Adam and Eve

Let’s start with Adam and Eve. In the biblical story, the first events are significant. With the first stories, a basic understanding of this world is outlined. How did it all start? What is worth telling each other? It is also about the relationship of people to God. Testimony is given to all these things.

In the third chapter of the first book of Moses, the so-called “Fall of Man” takes place. It is the first transgression with devastating consequences. Here, the entrance of sin into the world is described. It is the moment when man becomes mortal. From here on, death is a constant companion for this world (cf. Romans 5:12).

After the Eve and, a little later, Adam ate of the forbidden fruit*, some things changed. They could suddenly recognize good and evil. After all, they had eaten from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:17, cf. Gen 3:1-6). The time of innocence was over. They suddenly knew both good and evil through their deed.

You can think about this story for a longer time. The tree is first the tree of the “knowledge of goodness”. This is called first. It is true that knowledge also encompasses evil. However, it is not that they already knew goodness; Adam and Eve knew neither good nor evil. Both came with eating the forbidden fruit. So not only the bad and evil became conscious, but the good first. We would not know today that there would be such a thing as “good” if this had not taken place.

Of course, you can’t trivialize evil with this insight. This is not to be done either. Significantly, however, both good and evil both became conscious. This also made them realize their transgression and the two did not feel very comfortable, so they hid from God in the bushes (Gen 3:8).

Where are you?

The story describes how Adam and Eve heard the voice of God in the cool of the day. They hid among the trees because they realized that they were naked. It is an apt description of guilt and what it affects.

But then God speaks.

“And the LORD God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?”
Gen 3:9

It is as if God had expected to meet man, but man had hidden himself. So he calls into the forest: Where are you? There is no accusation in it, it is a neutral question. Adam and Eve, where are you? I would have expected you, but you are absent.

“Then said he, I heard thy voice [“sound”] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
Gen 3:10

Knowledge leads to guilt and guilt led to fear. The transgression was not limited to the tempting fruit or tree, but it immediately affected relationships, mainly the relationship with God. The earlier unclouded encounter was now clouded and marked by fear. Both of them were hiding from God. The world view, image of man and image of God had changed abruptly for Adam and Eve.

The question “Where are you?” asks about the person. The transgression is not central, it is not a matter of belief or unbelief. This story from Genesis 3 is not about faultlessness, whether Adam and Eve fulfill certain condition or not. It’s about what is right now. Where are you?

In the question “Where are you?” one should not read out that God did not know where Adam and Eve were. Rather, He addresses them directly. It is the beginning of a conversation. No accusations are heard there. Rather, the first thing is to be able to start a conversation. A neutral question is suitable for this. I don’t see you – where are you? This is all the more important because Adam and Eve were already hiding. It could also be understood that God wanted to see man as he is. “Where are you?” is then the question of authentic and genuine encounter.

Perhaps the circle can be drawn a little larger. You can also explain this question as being the question of all questions. With such a question, God is not only addressing Adam and Eve in this one story, but here we find an example of how God addresses all people. It is not the transgression that is central, not all that God has presumably known for a long time. But it is the outstretched hand, the outstretched word, the open question “Where are you?”.

Man central

The course is being set correctly on this issue. I had set the course for my life quite differently for a long time. There were years when I divided people into black and white, into believers and unbelievers, into right doctrine and wrong doctrine. Doctrine or theology were the only bridges for me to exchange ideas with others. I was so full of the Word, and also of seeking better interpretations, that these desires got in the way of any normal meeting. I was completely out of the loop. This happened with the best of intentions, but it was also a result of certain teachings and an arguably very narrow Christian culture that I was “trapped” in.

My understanding has changed in the meantime. Crucial were such short sentences and stories as mentioned here in Genesis 3. The question “Where are you?” is not addressed to believers, or to people with certain beliefs. It was much simpler, much more basic. God addressed man as man. That is logical. We were brought into existence as human beings. We are, we hear, we see and feel as human beings, not as believers. Or, in other words, if we are not first human ourselves, we cannot believe as human beings. I came out of my parallel world, out of these self-orchestrated imaginings, back on earth. I have not lost my faith. However, I have brought my humanity and Christianity together again.

Were Adam and Eve Christians or Jews? Neither one, nor the other. They may not have even been “believers” as we understand it today. Nothing in the story speaks of a special imprint. They were created by God and maintained the relationship with Him because it was the reality they experienced. It was a matter of course. However, one day they hid because something had happened. God does not respond with anger and wrath, not with judgment and demands, but He simply asks, “Where are you?”

This is the best question we can ask each other, too. If we cannot address each other as human beings, if we cannot meet each other as human beings, the essential is missing. Some say that faith is the essence. I counter that we can only believe as human beings. The mind of Jesus speaks of just that (Phil 2:1-5). Let us also pay attention to the order: Adam is first addressed as a human being (“Where are you?”), and only in the further conversation is it about what had happened before.

If I now know that God addresses people, should I not also meet my neighbor in this way? That is, without ulterior motives and secret agenda to “convert the unbelievers.” The encounter may first and radically authentically take place from person to person. So I can ask my Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, spiritual, atheist neighbor, friends, and colleagues “Where are you?” Does not God give us all life, breath and all things (Acts 17:25)?

The question “Where are you?” builds bridges. Nothing is concealed. It may be about “trivial” things first. But this question of where we are is not at all trivial. Adam and Eve had just made a run for it, they were hiding. The question was appropriate. God engaged in a conversation. There was a difficult issue hanging in the air. That was also addressed. Nothing was concealed, but a bridge was built.

Deepening

• How will you build bridges? To whom? Why?
• Is there a bridge you can’t or won’t build? Would the question “Where are you?” (or similar) helpful? Why?
• Can you meet all people equally as human beings? Or are Christians a little better?
• Do you have non-Christian friends?
• Can you have a conversation about non-theological topics?