GOD’S GRACE IN THE PROMISE
God’s grace began in the garden, a place of paradise made specifically for His most precious creation. We were and continue to be the one object in all of God’s creative work that was made in His image.
So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food. And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day. Thus, the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array (Genesis 1:27-2:1).
At the end of four of the first five days of creation, day 1 (vs. 4), day three (vs. 12), day four (vs. 18), and finally day five (vs. 21), the Bible says, “And God saw that it was good.” However, on the sixth and last day of all creation, when God created us, man and woman, he looked at all creation and said in verse 31b, “it was very good.” Mankind is unique and special to God. We were created by an act of the grace of God.
Note that “man” is here (and often in Scripture) used in a generic sense to include both man and woman. Both male and female were created (the details of their physical formation being given in Genesis 2) in God’s image.[1] – Institute for Creation Research
In addition to this great love that God has for us, we see that God’s statement, “it was very good,” must have been made before the fall of mankind both in sequence and in expression. The fall of mankind does not take place in biblical arrangement until Genesis chapter 3. As to expression, God’s statement is evidence that His creation was perfect which dispels the notion that, “…the earth had already fallen under the control of Satan or that the planet was covered with the fossil remains of a pre-Adamic race that had fallen.”[2]
At this point in history, everything was perfect. Mankind was living in a paradise that was created by God and had access to every fruit in the garden but two (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life). God’s only commandment to the new couple is found in Genesis 2:15-17, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.’"
However, perfect was not good enough. When mankind had a choice between obedience and disobedience, Adam chose disobedience. As a result of this one act of insubordination (Romans 5:15-21), all creation now needs redemption (Romans 8:22-24). Here, in the fall of mankind, we see two incredible acts of God’s grace. First, God could have destroyed mankind and started anew. In His grace, however, God allowed mankind to exist, but under a new set of rules and in a new environment (Genesis 3:23).
The second act of grace involved in the fall of mankind was the provision for redemption. Disobedience brought about the need for mankind to be redeemed. We know that our sinful nature has condemned us to eternal death; the complete separation from God (Romans 3:23). However, God’s great love for His creation has produced yet another action of grace toward us. Romans 5:8-10 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!”
[1] Institute for Creation Research, icr.org/bible/Genesis/1/26-28.
[2] Stephen R. Schrader, Th.D., Liberty Bible Commentary, Genesis, © The Old-Time Gospel Hour, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Nashville, Tennessee, p. 14.
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