“Sin and Innocence”
Based on pages 5-8 from The Theology of the Body in Simple Language
Who can speak of these things except in pictures? Pictures after all are not lies; rather they indicate things and enable the underlying meaning to shine through….In complete consistency with the framework of the picture, the story is told how the human being was put into this garden to live in it, and how in the center of the garden stood two trees: one the tree of life and the other the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The destiny of humankind is now to be decided in relation to these two trees. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall, 81).
What does the tree signify in this Genesis 2-3? What two states of humanity are divided by it?
The biblical story of salvation revolves around two trees (paradise and Calvary) and what Adam (the first and second) does there.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represents several realities:
1. A covenant, which explains more of man’s vocation as “steward of the earth.”
a. Fidelity described in the wider context
b. Involves our God, our spouse, our community, our environment
2. A choice of our free will, whether man will live out his vocation under God.
3. A boundary between two situations – original innocence and original sin.
Original innocence and original sin, in turn, represent two states of nature: integral nature (chs. 1-2) and fallen nature (chs. 3 ff.). Future talks will discuss these two states in some detail.
What does this episode tell us about the “beginning” that Jesus brings back to our experience?
The “beginning” is Jesus’ horizon – not merely the Law or human circumstance – for a proper understanding of what it means to be fully human. This impacts the totality of our being, including our life in community, our fidelity, our spousal and bodily identity, etc…
By going back to the “beginning” and the original experiences that this study will soon develop (solitude, innocence, unity and nakedness), Jesus himself is crossing back over the boundary established by the tree of knowledge of good and evil. By virtue of the tree of the cross, he holds out hope for the redemption of the body and a recovery of original experiences that were ours on the far side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Discussion Questions
1. It has been said the TOB is a map of our affections, because it deals with personal experience. This study encourages us to reflect on experiences (especially the foundational experiences that were original to Adam and Eve, and that are our experiences, too.) What is an experience? What does it mean to experience something?
2. “All of our subjective experiences correspond to the objective reality that we are created in God’s image.” (TOBSL p. 5). We seek to connect the human experience—in general and in particular—with the objective Truth of God. With Jesus as our guide, what hope does he offer us as he directs our reflections? What Truths do we know about God?
3. The body is the place of experience—it is in and through the body that we encounter others: people, feelings, ideas, pleasure, pain. How does the Incarnation affirm the body as God’s chosen vehicle of revelation?
4. God revealed himself to the world in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. The Word became flesh; Jesus had a body. God is still revealing himself to the world in bodies: yours and mine. What is God saying about himself in our bodies? In your body? To whom is God speaking?
One of our parishioners responded to the TruroTOB email link on the blog to send us a comment that I am posting here, with the parishioner's permission:
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... Initially reading the 2 selections for today, I was puzzled how to understand what 'original innocence' means. I thought of it as man in paradise still waiting for his next experience, rather like man half-baked! He hadn't eaten of the tree of life yet. Today, hearing that TOB should lead us more and more into the ability to know what that state is like, I was challenged to explore my thoughts further.
We are called to be like Christ. How can He, having experienced the ultimate fruit of the tree of good and evil on the cross be in a state of original innocence? Isn't it a state of either /or? Doesn't He certainly know good and evil?
God, in His amazing grace, gave me some insight this afternoon. Innocence is being guilt free: "they were naked and without shame". Jesus is, from all eternity, without sin. He became sin for us on the cross but even then, He was guilt-free. He was, in love, obeying the ultimate command of His Father to set us free, to redeem us. Even as He became sin, in the mystery of God, He was sinless. He was, and is, for all eternity, without guilt, without sin, innocent. And this is what we are called to be, wise as serpents, innocent as doves, like Christ.
Thank you to Tory and Elizabeth, and my Truro family for challenging me to go deeper in my faith walk.
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