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Commentary on "A Garment of Innocence"

COLLEEN TINKER

 

Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, April 9, 2011 - Introduction

 

Overview

The lesson today introduces the fall of Adam and Eve. It states that Lucifer brought his evil to earth and successfully perverted the most obvious truths of God's Word. It establishes that humans were created, not evolved, and through sin "began a steady descent" from the "top of the food chain".

The Teacher's Comments outline these objectives for the week:

Know: Compare the original clothing provided for Adam and Eve with the clothing the couple provided for themselves.
Feel: Sense what it feels like to be spiritually clothed in Christ's garment of righteousness.
Do: Put on the spiritual clothing God has provided, rather than the covering you can provide for yourself.

 

Observations

There are a couple of assumptions and statements in today's lesson that must be noted. First, the implicit background belief is that Satan caused human sin. This assumption underlies the assertion that he has successfully perverted the word of God and has made millions believe the opposite of truth.

God's word stands clearly on its own. Adventism has a body of commentary explaining the "accurate" interpretation of the Bible: Ellen White's volumes. This interpretation is claimed to provide the insight necessary to understand the difficult passage of Scripture that others misunderstand. Without EGW, however, the Bible becomes clear and cohesive. Satan has not succeeded in perverting the truth in God's word. It still clearly proclaims what is true as surely as it has for millennia. No outside commentary is needed to understand what it means or how we are saved.

Satan is not responsible for human sin. Eve sinned because she debated God's word with Satan instead of simply obeying it. She discussed what God said instead of doing what God said, and she became deceived, confused in her head. God's instructions were clear; if she had not discussed the meanings of God's words with Satan but had simply obeyed, she would not have been deceived.

Second, there is no hint in the Bible that there has been a "steady descent" of man since the first sin. This statement supposes sin is physical, somehow passed on in the human genome. The Bible, however, states that every person is born into the domain of darkness (Col. 1:13) and is by nature a child of wrath (Eph 2:3).

The moment Adam and Eve at that fruit they did die, just as God said they would. Their spirits died. They became disconnected from Life, and while their bodies lived on, they had dead spirits. This is the sin, the death that is Adam's legacy to all humanity. We are all born spiritually dead and must be transferred out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's beloved Son (Col. 1:13).

There has been no proven "descent". Ellen White states that Adam and Eve were 15 and 12 feet tall, but the Bible hints at no such thing. Moreover, sin has not caused degeneration. God Himself bound all creation to decay (Rom. 8:18-23). God, not Satan nor sin, caused weeds, thorns, and decay. He cursed the ground as His judgment on Adam—cursing not just the man but his very substance. God bound all creation to decay, and He will redeem and release it when He resurrects the dead and gives glorified bodies to the saints.

 

Summary

  1. Satan has not perverted the most obvious truths of God's word. They stand undefiled and clear within the pages of Scripture.
  2. Man died the day he ate the fruit—his immaterial spirit was disconnected from God, and while his body lived on, his spirit was now dead.
  3. This spiritual death is what we "inherit" from Adam. Sin is not genetic; there is no provable "descent" in man since sin.
  4. Eve was not deceived because God's truths were perverted; she knew God's command. She was deceived because she discussed God's word with the serpent instead of obeying it.
  5. God is the one who subjected creation to decay. He cursed the ground—Adam's substance—and caused it to bring forth thistles, thorns, and weeds. These blights are not caused by sin nor by Satan. Rather, God bound the earth to decay.

 

GO TO DAY 2

 

Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised April 5, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

Standard Edition Study Guide Week 3

Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 3

Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 3

SSNET Study Guide Week 3

Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings

 

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