The temple of God: our spirit - part three:

Hello To All:

On the day that Adam and Eve "did eat": how is it, that they died? With this question, we ended our last essay; and with this question, we begin the process of finding the answer, in the King's Book, to this all important question: How is it, that they died? To find our answer, we must look to the evidence, contained in the Genesis text; and elsewhere, in the King's Book:

1. (Genesis 3:7a): "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked..." In the previous verse, they both ate of the forbidden fruit. In Genesis 2:17 God said: "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Upon eating of the forbidden fruit, the first thing that happened to them, in the day of their death, was: "the eyes of them both were opened..." The next thing that happened is that: "they knew that they were naked..."

Here we have the first dramatic evidence, of how it is that they died, in the day that they ate of the fruit. At the moment of their death, when they ate of the fruit, their eyes were opened; and they instantly became very self aware; and centered on who they were; and what their condition was. They were no longer exclusively focused on the Lord their God! Their focus on their nakedness, gives us proof of their new reality of being self centered and not God centered.

2. We see further evidence of this self centered condition, in the second half of Genesis 3:7, where we find written: "...and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." When God created them, He did not see a need to cover their nakedness, nor was their nakedness troublesome to Adam and Eve. We find written at Genesis 2:25: "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Prior to having eaten of the fruit; and thus prior to their death: they "were not ashamed." Their focus was on God and not on themselves.

3. (Genesis 3:8): "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden." In their death, Adam and Eve were no longer eager to be in the "presence of the Lord God." Now they are ashamed. They have seen themselves for who they are; and they hide themselves, from the "presence of the Lord God." Their fellowship with God has been broken, by their death, which was a consequence of their sin: "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Their death compelled them to hide from the "presence of the Lord God."

4. (John 4:24): "God is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Our fellowship with God, our communion with God, our worship of God, is a spirit to spirit reality. Prior to their "death," Adam and Eve were centered on God. Their spirits were in communion with His spirit. Thus, we are compelled to conclude that in the day of their death: it was their spirit that died. In the death of their spirit, their focus was shifted from being centered on God; to being centered on themselves. In the death of their spirit: their eyes were opened, they knew they were naked, and they hid themselves from God.

When we next meet, we shall go deeper into our understanding of the spirit of Adam and the death of Adam. Between now and then, please consider the following text from a Psalm of David: (Psalm 51:10-11) "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me." David certainly seems to have a deep understanding of the relationship between his spirit and his God and his sin.

Until next time, my beloved brethren, in Christ Jesus, I continue to be:

Your servant and your fellow pilgrim,
Elder Theophilus