Saturday, December 11, 2021

Gregg Davidson and Kenneth J. Turner on the Problem of “No Death Before the Fall”

 

DEATH: HUMAN VERSUS EVERYTHING ELSE

 

Romans 5:12 is commonly used as a “prooftext” for death entering the world as a result of sin: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” If we take seriously the words of Scripture, we need to pay attention to how this verse ends. If the intention was that death in general was introduced by human sins, then the verse should have finished with “so death spread to all” or “so death spread to all creation.” It says neither. The wording specifically says “so death spread to all men”-to all humans (plural of anthropos). The wording limits the scope of the curse of death to those with the capacity to sin—humankind.

 

This is consistent with the wording of Genesis 2:17, where Adam was warned, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Again, if we take the choice of words seriously, God did not say “everyone will surely die” or “You will bring death into the world.” He declared “you will surely die.” The recipient of this death is specific to the one with the capacity for disobedience.

 

DEATH AND EXILE

 

The subject of death becomes complicated when we realize it is not simply a physical phenomenon. If it merely represented the cessation of biological function, then it would be hard to argue that a distinction could be made between animal and human death. But human death in the Bible is far more than biology. Death if often equated in Scripture with exile—separation from the abiding presence of God. It is for this reason that the curse of death on Adam and Eve was first manifest by being cast from the garden—exile. It is the same reason that Proverbs 12:28 can boldly declare.

 

In the path of righteousness is life,
and in its pathway there is no death.

 

The righteous will, in fact, experience physical death; what they will not experience is separation from God. This threat of death is unique to humans.

 

DEATH: EFFICIENCY VERSUS WASTE

 

Within Christian circles, death is often spoken of as wasteful. So many creatures born only to die and decompose. The order once imposed on the land in the days of creation is believed to be working daily in reverse toward the unordered and unfilled pre-creation chaos. And yet, any actual study of nature reveals the opposite. It is an incredibly orderly system, with the products of death and decomposition serving as the source of material and energy used by the next generation of life. The system God put into place is one of continuous recycling and rejuvenation. Nature may not always conform to our liking (our cursed experience with nature, but is a beautifully crafted system.

 

Some may recognize the above but still protest that nature as a whole is subject to the second law of thermodynamics. The cosmos is a constant state of decline into greater disorder. It is not evidence of working back toward tohu wabohu? It is not, for the simple reason that the system of which creation principally speaks—the place of human habitation—is receiving a constant supply of order-enhancing energy. The combined sun-earth system experiences a net increase in disorder as the sun works toward its long burn-out, but the earth as beneficiary of the sun's light, constantly experiences localized increases in order. Just consider the transition from seed to tree, larva to butterfly, or fertilized cell to human baby. All represent incredible increases in order, happening in billions of organisms even now. It is a system designed to last far into the future, with no fear of running out of justice before the return of Christ and final redemption.

 

CARNIVORY AND “PLANTS AS FOOD”

 

The fact that Eden has boundaries, and getting kicked out was bad, means conditions inside and outside the garden of Eden were not the same. IT is possible that the description of plants for food was the condition inside the garden. Carnivory outside the garden could have existed without posing any threat to Adam and Eve. Being cast out did not change nature, but placed humans in an environment where protections were now less certain—comparable to finding oneself on the wrong side of a glass barrier at the tiger exhibit.

 

CARNIVORE DESIGN

 

Finally, consider the design of predators. They are exquisite creatures, fashioned in intricate detail for their place in the ecosystem. Claws, fangs, talons, mandibles, fast-twitch muscles, digestive systems, and much more all work together to ensure that prey can be captured, rendered, and digested. In carrying out their role in nature, they ensure that herbivores do not overrun the plant, wiping out plant life.

 

At what time did carnivores attain their designs and roles? And who was responsible? If one were to suggest they were made this way from the start but initially only ate plants, this means they were poorly designed for life until sin came along. Alternatively, if one were to suggest their bodies morphed into carnivorous forms at the fall, this would make sin, or perhaps Satan, a master creator on par with God. Neither of these options fit with what we find in Scripture, where God delights in feeding lions their prey and the sporting of Leviathan in the seas—with every indication it was so from the start. (Gregg Davidson and Kenneth J. Turner, The Manifold Beauty of Genesis One: A Multi-Layered Approach [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Academic, 2021], 180-82)