou eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to theeyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate,and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes ofboth were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leavestogether and made themselves loincloths. (Gen. 3:4-7).

Three things, in particular, attracted her to the tree, once she began to entertain theTempters idea of no longerkeeping her distancefrom the tree: 1) the tree was good forfood; 2) the tree was a delight to the eyes; and 3) the tree was to be desired to makeone wise.

Apparently, she had never, until this time, allowed her gaze to linger upon the tree; tolook at it closely; to study it carefully.



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The tree was, as the text says: adelight to the eyes, and wascertainly a pleasure to behold;perhaps it was even difficult for her

to turn her eyes aways from, onceshe began to look at it. The tree wasalso good for food, which, again, is,apparently, something that she hadnot noticed, until the Temptersarrival. But most of all, I think, it wasthe fact that this tree could make herwise, as the Tempter said, whichdrew her to the tree and this, morethan anything else, is what causedher to want to eat from the tree

which God had forbidden the manand the woman to eat of.

The first human sin - the firstwomans taking and eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil -was, I think, a desire to know more than the fist human should know. A desire, not todisobey God, as in rebelling against his command not to eat of this tree, but a desire toto improve herself: to become wise. She was curious. She wondered what moreknowledge she could have that she didnt already have. She wanted to make herselfbetter than she was which, if anything, is envy: she wanted the wisdom of theknowledge of good and evil, which belonged only to God, yet which was within her

reach, if only she would reach out and take it for herself. As the Tempter told her: Godknows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.

We can only imagine what she must have been thinking, and what else the serpent mayhave said to her, in order to entice her to eat of this tree: What knowledge and wisdomdoes this tree hold which I could possess if I simply eat of its fruit, which is good forfood? How could a tree, which is so beautiful, possess a wisdom that is not good forme? Perhaps God has prohibited eating of this tree because he doesnt want me to beas wise as he is; and why should I not be as wise as he, especially since this wisdom iswell within my own power to reach out and receive, simply by partaking of the good fruit

of the tree...?

Envy, like all of the seven deadly sins, are things that are not in themselves evil, but aregood things that only become evil when taken too far.

The seven deadly sins are: pride, greed, lust, envy, sloth, anger, gluttony; and when weexamine these seven sins, we find that none of these, originate, in bad, or evil, feelingsor actions:



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Prideis the healthy self-image, which is then taken too far: into arrogance and hubris.Greedis the healthy accumulation of goods and money, which is taken to the extremeof hoarding these for the sake gaining personal pleasure. Lustis the healthy sexualdrive and desire, which runs amok in a never ending pursuit of fleeting personal sexual

pleasure. Envyis the healthy ambition to improve ones own condition, which goesbeyond ambition into a resentment of those who have what we want yet cannot, or have

not yet, attained. Gluttonyis the desire to make ones body feel good, such as by eatingand drinking in order to remove the pangs of hunger and thirst, or of enjoying thepleasures of food and drink by taking pleasure in them, which are healthy desires, thathas removed these healthy limits by pursuing food and drink to an excess of pleasure,even to the point of being in bondage to them, in the form of the habitual abuse of thesethings, which goes far beyond what these good things are intended for. Slothis thegood of rest and sleep taken to the extreme of laziness and the loss of the desire towork. Angeris our natural sense that justice has, somehow, been violated, which isallowed to go too far; ending up in the fury of violence and vengeance.

The first woman envied the wisdom of God; she, too, wanted the knowledge of goodand evil. She wanted to be better than she was, which is not necessarily a bad thing.God had warned the first couple not the eat of the tree, lest they die, but he neverexplained why they should not eat of the tree except for telling them eating of the treewould cause their death. He never said eating of the tree would make them like himself,knowing both good and evil, he treated them very much as a parent treats her child bywarning them not to do something without explaining the details concerning why theyshouldnt do something, because the children, due to their youth and innocence are notyet able to fully understand the reasons why.

The first man and the first woman were innocent,like young children. They knew right from wrong,because they knew it was wrong to eat of the treeand that it was right not to eat of the tree, butthey didnt have a mature knowledge of the evilways of the world (e.g., the serpent, lying) nor didthey have a mature knowledge of the evil ways ofthe human heart, which such knowledge, uponeating of the tree, would immediately reveal tothem about themselves: So when the womansaw that the tree was good for food, and that it

was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree wasto be desired to make one wise, she took of itsfruit and ate, and she also gave some to herhusband who was with her, and he ate. Then theeyes of both were opened, and they knew thatthey were naked. And they sewed fig leavestogether and made themselves loincloths.



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There is nothing so obvious, in my thinking, as the Fall of Man being a Loss ofInnocence. We all think of sex as the initiation into the adult world, and there is littledoubt the first couples awareness of their nakedness was a loss of innocence. Like achild who is told either to do or not to do something, without being given a detailed,mature explanation as to why, which the child would not be able to understand, the first

couples disobedience of God

s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge ofgood and evil had opened their eyes to the mature, adult world. They immediately

began recognizing both the good and the evil alike. Unlike small children, who thinknothing of their nakedness, the first couple were now aware, as an older child is, thatnakedness should be covered, because seeing nakedness arouses our lustful desires,and being seen naked, when we dont wish to be seen, causes us to be ashamed.

He [God] said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of whichI commanded you not to eat? The man said, The woman whom you gave to be withme, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. Then the LORD God said to the woman,

What is this that you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I

ate.

Although their disobedience was condemned by God, and although the serpent, thewoman, and the man were punished by God for their sin, God most certainly planed forthis to occur, although the fault of sin and evil cannot be laid upon him, but is rightly laidupon the sinners free will choice.

Immediately after the serpents deception, temptation, and seduction of the first woman,her sin, and, lastly, the sin of the first man, in pronouncing judgment upon all three guiltyparties, God laid-out to them his eternal plan of salvation, which was to come throughthe seed of the woman, which was to destroy the serpent and the punishment of death,

which was pronounced upon them for their joint disobedience:

The LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are youabove all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dustyou shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, andbetween your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shallbruise his heel.

To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shallbring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.

And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and haveeaten of the tree of which I commanded you, You shall not eat of it, cursed is theground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns andthistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of ityou were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Gen. 3: 14-19).



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We notice, here, how God pronounced judgment and punishment upon the sinners inthe same order in which the sinners committed their offenses: first the serpent; then thewoman; and finally, the man. God had first asked the man what had happened, and theman blamed the woman, who, in turn, blamed the serpent. God, in pronouncing his

judgement, does not dispute this order of blame and the occurrence of sin; nor does he

see it as a blame game which is being played. He judges all in the same order: themost guilty party - the serpent - first; the who was seduced and beguiled by the serpent- the woman - second; and the one knowingly and willingly went along with both thewoman and the serpent - the man - last of all.

St. Paul tells us Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became atransgressor (1 Tim. 2:14) and it was through the first man, Adam, that sin entered theworld: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death throughsin, and so death spread to all men because all sinnedfor sin indeed was in the worldbefore the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet deathreigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the

transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. (Rom. 5:12-14).

The Serpent deceived the first woman, Eve, into partaking of the fruit of the tree of theknowledge of good and evil, and the first man, Adam, chose to join the woman inpartaking of the fruit rather than choosing to remain, alone, faithful to God.

St. Paul goes on to say that because of one man s trespass, death reigned through thatone man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift ofrighteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as onetrespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to

justification and life for all men. For as by the one man s disobedience the many were

made sinners, so by the one mans obedience the many will be made righteous. Now

the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded allthe more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousnessleading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

St. Paul explains further: The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the secondman is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, andas is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have bornethe image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1Cor. 15:47-49).

Jesus is the second man; Adam is the first man. Likewise, Mary is the second woman;Eve is the first. Mary, the mother of Jesus, obeyed the will of God and became themother of Christ. Jesus obeyed the will of God and became the Savior of all humankind.

In the judgement God pronounced upon Satan, Adam, and Eve in Genesis 3, we seethat God foretold the coming salvation of humankind through the obedience of thewoman.



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To Satan God said: I will putenmity between you and thewoman, and between youroffspring and her offspring; heshall bruise your head, and you

shall bruise his heel. (Gen.3:15).

To Eve God said, I will surelymultiply your pain inchildbearing; in pain you shallbring forth children. Your desireshall be for your husband, andhe shall rule over you. (Gen.3:16).

And to Adam God said,Because you have listened tothe voice of your wife and haveeaten of the tree of which Icommanded you, You shall noteat of it, cursed is the groundbecause of you; in pain you shalleat of it all the days of your life;thorns and thistles it shall bringforth for you; and you shall eatthe plants of the field. By the

sweat of your face you shall eatbread, till you return to theground, for out of it you weretaken; for you are dust, and todust you shall return. (Gen. 3:17-19).

Mary and Christ are the SecondWoman and the Second Man. Anew Eve and a new Adam. Theirobedience undoes our first parents act of disobedience. Humility overcomes Pride.

Love and Grace overcomes Law and Sin. Christs eternal life for all overcomes thedeath which came through Adam.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, andso death spread to all men because all sinnedfor sin indeed was in the world beforethe law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from



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Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam,who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass.For if many died through one mans trespass, much more have the grace of God andthe free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the freegift is not like the result of that one mans sin. For the judgment following one trespass

brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

For if, because of one mans trespass, death reigned through that one man, much morewill those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign inlife through the one man Jesus Christ.Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnationfor all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For asby the one mans disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one mansobedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase thetrespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reignedin death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life throughJesus Christ our Lord (Romans5:12-21).

Birth of Jesus Foretold

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee namedNazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house ofDavid. And the virgins name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, Ofavored one, the Lord is with you! But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and triedto discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not beafraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in yourwomb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will becalled the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his

father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom therewill be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin?And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of theMost High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be borne will be called holytheSon of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived ason, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will beimpossible with God. And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be tome according to your word. And the angel departed from her (Luke1:26-38).

Revelation 12

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and themoon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, havingseven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.



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And his tail drew the third part of thestars of heaven, and did cast them tothe earth: and the dragon stood beforethe woman which was ready to bedelivered, for to devour her child as

soon as it was born.

And she brought forth a man child,who was to rule all nations with a rodof iron: and her child was caught upunto God, and to his throne.

And the woman fled into thewilderness, where she hath a placeprepared of God, that they should feedher there a thousand two hundred and

threescore days.

And there was war in heaven: Michaeland his angels fought against thedragon; and the dragon fought and hisangels,

And prevailed not; neither was theirplace found any more in heaven.

And the great dragon was cast out,

that old serpent, called the Devil, andSatan, which deceiveth the wholeworld: he was cast out into the earth,and his angels were cast out with him.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, andthe kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren iscast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of theearth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, becausehe knoweth that he hath but a short time.

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the womanwhich brought forth the man child.



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And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into thewilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time,from the face of the serpent.

And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might

cause her to be carried away of the flood.

And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed upthe flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant ofher seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of JesusChrist.

We turn to you for protection,Holy Mother of God.

Listen to our prayersand help us in our needs.Save us from every danger,glorious and blessed Virgin.


Documents

Genesis - Beginnings - The Creation and Fall of Humankind