The Dispensation of Innocence, Gen. 2:15-3:21, Antediluvian Age Gen. 1:3-8:14

[BanjoPicker]

The Ante-diluvian Age is that period of time from the re-creation of the Earth and the creation of man to the flood of Noah. There are two dispensations in this age: Innocence and conscience.
One should study in detail the history of God's dealings with man in each past age and then the prophecy predicting the future dealings with man in each future age. When this is done by the reader, it should be a simple matter to solve many perplexing problems that men have in their minds concerning the Bible. Many problems will automatically clear up, and the rest will be simple to solve as one studies the Bible with these facts in mind. One can then see from God's standpoint what God had in mind before He began to bring His plan to pass, as revealed in the Scriptures.

Definition of Innocence
The word innocence itself is simple to understand. It merely means the quality of being without consciousness of evil, harmlessness, freedom from crime, guilt or sin. An innocent person is one who is free from guilt or violation of any law, guiltless sinless, pure, upright, harmless.
The innocence as applied to a period of time, or a dispensation means that it was an age of sinlessness, innocence, harmlessness, and freedom from guilt or sin on the part of man who was responsible to rule for God in this period. Adam was perfectly innocent when put in the garden of Eden. He was not even self-conscious to the extent of being ashamed of his nakedness. "They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed" (Gen. 2:25). They became self-conscious of their nakedness when sin entered: "The eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked" (Gen. 3:7). When a person is in this state, we could speak of his being God-conscious-perfectly innocent of all wrong doing. In the fall, man lost this God-consciousness and gained self-consciousness. Conscience was awakened and both man and woman became sinners knowing by experience both good and evil.
This former age called the Dispensation of Innocence is because man was to be tested in this first probationary period while in a state of innocence. He was tested as to right and wrong, or to the free exercise of his created will power while he was sinless and free from all evil.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The Length of the Dispensation of Innocence

The length of the Dispensation of Innocence is unknown, but judging from Santa's character and his dealings with all men of all ages, we can historically and scripturally conclude that he did not let God's work go very long without trying to defeat God. He was jealous of Adam and he would not be satisfied that man should be ruling in his place as governor of Earth. He no doubt got busy immediately to cause the fall of man and regain dominion of the restored Earth. through man. One could say the length of this dispensation to be six days but that could be followed by a question mark.
This means one does not know how long this age lasted, but putting it one week cannot be very far off because of the following:

Satan does not let man alone today unless he already controls the individual and there is no fight to get him.

The story of the record of the creation of man and of his fall continues without a break or without any time element between them, thus indicating they followed each other in close succession.

We have record of God resting on only one sabbath day (Gen. 2:1-3).

The next statement about God is that He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8). This had to be after the sabbath of rest, for God rested on that day.

Neither Adam nor Eve had yet had time to visit and eat of the Tree of Life, for when they sinned they were driven out of the garden and kept from this tree lest should eat of it and live forever (Gen. 3:22-24).

Both the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of God and evil evidently shown to man so that he could distinguish them from all the other trees and be able to tell which was the forbidden one and which was the Tree of Life. The fact that they went first to the Tree of Knowledge indicates that they were curious to look this tree over to see why it was such a different tree from all the other trees of the garden. When curiosity is aroused in any person, he is generally not long in trying to satisfy the curiosity.

The serpent was near the forbidden tree at the time man came to satisfy his curiosity, which was evidently aroused when God gave the commandment not to eat of the tree, and that was only one day of man's creation, when he was put in the garden. Man could have sinned the very next day when God was resting from all His work, for there is no command for man to rest and no record that he did rest on that day. It would be ridiculous to ask man to rest before he had worked one day. The first day of man's work was the day on which he was created, for he named the animals, and that was a good day's work for any man. If God did teach him in the beginning to rest on the seventh day after six day's work, as some teach, then Adam's first sabbath would have been on the fourth day of the second week instead of the seventh.

 

[SemperFiDawg]

The Ante-diluvian Age is that period of time from the re-creation of the Earth and the creation of man to the flood of Noah.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Man's fall was at least before he knew his wife and had off-spring, for the first children born were sinful as well as those that are born today, for death has passed upon all men for that all have sinned (Rom. 5:12-21). This would prove that he sinned at least before a few days passed. He was married to the woman on Day Six of the restoration of the Earth, for he said on that day, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall become one flesh" (Gen. 2:21-25). Judging that he was a normal man he would not wait indefinitely to love his wife and carry out his creative purpose and satisfy his natural desire. Few men, if any, ever wait a week to fulfill the purpose of marriage, and we can believe that Adam was no exception. Hence, we can conclude he sinned before Eve conceived and that man was not long in a state on innocence before he ate of the forbidden fruit.
We must add here that the forbidden fruit was not intercourse with his wife, as many rebels against truth teach, for this he was created to do, else he could never multiply and replenish the Earth as he was commanded the first day of his existence (Gen. 1:26-28). He was commanded to have children, but not to eat of the tree; hence the two acts could not have been the same.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The forbidden fruit was simply a natural fruit that grew on a tree as is plainly stated of it: "The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden . . . And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life in the mitsd of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil . . . And the Lord God commanded the man, saying Of every tree in 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 . . . The woman saw that the tree was good for food . . . she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat" Gen. 02:, 16,17; 3:1-6, 11, 12.
It is pure nonsense to claim that such simple language of eating of the fruit of the tree was sexual intercourse. The words food and eat are used fourteen times in Gen. 2-3, proving that natural food and real eating was the cause of the fall. The Tree of Knowledge is classed as one of many other trees in the garden, and it is just as easy to prove that eating of every tree of the garden is sexual intercourse as to prove this of only one of these trees.
In the very beginning of the Bible one must learn to reject the foolish theories of men and believe what is plainly written. This is the only way to get a knowledge of the Bible. If we are to question and do away with what is written we had better put up the Bible forever and have nothing to do with it, for we shall receive less judgment in the end than we will if we change everything it says
. Taking the Bible literally, therefore, will enable us to get a simple knowledge of the truth and what cause man to fall and when. There is no mystery attached to the fall at all. There can be no misunderstanding at all if we believe what God cause to be recorded. The fall could have been caused by doing that God could have commanded man not to do. It was not the nature of the fruit that caused the sin, but it was being DISOBEDIENT TO GOD THAT CONSTITUTED THE SIN. This is plainly stated in Rom. 5:12-21, "For if by one man's offence . . . by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Again "where no law is, there is no transgression" and "sin is the transgression of the law" Rom. 4:15; 1 Jn. 3:4. If man had been told not to do any one of a thousand acts a transgression of any one commandment would have constituted the sin that cause the fall and would have brought the death penalty.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Favorable Beginning of Man in Innocence

Man and woman fresh from the hand of the Creator had physical spiritual, and eternal life; communion and fellowship with God and all creatures in the new creation; dominion over that creation; the revealed will of God and His law and the knowledge of penalties and rewards; God-consciousness or innocence; a natural disposition of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control; the power to make free choice and to rule his dominion and defend it from all enemies; and a right to attain to a higher glory should he prove true in his test.

Man was a miniature of God and soul and spirit faculties and had a physical body made in the image and likeness of God. He was uncorrupt, free from prejudices, sinful lusts, and all evil. He was in a highly enlightened state and of a glorious spiritual, moral, and mental makeup. He could enjoy the pleasures of that state to the full. He had power over Satan and all fallen spirits that were loose in the Earth. He could have resisted them and remained true to God if he had so desired. The animal and sensitive natures of man were free to enjoy themselves in everything aside from the one forbidden tree. Nothing else he could have done would have been sin at that time. As time went on, God no doubt would have revealed more of His moral law and government, but at that time there was only one command to obey.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Man's body was perfect. His senses were quick and lively and able to perform with vigor and delight their various operations. He enjoyed nature in all its original beauty, purity, and harmony, revealing the goodness of the Creator. His soul-passions, appetites, feelings, and desires, and his spirit-faculties were in perfect union with God and were exercised in all dignity over the new Earth and all things therein.
He enjoyed the fulness of natural, spiritual, and eternal life and could have remained in that condition if he had obeyed one commandment. The law of his nature contained those moral principles concerning good and evil which were the measures of his duty to God, to the universe, and to himself and his posterity. He understood fully the law and its penalties and his great responsibility to God and his own kind.
God placed in man's reasonable spirit and in his sensitive soul the principle and power of obedience and made a covenant with him on condition of obedience. He was perfectly holy, but in a mutable state. He was sinless, but capable of sin. He was eternal, but placed on probation. He was invested with power to prevent his falling. yet lived under the possibility of it. He was complete in his being, but receptive to sinful impressions.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Man had a wonderful helper in his wife, who was made from a rib taken out of him. As it is true today, so it was then; a woman can either make or break a man.
Of woman's creation Matthew Henry says, "not out of man's head to be topped by him, nor out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his are to be protected by him, and from near his heart to be beloved by him." This expresses the fact that man and woman were to be partners in life. If they had both co-operated with God, the curse never would have come. There would have been no sin, no sickness, no death, no pain, no failure, and no unhappiness in all creation, and no cancellation of eternal life.
Man, before the fall, was not to be a lazy being, for God put him in the garden to dress it and TO KEEP IT (preserve from enemies as expressed in Gen. 3:24; 17:9, 10; 18:19). He was to eat of the wonderful fruits, nuts, grains and vegetables that grew in the restored Earth. He was to reproduce his own kind and keep them obedient to God and in harmony with all creation. He was free to utilize the whole creation to the best good of all concerned. He was to consecrate himself to the best and highest good of being and of the universe and remain a free and eternal subject of the Moral Governor of all. These and other favorable conditions made it entirely and easily possible for man to have been true to his trust and rule the Earth for God forever.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The Test of Man on Probation Gen. 2:16, 17

Man, being created a free moral agent, needed to be tested to see whether he would remain true to God or not before being in the eternal responsibility that God had in mind for him. Adam had the power to choose for himself whether he wanted to obey or disobey God and need only to be enlightened as to what the will of God was. God made known to him His will and the rewards of obedience and penalty for disobedience; so there was no excuse for man to choose the evil and co-operate with the enemy of both God and man. Being created with power to prevent his own fall and with free choice in the matter, man was and still is held entirely responsible to God for his choice and its results.

 

[BassMan31]

The Test of Man on Probation Gen. 2:16, 17

Man, being created a free moral agent, needed to be tested to see whether he would remain true to God or not before being in the eternal responsibility that God had in mind for him. Adam had the power to choose for himself whether he wanted to obey or disobey God and need only to be enlightened as to what the will of God was. God made known to him His will and the rewards of obedience and penalty for disobedience; so there was no excuse for man to choose the evil and co-operate with the enemy of both God and man. Being created with power to prevent his own fall and with free choice in the matter, man was and still is held entirely responsible to God for his choice and its results.

where does it say this? this is completely fabricated.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Adam was placed on probation or trial. If he had proved true he would have attained to a higher glory than before Rom. 3:23, and could have lived forever to enjoy the fruits of obedience. The penalty for sin was eternal death, so naturally the reward for obedience was life, eternal life. He would have lived forever, physically as well as spiritually. If one can conceive of how man would have continued forever physically and would have continued to multiply and live a nature existence, he can also conceive of how this is going to be true in the New Earth when the curse is removed, and when man is again placed in the sinless state he was in before the fall and before this present sinful career of the Earth and its inhabitants. One can envision how there will be eternal generations of natural peoples on Earth in the future.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Even after the fall, man could have lived forever if he had eaten of the Tree of Life, the reason God drove him out of the garden and placed cherubims to guard the Tree of Life from was "lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" Gen. 2:22-24. If sinful man could have lived forever physically if he had eaten of the Tree of Life, then it certainly is clear that natural, redeemed man in the New Earth will also be able to eat of this tree and live forever Rev. 21:1-7; 22:1-5.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The fact that man would have lived forever physically even after he had sinned and was under the sentence of death if he had eaten of the Tree of Life, proves that the penalty for sin was not merely physical death. It was eternal death. No fruit of the Tree of Life could have cancelled this eternal death penalty. It could have made man incapable of dying physically and of being redeemed from death. He11 and the grave, so that he could become a higher being than he ever could be in the natural fallen state. God really wanted man to live forever physically but not in spiritual and eternal death or separation from Him by sin. It was in God's plan to therefore to redeem man spiritually and eternally before placing him back on the Earth to live forever physically.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The particular test for man in the dispensation of Innocence was that he should not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which would result in the loss of his dominion and fellowship with God. It would seem that sinless and perfect man could have obeyed one simply law if sinful and imperfect men of today are obligated to keep many laws. It would seem that man could have kept himself true to God when today redeemed man lives in righteousness and true holiness according to the gospel (Rom. 6:1-23; 8:1-13; 12:1, 2; Gal. 5:16-26; Eph. 4:22-24; Titus 2:11-13; 3:5-7; 1 Jn. 1:7-9; 2:29; 3:7-10; 5:1-4, 18).

 

[BanjoPicker]

God's purpose in this Dispensation.

The purpose of God in testing man while in a state of innocence was to see whether or not man would obey Him, so that He could be trusted in an eternal responsibility in connection with the Earth and God's universal kingdom. God had seen how Lucifer, the first ruler of the Earth, had been lifted up in pride and had rebelled against His sovereignty, so it was only natural for Him to test the new ruler of the Earth to see if he would exalt himself as Satan did Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:11-17; 1 Tim. 3:6.
God planned that if man fell, he should do it before he ate of the Tree of Life, so that he would not have live forever in a sinful state. Therefore, He tested man soon after creation instead of later on in life. God future intended that if man fell, he should do it before he had off-spring, so that his children could be born into the world on the same level with himself in order that God could have mercy upon all alike.