If then, we would know what man's place is, as a creature before God, we must take a view of him where we first find him in Eden, and thus take note of the changes which have come over him, and the ground of responsibility upon which he now stands.
First, then, after the creation, we find the man in Eden, having "dominion" complete over the earth and all in and upon it. An innocent creature with neither holiness nor righteousness, but simply innocence. Gen. 1:6,296And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. (Genesis 1:6)
29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (Genesis 1:29).
This gives us what the man was and what he had. He was an innocent creature, having dominion, but as yet we can only guess at his responsibility. But when we look on a little farther to the 2nd chap. 16th and 17th verses, we find the word which defines his responsibility. Such and such liberties were given him, in the full measure of which he could act in perfect harmony with the Divine will. But a prohibition was given, and this defines his responsibility. To take and use freely all that God has appointed, was his place, and that was simple obedience. And while he thus walked, he could not be said to have a will of his own. The child is never called responsible until his little will rises up in opposition to the will of the parent. The creature will was there, and all below were subject TO IT; but IT must abide in complete and perfect subjection to the will above.
Hence, the Divine will was the only will expressed. A prohibition was a simple test of obedience; innocent in itself; if it had not been forbidden by the Divine will.
Two wills were there; and it was simply a question of which should be supreme in the earth, whether the man should be the expression of the Divine will or of Satanic will.
For if the creature will is expressed, it must be in opposition to the Divine will; and Satan is the only creature opposed to the Divine will, and hence the creature will, being "beguiled" by the satanic will, becomes itself satanic. It was not a question of power, but of the use of power. Adam had the power, but the liberty to use that power contrary to the Divine will had never been given but rather restricted, not hindered, but simply forbidden. Hence morality consisted, not in choosing for himself; nor in freedom to choose for himself; but simply in obedience; for if he stopped to think whether he might choose for himself, sin was there, hence immorality.
Responsibility must always arise from relationship. Define the relationship and then you can define the responsibility. Adam's relationship was first given and then his responsibility defined, and morality consisted in walking in that relationship. Adam was free, in the sense of being unhindered, not restrained; his fall proved that. But he was not free in the sense of being at liberty to choose for himself, or have a will of his own.
He was not a machine, for that would have been a proscription upon his power.
Whereas the proscription was not upon his power but upon his liberty to use power in opposition to the Divine will. This, then, being the first man's position, relationship, and responsibility in Eden, we could not say in harmony with scripture teaching, that Adam was a free moral agent. For to be a free moral agent, he must be as yet indifferent to both good and evil; which was not the case; for he was created in good and had it not to choose; and evil he knew nothing about; hence could not choose that. But he did know the Divine will, and was warned not to infringe upon it, under the penalty of death. This was the test. And the test proved, not that the creature was bad; but that left to himself he could not stand. The Divine will was all-sufficient for him in every respect, while he was occupied with that, but the moment he lost that as an object, that moment he failed, like Peter walking on the water. God willing, our next paper will take up the first great change which came over him in the fall.
C. E. H.