Failure stinks. Can you imagine being the first human to have failed? The Bible reveals humanity’s failings, especially those that resulted in sin. Not every failure is considered sin, but at some point we all fall short of God’s moral law. Romans 3:23 declares, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Amazingly, God forgives our failings. And his forgiveness is most present in his gracious sovereignty: he allows us the space to fail and gifts us the mercy to press on.
God’s Sovereignty in Giving the Imago Dei
The idea of sovereignty can make us feel uncomfortable. Frenetic emotions overwhelm us at the thought of a deity having supreme power and authority over us. The Bible speaks of two people ensnared by these problematic emotions, and theirs was a face-to-face relationship with the God of the universe. Their failing was humanity’s original sin, and when we look back at the account in Genesis, we detect some unexpected revelations about God’s sovereignty.
Adam and Eve were God’s original image bearers. A commonly used Latin term for this idea of image bearing is the Imago Dei (Image of God). One of the Hebrew terms used in Genesis for this idea is demuth (דְּמוּת), which means to model or fashion in one’s likeness. Imagine a potter seeing a beautiful piece of pottery and wanting to shape another piece in its likeness. In this case, the potter is God, we are the clay, and the beauty God wanted to recreate was him own. We read in Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” In verse 27 he continues, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Unlike any other creature in the garden, God designed us from his own mold. He sovereignly chose his image bearers to reflect him and his character. Yet it was the Imago Dei, Adam and Eve, that brought catastrophic failure to his creation.
The Fall of the Imago Dei
Adam and Eve were instructed to take care of the garden of Eden. God told Adam specifically that he was there “to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen 2:15 NASB). His plan had only one stipulation: neither Adam nor Eve were to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or they would die (2:17). One of the trees that sustained them in the garden was called the tree of life (2:19). But the pleasure of a sustained life came to an end when the serpent slithered into the space. The serpent told Eve, “You will be like God” (3:5). The cunning words deceived Eve and she ate, as did Adam. Humanity fell that day as the Imago Dei not only failed to reflect God’s goodness, but they also failed to see him as good.
God’s Sovereignty in the Fall
Yet God was sovereign within the fall. He allowed his image bearers space to fail. Adam and Eve knew their response to the serpent was wrong. The moment Eve shared the fruit with Adam, “then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (3:7). Overwhelming fear grasped Adam as he remembered God’s deadly instruction: “in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (2:17). Before the fall, Adam and Eve had known no concept of forgiveness. They hadn’t needed it. What would happen now?
God found them and asked, “Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat?” (3:11). He knew they had. But God didn’t emphasize the death penalty when he confronted them about their failure to obey. Instead, while he pronounced that their future would reflect the consequences of their sin, he gave them a new revelation of sacrifice and forgiveness. No creature, natural or spiritual, could have imagined the reconciling power of forgiveness until that moment in the garden.
God’s Sovereignty after the Fall
God continues to be sovereign even after the fall. Shortly after God spoke with Adam and Eve, he expelled them from the garden. Their failure, however, had come as no surprise to God. In the way that he had planned them to work the garden, he gave them work outside the garden. In the way he had planned them to be fruitful inside the garden, he gave them fruitfulness outside the garden. Both work and childbearing would come with a cost, with toil and pain (3:16–19), but God would give their children a future and a hope (Jer 29:11). God gave the couple a way forward and mercy to press on.
Conclusion
Every biblical story has complexity and simplicity. This text shows us the very nature of God. His mercy is as great as his power. He is there in our weakest moments. His sovereignty is everlasting. He knows our next move and is there when we make mistakes. Forgiveness was not just for the garden; it is for us to experience every day.
Wes is a writer and thinker who hails from midwest Kansas. He is pursuing his a master's degree in Media Art and Worship from Dallas Theological Seminary, and interning at Kelli Sallman Writing & Editing as part of his degree program.