Is “Guilt and Punishment” The Best Way To Understand Adam and Eve?

Freedom is typically defined as a lack of physical confinement or as not living under any form of political tyranny. For the purpose of this series of blogposts, however, freedom has more of a psychological or spiritual meaning. It is a lack of assumptions that limit the possibilities of our human existence. 

For example, we might believe that one race is superior to another; that certain body types are more attractive than others; or that money is of absolute value. We are aware of some of our limiting assumptions, but most operate well beneath our conscious understanding. The path toward freedom is found when we begin to have our assumptions revealed to us and can overcome them.

In the Christian tradition, one commonly unrecognized assumption occurs in how we read Genesis 2. Moving past this assumption has the potential to reshape many aspects of our belief and practice.

“And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  (Genesis 2: 8-9)

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”  (Genesis 2: 15-17)

Typically, this death has been seen as a punishment. God is enforcing a rule that God had established. Since Adam and Eve don’t physically die after they eat, we assume that it means the concept or awareness of death is introduced on that day. Because of their transgression, their innocence and idyllic existence is lost; they feel shame for their nakedness; they are expelled from the Garden; and they know they will eventually taste death.

As a result of this assumption that God is punishing the pair, a belief structure emerged which made sin and guilt the core of Christian belief. All of humanity has inherited their sin and its consequences, and it is only through the death and resurrection of Christ that this “sentence” is overturned.

But Genesis 2-3 never actually says that death is a punishment from God, and does not focus on the legal language of guilt and pardon. Many read it that way, but perhaps because the assumption that is brought to the reading creates an understanding that is not really in the text. And in many Christian traditions, this notion of punishment has hardened into a belief in eternal suffering for those who disobey God.

So what happens if we set this assumption aside? Many possibilities emerge. One intriguing alternative is that God is being descriptive when God says, “you will surely die.” Instead of instituting death as a punishment, God is merely equating eating from that tree with death. God is warning Adam and Eve about what it would mean to acquire that kind of knowledge, as the very end of story reveals. 

“Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.”  (Genesis 3: 22-24)

For reasons that are unclear, God does not think it is best for humans to enjoy the fruits of either tree which had been placed in the Garden. This story is ultimately about what those trees represent, not about some process of disobedience and punishment.

In future posts, I will indulge in a little speculation on what God might be concerned about, and how we face the same temptations that Adam and Eve did. But that will be merely speculation, unlike the rigid assumption of so many Christians about sin, guilt, and pardon.

For now, let us consider how unraveling this assumption might open tantalizing new avenues of faith. What is it about the knowledge of good and evil that is so consequential that God equates it with death? Is it possible for us to undo that knowledge, and to go back and enjoy the idyllic state that Adam and Eve enjoyed before their “snack.” 

And how can a reimagining of Adam and Eve open up many other new avenues of freedom?

For the next few posts, I invite you to sit with me under these two trees as we consider the possibilities.