Enquiry. "All that you have said regarding the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, and the fact that our sins are not imputed to us, appears to be quite logical, there is no argument about that. But if these statements are true, then virtually the whole of Christianity has got it wrong. And I find this difficult to accept."

Answer. "This same reasoning and objection was used by many people against men like Martin Luther, the 16th Century reformer. It was also used against Christ and the apostles 2000 years ago. Isn't it amazing how so few things change?"

Enquiry. "But how can so many people have got it so wrong for so long?"

Answer. "Understanding the plan of God is a little bit like walking through a maze. If, from the very beginning you make all the right decisions and choices concerning which way to go, you will find your way out. But if you should make just one incorrect decision at any turning, you will walk around in circles until the guide, the Holy Spirit who gives us understanding comes to rescue you.

I believe that Christianity as a whole, has made one fundamental gigantic error in its teaching and understanding. This error is so great that it might even be called the prince of all errors. When this error is upheld and left unremedied, all subsequent teaching is tainted with falsehood.

But when this error is understood it has a knock on effect. Many other errors are brought to the surface where they also can be understood and discarded, and the gospel of Jesus Christ suddenly becomes clearer.

Fully understanding this error, is like being given a key which unlocks a storehouse of understanding. Without the key, the gospel can most certainly be understood and believed, but it will never be understood as fully as it might be if the key is possessed.

Any who would truly understand the enormous depths of the gospel must have this key. Your own continual barrage of objections and questions, like those of many Christians, occur because you do not have it. If you obtained it and understood it, then you would discover that many of the objections that you have offered would not exist."

Enquiry. "What key are you talking about?"

Answer. "At first it will probably hurt you moral sensibilities to understand it. Your own brain will probably rebel in disgust at it. In this way it is like any medicine. It tastes horrible and bitter in the mouth, but the swallowing of it strengthens the inner man.

The first question that we must ask is - in what state and condition was man first established before God?"

Enquiry. "You mean - created?"

Answer. "Some people will stumble if I use the word "created". Others will stumble if I don't. But as you have introduced the word, and evidently do not object to its usage, that's fine. yes, this is what I am talking about - in what state and condition was man first created by God?

The importance of this question does not seem to have bothered Christianity at all, but it should have done! It is a most vital question! It is probably the most fundamental of all questions, for we are talking about the very existence of man, of ourselves, and of our relationship with God. A relationship which God Himself established. And the ensuing problems which arise if we get it wrong are enormous.

So tell me what you understand concerning the state and condition in which man was created?"

Enquiry. "I do not really understand the question."

Answer. "If we take Adam as the example of the first man to be granted intelligent communion with God the creator, the question is - in what state was Adam created - sinful or sinless? perfect or imperfect? righteous or unrighteous?"

Enquiry. "Well that is obvious isn't it. Everybody knows the answer to that - righteous of course. Adam was created perfect, sinless and righteous."

Answer. "The answer just seems to glide off your tongue so easily and so naturally that you make it sounds very authoritative and perfectly correct, as if, as you say - everybody understands such a simple matter. But now I am going to ask you - says who?"

Enquiry. "But it is obvious."

Answer. "Why is it obvious? Who says that it is obvious? I can find no evidence to suggest such a thing. Not one single scrap of evidence, not one single sentence in the whole of the Bible which says or even suggests that man was created inherently righteous and sinless. I say that it is an enormous presumption on our behalf, and a presumption that we are not entitled to make!"

Enquiry. "Well, it is a subject which is covered by the Church in the Westminster Confession of faith. Look -

Q. 17. How did God create man?

A. After God had made all other creatures, he created man male and female; formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground, and the woman of the rib of man, endued them with living, reasonable, and immortal souls, made them after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, holiness, having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfil it, and dominion over the creatures; yet subject to fall." p 136.

There you are. That is what the Westminster Confession says, and that is what I believe."

Answer. "There is no profit in just presenting a statement made by the Westminster Confession and saying that it is correct because the Confession claims that it is correct. Where is your reason in this? Would you believe that the world was flat if the Confession told you so? I doubt it! So why should you accept this statement without questioning it?"

Enquiry. "Because I see no reason to question it."

Answer. "Neither did John Wesley, for it is recorded that he also believed and taught his followers that -

"The moral, or as he sometimes calls it, the Adamic law, he traced beyond the foundation of the world, to that period, unknown indeed to men, but doubtless enrolled in the annals of eternity...It pleased the Creator to make these his firstborn sons intelligent beings, that they might know Him who created them. For this end He endued them with understanding to discern truth from falsehood, good from evil; and as a necessary result of this, with liberty - a capacity of choosing the one, and refusing the other...And it was His design herein to make way for a continued increase of their happiness, seeing every instance of obedience to that law would both add to the perfection of their nature, and entitle them to a higher reward......Man was made holy, as He that created him is holy: perfect as his father in heaven is perfect...God made him to be an image of his own eternity. To man thus perfect, God gave a perfect law, to which He required full and perfect obedience. He required full and perfect obedience in every point.....Man disobeyed this law and from that moment he died" Southey's Life Of Wesley p229-231

In their statements the Westminster Confession and Wesley cover a lot of ground in so few lines. And in all sincerity, I am forced to ask - where in the Bible are we told that man was made after God's own image in knowledge? Where are we told that man was made after God's own image in righteousness? Where are we told that man was made after God's own image in holiness? And most important of all, just where are we told that man was created, having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfil it? Where are we told that man was created "inherently sinless"?"

Enquiry. "Well I am sure that we are told so somewhere in the Bible!"

Answer. "Where?"

Enquiry. "I do not know without looking, but I am sure that it is somewhere."

Answer. "I will answer the question for you. It is NOWHERE to be found in the Bible. It is sheer presumption! Because we are NOT told that man was made in God's own image in KNOWLEDGE, anything but! We are NOT told that man was made in His own image in RIGHTEOUSNESS! We are most certainly NOT told that man had the law of God written in his heart. Neither are we told that he had the power to fulfil it!

Indeed, I tell you, not only are such statements sheer and utter presumption, they are verging on blasphemy!"

Enquiry. "Why are they verging on blasphemy?"

Answer. "Because they are statements which teach that man, the created being, was created with the same qualities as God, the creator, a thing which man never was, is not, and never shall be! It attributes to man things which should not be attributed to man, but to God only, and if that is not verging on blasphemy, I would like to know what is! It is a presumption which is totally wrong! It is teaching things which are in blatant opposition to all that the Bible teaches on the subject.

The Bible tells us quite plainly and bluntly that man was NOT created in God's own image in knowledge. because they were NOT given the ability to discern good from evil! Indeed, not only were they NOT given it, but they were told in no uncertain terms, NOT to acquire such discernment on the pain of death!

Adam was told in no uncertain terms NOT to acquire such knowledge -"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:16,17.

The ideas and teaching of the Confession, Wesley, and many others too numerous to mention, are based on the reasoning that Adam already had the knowledge between good and evil, and that God's command was to choose the good and not the evil, to do the righteousness and not commit the sin, but this is not what we are told. We are told that Adam did NOT have the knowledge, and NOT to acquire it! It was the acquiring of such knowledge by the eating of the tree of knowledge between good and evil that was the whole problem! It was this that brought about the fall from grace!

The general understanding on the matter is that Adam was created perfect, righteous, sinless and holy, as God is perfect, righteous, sinless and holy, having been given the law of God, which he was required to fulfil with perfect obedience in every point, and the ability to do so, and the fall occurred when he disobeyed God and broke the law.

But what if it is wrong? What if the whole theme of this teaching, which has been taught for centuries, and is presently accepted as truth by the bulk of Christianity is wrong? What if it is not just slightly adrift, requiring a little nudge to straighten it out, but the exact opposite of the truth?"

Enquiry. "But man was made in God's image. So if we were made in His image, then we must have been created sinless and perfect as God is sinless and perfect, or it could not be said that we were created in his image."

Answer. "There is no "must" about it. Any who answer in this way are only showing that they are as presumptuous as everybody else. By suggesting that you probably understand all there is to be understood on the subject, you do so very unwisely. You do not understand what you say. Before we start to claim such things we must first understand what they mean. What does the word "image" mean when it is said that we were created in the image of God? In what way are we to understand the words "in his image"?

Are we entitled to suggest that man was created sinless, righteous, having the so called "Moral Law of God" written in his heart, and power to fulfil it, just because of the words "let us make man in our image"?

I believe that we are not entitled to suggest any such thing. It is pure conjecture. Where is the text that says such a thing? Where is the text that even suggests such a thing? There is none! Not a single, solitary one. Yet this teaching - that man was, in the beginning, created sinless, perfect and righteous, having the law of God written in his heart, and the power to fulfil it, is continually taught and perpetuated by modern Christianity to its own hurt."

Enquiry. But, surely, man was only unjust and unrighteous after the fall?"

Answer. "This is the very question that we are presently looking into. The question is - where are we told that man was not unjust and unrighteous before the fall?

Enquiry. "But here in the Westminster Confession, it quotes the text written by Solomon - "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Eccl. 7:29."

Answer. "I do not doubt it, but now we have got to understand the meaning of the text, for the very next verse states - "Who is the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing?"

And I believe that if you insist that man was made sinless, righteous and perfect as God is sinless, righteous and perfect, having the law of God written in his heart, and power to fulfil it, you are neither wise, nor do know the interpretation of the thing, but you are one of those of whom Solomon refers to as - having sought out many inventions."

Enquiry. OK You are continually telling me that Christian teachers are full of "Doublethink", and that they continually use logic against logic, and you are continually telling me to think logically, so let us look at this in a logical way.

Are we not told that "whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law." John. 3:4?"

Answer. "Yes. This is what we are told."

Enquiry. "And are we not also told by Paul that "the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23?

Answer. "Yes. We are."

Enquiry. "And does not Paul also tell us "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law."? 1 Cor. 15:56.

Answer "Yes. Once again, this is true."

Enquiry. "And is it not also true that in Gen. 2:17, God told Adam not to eat of the forbidden fruit, for in the day that he ate of it he would surely die?"

Answer. "Yes. This is also true."

Enquiry. "There you are then! What are you arguing about? We agree that these three points are correct -

1. Sin is the transgression of the law.

2. The penalty for sin is death.

3. And God told Adam not to do something or death would be the result.

So, it is evident that God was telling Adam not to commit sin. Therefore, if God told Adam not to commit sin, he must have been without sin in the beginning. He must have been created sinless. Indeed, Adam must have been created righteous, sinless and perfect as God is righteous, sinless and perfect. He must have been given the law to keep in Eden, and been given the power to do so, or else Adam would have been condemned to death as a breaker of the law, unrighteous and sinful from the moment of his creation.

But Adam was not condemned from the moment of his creation. It was only after the fall that the condemnation of death was pronounced. This proves that Adam was both given, and did keep the law before the fall. There could not have been a fall, because Adam would have been created a "fallen" being."

Answer. "This is exactly the same reasoning the Christianity has used to give its error substance for the last two thousand years. But it is a false reasoning.

It is true that the wages of sin is death. And it is true that the strength of sin is the law. It is also true that God did tell Adam not to do a particular thing or the result would be that he would bring death upon himself, but this does not mean that Adam was given the law to keep and the power to fulfil it! I am saying that Adam was indeed inherently unrighteous and sinful from the moment he was created! But he was not condemned by it at all, far from it."

Enquiry. "But if Adam had been created a sinful being, he would have had to be condemned by it."

Answer. "No, he wouldn't."

Enquiry. "Why not? How could he have escaped being condemned by a very nature that was inherently sinful?"

Answer. "Because there is another principle that you are utterly ignoring."

Enquiry. "What principle?"

Answer. "Sin is not imputed when there is no law" Rom. 5:13.

Enquiry. "How does this change anything?"

Answer. "Because if there is no law, then neither can there be any such thing as sin or the penalty for sin - death, because there would be no law to break, and no penalty to be paid!

How can there be any threat of death as a result of the law being broken if there is no law to break in the first place? It is utterly impossible for sin or unrighteousness to be charged to anybody, without a law being in force to charge them with. A law must be in force if sin is going to be imputed, for it is obvious that sin cannot be imputed (charged) without a law being in force to accuse the guilty party by. This is why the apostle very correctly tells us that - "Sin is not imputed when there is no law."

Look at it this way. Let us imagine that for the last twenty years you have been parking your car on a particular road in a particular place. Nobody has ever stopped you, from doing so, and no law has ever been broken by your so doing. Then along come the local council and put a "No Parking" sign on the very spot where you used to park. Now if you park there you are guilty of breaking the law, and if you continue to park there you will be appropriately charged and fined.

What has changed to make you guilty for doing something which you have been doing for years without being made guilty?

A law has come into force, that is what has changed. You could not have been charged with breaking the law before, because there was no law in force for you to break. But now there is a law in force, so you can be charged with breaking it.

The equation is simple -

No law in force = No crime to be punished.

This equation is no different in a Biblical sense. It is just the same! Sin IS NOT and CANNOT be imputed when there is no law, because - no law to break = no charge for sin.

This equation is so very important! The true Christian teaching of the gospel depends upon it. It always has and it always will! The salvation of every single person, past, present and future depends utterly on this equation. Look at it this way - is there anybody today who is inherently sinless?"

Enquiry. "No. All men are sinful."

Answer. "So why are we not all condemned to death and destruction, as the penalty of the law pronounces upon us?

I will answer the question for you. Because Christ has already taken our place in death. He has already died in our place. He has fulfilled the law which demanded DEATH as its fulfilment. It is a fulfilled law, therefore Christ has removed the condemning power of the law so that it cannot condemn us any longer.

When we looked at our example of the motorist who was not guilty on the day before the yellow lines were placed, but guilty on the day after, for doing exactly the same thing, the thing which made them guilty was the fact that a law had been introduced.

The gospel of Jesus Christ works on exactly the same principle, but in reverse. We are all guilty of breaking the law. In real terms, we were guilty of breaking it last year, we are guilty of breaking it now, and we will be guilty of breaking it next year. So why are we not condemned to death and hell by the sin which we commit every time we break the law?"

Enquiry. "Because, as we have previously agreed, when Jesus died He died for our sins."

Answer. "That is right. He removed the power of the law to condemn us any longer by fulfilling the death penalty that the law demanded for us. He removed the death penalty from us by dying in our place, by taking the penalty of the law on His own head. And He did it so that we might enter into the blessing of having His Righteousness imputed to us, and not having the sins which we do actually still commit imputed to us any more.

But, does this mean that there is any person living who is not actually and really committing sin?

No! Not at all! It simply means that the penalty for our sin is not charged to those who are in grace because it has already been charged to Christ. He has paid for and removed the penalty of death which the law demanded, and by doing so He has taken out of the way the law which did condemn us.

This fact is terribly important, indeed, it is crucial that we should understand it correctly. And the principle of what I am saying should not be too difficult to understand for anybody who has a true concept of the message of the gospel.

We are all sinful human beings, but we are saved from the penalty which the law demands for our sins, because God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for us. This affects us, in that it has saved us from death - the penalty for breaking the law. It does not mean that we are sinless in ourselves. We are still inherently sinful! We do still commit sin! But God has promised not to lay upon us the penalty for our committing sin (breaking the law), because He has already substituted Jesus for us! He has already exacted our penalty on Jesus! So how has this affected the law?

It has rendered it impotent and harmless.

The curse of the law, condemnation, and the penalty for sin cannot harm us any longer. The sins that we do still commit, like those that we have committed in the past, and those that we may commit in the future, are not imputed to us! As it is written, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Rom. 4:8.

And again -

"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their sins to them." 2 Cor. 5:19.

Is there a word which is used to explain the state that sinful beings who do not have their sins imputed to them are in?

Yes. It is called a state of "grace". To simplify the matter, it would therefore be perfectly true to say that "grace" is the state of our not having our unrighteousness or our sins imputed to us."

Enquiry. "But what has all of this got to do with Adam, and the state in which man was originally created?"

Answer. "Because Adam was created in a similar state of grace. Even though he was inherently unrighteous and sinful, the penalty for being such was not imputed to him, because there was NO law as we understand it to be in Eden, the garden of grace.

This is why the common teaching on the state that Adam was created in, and the ensuing fall, as taught and upheld by the bulk of Christian Answers is wrong, because it ignores this very real and important factor - that sin is not imputed when there is no law.

It presumes, for that is all that it is - sheer presumption, that because sin is the breaking of the God's law, Adam must have been given the law to keep or else he could not have broken it and sinned. But it is wrong. All of the evidence is against it. This is not the Biblical account of how Adam was either created in a state of grace, or how he fell from it.

It is a false idea that God gave Adam the law to keep in Eden. It is a false idea that Adam fell from grace because he failed to obey it perfectly. It is very presumptuous and totally incorrect, but, as I have before said - it is worse than this, it is verging on blasphemy, and it is unbelievably dangerous. It is the root cause of many other erroneous heresies which follow on. It is a wrong teaching! It has been presumed to be correct for countless centuries, but it is still wrong. It is a terrible error."

Enquiry. "Why is it so unbelievably dangerous? For the life of me, I cannot see any danger in it!"

Answer. Because if we do believe that Adam was given the law to keep, and fell from grace by breaking it, if we do believe that his committing the first actual sin was the battle, and this was not the case, then our whole understanding of the gospel will be incomplete! We can, very quickly, find ourselves fighting the wrong battle.

Adam's committing the first actual sin by breaking the law was never the battle. Sin - the breaking of the law was only the result of the battle being lost. The battle itself goes beyond sin - the breaking of the law. The truth of the matter is that Adam could not have been condemned because of his sinful nature in Eden, the garden of grace, because he had NOT been given the law, as we understand it to be, to keep at all! And sin is not imputed when there is no law."

Enquiry. "But you are suggesting that God made us imperfect. How could God make anything which was less than utterly perfect?"

Answer. "When a similar objection was presented to Paul, he answered, "Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" Rom. 9:20.

Enquiry. "Yes, but when God had finished creating man, we are told - "And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold it was very good." Gen. 1:31.

Answer. "True, but now, do not start to leap into the world of presumption again and claim that you understand what was written here if you do not. That which God made was indeed very good as long as it remained within the bounds that He had created it."

Enquiry. "What bounds?"

Answer. "Man was not made to stand alone. It was NEVER intended that man should be created aloof from God, but in partnership with God. And in this way and in this way alone can we understand that God could look upon what He had made and declare it to be "very good".

If man had been made to stand alone he would most certainly have been imperfect, and anything but "very good". But this was not the intention of God - to make man to stand alone, but rather to be made to stand under the shadow of Christ!"

Enquiry. "I do not understand this at all."

Answer. "Right. Before we get totally lost in arguments and objections, let me explain just what I mean.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." Gen 1: 1-5.

There is enough material in these first five verses of Genesis to keep us busy talking for the next month. But for the moment, and for the subject in question, we must concentrate on just one aspect of it alone. For in these very first five verses of Genesis we are being told of a time of pre-history. We are being shown things which happened before Adam, as we understand him to be, had been brought into being, and we are being told something of immense importance! I cannot emphasise it enough. It is something of the greatest importance! Something which is so important that it happened before anything else happened. It was the foundation upon which everything else was to stand."

Enquiry. "What was it?"

Answer. "The Word of God establishing something which is referred to as - "Light" - "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."

Enquiry. "I fail to see the importance of this. What is so important about the separating of night from day? All that we are being told is that God caused a physical day and a physical night to occur upon the earth."

Answer. "No we are not! Those who believe that this is what we are being told are failing to understand the major importance of the event that is being described.

The creation story is one of the greatest stumbling blocks to many people, especially to the enquiring, scientific mind. They open their Bible, read the first chapter, then shut it again with a snap, and say, "Well, if that is the best you can do, I do not want to know any more, because it is a load of nonsense."

Christianity as a whole has done nothing to alleviate this problem, because they have all too often simply replied, "It is the word of God, and you must believe it. To do anything less is proof of your lack of faith!"

In these most common reactions, both the scientific mind and the Christian mind are equally at fault. The scientific person fails to recognise that we are NOT reading a scientific book. And the Christian all too often fails to realise that we ARE reading a Spiritual book.

For instance, what are we to understand when we read the words - "And God said, Let there be light, and God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."?

If we interpret them literally - to explain that God was setting up a physical day and a physical night, we encounter an insurmountable problem.

We know without any doubt where our light of the daytime comes from - it comes from the sun which rises each morning and sets each evening. And we also know that the light of our physical night comes from the moon. But according to the writer of Genesis the sun and the moon were not created until the fourth day. Read the account of it in Genesis 1:14-19, for yourself and see.

This undeniable fact, has had the bemused literal interpreters of the Bible trying to explain themselves out of a tricky situation for centuries. Many of them have claimed that the "light" referred to in Genesis was a glowing, radiant mass which God caused to engulf the earth prior to the sun and moon being created, and that God provided a sort of a false day and night. The fact that the Bible does not say any such thing seems to make no difference to them. They are so desperate to make up an excuse for God having made what they consider to be such a terrible blunder, that they are desperate to try and cover it up.

In doing this I am afraid that they are guilty of trying to tell God what He meant, instead of allowing God to tell them what He actually did mean.

Did the writer of Genesis know that our daylight came from the sun? Of course he did! Did he know that our light of the night came from the moon? Of course he did! Do you really think that Moses was that stupid? Are we really to believe that Moses, who had spent all of his childhood schooling years in Egypt, who had been a party to all of the understanding of the astronomical knowledge of Egypt did not understand the basic principles of light and darkness by the rising and setting of the sun and the moon? Of course he understood them!

Then, are we to believe that when Moses finally submitted himself to the leading of God, and became a direct mouthpiece of God, he suddenly despised all semblance of common sense and started to teach blatant rubbish and obvious nonsense? Is this what we imagine happens when the Spirit of God instructs us?

Enquiry. "Then, why did he make this totally obviously incorrect statement? Why did he make this terrible blunder?"

Answer. "He did not make any such blunder, because he was talking of things quite different."

Enquiry. "So, what was he talking about when he spoke the words - "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."

Answer. He was talking about CHRIST, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!

The disciple John had no problem understanding it. He opens his gospel and spends the first fourteen verses explaining it to us. He even begins his gospel by repeating the words "In the beginning," to draw our attention to the fact that he is doing so, and then proceeds to use the word "light" six times in the first nine verses! But John is not talking about the light from the sun, nor from the moon, but that which he calls "the true Light" - meaning Christ. Just listen to him -

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the LIGHT of men. And the LIGHT shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the LIGHT, that all men through him might believe. He was not that LIGHT, but was sent to bear witness of that LIGHT. That was the true LIGHT, which LIGHTETH every man that cometh into the world." John. 1:1-9.

There was only one purpose for John bothering to sit down and write his account at all, and that was to show the gospel of Christ. His whole purpose was to show and explain Christ! And he begins by taking this obscure line from Genesis and showing us the true meaning of the text. A different meaning to that which we might previously have imagined. He interprets the words in a spiritual way. He does not interpret them in a physical way at all. He does not tell us that God was setting up an actual physical twenty four hour day, this is not his intention. His whole effort of writing is to show and explain Christ - "The Word" and "The Light".

The references which Jesus made of Himself, telling us that He was the "Light" are numerous, the most popularly quoted one being, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shalt not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12.

"God said, Let their be light," wrote Moses.

"I am the light of the world. I am the light of life" said Jesus.

"In him was life, and the life was the light of men." said John.

The apostle Paul did not have a problem when it came to understanding the meaning of the Genesis text either, for he wrote, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4:6.

In simple language, all of these texts, and the many others just like them, are explaining several different truths to us. They are showing us the fact that Christ was in existence before the foundations of the world. They are showing us that the Godhead deliberately set up Christ as the "Light" before man was ever allowed to come into existence. They are showing us that Christ was not an afterthought. He was not something that God had to quickly put into action when man in the form of Adam fell from grace. Christ was set up deliberately by God before anything else occurred, indeed, before anything else could occur. Christ was not a back up in case things went wrong. He was not a fail-safe in case man should fall. He was set up by God as a deliberate, necessary act.

Christ was the light spoken of in Genesis. He was the foundation which had to be laid down before anything else could be built."

Enquiry. "You have just said that Christ was set up by God from the very beginning as a deliberate, necessary act. Why?"

Answer. "Because the existence of man could not be allowed without Christ!"

Enquiry. "Why not?"

Answer. "John tells us why not! Because "In him was life; and the life was the LIGHT of men." That is why not! Because - IN HIM WAS LIFE.

Christ was the Word, the Life, and the Light, which was established by God before the creation of man was undertaken.

When Jesus said - "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think that ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." John. 5:39-40. This is where the scriptures and the testimony of Jesus begins. When the writer of Hebrews quotes the Psalms, and says - "Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O god." Heb. 10:7. This is where the volume began. When Christ speaks through the Spirit to John as recorded in revelation, and says - "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." This is the beginning!

Christ was the solid base, the unmovable foundation which was established by God before the existence of man was allowed to come into being."

Enquiry. "Why?"

Answer. "Because it was necessary, so vitally necessary! And the reason that it was so vitally necessary is to be further understood from John's writing, by the way that he ties in the fact that in Christ was life - "In him was LIFE; and the LIFE was the LIGHT of men."

John is telling us quite plainly that in Christ was LIFE, and that which was "in Christ," "the LIFE," was the Light of men.

Where was the life of man? Was it in man?

No! It was in Christ!

The life of man has always been in Christ! It was in Christ from the very beginning, and it will always be so.

When man eventually came on the scene, a creature who was allowed the privilege of intelligent communion with God, Christ the light had already been set up, and Christ the life was in position. The words concerning how Adam was given life - "and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," Gen 2:7, are a deep Spiritual understanding of the relationship between God the creator and man the creation. This Spiritual understanding is shown to us by Jeremiah, who, being moved upon by the Spirit of God, wrote - "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen." Lam. 4:20.

Christ was the anointed of the Lord, the breath of our nostrils, that breath of life, of whom it was said "under his shadow we shall live!"

Enquiry. "But I do not understand what this has got to do with the words - "Let us make man in our image."

Answer. "It is the word "image" which is obviously proving to be the stumbling block here. The question is - what does it mean, and how are we to understand it?

The word "image" is a translation of the Hebrew word "tselem", and the word "tselem" has been interpreted by the Hebrew scholars in several different ways, including, "image," "likeness," "idol," "shade," "phantom," and "nothingness". Many Hebrew scholars prefer to interpret it as meaning "agent" or "partner".

To help us further, let us look at another word, a root word for "tselem", the word "tsel". According to Young's Analytical Concordance this is rendered three different ways. "Defence" three times; "shade" once, and "shadow" forty five times.

The probability of a connection between the word "tsel", (defence, shade or shadow) and the word "tselem" (image, likeness and shade) has long since been recognised by Hebrew scholars."

Enquiry. "But how does all of this help us to understand what Moses meant by the words - "Let us make man in our image."?"

Answer. "Because if the word "image" is rendered "shadow" or "shade", the Genesis text is drastically changed from - "let us make man in our image" to - "Let us make man in our shade", or Let us make man in our shadow"."

Enquiry. "What shadow?"

Answer. "The shadow which was cast by the LIGHT!

It was as if God was saying - In us is Life and Light, so let us make man to be a partaker of that Life and Light. Or - As we ourselves are Light, let us make man to live in the shadow of our Light. Let the glory of our Life and Light shine bright enough to blot out the darkness, and let man stand beneath us so that our shadow may cover him.

All of this helps us to further understand the state that man was created in, the reasons for it, and the implications of it all?"

Enquiry. "How?"

Answer. "Because if God set up Christ as the "Life" and the "Light" of man, before the existence of man, He did so as a part of the plan for the existence of man. It was deliberate. It was necessary. It was a vital component which had to be in place before man was introduced.

God spoke the Word, and Christ the LIGHT was set up, before the foundations of the world. His function as "the Light" and "the Life" was set up before man ever came into existence."

Enquiry. "Yes, but Why?"

Answer. "Because man could not be allowed to exist without the shadow covering of Christ. Christ was the Light, and man was created in or under the shadow of that light!"

Enquiry. "Why? For what purpose?"

Answer. "Because man was created in a state of grace, not a state of law! "Grace" is the key word here."

Enquiry. "How do you mean?"

Answer. "Because when God created man He created him WITHOUT any inherent righteousness of his own. Man was NOT created inherently perfect, sinless or righteous, as Christianity so often teaches and the Westminster Confession tells us, but just the opposite! He was created inherently imperfect and unrighteous, and could only be allowed to exist at all because he was created under the shadow of Christ, under the shadow of grace!"

Enquiry. "This is a hard statement to swallow! It almost sounds as if you are insulting God's integrity."

Answer. "Those who think far more of the excellence and glory of man than they should, will undoubtedly accuse me of doing a disservice to God, and insulting Him by saying such a thing. On the contrary, it is more of an insult to God if we do not! God is God and man is man. They are so different that our human brain cannot even begin to comprehend the difference. The most profound wisdom of man is nothing but foolishness when compared to God's wisdom. It is not an insult to God to suggest that man was created inherently unrighteous if it is the very real truth of the matter. It is a much bigger insult if we presume to raise man up to be on a level par with God our creator. Let us allow God to be God, and man to be man."

Enquiry. "But you are suggesting that God could make something which was less than perfect."

Answer. "God did not make anything which was less than perfect. Man was not made to stand alone. It was NEVER intended that man should be created aloof from God, but by the grace of God, in a state of grace, under the shadow of grace that Christ provided.

If man had been made to stand alone he would most certainly have been imperfect, but this was not the intention of God - to make man to stand alone, but rather to be made to stand under the shadow of the Light of Christ. Our life was "in Him" from the very beginning.

Christ had already been set up as the Light by the Word of God. And when man was made, it was not intended that man should stand alone, but that he should stand under the shadow of that light. This means that from the very beginning man was made to have the benefit of Christ, and in this way and this way alone it can be understood that God created everything perfect. Not that man in his own right was perfect, nor that man on his own, without God was perfect, but God's righteousness was imputed to man because he was made to stand under the shadow of Christ.

In plain, simple language, this means that man's inherently unrighteous nature was not imputed to him."

Enquiry. "Why not?"

Answer. "Because man was created in a state of grace, not in a state of law. Man's unrighteous nature could only have been imputed to him and laid to his charge if a law was placed over man by which he could be condemned. But this was not the case. Man was created in a state of grace, not a state of law. There was no law in Eden, and sin is not imputed when there is no law. We know that it is only because of the existence of law that there is such a thing as sin, as Paul says -

"But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Rom. 7:8-9.

But in Eden there was no law. Adam was created in a state of grace, not law! Therefore his inherent sinfulness and unrighteous nature were not imputed to him. They were not laid to his charge!

In a spiritual way, Adam was created to be a partaker and a consumer of the tree of life which also stood in the centre of the garden, a tree which he was told to eat of freely, just as all who are in a state of grace today are also told to eat of that same tree of life, in a spiritual way.

The law, represented by the tree of knowledge between good and evil was available in Eden, but Adam was told NOT to eat of it. And as long as he obeyed God, and did not eat of it, his unrighteous nature would not, and could not be imputed to him. He was warned that in the day that he ate of it he would surely die!"

Enquiry. "Why?"

Answer. "Because by eating of it he would set up a law over himself by which his unrighteousness nature COULD be imputed to him.

Man did not have any righteousness of his own. He was created without any such a quality. Man's righteousness was in Christ! It was in Christ that the life of man existed, not within man himself.

You do not like it? You object to such a suggestion? You want man to have been created with an inherent righteous quality of his own? So did Adam! Or at least, so did Eve, (his spiritual better half) who passed it on to Adam. She wanted them to have their own inherent righteousness also. She wanted them to be "as God", and of them it is written -"Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man." Rom. 1:21-23."

Enquiry. "But why would God do such a thing? Why did He not just create us sinless and righteous in the first place, and prevent all of the problems?"

Answer. "Let us be typically human and surmise the reasons why. If God had created man on an equal par to Himself He would have been creating another God. If God created any creature on level par with Himself He would be creating another God.

The angels are not on level par with God, neither is man, and I would suggest that neither are any other life forms that may have been created by God which we know nothing about. All life forms created by God are created in this unique way - under the shadow of God.

What sort of a fool do you think God is? If you were God would you create another life form which was equal to yourself in every respect? You would be making another God. Not even you, with all of your inherent foolishness would be that stupid! Whatever life form you created would be less than yourself so that you always remained in total control, so that if you wished, you could at any time "pull the plug", or as in the time of Noah - put the plug in and let loose the water."

Enquiry. "But what was the "fall" all about then?"

Answer. "The question of just how much of the matter Adam did understand is not really answered. We are not told just how clearly he understood it, but according to Paul, he did understand quite a lot of it, as he tells us -"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." Rom. 1:20.

And in due course they fell from Grace. This is a most important point. Why, and how did they do it? What brought about the fall, and what did they do to plunge themselves and all mankind into the dilemma which has dogged man ever since?

The story of the fall involved many different factors. God had told them not to eat of a specific tree, not just any old tree, but a special tree, an important tree, the tree of the knowledge between good and evil, - "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen 2:16,17. And they complied, until the adversary of God (Satan) came along. He aimed his attack on Eve, and thence to Adam in the most suitable way.

How?

By attacking their inbuilt vanity -

"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope." Rom. 8:20."

Enquiry. "I don't understand that."

Answer. "God had made the creature subject to vanity."

Enquiry. "Why?"

Answer. "Because it was necessary if the creature was not going to fear God, but love Him as a Father. If the relationship between the creature and the creator was not going to be spoiled, the true knowledge of just how sinful and unrighteous he, the creature, was, had to be kept from him.

And the adversary of God, represented by the serpent, knowing full well that the creature was inherently unrighteous, knowing full well that the creature had been made subject to vanity, saw vanity as the weak link. So This is where he attacked. He used the very same quality of vanity which God had blessed them with, and turned it into a weapon against them.

What Satan did was very subtle and terribly clever. It was so subtle and clever that it was almost brilliant. The whole reasoning behind the temptation was - "Eat of this fruit and you will be as God." He twisted the vanity which had been designed and built into man so that man would trust in God, into that which caused man to look within himself for something to trust in, to be independent, to become as a God in himself.

And Satan did this, knowing full well that if man gained the forbidden knowledge he would set up a law over himself by which his unrighteous nature could be imputed to him. Man would fall from the state of grace in which he had been created.

So, he entered into Eve's heart and tricked her into believing that the most beneficial way to go was to ignore God's warning and gain the knowledge of the difference between good and evil. He said, "This tree of knowledge between good and evil is the knowledge that will set you free. God wants you to be subservient. God wants you to bow down and worship him. He has told you not to eat of the fruit of this tree because you will die. But it is a lie. He knows that if you eat the fruit of this tree you will be as a god. This is why He told you not to eat it. He wants to keep you under His thumb so that he can rule over you and play the big man. He treats you like an inferior. He treats you like a pet dog, and expects you to wag your tail and go to Him so that he can pat you on the head. But you can reverse those letters of "dog" into "god". You can become as a GOD. You can stand proud, on your own two feet, without relying on this presumptuous master. You and your husband can be together, masters of yourself and your own destiny, reliant upon no other. But you need wisdom in order to bring it all off. And the way to get wisdom is to eat of this tree of knowledge."

Eve's error lay in the fact that she was not satisfied in letting God be God and man be man. She wanted both herself and Adam to be as God. But in order to be as a God she knew that they needed knowledge. Before they could even attempt to become as a God they needed to know what the difference was between man and God. This most basic building block had to be obtained before they could even begin to climb up the ladder. They had to know the difference. They had to know what it was that they were aiming for, and the tree of knowledge between good and evil was the answer, just as the serpent had told her.

So she ate, and then tempted Adam to eat also, and their eyes were immediately opened as to the difference between good and evil. For the first time, they realised just what an enormous gulf there actually was between themselves and God.

In a rather poetical moment, Paul refers back to this time of Adam's fall, and relates to it as being his own experience, and indeed the experience of all people who understand the truth of the matter, and he said -

"But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me" Rom. 7:8-11.

Consider this text written by Paul, and compare it with Adam's experience when he fell from grace. Why did God tell Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge between good and evil?

Because it would bring death!

What does Paul tell us?

For without the law sin was dead - "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin was made alive, and I died.

Man had been created in a state of grace, under Christ's shadow. The Righteousness of Christ had been imputed to man, but man was not satisfied. He wanted his own righteousness, an inherent righteousness within himself so that he could begin to cut free from total reliance and subservience to God. But the end result was not as he had planned at all.

That which they thought would bring them the wisdom of life in their own right, they discovered to bring them the foolishness of death. They wanted to find life in their own right, but they found death instead.

The root of the problem was that they followed the temptation of wanting to be righteous in themselves. They were not happy about having to be reliant upon God, resting under His shadow. They wanted to step from under His grace and trust in something of their own, in their own right. They were not happy simply walking and talking with God. They were not happy to just trust in Him for all of their needs. They were not happy allowing Him to be the Father, their creator, their protector, their breath of life, their Light, and to simply abide under his all protective shadow. They wanted to step out. They wanted to establish themselves in their own right. They wanted to establish their own righteousness, and in the vanity of their mind they ate of the tree of knowledge between good and evil, and fell from grace.

Now, in terms of real, historical, time, according to the Bible, the law was not given to man by Moses until approximately two and a half thousand years after the fall by Adam. Paul knew this. He understood it quite clearly, just as he also understood that it was the introduction of the law which brought death. But he also recognised that death reigned from Adam to Moses (Rom 5:13) which shows us quite clearly that even though the law, as we understand it to be, was not given to man for two and a half thousand years, and the event of law giving was not allowed to take place by God until certain precedents had been established, and the time was right, nevertheless, death, the result of the law being set up reigned from Adam onwards.

And the results of the fall from grace were astonishing. The most amazing things immediately took place. Things started to happen. Things which they had never experienced before. They ate of the fruit and a chain reaction immediately took place. The account in Genesis tells us the order of events as they took place.

Their eyes were opened.

They knew that they were naked.

They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves.

They became judges of evil thoughts.

They hid from God.

These five effects were astounding, and they all followed on one from each other.

THEIR EYES WERE OPENED

How were their eyes opened? Opened to what? What had their wisdom brought them? The knowledge of the fact that they were "naked".

The word "naked" is used time and again throughout the bible to describe a state of unrighteousness. And their newly acquired knowledge opened their eyes to the very real truth of the situation - that they were in fact nothing but unrighteous creatures.

In all truth and in all reality, they always had been, for this was the state in which they had been created, but now they had knowledge of the fact! Now, for the first time they knew it and understood just how unrighteous they were when compared to God. Their innocence was gone.

The stark naked facts of the matter shattered all their delusions of grandeur. In the cold light of their new found knowledge they realised just what they were. They understood that they were naked and unrighteous. So what did they do?

THEY TRIED TO COVER THEMSELVES UP

They could not undo what had been done. They could not rid themselves of the knowledge which they had acquired, so they did the next best thing. They tried to cover the new found knowledge of their nakedness up. They tried to hide the fact.

This second immediate result of the knowledge of how unrighteous they actually were is exactly the same for all men. It is an experience that many people go through today. They may spend many years of their lives caring nothing about God or the things of God. But when they start to question and delve into the matter and begin to realise just how righteous God is, and how unrighteous they are, their first reaction and response is to cover themselves up. They start to try and combat sin and unrighteousness in their lives.

How?

By turning to the law.

They say to themselves, I will do this thing, or I will do that thing, then I will be less unrighteous, and then I will not be quite so naked. But if the true Spirit of God is leading them, they will not receive any comfort from such an attitude, just the opposite. The more they look to the law for their righteousness, the more they will fear God. It is a vicious circle. The more they concentrate on doing better and becoming more righteous, the more they realise just how unrighteous they actually are. The more they try to cover it up, the more they realise just how much needs covering. The situation goes from bad to worse. There is only one possible result, just as Adam also discovered. And for the first time in his life, they became judges of evil thoughts.

THEY BECAME JUDGES OF EVIL THOUGHTS.

The fact that they became judges is evident by the fact that when God asked them why they had done what He had told them not to do, they judged and blamed others instead of themselves. Eve passed the blame on to the serpent who tempted her. Adam passed the blame on to Eve who tempted Him. Instead of judging themselves and accepting the responsibility for their own actions they played the game of pass the buck. Why? Because for the first time in their existence, they feared God.

THEY HID FROM GOD

Adam had never feared God before the fall. God was his friend, but not after the fall. Suddenly Adam knew that he was sinful. He knew that he was unrighteous, and this brought about a fear so great in him that he hid from God.

Their innocence had been removed. Their peace was shattered. For the first time, their new found knowledge caused them to see themselves for what they truly were, naked, unrighteous, imperfect, inherently sinful, mere creatures. And the knowledge of it brought about within them something which they had never experienced before, a thing called conscience, and the result of conscience - fear of God.

So the war began, and though I do not want to be too simplistic about it, this is what the war has been about ever since. The point must be made and securely founded that their new found knowledge of conscience was what it was all about."

Enquiry. "Well, it is all very interesting, and I do see the sense and logic of it. It answers quite a lot of previously unanswered questions, but I am not sure that it makes all that much difference. You did say before, that if we did not understand it correctly it was unbelievably dangerous, but I do not see why? I do not see what all of the fuss is about. Why should we be so concerned about the state in which Adam was created? Why should we be bothered as to whether he was inherently sinful or sinless? Even if the whole story is true, and it is not just a "type" or a parable. It all happened thousands of years ago, so what does it have to do with us today? What difference does it all make?"

Answer. "It makes the most unbelievable difference! The difference that it makes has the most cataclysmic repercussions on the whole of Christian teaching, the gospel, the doctrines of sin and righteousness, and on the work of the Holy Spirit. It is important to the point of devastation. It is not something which only makes a slight difference, but a most crucial difference. The correct understanding of this most basic foundation is a key which unlocks a most unbelievable wealth of understanding and eradicates the greatest error of all time."

Enquiry. "What are you talking about? How do you mean?"

Answer. "Because if we have been plunged into a battle through Adam's error, and if we do not understand what his error was, we could well find ourselves fighting the wrong battle, and making exactly the same mistake.

If we believe that Adam was created inherently righteous, that he was given the law to keep, power to do so, and fell from grace by breaking the law; and we believe that we are still fighting the same battle today, to wit, that we also have been given the law to keep, and that we also fall from grace by breaking it, then we are fighting the wrong battle!

If the teaching of Christianity which generally teaches that the original battle was concerned with the question - whether to commit actual sin or whether not to commit actual sin, is wrong, then we are also wrong in our belief that this is the battle today. We are fighting the wrong battle!

And what I am saying is that the battle in Eden was NOT - whether to commit actual sin or whether not to commit actual sin. It was NOT a matter of whether to break the law or whether not to break the law. Satan did NOT tempt Adam to break the law, because there was no law to break!

Satan's ploy was to tempt them to gain the knowledge between good and evil, to establish a law, so that they might establish an inherent righteousness within themselves.

If we therefore continue to believe that the battle was and still is whether or not to commit sin, then we are fighting a battle which does not, nor ever did exist, neither can it be won. If we say that our committing of actual sin is the battle, then we are trying to fight the effect, not the cause. And I tell you that the whole emphasis of Christianity which continually teaches that the battle is with man's inherent sinfulness is wrong! This is not the battle, and never was. The battle goes beyond sin itself to something far greater. Sin is only the result of the battle being lost.

Let me put it another way. If we use the title of John Milton's great poem - Paradise lost and Paradise Regained, the question which must now be asked, is - what was lost, and what is to be re-gained.

Paul tells us quite plainly that, "as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Rom 5:19. But what does he mean and how are we to understand it?

It is evident from all Christian teaching that Christ came to put right that which Adam lost through the fall! It is evident that Christ came to counteract what Adam had brought about! So, if Christ came to do that which would re-establish grace, and we believe that man was created inherently righteous before the fall, then it must follow that through Christ, one who believes on Him, is also to be rendered inherently righteous.

On the other hand, if man was created inherently sinful without any righteousness of his own, then something entirely different is to be re-gained by believing in Christ, to wit - Christ's righteousness being imputed to us once more, His covering us, an inherently sinful and unrighteous creature, and the understanding of "grace" does not include our being made inherently righteous at all, but our once more standing back under the shadow of the Light of Christ and looking to Him for our Life.

Paul does not say that by the disobedience of Adam many were made "sinful", but "sinners".

They were already inherently sinful, but by Adam's disobedience their sinfulness was activated. By activating a law, their inherently sinful nature could be imputed to them and bring about its penalty - death.

This point is not just a minor issue. It is so important and so great that it might even be said that it is the ONLY issue. It has repercussions right down the line on the mainstream Christian teaching on the way of salvation, how a man is to be saved, and what a man is to gain by believing on Christ.

When Jesus told us that - "A man must be born again or he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:3) what did He mean?

Did he mean that we must be born again and regenerated into an inherently righteous creature? Or did He mean that we were to remain inherently unrighteous, because this is how we were created, but that we must once more step back under the shadow of Christ to have His righteousness imputed to us, as it was in the very beginning?

The teaching of the very gospel of Christ is at stake.

Christ came to reconcile us back to God and to counteract the fall of Adam. Christ came to re-establish the state of grace which existed before the fall. And if we say that the state of grace before the fall included Adam being created inherently righteous or sinless then this is what Christ came to restore - the ability for man to be inherently sinless and righteous. If, on the other hand, we understand that Adam was not created inherently sinless nor righteous, but could only be allowed to exist as long as the shadow of Christ was covering him, then this is what Christ came to accomplish. And these two things are entirely different. They are as different as light is to darkness.

This is important! It is crucial! For if we do not understand this point correctly, we may, in the end, discover that in thinking that we are fighting for God, all that we are in fact doing is nothing more than compounding the original error of Adam, and the original temptation of Satan."

Enquiry. "How?"

Answer. "By teaching ourselves and others to look to the tree of the knowledge between good and evil in order to establish a quality of righteousness of our own. Of this same error, Paul wrote concerning Judaism -

"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Rom. 10:3.

If Adam was created inherently sinful and unrighteous, and only acceptable to God because God created him to exist beneath His own shadow, then he had been created in this unique way - to stand under the shadow of Christ.

And if Adam's fall from grace was brought about because Adam stepped out from under that shadow, then the re-establishing of grace means that God has provided the means by which we are to stand back under the shadow of Christ once again! It does NOT mean that we are to become inherently righteous in or of ourselves, because man was never created with such qualities in the first place.

So, if we continue to believe and teach others that we must have a righteousness of our own, within ourselves in order to be ultimately accepted by God, then we are doing nothing short of exactly the same as Adam - stepping out from under the shadow of Christ and looking for something of, or within ourselves, that is acceptable unto God. We are not be solving the problem at all. We are compounding it!

These facts must make us think very carefully indeed, and establish in our heart of hearts just exactly what the problem was in Eden. Was it Adam's inherent unrighteousness itself which was the cause of him falling from grace? Or was it Adam's gaining the knowledge of the fact that he was unrighteous?

I say that inherent unrighteousness or inherent sinfulness itself was never the problem. The fact that Adam was inherently sinful was not the problem. The fact that Adam was inherently unrighteous was not the problem. The problem occurred when Adam stepped out from under his shadow of covering which God had provided for him.

Adam's error lay in following the temptation of God's adversary to set up another God. It was in fact idolatry."

Enquiry. "Why was it idolatry? What was the other God that Adam set up?"

Answer. "HIMSELF! He set up another god in himself. He looked within himself for a righteousness which did not exist, to try and compete with God. He set up a law over himself which did not exist before. And this action of setting up a law, brought the law into force, by which his sinful nature could be imputed to him.

There are millions of Christians today who truly believe that their sinfulness is, and always has been the problem. This is why all of their teaching and preaching revolves around this point - the sinfulness of man since the fall, and how to combat it. It is not, it was not, and it never has been the problem! We are being side-tracked by the same adversary who originally tempted our first parents. The problem was not and is not how to rid ourselves of inherent sin, for man was created inherently sinful. The question is - how we are to deal with the knowledge of it!

Adam was as inherently unrighteous before the fall as he was after. He had not just been changed from a righteous creature into an unrighteous one by eating of the forbidden fruit. But when his eyes were opened and he saw for the first time the great difference between himself and God, how that God was Righteous and man was not, the problem of conscience, and fear of God arose.

The vast bulk of Christian teaching today is centred around what it calls "the sin problem". It is continually emphasising the blatantly incorrect teaching of how man can overcome sin, become better, more good, more righteous, more upright, more perfect, and the necessity of such things in order to be finally accepted by God. But this is not the problem, and it never was! This was not the battle. And as long as Satan, the father of all lies, the one who is more subtle than any beast that God had made, is still causing man to look at the wrong problem he is winning.

He is the root cause of countless millions of people barking up the wrong tree. The right tree to be barking up is the tree of Life, not the tree of knowledge between good and evil, for this is where the problem first began, and so it is today.

The battle is not whether to commit actual sin or whether not to commit actual sin, you have no option, no choice in the matter."

Enquiry. "Well I think that we do."

Answer. "Then I challenge you to stop committing all sin! Do not claim that you do have a choice whether to commit sin or not, without ever putting it to the test. If you object to my saying that you have no choice, then prove it to yourselves whether you have the choice or not. Stop committing ALL sin. Become sinless!

The Christian world is inundated with self-righteous teachers who say that it is a terrible thing to teach men that we must always be sinful, and that we cannot do anything about it. They say that we have the choice whether or not to commit sin. I do not care how righteous they appear to be, nor how eloquent their speeches, nor how much they make their boast of being led by the Spirit. I tell you in all truth that NO such statements are made by the Spirit of God, but by that same spirit of that same deceiver who first led Adam to look for such a quality within himself. And to all of them, we must say - Get thee behind me Satan. For by the means of this same subtle temptation you first tricked my ancestor, Adam.

I tell you that you are sinful, you were born sinful and you will die sinful. And no matter how long you may live, nor how hard you endeavour to try and become sinless the desired state will always elude you, because man was not created sinless, nor righteous in himself in the first place!

And as long as Satan has got us all pre-occupied with becoming inherently sinless in ourselves he is diverting us from the real war, the war of whether we should submit ourselves to the righteousness of God or establish a righteousness within ourselves.

He tricked Adam into believing that it was the right way to go, and now he is tricking us also. He has got us all in the wrong battleground, fighting each other over things that we can do nothing about, diverting our attention from the real issue."

Enquiry. "What is the real issue?"

Answer. "The true understanding of God's grace towards us, sinful beings, and what it entails. What we are to benefit from the grace of Christ which is freely offered to us. And how we can fall from it, as Adam did before us.

If the whole point of the Bible is to teach us and show us about God, Christ, and the way of salvation for man, then we cannot hope for it to make any sense if we do not first understand what it is that we are to be saved from.

Does the vanity which we were all made subject to lead us to look upon God as our all powerful, all protective shadow under which we are to abide? Or does our vanity lead us in the same direction that it led Adam, and cause us to look for something good within ourselves, so that we can have some righteousness within ourselves to trust in?

Do we look upon God as our friend or our enemy? Do we look upon God as our shadow of covering, our provider, as Adam did before the fall? Or do we fear because of our sinful state, as Adam did after the fall? Do we look upon God as our Saviour? Or do we look upon Him as a judge, a tormentor, the One who condemns us? Do we cry out to God "Abba". (daddy), "Father" as Adam did before the fall? Or do we hide ourselves from Him in fear, trembling and shame because of our nakedness and our lack of anything good, as Adam did after the fall? This is the question, and this is the battle. Who will win this battle for your conscience, - God or Satan?

After Adam had lost his innocence, when for the first time he realised what an imperfect creature he was in comparison to God, he knew that he was naked, (unrighteous). He had been unrighteous before the fall, but now he knew it. And we are told -

"Unto Adam also and unto his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them." Gen. 3:21.

This act, by God is one of many "types" presented to us throughout the Bible. No words were spoken by God as He gave them their clothes to cover their nakedness, but it was God who made the clothes, and it was God who clothed them.

This was a "type" for both them, and for us to understand that it was He, God who would do this. God did not tell them to make clothes for themselves. They had originally knitted together fig leaves in an attempt to do so, but God would have none of it. It was He who made their covering for them, and He clothed them with the covering which He, God, had provided.

This is our first lesson. We cannot cover ourselves. We need covering by God. We have no righteousness of our own to cover ourselves with. We need covering by having Christ's Righteousness imputed to us. - "I council thee to buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness does not appear." Rev. 3:18."For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so that being clothed we shall not be found naked." 2 Cor 5:2-3."

Enquiry. "But it was not Satan who gave us the law, but God. It was God who gave us the law!"

Answer. "True. But we must understand why He did it!

From that moment on, the war began. It has always been the same war, the fight between God and Satan for the supremacy of the conscience of man. As we go forward from the time of Adam, the Bible gives us a blow by blow account of the unfolding history of the war, giving us, many "types" and examples, such as Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to show us continually just how the battle for grace was being fought.

And God waited for approximately two and a half thousand years after Adam and the fall, before He called a man named Moses for the major strategic move, to give man a glimpse of the true difference between righteousness and sinfulness, by giving man the laws by which they could see and know the difference!

The giving of the law was a major event in the battle for the conscience of man, but all too few people today understand why it was given, the reasons for it, or the implications of God's action.

Why was the law given?

Having spent most of his life as lawgiver, not long before his death, Moses gave the following instruction, "Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee." Deut. 31:26.

Please note here, that the law was not to be a witness for them, but against them!

The apostle, Paul, fully understood why the law was given, and its implications. He tells us about it so many times, on one occasion referring to it as "THE MINISTRATION OF DEATH" - "But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious." 2 Cor. 3:7.

What? God's Commandments, the glorious law of love - the ministration of death? Perhaps you think that Paul was being a little harsh in his choice of words? If so, then you had better brace yourself because he emphasises this matter many times, using a whole string of caustic adjectives! How about the following for a few examples?

IT IS A CURSE. Gal. 3:10-13.

IT IS A WORKER OF WRATH. Rom. 4:15.

IT IS THAT WHICH MAKES SIN ALIVE. Rom. 7:8.

IT IS A BRINGER OF GUILT. Rom. 3:19.

IT IS THE STRENGTH OF SIN. 1 Cor. 15:56.

IT IS THE BRINGER OF DEATH. Rom. 7:9.

IT IS THE MEANS OF JUDGEMENT. Rom. 5:18.

IT IS ENMITY. Eph. 2:15.

IT IS A YOKE OF BONDAGE. Gal. 5:1.

There are some, who virtually accuse Paul of blasphemy, or even a fool for saying such things, but this is not to be allowed. Statements such as these are not blasphemous, nor foolish. They are the evidence that he understood the matter with a perfect understanding, unlike many of the people whom he was talking to at the time.

There are others who try to excuse Paul for saying such things. They think that he was just having an "off day" when he wrote them, but he was not. He repeated them time after time. He was continually trying to get us to understand how important it was that we should realise that the law was nothing more than "a curse", "the bringer of death", and "the strength of sin".

How can this be? some will ask. How can God's holy and good law of love, be nothing more than a curse to us?

The answer is simple, because we are not righteous! We were never created with such a quality in the first place."

Enquiry. "Then why, if the law was the ministration of death did God command Moses to give it to man? If the law was nothing more than the strength of sin, a yoke of bondage and enmity, then what was God doing when He instructed Moses to give this law, this ministration of death to us?"

Answer. "This is no great puzzle. The answer to this question is quite obvious if you think about it. God was showing us the full implications of exactly what was required of us, for no other reason than to show us our true state of guilt and death. He was showing us exactly what it was that Adam had set up over us by eating of the tree of knowledge between good and evil. Paul simplified it as much as possible when he wrote -

"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. 3:19-20.

This is just about the root of the matter. The law is the bringer of the knowledge of sin. The law was given to show man the difference between sin and righteousness. Man might have suspected such things, but by the law came the proof and the ability to distinguish between sin and righteousness. It is only by the law that we know that there is such a thing as sin. If God had not given man the law on Sinai, and if Jesus had not shown us how great an area the law really covered, encompassing our every action, word, and thought, then we would hardly understand how great a thing sin is at all.

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Rom. 7:7.

In this text again Paul is showing us how he viewed the law as the bringer of the knowledge of sin."

Enquiry. "But why? Why is it necessary for man to understand about his sinful condition? Why is it necessary for man to know the difference between sin and righteousness? If it is true that no man can, or ever could, fulfil the works of the law, then why torment us with its knowledge? Why bait and goad us by showing us what it means to be righteous, and telling us to be righteous, when it always was utterly impossible for us to accomplish such a thing?"

Answer. "So that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Rom. 3:19.

Why do we need to know about sin? So that we would shut our mouths about how good we are! So that our hurtful boasting of how we are not as bad as others would cease! So that our most vain and foolish imaginations of how righteous we are would be shattered! So that we would become guilty before God.

The Law was given to show everybody who wants to know, the great difference between God and man, to show us just how sinful and unrighteous man is. It was given so that we might be able to examine our every action, our every word, and our every thought of every hour of each day of our lives, and realise just how sinful we really are. The law was given to show us the truth of the text which tells us - "there is none righteous, no, not one." Rom 3:10.

The Bible tells us that we are not righteous, but so that we should not puzzle as to why we are not righteous we have been given the law to show us. The Bible tells us that we are all sinful, needing a Saviour, and to not leave us in any doubt of this fact it shows us just why we are sinful and needing a Saviour, by showing us the law by which we are judged to be sinners. In this way our mouths should be stopped from foolish boasting of how good we are, and how pleasing to God we must be because of any attempts at doing righteousness or good works of our own.

The law was not given so that we could compare ourselves with it, and give ourselves a pat on the back for not being as bad as we might be. Neither that we should judge others concerning what they do, but that we should judge ourselves and see how unworthy and unrighteous we really are. To make us guilty before God. To show all men who were under it just what was required of them if they were going to be made acceptable to God by their own righteousness. It was as if God was saying - Do you really want to stand on your own two feet? Do you really want to have life in yourselves and not in me? Then do this and live! This is what I require of you. Do this. Be sinless! Be righteous! And then you will have life in yourselves.

It was one of the most sarcastic challenges that God has ever laid upon man."

Enquiry. "A Sarcastic challenge?"

Answer. "Of course it was. It was as if God was saying - Here, this is what Adam set up over himself, and this is what you continue to set up over yourselves by despising the grace which I offer you. Here, I will show you what it means to be righteous, you ungrateful piece of dust. Do this! Do it perfectly, without fault, without error, without falling from it, neither in action, word or thought, and you will have life in yourselves.

The challenge - Do this and live! Do this and you will have life in yourself, could only be fulfilled if it was perfectly complied with!

Because any who did, or could do it perfectly would indeed be righteous, totally without sin, perfect as God is perfect. But, as man was not created with such qualities in the first place, it was therefore, and will be forever impossible for any man to achieve it.

It was done, not to show us how to become righteous, but to show us just how unrighteous we are.

Remember - Adam and Eve were both naked before the fall, the term naked being used time after time throughout the Scriptures as a type for unrighteousness, but Adam and Eve were not ashamed. It was only after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit that their eyes were opened concerning their nakedness, and then, they being ashamed, sewed together fig leaves to hide their shame and cover themselves up.

God's whole intent in giving the law, was that it might have the same effect, to open our eyes concerning the depth of our sinfulness, to break Satan's power over mankind, to stop us thinking that we are, or could be righteous in ourselves, by showing us a sample of just what had to be fulfilled in order to be righteous. The ultimate aim of course, being that all who came under the chastising rod of this schoolmaster, the law, might be led back to grace, that they might be led to Christ. That they might look at the law of righteousness, be convicted of their totally unrighteous state, realise that there had to be another way, and turn back to God in faith, to be accepted on the grounds of grace and grace alone.

So what did Satan do in response? His initial temptation in Eden was to get man to look within himself for a quality of righteousness so that he would fall from grace, so now he did something very similar. To prevent a true re-establishing of the teaching of grace, he so blinded the minds of men and tricked them into believing that this was not a sarcastic challenge on God's behalf at all, but something which, with a good bit of effort, considerable prayer, and power endued from on high, they actually could perform and accomplish.

He turned the very thing that should have been used to convict them of their sinful, unrighteous state into a means of obtaining a righteous state. Yet again, I am caused to stand back in wonder at his subtlety, and be amazed at the sheer brilliance of the plan.

It did however have one drawback. As it always was, and always will be, impossible for man to keep the law perfectly and thus be pronounced righteous, a false belief had to be introduced."

Enquiry. "What false belief?"

Answer. "When the people continually failed to achieve the desired goal, to wit, perfect righteousness, Satan gave relief to their consciences by causing them to believe that God did not really expect them to fulfil all of the law lock stock and barrel, but only to do their best. The fact that nowhere in the Scriptures are we, or were we, ever told that to do our best was good enough, but to do it all perfectly, to fulfil it all down to the last jot and tittle was what was required, seemed to conveniently escape their notice.

Satan was very successful in his false teaching. He blinded their eyes to the enormity of sin and the unbelievable depths of just what the law did require of them, to the degree, that the majority of Judaism turned into a writhing mass of self-righteous hypocrisy. They turned into a people who rigidly and rigorously obeyed some of the most simple, peripheral laws, such as paying tithe of the products of their herb gardens, while they almost totally ignored the true use of the law. As Jesus complained of them time and time again, as in -

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgement, mercy, and faith." Matt. 23:23.

By the time that Jesus was born, the ruling and teaching of the Pharisees over the people had for the greater part turned Judaism into an utter mass of cold, aloof, idolaters, full of deceit, ungodliness, double talking, double dealing, and self righteous hypocrisy. People who were lovers of themselves more than lovers of God, harsh, unmerciful, unforgiving, legalistic, bigots, who delighted in punishing and degrading others who they considered to be more sinful than themselves, while at the same time, were ready to put to death anybody who dared to suggest that they were not the apple of God's eye, his chosen, his elect, and basically the best thing since sliced bread.

One of Jesus' parables shows us this so very clearly.

"Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Luke. 18:10-14.

This is a wonderful parable which explains the matter which we are presently concerned with. Two men, the first a Pharisee who really did think that he was better than other men. He believed that God was doing a wonderful work in his life by making him more righteous than others, and he was thanking God for it, for he said - "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are". And then goes on to list his good works and his reasons why he was not as other men were, using the law as his guide.

This man was using the law for the wrong purpose. He was not using the law to convict himself of how great a sinner he was, but to congratulate himself for being such a good person. HE WAS SELF-RIGHTEOUS! He was a person who believed that he had a quality of righteousness within himself.

This Pharisee believed that God was doing a wonderful work within his life, making him upright and righteous, and had come to the temple to offer up his prayer of thanks.

This man had no real true understanding of the purpose of the law at all. He was not using it to shut up his mouth from such self-righteous boasting, neither to make him guilty before God, but for the very opposite purpose. He was using it as the cause for his boasting, because he saw himself to be so good, and that to such an extent, that he even dared to look down upon the other man, the publican, and use him as an example of an unrighteous man that he could compare himself with.

This man did not see his own unrighteous state. He was too busy using the law for the wrong purpose. He had not the faintest idea what the law truly demanded of him. He had not got a clue just how far out of the way he was. He was so steeped in self-righteousness that he felt no sin within himself worth asking forgiveness for. He was so busy polishing his own halo that the whole true purpose of the law was lost unto him.

The publican, on the other hand, had a different outlook altogether. He was very much aware of his sinful state. He knew only too well what the law demanded of him and just how far away he was from doing it. The law was working well in this man's heart. He could not boast of his good works because he knew only too well that he had none to boast of. His mouth was most certainly shut from all such foolish boasting, because he knew himself to be truly guilty. He dared not even lift his eyes up to heaven.

The Pharisee stood there, a proud and arrogant example of self-righteousness, declaring his own worth, but the publican trembled even to lift his eyes up, but beat his own breast in sorrow and despair begging God to forgive him his sins and unworthiness, saying "God, be merciful to me a sinner".

The comparison between the two is exposed and clearly shown, and Jesus ends by telling us that the publican was justified but the Pharisee was not. The Jewish people had become so hardened, that the majority of them did not even recognise the very One, their own Messiah and Saviour, who was the fulfilment of their own prophecies, and as always, hypocrisy, bigotry, and self-righteousness go hand in hand with the persecution and hatred of our fellow men.

The person who is Spiritual and knows full well that they have no righteousness of their own, but are only sinful, without a single speck of anything that they would dare to call a righteousness within them, also knows full well that any acceptance before God that they may be granted relies utterly on the grace of God.

This fact is so real and important to them, that they dare not accuse any of their fellow men of falling short, because they know full well just how short they fall themselves. How can somebody who is so deeply aware of their own sinfulness, accuse another of theirs? How can somebody who has such an acute awareness of their own need of forgiveness, not forgive another? How can somebody who truly understands that they so utterly rely on mercy, not be merciful in return?

But, when self-righteousness is found within a man, and they do not see just how appallingly sinful they are, but actually do believe that they have a quality of righteousness within themselves, the result is the opposite. Hypocrisy and bigotry take hold, which in turn allows the hypocrite to point the finger, accuse, condemn, and very often persecute and harass those whom they think are evil compared to themselves.

The principle that grace breeds an attitude of graciousness is terribly important. The Bible is filled with texts showing us what manner of people we should be, kind, loving, forgiving, merciful, compassionate, etc. Not that these attitudes have any merit in themselves, but that they are the result of one who does understand and is in a state of grace.

All such texts which tell us that by their fruits you shall know, etc, are not telling us that we are made any more acceptable unto God by our fruits or because of them, but they are the evidence that the Spirit of God has moved upon us to show us our own unworthiness, our own unrighteousness, our own need of forgiveness.

So Christ died and was raised again from the dead, and the Christian message went abroad. The disciples began to preach the gospel of deliverance from the penalty of sin. They began preaching the message of sins forgiven, grace, and peace. Then Paul was raised up by God to go out from Judaism to the Gentiles, and teach the great gospel teaching of Justification by faith and by faith alone, without the works of the law. Paul endeavoured continually to show how a man was fully acceptable unto God because his sins had been paid for. He taught that a man was justified by God because Christ had died for sin and been raised again from the dead, and that his death and resurrection was imputed to man. In short, he started to show and preach "grace" once again, to show that the offer of a free salvation was open to every man who would hear and accept it. It was free, just as grace had been given freely to Adam in the beginning.

Paul's message of grace was based upon the same principle that I have already outlined concerning the state of grace that Adam had originally been created in.

Adam had originally been created in a state of grace where his unrighteousness had not been imputed to him, being covered by the light of Christ and designed as an inherently unrighteous creature to stand under Christ's shadow. The gospel of grace taught by Paul showed us how that same grace was freely offered to all men who would put their trust in God and return to stand beneath Christ's shadow once more. He showed us that Adam had set up a law, by which the guilt and condemnation for our unrighteousness could be imputed to us, and the result of this - death. But he also showed how Christ had taken that same guilt and condemnation upon Himself, being faithful in that He died in our place, and had been raised again from the dead so that His death for sin could be imputed to us.

Just as Adam had originally been created in a state where there was no law to condemn him for his unrighteousness, now Christ has removed the condemning power of the law from us, so that even though we are still inherently unrighteous, there is now no more condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, because the power of death had been overcome.