Theology III November 11, 2018

MP2 Unit I --- Introduction to Covenant of Creation Mr. Jim Tortorici

CLASS NOTES – Week of November 5, 2018
Scripture Foundation: Genesis 3
I. Pre-History of Gen 1-11 (See LMS: “Introduction I and II”)
A. Myth as “Narrative Pattern” revealing deep truths in symbolic & figurative language
i. revealing identity and destiny… “making sense in a senseless world”
a. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is my destiny?
ii. Salvation History as God’s Story – B.I.B.L.E.: HIS STORY!
iii. “If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what it means to be a
human, look at Jesus. If you want to know what love is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what
grief is, look at Jesus. And go on looking until you’re not just a spectator, but you are part of the
drama (my add: “story”) which has Him as the central figure” (N. T. Wright, quoted in 5Q,
Alan Hirsch)
B. The Hero’s Journey as “archetype” and universal pattern revealing the power of myth
i. “Our heroes carry our aspirations, our ideals, our hopes, our beliefs….This is what makes
heroism so important: it reflects our own sense of identity, our combined emotions, our myths”
(Rollo May, quoted in 5Q, Alan Hirsch)
ii. Example of Neo in the Matrix: the hero fights, dies and rises again with new powers
C. Jesus as the Myth that Became Fact! (1 Cor 15 and the Resurrection of the “New Adam”)
i. The “realism” of Jesus: birth, life, death, and resurrection
ii. “Perhaps the reason that every ancient culture yearned for a god to come to earth, to die, and
to rise again was because the Creator who made all the nations placed in every person a desire
for this very thing” (Louis Marco, quoted in 5Q, Alan Hirsch).
iii. Not all Myths are created Equal!
a. The 60’s/LSD Myth, the Opioid/Heroin Myth of Today, The Radical Islam Myth
D. Seeing with the “Eyes of the Heart” as the Myth Sheds Light into the Darkness
i. “In theology, as in science, myth supplies not answers but an experience of a larger existence
than we can know cognitively. Such an experience touches depths the intellect cannot reach and
conveys, to children and adults alike, the sense that this is not just true but Truth” (C.S. Lewis,
quoted in 5Q, ibid.)
ii. Faith opens the door in the heart to the reality of heaven longing to invade earth!
iii. Covenant as the invitation from God to join our story to His!
“It may perhaps seem to you as though our theories are a kind of mythology….But does not every science come
in the end to a kind of mythology like this? Cannot the same be said today of your own Physics?” (Freud, in his
correspondence with Einstein. Quoted in The Cry for Myth, Rollo May).
I. Genesis 3: The Fall of Man and the Hope of a Redeemer/Messiah
A. Covenant, Catastrophe, and Promise: Know the Story!
i. Setting: The Garden with all its goodness and provision yet there are limits…The Serpent
(nahash: serpent/dragon/monster) questions Eve about God’s authority and intentions. V1: The
“nahash” is a creature --- traditionally the leader of the fallen angels: Satan or the devil. The fruit
of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is declared to be “forbidden” by God and a clear
consequence of death is foretold if the command to stay clear is disobeyed. The Tree of Life is
also present and has no prohibition: the man and the woman have immortality as a gift in the
Covenant of Creation (Original Design).
ii. “The Knowledge of evil” can be seen as yet unknown by Adam and Eve. Perhaps God’s plan
was to eventually share more of this “knowledge” in time…? But the ancient serpent presses and
tempts, in effect, saying “why wait?” Perhaps Eve, and later Adam do not believe that the
punishment of death will ensue, and that God will not follow through. They understood God’s
command and instruction….but did not believe and trust. Instead, they believe and trust the
“word” of the nahash --- the “non-word” or “anti-word” of God.
THIS HIGHLIGHTS THE POWER OF MYTH AND THE UNIVERSAL HUMAN TRAIT OF
BEING TEMPTED TO PLACE ONESELF ABOVE GOD (IDOLATRY, PRIDE). THIS
BEHAVIOR (DISOBEDIENCE AND REBELLION) IS BORN OUT OF UNBELIEF AND
SELF-WORSHIP. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL OR PRIMORDIAL SIN. THE SIN OF “IDOL
WORSHIP” IN ISRAEL AND TODAY REVEALS THE “EFFECTS” OF THIS FIRST AND
GREATEST OF SINS: THE CREATURE’S DECISION TO PLACE ITSELF ABOVE THE
CREATOR AND ASSERT IT’S WILL AGAINST AND OVER GOD’S WILL.
THE DESIRE TO BE LIKE GOD WITHOUT GOD. “We are all just a little bit p*ssed off that
we are not God!” The divine envy and rejection and frustration at being human is revealed in this
timeless and inspired myth.
LESSON: PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU BELIEVE AND KNOW WHO YOU ARE
LISTENING TO! The ego/self is the “strangest god” we will ever be tempted to worship.
iii. V9: Adam and Eve are afraid, as they “see” they are naked so they hide themselves from
God! This is the “catastrophe”. The creature has lost their intimacy with the Creator! THEY
HAVE CHANGED – SOMETHING WITHIN THEM HAS BEEN LOST, CORRUPTED. The
story communicates a “Fall” of epic proportions with God revealing punishment on all parties.
iv. First, God addresses the serpent with punishment and a declaration of “enmity” between it
and the woman, between her offspring and hers. V.15: The “He” spoken of is seen as the first
hint of God’s plan of salvation to undo the consequences of “The Fall”: the “Proto Evangelion”,
the First Good News that one would come in the future: “The reason the Son of God appeared
was to destroy the devil's work” (1 Jn 3:18). The Messiah is the Anointed One to bring “good
news” to humanity and offer a share in His victory over sin and death --- the ancient foes of
humanity. Jesus, the great Redeemer and Hero of Humanity, will bring gifts to men to restore
grace and Supernatural Aid to the “offspring” of Adam and Eve.
“And not only this, but "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her
seed." I'm not even content with this that you slide on the earth: I will make the woman your implacable enemy,
and not simply her, but her seed as well I will cause to be perpetually at odds with your seed. "He will watch for
your head, and you will watch for his heel." That is to say, I will supply him with such force that he will
constantly threaten your head, whereas you will be trodden under his feet. (See the Video Clip from The Passion
of the Christ).

See, dearly beloved, (143b) by means of the punishment against this creature, the extent of the care he reveals to
us that he has for the human race. So much is evident even in regard to the serpent perceptible to our senses; yet
it is also possible to anyone interested to study the sequel to this in what is written, and to know that if this is the
story of the serpent that is visible, much more should the words be understood to refer also to the serpent
perceptible only to the mind. I mean, this latter he also humbled and put under our feet, and caused us to
trample on his head. Does he not indicate this to us in the words, "Walk on serpents and scorpions "? Then, lest
we think these words refer to material serpents, he added, "and on all the power of the Enemy." [Luke 10:19 ]
Do you observe from the punishment inflicted on the devil's instrument God's exceeding love? (Homilies 16,
St. John Chrysostom, circa 380 AD).

v. The curses (the effects of the breaking of the “implied” covenant of creation) extend to the
woman (v. 16: childbearing and marital strife) and to the man (v. 17-19: labor and death).
Their banishment from the Garden is explained in the ironic statement by God that “the man has
become like one of us knowing what is good and what is bad” (v. 22). This, of course, was the
promise of the devil and highlights the limits of man’s understanding of the divine. “For my
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than
your thoughts” (Is 55: 8-9).

vi. The Tree of Life is guarded and the man and the woman are settled “East of Eden.” The story
shifts to life outside the Garden and follows with the story of Cain and Abel as the “bad fruit” of
“The Fall” brings forth the first murder. Ironically, the catastrophe of The Fall is undone through
the “murder” of God’s own Son whose sacrifice once again opens the door to The Tree of Life.
The Cross becomes the “antidote” to the sin and death unleashed in the Original Sin. The “breath
of Jesus” offered as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins returns to earth at Pentecost in tongues
of fire to restore His disciples to their original design: sons and daughters of the Living God!

“If, however, someone of a meddling nature should enquire why it was called the tree of life, let him learn that
it was not possible for human beings to discern all God's works precisely by following their own reasoning. The
Lord, you see, decided that the human being created by him should have some practice in disobedience and
obedience while living in the garden, and decided to provide examples there of these two trees, one of life, the
other of death (so to say) in the sense that tasting it and breaking the command brought death on him. So when
by partaking of this tree he became liable to death and subject in the future to the needs of the body, and the
entry of sin had its beginnings as the result of which death also was fittingly provided for by the Lord, no longer
did he allow Adam in the garden but bade him leave there, showing us that his sole motive in doing this was his
love for him.

To learn this precisely, we must read again the words of Sacred Scripture. "'Now there is a risk that at some
time he may put out his hand and pick fruit from the tree, eat it and live forever.'" In other words, since he had
given signs of considerable intemperance through the command already given him (he is saying) and had
become subject to death, lest he presume further to lay hold of this tree which offers endless life and go on
sinning forever, it would be better for him to be driven from here. And so the expulsion from the garden was a
mark of care rather than necessity. Our Lord, you see, is like this: he reveals his care for us in punishing no less
than in blessing, and even his punishment is inflicted for the sake of admonition. Because if in fact he knew that
we would not get worse by sinning and escaping, he would not have punished us; but to check our decline into
greater evil and to stem the tide of wickedness, he applies punishment out of fidelity to his own loving kindness
[152] which is exactly what he did in this case: in his care for the first formed human being he bade him be
driven out of the garden” (Homilies 16, St. John Chrysostom, circa 380 AD).