THE PATH TO RESTORATION

God’s Promise to Adam & Eve

ARTICLE 8: GOD’S PROMISE TO ADAM & EVE

PROTOEVANGELIUM God has a plan for us, and it will not be thwarted. After Adam & Eve’s Fall from Grace, we continue

to see God’s new plan revealed through the Scriptures and Tradition.

God seeks to restore to humanity what was lost in the Fall.

Yes Adam & Eve lost God’s gifts of Original Holiness & Justice. {Their relationships with God, with each other, & with earth are more difficult and challenging.

But have no fear for God does not abandon us!!!

PROTOEVANGELIUM Hidden in Chapter 3 of Genesis is a great

spiritual truth: even amidst the greatest of tragedies, God does not abandon us.

For those who have faith, God will bring good even from sin and suffering.“I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;He will strike at your head,

while you strike at his heel.”(Genesis 3:15)

This verse is called the Protoevangelium, which is Latin for “first gospel.”

PROTOEVANGELIUM“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;He will strike at your head,

while you strike at his heel.”(Genesis 3:15)

The literal sense or etiology behind this explains why snakes and people do not get along very well.

After Christ’s life, death, & resurrection, the Church Father’s saw a deeper, spiritual sense, it was interpreted as God’s first promise to send a savior to free humanity from the effects of the Fall.

Literal Sense:A form of biblical

interpretation that considers the explicit meaning of the text. It lays the foundation for all other senses of the Scriptures.

Spiritual Sense:A form of biblical

interpretation that goes beyond the literal sense to consider what the realities and events of the scriptures signify and mean for salvation.

Literal Sign:1) The serpent2) The woman3) The woman’s offspring4) Enmity between the

serpent & the woman, between the serpent & her offspring

5) “He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.”

Spiritual Meaning:1) Satan2) Mary3) Jesus Christ4) The spiritual battle

between Satan & God for the future of humanity

5) Jesus Christ will win the battle with Satan. A strike at the heel is a position of weakness, but a strike at the head is a death blow.

So even as Adam & Eve are leaving the Garden of Eden, God is already making a promise, a covenant, that he will save humanity from the damage caused by Satan’s deception.

Mary is the New Eve & Jesus is the New Adam.

Together the will restore the Original Justice and Holiness that was lost by Adam & Eve.

As the Mother of God, Mary is the first to benefit from Christ’s victory over sin.

She is conceived without the stain of Original Sin &, with special grace from God, remains free from sin throughout her entire life.

SIN INCREASES, GOD REMAINS FAITHFUL

Cain & Abel Story of jealousy and

Fratricide. Shepherds vs. Farmers Figurative Language: What

was the 2nd sin? Jealousy or Murder? Brother killing brother God loves us all equally,

but this author is describing God in an imperfect manner, as acting as a human. (anthropomorphic)

God Loves us All God is not a human being, he

does not favor one over the other, this is figurative language..

For what though? 1st God warned Cain to not

let sin be his master. 2nd after the murder God

marked Cain in order to prevent revenge {in killing him}.

God promised to save the descendants of Adam, its already started in this story.

The Fall serves two purposes:1st: It shows growth and worsening of sin.

2nd: It also shows that no matter how bad humanity fell, God remained faithful in finding a way to keep his plan of salvation going.

SIN INCREASES, GOD REMAINS FAITHFUL

The Book of Genesis gives two versions of the Generations from Adam to Noah.

1st: Humankind has greatly increased in number.

2nd: Humankind has also greatly increased in sin.

“no desire that [humanity’s] heart conceived was ever anything but evil”

God had no choice, but to begin over again.

Luckily, Noah and his family remained faithful and true.. Therefore God could continue his promise to save the descendants of Adam & Eve.

God makes a covenant with Noah & through Noah with all humankind and all creation: “Never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood” (9:11)

God marked this promise with a RAINBOW… He has committed to saving humanity by some different means than by destroying all sinners.

The PLAN continues to be revealed.

Noah and the Flood (Genesis 6:5-9:17)

SIN INCREASES, GOD REMAINS FAITHFUL

Babel is another spelling of Babylon, the nation and city where the Israelite leaders were brought as captives.

Ziggurats were tall towers built by the slaves of the Babylonians. -Center for Politics & Religion

-Places of idolatry & worship of false gods.

Babylonian Exile the period of Israelite Captivity in Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC.

Etiology of the story: This story tells about people

who tried to make themselves like gods and made god in their own image, something the Israelites had firsthand experience of.

God keeping his promise to not destroy all… instead makes them speak different languages so they cannot understand one another.

The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

OLD TESTAMENT COVENANTS: PART I A covenant is a solemn agreement between

two parties. Usually this is between Kings or people of earth.. Never with a god, nonetheless THE GOD.

Israel is unique in this sense that their covenants are not with other kingdoms, but with God. God initiates these covenants and stays faithful to them.

Through them he communicates the love he has for humanity.

All of these covenants point us towards the Paschal Mystery, which is the work of salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ mainly through his life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension. {Know this for the test.}

COVENANT WITH NOAH God makes this covenant

[Ch.10 of Genesis] and gives a description of how Noah’s descendants multiplied to become all the nations of the world: “These are the groupings of Noah’s sons, according to their origins and by their nations. From these the other nations of the earth branched out after the flood”(Gen 10:32).

Essentially God’s covenant with Noah now extended to all the nations of the earth and will remain in force as long as the world lasts.

Polytheism – the belief in many gods Because of sin these nations are always in danger of belief in

false gods & worshiping their nation and their king instead of God. [idolatry]

The Covenant with Noah assures us God is still working among the nations. The Bible lifts up several non-Jewish leaders as examples of God’s working through other people.

(1) Melchizadek- The King of Salem & a “priest of the most high” (Genesis 14:18) He offered Bread & wine with Abraham in

thanksgiving after successful battle. (2) Tamar- A caananite woman who risked her life to help protect Joshua’s spies in the city of Jericho (Joshua 2:1-21) (3) King Cyrus- Persian Emperor who conquered Babylon & ended the Jewish exile (Ezra 1:1-4). He allowed the Judean slaves to return home and even helped fund the reconstruction

of Jerusalem (3:7). (4) Ruth- A moabite woman who married an Israelite man. She is remembered for her trust in God and her commitment to her Jewish mother-in-law. The covenant with Noah will find its fulfillment in the New

Covenant that Jesus Christ extends to all the people of the world.

ABRAHAMIC COVENANT Starting with Abraham (Gen.12),

God begins a new phase of his plan to restore humanity’s holiness and justice, by using a chosen people, that will have a special role in his plan.

God establishes this special relationship and its purpose in the Covenant with Abraham.

God announces his covenant to Abraham: Gen. 12:1-3, 13:14-17, 15:1-19, & 17:1-27.

God promises Abraham three things: (1) to make of him a great nation by promising many descendants, (2) to provide them with land of their own [Canaan], and (3) to make Abraham and his descendants a blessing for all nations.

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you;I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.

[Genesis 12:2-6]

The 3rd Promise to Abraham The first two promises were

necessary preconditions in order for the Third promise to be fulfilled.

God’s plan for Abraham’s descendants, who will be later called Hebrews, Israelites, and finally Jews, to be an example to all other people of how to live in right relationship with the one, true God.

God asks Abraham and his descendants to commit to these things: (1) to walk with God, that is, to recognize the one, true God (Gen 17:1), (2) to be blameless, that is to live a life without sin (17:1), & (3) to practice circumcision as a physical mark of the covenant (17:9-14).

• Abraham & his descendants {Isaac & Jacob} are Patriarchs and they are revered as saints in the church’s liturgical tradition.

• Their stories show that God is faithful in keeping the covenant despite human sin & weakness.

VOCABULARY WORDS Circumcision- The act, required by Jewish law, of

removing the foreskin from male genitalia. Since the time of Abraham, it has been a sign of God’s Covenant relationship with the Jewish people.

Patriarch- The Father or leader of a tribe, clan, or tradition. Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob were the patriarchs of the Israelite people.

Theophany- God’s breaking into human dimension so an individual’s and community’s understanding of God is deepened or changed.

Torah- A Hebrew word meaning “law,” referring to the first five books of the Old Testament

Ark of the Covenant- A sacred chest that housed the tablets of the Ten Commandments. It placed within the sanctuary where God would come and dwell.

OLD TESTAMENT COVENANTS: PART II In these covenants God is

establishing a Chosen People, a people who are our ancestors in faith.

In the book of Deuteronomy, which portrays Moses’ final speech to the Israelites. He tells the Israelites that they are “a people sacred to the Lord, your God, he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of earth to be a people peculiarly his own. It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set his heart on you… It was because the Lord loved you and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn to your fathers” (7:6-7).

THE MOSAIC COVENANT The awe-inspiring moment

that takes place is the theophany at Mt. Sinai, which is described in Exodus 19:16-25.

Israelites have escaped from Egypt because of God’s miraculous intervention & have been journeying for 3 months. They camp at the base of Mt. Sinai.

God summons Moses to the mountaintop and renews with Moses a set of laws that the Israelites must follow as their part of the Covenant. This Law is summarized in the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20:1-17)

The full law is spelled out in the rest of Exodus and Leviticus. It is Summarized again in Deuteronomy. Also known as the Mosaic Law or Old Law.

It is old not in the sense of being obsolete, but it is old in the sense that is had been fulfilled in Jesus Christ who is the New Law.

Keeping the Law is the most important sign of faithfulness to the Covenant.

Breaking the Law is the same as being unfaithful to the covenant.

The Old Law is a step in God’s plan for restoring Original Holiness & Justice. {The Torah is the first five books in scripture-Gen, Ex, Lev, Num, Deut.}

THE DAVIDIC COVENANT King David wishes to build a

permanent dwelling for the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred box in which the tablets with the Ten Commandments are kept.

God instructs the Prophet Nathan to tell David not to build this Temple (2 Samuel 7:4-13). Instead David’s heir will build it.

God then promises David that “your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).

In this context the word “House” means bloodline or direct line of descendants, which ultimately links King David to Jesus. This means the Kingdom of god will endure and reign forever in heaven for all of eternity.

Through Jesus the Covenant with David is fulfilled.

KEEPING THE COVENANT: SUCCESSES & FAILURES

Part 1: The Judges -After Joshua led the Israelites into the Land of Canaan, they had no central government.. No king, no high priest, no president, They existed as confederation of tribal groups.-God raised up a Hero [Judge] who rallies one or more of the tribes in defense of their land. -The Book of Judges contains the accounts of 12 Judges. *(next slide has the list)

*After reading scriptures specifically the Historical & Prophetic books they reveal the Israelites struggled to keep the Covenant they made with God. Three important elements in Israelites history:

The Monarchy begins with the Israelites approaching Samuel, the last Judge of Israel, and asking him to appoint a king. Samuel is reluctant to this because he believes the people are rejecting God as their king.

But despite this God directs him to appoint the first king of Israel, Saul. (See 1 Samuel 8)

The first three kings of Israel are all heroically committed to God and promote the Law and the Covenant.

All three are tragically flawed: Saul with is lack of trust, David with his lust, and Solomon with greed.

Despite their sin and weakness, God works through them to unite the 12 tribes into a strong, united kingdom and eventually to build a Temple in Jerusalem, the center of authentic Israelite worship.

After Solomon’s death, the united monarchy is split into two kingdoms, Israel & Judah.

The Israelite Prophets play a key role in relation to the Covenant.

They are the watchdogs of the Covenant & the Law.

As God’s spokespeople they call the kings and the people to be faithful to the Covenant and warn of the consequences of failing to do so: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Cursed by the man who does not observe the terms of this covenant, which I enjoined upon your fathers the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt.” (Jeremiah 11:3-4)

Four Major Prophets1) Isaiah2) Jeremiah3) Ezekiel4) Daniel

12 Minor Prophets1) Hosea2) Joel3) Amos4) Obadiah5) Jonah6) Micah

7) Nahum8) Habakkuk9) Zephania10) Haggai11)

Zechariah12) Malachi* The prophets foreshadowed

Christ’s own role as prophet, for Jesus Christ will not just proclaim the Word-he is the word of God made flesh.

THE GROWING MESSIANIC HOPE Hope…. An important virtue and a gift

of faith. Hope creates in us a desire and an expectation for our salvation and Kingdom of God.

The Prophets were God’s instruments of hope to his Chosen People. He revealed to the Prophets a vision of a New Covenant and a new heavenly kingdom.

The work of the Messiah, the “anointed one.”

The Prophets gave the chosen people hope for a future in which humanity’s relationship with God would be fully restored.

Many faithful Jews waited in expectant hope for this promised Messiah who would deliver them from their earthly and spiritual bondage.

Redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduos, cane be lived and accepted if it leades towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey.

Pope Benedict XVI’s 2nd Encyclical Letter