Analysis Of Sacred Scripture

932 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Genesis 3:1-24 critical essay

In the passage Genesis 3:14-20, God tells the serpent that he will be cursed, the woman that he will multiply her pain in childbirth, and the man that the ground he must eat of is cursed because of him. All of this is done as punishment for their sin of eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This passage has an allegorical and moral meaning as well, it alludes to Mary’s offspring, Jesus Christ, crushing Satan.
There are two authors to all of Sacred Scripture. The true author and the principle author. God is the principle author of Sacred Scripture. What God intended when writing the Bible is the spiritual meaning, or “that which is deduced from the realities and events, specified in the sacred text”1 There are three types of spiritual …show more content…

He is in the literal sense being made to crawl on his belly forever, and eat dust as punishment for his sin of tempting Adam and Eve (Gn 3:14). God also tells him he will “but enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gn. 3:15). The literal interpretation of this, what the human author meant, is that humans will be above snakes. Humans can step on snakes’ heads, but snakes can only reach the feet of people to harm them. The spiritual meaning of this verse is more complex than that. This verse alludes to Mary and Jesus Christ Christ. The seed is Jesus Christ Christ, therefore the woman represents Mary. This verse alludes to Jesus Christ Christ crushing, or bruising the head of, Satan who is represented by the snake. The devil bruising his heel signifies that he will hurt the human race, just not a fatal blow like that of Jesus Christ Christ upon him. This is important because it is only because of the sin of Adam and Eve that it is necessary for Jesus Christ Christ to come to redeem us all, this is why the fall is later referred to as the “happy fault” of Adam.
The protagonist of this section is the LORD God. In the literal sense, this is the LORD God laying down punishment for those who have done wrong against him: the man, the woman, and the serpent. He created Adam and Eve and gave them paradise and told them: just don’t eat of …show more content…

3:17) His punishment is that the land is cursed because of him, and “in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Gn 3:17). Man is cursed to work the earth for his food. It will be hard work for him and he will have to do it his whole life. The greatest of their punishments is that “to dust you shall return” (Gn 3:19). The literal meaning of this being that man will eventually become dust again. The spiritual meaning is that man can now die, which was not a part of God’s original plan for man, but was a consequence of Adam and Eve’s

Show More
Related

  • Genesis: Creation, Dominion and Fall of Man

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this scripture, the serpent said,” you will not die” is referring to a spiritual death. Rather than a spiritual death, neither Adam nor Eve had experienced evil. Their eyes were opened and they became like God having knowledge of good and evil. Their nakedness became an occasion of shame, which was impossible before they sinned in the garden. The day that they fell from grace, signifies that they were no longer in compliance with God’s commands.

    Read More

  • The Hebrew Scriptures

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    Truth, scripture and revelation are three concepts that the Bible has been based on. Truth is defined as the way that things are or should be. It can relate to reality or wisdom. Truth can be communicated in a variety of ways. Literally which is facts and figures and can be shown in math and science. Figuratively which is metaphor and simile and can be shown in humanity. Symbolically in fine arts such as art, drama and music and also narratively such as stories, parables and myths. Truth can be known in the head and the heart because it communicates through reason and intuition. Meanwhile, scripture is defined as being written and taken from script. Scripture is a way for religion to permanently preserve its worth of wisdom, ways of worship and to pass traditions on intact for future generations. Finally, revelation means to reveal. It refers to the initiative of God in communicating with humans. Truth, scripture and revelation are all related because they are all forms of communication that allow us to know God’s message. They allow us to see stories and events of how people lived with God in history and set an example of how we should co-exist with God in our world today.

    Read More

  • Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael - The Destruction Continues

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    After his brief history, Ishmael shifts his attention to the creation. "A culture is a people enacting a story" (41), and the story of the Garden of Eden opened up new thoughts on man's transformation from dependent to independent beings. When Adam and Eve began their lives on earth, they fully depended on the gods for all their necessities. Just like all of the other animals in the garden, they followed the philosophy of "leavers" and left the question of who should live and who should die up to the gods. However, the serpent, a member of the "taker" group tempted Eve with fruit from a tree that would give them the knowledge of life and death. Eve, which means "life" (179) in turn, tempted Adam with the fruit. Although pre-warned that eating this forbidden fruit would kill man, Adam fell into temptation and his desire for life. Through this action, his eyes were partially opened to the gods' vision. However, this knowledge ultimately would lead to the fulfillment of the gods' warnings that "[the world's] doom was assured" (166). After man's realization, he placed himself in a category separate from the animals and beasts that continued to rely on the world's situation rather than themselves.

    Read More

  • Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

    1903 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Genesis 3, the Fall of human beings is described. The serpent asked Eve if there were any trees that Adam and Eve could not eat from in the garden. Eve told the serpent that God said that they could not eat the fruit from the tree or touch the tree in the middle of the garden. The serpent told Eve that they would not die, but they would be open to the knowledge of good and evil like God. When Eve and Adam ate from the tree in the middle of the garden, they were opened to the knowledge of good and evil (The New Oxford Annotated Bible: With the Apocrypha...

    Read More

  • Use Of The Snake In Zora Neale Hurston's Sweat

    283 Words  | 1 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” is about the empowerment of Delia, the main character, as she tries to find herself and overcome her husband’s abusive strong hold. Throughout the story snakes are fervently discussed symbolizing evil and malevolence. Delia is petrified of snakes and her husband uses this to his advantage. Thus the snake in “Sweat” makes biblical references to The Garden of Eden and the Forbidden Fruit and the evil that can be so tempting. Just as Sykes uses the snake in “Sweat” to scare Delia and become powerful, in some way, Satan entered into the body of the serpent to tempt Adam and Eve.The serpent was the instrument the Devil used to do his bidding. At first Delia loathes the idea of even being in the same room

    Read More

  • Essay on The Holy Bible - Genesis 1-3 and the Downfall of Mankind

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    Now, to the untrained eye, it may be possible to interpret the aforementioned text as having certain "scheisty" tendencies coming from both the serpent and, believe it or not, God himself. As possible as it may seem, the main theme of the passages of Genesis are not trying to show God as being greedy with the knowledge of good and evil. It isn't like God was worried that Adam and Eve would gain knowledge that would empower them and make them as gods. That is almost preposterous to think that God, the almighty creator of heaven and earth, would be worried about two mortals obtaining a little bit of information. In all actuality, that idea is incredibly far from the truth. God gave Adam and Eve the world, literally. This perfect world, a "heaven on earth", was just given to them out of the goodness of his heart. All they had to do was look over God's creations and enjoy true eternal bliss. As a matter of fact, the only rule that God gave to Adam and Eve was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All they had to do to live in the eternal paradise, with all the cookies and milk they could stomach, was to follow that one freakin' rule. Acknowledging the fact that the serpent (a.k.a. Satan Incarnate) did do its part in persuading Eve to eat the fruit and to give the fruit to her husband. Even still, Eve should have realized that she was risking eternal happiness for the words of a snake.

    Read More

  • The Use Of Figurative Language In The Genesis Book From The Bible

    1773 Words  | 4 Pages

    In order for a written work to be considered as Literature; it should portray any element of literature such as: figurative language, irony, simile, symbolism, personification, metaphor, etc. Some of these elements are portrayed in the book of Genesis. As for example in its third chapter, there is a use of figurative language. The term figurative language refers to a word or a phrase that an author uses to extend the meaning of the language which is exactly what the author of the Genesis 3 did by using the serpent as a character. In the text, the serpent is not only a normal serpent; it also happens to be a representation of the devil. As professor Dafni in his article “Genesis 2–3 and Alcibiades’s Speech in Plato’s Symposium” points out, “the serpent changes fundamentally the meaning of the divine command and bears malice toward Yahweh, God the Creator… So the talking serpent as a devil articulates its most decisive argument (Gn 3:5): ‘God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil’. The serpent concealed and suppressed completely the possibility of death and makes God seem a liar and a fraud”(Dafni,2015). When the author of Genesis, portrays the serpent talking and making God looks like a liar makes a deviation from the literal meaning of the word serpent because is something that a regular serpent

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Walter Brueggemann's 'Biblical Authority'

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Bible is read and interpreted by many people all over the world. Regardless, no one knows the absolute truth behind scripture. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, wrote “Biblical Authority” to help people understand what he describes as six different parts that make up the foundation to ones understanding of scripture. He defines these six features as being: inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance. As Brueggemann explains each individual part, it is easy to see that they are all interconnected because no one can practice one facet without involuntarily practicing at least one other part.

    Read More

  • The Symbolism in Beowulf

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    The creation story in Genesis refers to a serpent classically interpreted as an evil entity. If we consider God’s warning that eating fruit from a certain tree would result in death the same day and that the record indicates that the only two humans on the planet did not, we must reconsider the role of the serpent and reevaluate the roles of good and evil and how they apply to ...

    Read More

  • The Canon of Biblical Writings

    2279 Words  | 5 Pages

    For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging

    Read More

  • Choice Essay On Eve's Choice: No Freedom

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since dawn, Satan, now in the form of a snake, has been searching for the two people that represented the future of all mankind. Satan is looking for mankind to destroy them just for revenge, to get back at God. Satan is full of envy and thirst for revenge. Obviously he would want to find the weaker person first, Eve. Satan would like to find Eve by herself, but he didn 't think it was likely. But Satan actually found Eve all by herself working. Satan in the form of a snake approached Eve and complimented her. Of course Eve was amazed and flattered. She was not amazed because of the compliments he gave her. Eve was amazed on how the snake (Satan) was talking. She thought animals couldn 't talk but Satan told her he how he was dumb as the other animals but as he ate the apple from the tree he became smarter. He was able to think high thoughts, and speak. Satan was slick and Eve was naive. When Satan was telling her about this tree she thought he was talking about a random tree, not being the tree of knowledge. Satan took her to the “tree”. Eve told him she could have saved him the trouble. She told Satan “But of this Tree we may not taste nor touch; God so commanded” (Book IX, lines 651-652). Eve tried to be smart and tell him how they couldn 't eat from the tree of knowledge because God told them not to. She knew it was trouble if she did. She had no freedom to eat from the tree nor touch

    Read More

  • Eve Is To Blame For The Fall Of Humanity Essay

    2569 Words  | 6 Pages

    And He [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

    Read More

  • Sin In The Bible: The Doctrine Of Sin

    1682 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sin is elusive. It hides behind our motives and intentions. Sin will parade in a garment that looks stunningly beautiful but when uncovered there is nothing but ugliness and wickedness hiding underneath. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” ( Mt. 23:27 NIV) Sin masquerades deceptively as something it is not. Laying the groundwork which led to Eve’s questioning the trustworthiness of God concerning the forbidden fruit the serpent said “Ye shall not surely die: (Gen. 3 :4b KJV ). The insertion

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Paradise Lost The Fall Of Man

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    3.1-5). God’s forbin law stated that, “Ye [Adam and Eve] shall not eat of it [the tree of good and evil], neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (Gen. 3.3).” With the law in the forefront of Eve’s mind, Satan still deceived the women into eating the forbidden fruit by saying, “ye eat...then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Bowers 273 & Gen. 3.6).” Satan's deceptive nature convinced Eve to eat from the restricted tree, leading to her own, Adam’s and mankind’s separation from God (Bowers 265). This disobedience presented sin to the world and strengthened Satan's goal to, “wage by force or guile eternal war (Milton 309).” Although the Serpent destroyed the perfect relationship between God and man, by causing Eve to sin, both accounts of the fall gives mankind future hope of redemption (Rosenblatt 28 &

    Read More

  • Theme Of Characters In Paradise Lost

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Paradise Lost Book 9, Milton presents a twisted and amplified account of what happened at the fall according to biblical accounts. Albeit, there are similar overall themes such as temptation, desire for knowledge, rebellion, and blame, the overall tone of the story varies indefinitely. Paradise Lost Book 9 and the biblical account of Adam and Eve’s fall contain many of the same characters, and similar events take place, however they happen in contrasting ways and result in dissimilar things. Milton’s distorted version of the fall has major differences in the depiction of Satan and the portrayal of Adam and Eve’s characters, both of which have a wide range of implications.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Sacred Scripture

Open Document