adam and eve(n) me

I was once romanced by the concept of the symbolic fall account (that the Genesis 3 story was a myth to symbolize the sinful experience of humanity), but I still struggled to connect my own original experience with Adam’s. You see, his story began in an unspoiled paradise, while I was born into a world of sin. If the fall was merely symbolism of every human experience, then somehow I missed my opportunity to try out a sinless culture. I believe that the story of Adam and Eve's fall is both actual and symbolic”. The Garden of Eden and the fall should be taken as historical and literal, and as the symbol and enablement of a sinful human tradition.

Through choosing to disobey God, Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened to the difference between good and evil. This created a break in the harmony in which they existed; which had been characterized by: fellowship with God, community with each other, and living in accord with all other created things. As consequence, the first two of humanity introduced enmity that separates humankind from their Creator and from the rest of creation. This separation has culturally and spiritually been handed down since the fall. It has been taught by words and ideology, and by experiences, in such a way that we are essentially torn between the possibility of good and evil; and we continue to allow it to divide us. If God intended us to exist in the unity of His image, the fall disfigured the human ability to live in such innocent harmony.

Stanley Grenz suggests the possibility that in their innocence Adam and Eve had not had the opportunity to choose good (and God) over evil, and so they “did not yet fully participate in the human destiny as designed by God.” In this manner of reasoning, their sin has a two-fold effect; in that they both opened the door to discord, and to the opportunity to choose live in the harmonic image of God.

I do not believe that we are punished by the actual event of Adam’s fall. Rather, his sin created the potential and inevitable future for us to imitate his sin; and we are punished for our participation in the break of God’s image. In this way, Adam’s fall represents all of humankind’s sin and guilt.