The State of Nature

Here’s an excerpt from The State of Nature, William VanDoodewaard’s contribution to the July issue of Tabletalk:

Life in Eden was marvelous. Our first parents experienced complete vitality in the best of a pristine, beautiful creation. It was a world without suffering or death. Everything was very good, and at the center of it all, Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect fellowship with God and with each other in their state of innocence.

After the joy of Eve’s marriage to Adam in Genesis 2, the serpent, “who was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made” (Gen. 3:1), appeared in Eden. We know from other places in Scripture that God, who is sovereign over all in perfect holiness, is not and cannot be the author of evil (Deut. 32:4; Job 34:10; Isa. 6:3). Genesis does not reveal why God allowed Satan to rebel, slander, and deceive; nor is it fully revealed why God purposed that man be allowed to sin against Him. But, as in the book of Job, what we need to know is revealed to us. The events in Genesis 3 are according to the counsel of God’s holy will, ultimately serving to reveal His glory and work together for good for His people.

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