Education and The Garden of Eden
From Adam’s lungs escaped a first breath of air unlike any other breath of the creation; for, in breathing life into Adam’s nostrils (Gen. 2:7), God effectually brought forth mankind’s first exhale. While Adam could not pull himself from a lifeless state by an inhaling gasp or an autonomous will to live, God initiated a relationship between Himself and His image bearer. Because of this, man’s first action, breath, responded merely to God’s action.
From Adam’s first action, we learn a great deal about mankind’s relationship to God. The cosmological argument for the existence of God upholds that God must exist because something had to be the first cause of the universe. Whatever caused the universe cannot itself be of the universe; for, the cause must be beyond, or outside the effect. Therefore, we may conclude that a transcendent, self-existent God brought the entire cosmos into existence (Rev. 4:11), and He did so in a personal, immanent way. In breathing for the first time, Adam reflected this cause-and-effect relationship between the Creator and His creation. In living beyond this first breath, Adam continued to reflect this same relationship as he depended on the sustaining, causal providence of God.
Prior to the Fall, Adam moved through the garden in perfect relationship to his Creator, to his spouse, and to the creation, over which God gave him dominion. Every relationship in his life exemplified with perfection an understanding of the creation’s dependence on his Creator. As Adam looked at the rest of the creation around Him, he viewed it as good, because every bit of cosmos reflected the infinite, personal God who had made it as such. So, Adam’s relationship to the world around him uncovered new ways for him to understand God. He found joy in seeing characteristics of God in the Garden. Unbound by the fragmented perspective of a fallen mind, He had the full capacity to see all of life as worship, because a love for his Maker motivated the desire to learn more about himself and the world around him.
Everything in the Garden was new for Adam. Like an infant whose learning curve rises at a near vertical slope, Adam looked at a sunrise for the first time in amazement. Unlike the infant, Adam had a fully developed mind, which was not awed simply by the pretty colors alone; he understood with clarity what he saw. Beyond this, Adam had the ability to see the full, correct essence of creation, because sin had not distorted his perception. Adam was not born with exhaustive knowledge; though, he had perfect knowledge. He did not know everything there was to know; but, what he knew, he knew correctly.[1] Because of this, Adam had much to learn, and he delighted in doing so. Therefore, learning more about God, himself, and the creation occupied much of Adam’s time.
Many Christian writers speak of education in response to the damage done by the Fall of man. Douglas Wilson points to Milton’s definition in saying that “the end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright and out of that knowledge to love Him, to imitate Him, to be like Him…”[2] Indeed, Milton reflects such a wonderfully redemptive understanding of learning. Though, this leaves us with the questions: “Unto what goal are we called to repair the ruins? What was the original model?” If Cervantes is correct in saying that we are most maddened by seeing the world as it is rather than as it should be, should we not go back to the Garden of Eden to see learning as intended? Even Aristotle said that education seeks to make students like and dislike what he ought.[3] For, he understood that true education speaks to what man ought to be.
In the Garden, Adam worked in marital union with Eve, but the Fall left lasting effects on his work and on his relationships. Though we employ a Creation/Fall/Redemption framework to go back to the Garden of Eden to search for the intent of work and relationships, we tend to view Education from Fall and Redemption categories alone. While we seek a redemptive means for speaking about education and learning, we must understand what learning must be restored unto if we hope, correctly, to speak of an education that repairs the ruins of the Fall. Therefore, returning to the Garden to study Adam’s relationship to God and Creation – executed in as prophet, priest, and king – gives us a new way to speak of education and learning “as it should be.”
ADAM AS PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING
Unfortunately, the Bible tells us very little about Adam’s life and work in a pre-Fall world. Fortunately though, the Bible tells a continuous story from Genesis to Revelation - a story of God’s plan to redeem a fallen world.[4] In speaking of redemption covenantally, tracing the concept throughout the entirety of Scripture, we see that God intends to restore Creation back to its original state. Because of this, the new Earth that John speaks of in Rev. 21 will reflect, ultimately, the Garden of Eden. Moses speaks in Gen. 3:8 of the Garden of Eden as a primeval dwelling place of God where man lived to serve Him. Rev. 22:3 says that, in this new Heaven and Earth, “there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him there.” Seemingly this reflects a picture of the Garden. If this is true, the study of man and his learning “as it should have been” is not confined to Genesis 1-3 alone. For, from Genesis to Revelation, man’s purpose, to serve and enjoy God, stays the same.[5] Additionally, Scripture supplies enough information to make implicit conclusions based upon the way the whispers of the Garden still speak throughout the entirety of Scripture.
In Protology: Genesis 1-3 in Light of Christ, J.V. Fesko concludes that the Garden of Eden was not any ordinary Garden. Despite the common thoughts of the Garden as the first farm, and Adam the first Farmer, the Garden of Eden resembles a temple actually. Whereas Luther and Calvin speak of the garden as a Mesopotamian farm so that they could extrapolate a call to a Christian work-ethic, Fesko speaks of the Garden as a temple because of his belief that this more clearly connects Adam to the Second Adam. Viewed in light of Christ, the Garden connects very clearly to the ceremonial Tabernacle and Temples of both Testaments and to the “temple” city that John sees coming down from Heaven.[6]
Because the Garden of Eden stood as the first Temple, Adam served in the Garden as the first priest. God charged Adam to protect the Garden in the same way that He charged the priests to protect the Tabernacle (Num. 1:53). Likely, Adam’s responsibilities included performing sacrifices to God; though not sacrifices for forgiveness and atonement, Adam offered sacrifices of thanksgiving and free will offerings, similar to those offered in accordance with Mosaic law. Above all else, the priest stands, as a man, in the presence of God; in doing so the priest serves to bring about communion between God and man. Louis Berkhof says that Christ fulfills the office of priest because he represented man before the presence of God.[7] In the same way, Adam fulfilled the role of priest, because he stood, as a man, in the presence of God.
Adam also tended the Garden as a prophet. In the creation mandate, God told Adam to spread the image of God and His Temple to the ends of the earth. In addition to procreation, Adam executed this office through preaching the word of God.[8] Among his many instructions, God commanded Adam to refrain from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:16,17), and Adam had the responsibility to reflect this command to His wife, for God created her after he gave the instruction regarding the tree in the middle of the Garden. Clearly, we see that Adam failed in his prophetic office when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. The text clearly tells us that Eve ate of the fruit and gave it to her husband who was with her (Gen. 3:6). As prophet, Adam ought to have spoken God’s Word once again to his wife. Yet, he chose to neglect his office. Though, in speaking the Word of God to his wife and in spreading it to the rest of creation, Adam sat in the position of a prophet for a time.
While carrying out his offices of prophet and priest, the dominion mandate placed Adam as God’s vice-regent in the Garden. God charged Adam to rule over all of the animals in the Garden (Gen. 1:26), and God gave the plants of the Garden to Adam for his use (v.29). Therefore all of creation was placed under Adam as he sat over it in the office of king.
THE WHISPER OF THE FIRST PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING
Without a doubt, we learn far more from the 2nd Adam, the prophet, priest, and king who perfectly fulfilled all three offices, for Christ came to teach mankind about God’s plan to repair the ruins of the 1st Adam. He also came to accomplish that repair. Though, Scripture makes such strong connections between the two Adams, that we cannot ignore the first one simply because he failed in carrying out this same munus triplex. So, returning to the Garden reveals man as man in his participation in learning and education.
Being God’s prophet in the Garden required that Adam understand the commands of God. To spread the Revelation of God to the world, Adam had to receive it, and receiving it correctly. True knowledge begins with an orthodox understanding of the commandments and purposes of God. Proverbs 1:7 tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” A correct understanding of the nature of God served as the reference point for all that Adam knew. His knowledge began with a knowledge of the Holy One. Also, he based his knowledge upon a Person, not an abstraction.[9] He clearly connected the truth that he received with the Giver of that truth. Adam started with a relationship where God spoke and walked with him.
Though, Adam did not keep the knowledge of God only to himself; he radiated it to the rest of the world. God spoke to Adam, and he had the responsibility to relay it to his wife. Knowledge exists in relationship. Clearly the relationship between God and man, establishes the foundation for knowledge. But, God intended that the knowledge that He gave to Adam be reflected toward the creation. Spreading the boundaries of Creation and relating to Eve required that Adam proclaim the truth given to him. As prophet, Adam could not live autonomously or in isolation. He depended on God as the source of his knowledge, and then fulfilled his requirement to spread that knowledge. He could not view life in a fragmented way. As God’s prophet, his understanding of God and his purposes required that Adam connect that knowledge to everything else. He saw how he fit into the ordered structure of Creation, and he affirmed the unity of the Creation because of the character of the One who gave it unity.
God charged Adam, the priest to tend the Garden. (Gen. 2:15) This required that Adam protect the Garden from the work of Satan, and the perversion and distortion that sin would bring into the world.[10] As priest, Adam’s “agricultural” duties were grounded in the fact that he sought to maintain the dwelling place of God. Once again, Adam saw the connectedness of all things. His efforts to tend and maintain the garden, were not ends in and of themselves. Adam protected, preserved, and expanded the Garden because of the presence of the One who gave the Garden value. He clearly understood that. Indeed, the Garden was very good, but its goodness rested in the One who made it good. For this reason, God told the Israelites to stay back from Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:10-12). The mountain itself was not holy, but it became holy when consecrated by the presence of God. Because God dwelled in the Garden with Adam, the garden Temple was entrusted to Adam to be kept pure. Repeatedly, God gave similar instructions about the Tabernacle and Temple, because He made his dwelling there.
Because God dwelled in the Garden, Adam lived in communion with Him as a priest. He resided in the house of God. Daily, he lived out that which David most passionately longed: “…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” (Ps. 27:4). Because of a life coram deo, before the face of God, Adam saw the reflection of God in all he had made. In the same way that one recognizes how a child bears the characteristics of his mother or father, Adam saw a connection between the “child” and the Father. He walked and talked with the infinite, personal God, and because Adam saw God in all His glory, he recognized with great clarity the reflections of God’s character in all He had made. In righteousness, Adam communed with God, saw God without distortion, and had complete ability to see the reflection of God in the world around Him.
Adam’s reign over the creation involved the most practical use of the abilities God gave him. As prophet and priest, Adam had certain mandates to fulfill: tend and protect the Garden, and relay the truth of God to the rest of it. As a king, Adam learned how to use the Creation around him to accomplish these tasks. The authority given to Adam placed him in a position where his use of this Creation brought pleasure to him certainly, but he grounded his pleasure in the pleasure of God.
As Adam looked over the creation that God put under his feet, he took great pride in it. God gave the plants and animals to him for his use. Using the creation required that Adam study the creation. Specifically, God said that he could use the plants for food. In learning what to use for food, Adam studied different tastes, textures, and smells. He acquired knowledge of the world around him. Though, this knowledge came, not from a construction, but a discovery.[11] Without a fragmented mind, Adam remembered that, while God intended the plants and animals to be used by him, ultimately God created all of these things for His own pleasure. But, God wanted Adam to share in His pleasure. Adam saw the uniqueness that God gave to him. In giving dominion to man, God set him apart from all of the Creation. Schaeffer points out that “Dominion itself is an aspect of the image of God in the sense that man, being in the image of God, stands between God and all which God chose to put under man.”[12] Recognition of the dominion given to him, brought about rejoicing in Adam because his reign flowed from the image of God in him. Reflecting this image brought great joy to Adam, because of the one whose image he reflected.
Adam loved truth, and the Source of that truth. He believed the truth that God created a good creation, and that God gave all of it to man for his use. Certainly, a level of curiosity motivated him in his study of these truths. Though, gratitude for the things God had given him and a desire to know God more fully left Adam far more pertinacious in his study. Adam attended to ever detail, because “those who love Truth cannot neglect every discipline that pursues truth.”[13] Scientists such as Bacon, Galileo, and Kepler pursued science for the same reason. They did not view man and science as autonomous, but saw science as a way to know more about the God who had made all things.[14] As fallen men, they lost the ability to see the Creation complete in its intent, without distortion, and reflecting the God who infused his characteristics in it. But, when Adam looked at the world around him, he studied it to learn more about God. True, he studied in a utilitarian way; God wanted Adam to use the creation. God wanted Adam to see his own worth. Though, as Adam studied the creation and learned how it could benefit him, he did so out of dependence upon the providence of God and the knowledge that comes from him.
THE WHISPERS OF THE GARDEN IN EDUCATION
Adam participated in education and learned in the way in which God intended him to learn. He did so from within the offices of prophet, priest, and king. If God created man to hold these offices, and Adam learned through executing his offices, we have much to learn from these offices.
The offices of the prophet, priest, and king remind us of the infinite reference point for learning, truth, and knowledge and that these exist only within relationship. As the author of truth, the Person of God rests as the authority for all we can know. Man cannot depend on his own merit, or abilities. We have fallen reason and logic, but even if there were no Fall, man would still have to look to God in dependence upon Him. In relationship with God, man has knowledge; he has truth. As a result of his relationships in this world, man also has to reflect that knowledge and truth to the world around him. We should not be surprised that the Greatest Commandment according to Jesus suggests that man’s purpose is to live in loving relationship to God, and out of that should flow a similar relationship to his neighbor (Matt. 22:37). As a prophet, Adam was called to hear the Word of God and then take it to the world around him.
God commanded Adam, as a priest, to protect and tend the Garden. Similarly in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ calls believers to be salt and light (Matt. 5). In living as salt and light, Christians should seek to protect, preserve, and take care of the world around them. This requires speaking truth, and distinguishing between that which is true from that which is not. In the book of Leviticus, God instructs the priests to distinguish between the holy and common things, and the priests had to learn how to make the correct distinctions. Priestly learning cannot tolerate untruth. Man must approach learning from a standpoint which seeks to protect the sanctity of God’s truth. For, Scripture proclaims the priesthood of all believers. As priests, we must perform the same task given to Adam – tend, protect, preserve. God intended Adam, the prophet, to spread this truth as well. Thus, the retention of truth stimulates a desire to preserve that truth, and requires a reflection of it. Learning and education reflect their truest intent when they point back toward the source of truth and then extend it horizontally.
We can do this in education by pointing the world toward the truth, rather than to the distortion of the truth. We live in a fallen world, and the reality we see is not the ultimate reality. True reality is the world as God intended it to be, and that unto which he plans to restore it. As priests, we must speak to one another of the truth of God’s intentions, not allowing the distortions of sin to fragment our minds so that we fail to see how a communion with God connects to the cosmos. Adam saw that clearly; he saw this relationship between God and his Creation, because He lived in God’s dwelling place. His mandate required that he preserve this relationship. Our mandate requires that we point back to this relationship.
Adam’s kingly responsibilities existed within this same relationship. He looked at the world and learned of the value of the world that was given to him. He understood his own value, that he was created “a little lower than the heavenly beings…crowned with glory and honor.” (Ps. 8:5). Adam saw that the creation existed, in part, to benefit him. Such knowledge should prompt a passion for learning in awe and gratitude toward the One who made all things, but also for the usefulness of creation for our joy. Learning is useful. It benefits man to learn about the world. But, learning by itself is not worship, it “only becomes worship when we recognize the truth we are after.”[15]
Ultimately the challenge in education calls man to passionately study the world, taking joy in the material, the particular, while pursuing such study with a recognition of God’s intention for man: to learn in a way that depends on God for the source of truth, and then reflects that truth to the world so as to preserve it. Everywhere the Gospel has gone, Education has quickly followed. The Good news speaks of a desire of God for his people to know Him, and as a result of that, to better know the world around them. This is the heart of education, this is the heart of learning. Solomon found this to be true. When he tried to find meaning on his own, he concluded that there was none. But, when he pursued the fear of God, this “above the sun” perspective brought meaning to everything below the sun.
Living as prophet, priest, and king Adam fulfilled the Greatest commandment: loving God with all his heart, his mind, and his strength. These offices speak of Adam’s rational abilities in, spiritual communion with, and physical execution of his perfect relationship with God. These three offices completed man as man. They connected the entirety of his being with the entirety of the world around him. Were Adam to leave behind the office of priest for example, he would leave behind a basis for his intellect and action. For, he would be a man without a chest.[16] Yet, Adam lived as a complete man. He lived with an infinite reference point in God, and reflected Him through his offices. God acted relationally toward his creation, and Adam responded as prophet, priest and king, prior to the Fall, and this response prompted his desire to learn. In seeking to learn by upholding this same relationship, we begin to hear the whispers of the Garden that speak to how our learning ought to be.
[1] Schaeffer, Francis A. Genesis in Space in Time in The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer. Vol.2. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books (1985), 23.
[2] Wilson, Douglas. Rediscovering the Lost Tools of Learning. Wheaton, IL.: Crossway Books (1999), 74. Wilson pulls this definition from John Milton’s work “On Education,” and while “The Student in Adam” is a great chapter in this book, Wilson only deals with a fallen imago Dei. It would have been very interesting to see Wilson deal with the student in a pre-Fall Adam as well.
[3] Lewis, C.S. The Abolition of Man. New York: Touchstone (1996). p. 29.
[4] Ex. 6:6 speaks of his plan to redeem his people “with an oustretched arm.” Repeatedly, the Psalmist speaks of a redemption that has come to him, or a need of it (34:22, 44:26, 49:15, 71:23). Paul also speaks very clearly of the same concept by saying that we have “redemption through his blood” (Ep. 1:7) and that Christ has “redeemed us from the curse” (Gal. 3:13).
[5] Fesko, J.V. Protology: Genesis 1-3in the light of Christ. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers (2005). p. 134.
[6] Fesko. 173-182. Fesko bases this claim as the Garden as the Archetypal Temple for several Reasons: a. The Garden was in the East (Gen. 2:8), and Ezekiel often connects God’s presence with the East – in relation to the Temple. (Ez. 11:1, 11:23, 43:1-4) b. The Garden of Eden sat on a mountain top (for rivers to flow out of it, the Garden must have been elevated), God often speaks to OT saints on top of mountains (Sinai, Horeb, and Zion). We also know that the Temple in Jerusalem was built on a mount. Additionally, the Temple that John sees in Revelation sits on top of a mountain. c. Rivers flow out of the Garden (Gen. 2:8), the “house of God” (Joel 3:18), and from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1). d. the Tabernacle and Temple had very vegetative connections: The menorah appeared as a golden tree with branches, buds and almond flowers (Ex. 25:31-39), the walls and curtains of the Tabernacle and Temple were adorned with flowers, pomegranats, and palm trees (I Kings 6:18, 29, 32, 7:18). Also, Ezekiel’s vision of the eschatological temple includes visions of trees (Ez. 41:18-26). John’s vision of the Temple also includes a vision of fruit bearing trees (Rev. 22:2). d. Cherubim guard the entrance to the Garden once sin keeps Adam and Eve from God’s presence. Cherubim also guard the Mercy Seat, now that Sin would also be brought into his presence.
[7] Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans (1996). p. 357.
[8] Fesko, 247.
[9] Blamires, Harry. The Christian Mind. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications (1997). p. 111.
[10] Fesko, 135.
[11] Blamires, 112.
[12] Schaeffer, 33.
[13] Riesen, Richard A. Piety and Philosophy. Phoenix, AZ: ACW Press (2002). p. 152.
[14] Schaeffer, Francis A. How Then Should We Live? Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books (1983). p. 132.
[15] Blamires, p. 111
[16] Lewis, p. 37
