Some More Old Testament Prophecies of the Incarnation and Birth of God the Word

In this blog I want to look at a couple more prophecies about the incarnation and birth of God the Word. I want to look at the ones in Micah and Daniel.
In the Book of Micah, it says:

And thou, Bethleem, house of Ephratha, art few in number to be reckoned among the thousands of Juda; yet out of thee shall one come forth to me, to be a ruler of Israel; and His goings forth were from the beginning, even from eternity. (Micah 5:2, LXX)

Here, we see that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We can read about the place of His birth in the Gospels of Sts. Matthew and Luke. In St. Matthew's Gospel, it says:

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem. (St. Matt. 2:1)

In St. Luke's Gospel, it also says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. (St. Luke 2:4-7)

This is the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Israel, just as the Prophet Micah had prophesied hundreds of years before. For attribute click here.

This verse from Micah's prophecy also says: "His goings forth were from the beginning, even from eternity." This indicates the Deity of the Christ. The Person who was to be born in Bethlehem is someone who has been in existence forever. He is from eternity. In St. John's Gospel it is recorded:

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto Him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. Then took they up stones to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the Temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. (St. John 8:56-59)

Jesus claimed that Abraham rejoiced to see the day when He would come into the world. He also claimed to have pre-existed Abraham. Abraham was born almost 2000 years before Jesus was.

Another passage about the birth of Christ is in the Book of Daniel. In the Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about an image and Daniel interpreted the dream for him. Here is the dream and its explanation as found in Daniel.

Thou, O king, sawest, and behold an image: that image was great, and the appearance of it excellent, standing before thy face; and the form of it was terrible. It was an image, the head of which was of fine gold, its hands and breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, its feet, part of iron and part of earthenware. Thou sawest until a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, and it smote the image upon its feet of iron and earthenware, and utterly reduced them to powder. Then once for all the earthenware, the iron, the brass, the silver, the gold, were ground to powder, and became as chaff from the summer threshing floor; and the violence of the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them: and the stone which had smitten the image became a great mountain, and filled all the earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings, to whom the God of Heaven has given a powerful and strong and honourable kingdom, in every place where the children of men dwell: and he has given into thine hand the wild beasts of the field, and the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and he has made thee lord of all. Thou art the head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, an a third kingdom which is the brass, which shall have dominion over all the earth; and a fourth kingdom, which shall be strong as iron: as iron beats to powder and subdues all things, so shall it beat to powder and subdue. And whereas thou sawest the feet and the toes, part of earthenware and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet there shall be in it of the strength of iron, as thou sawest the iron mixed with earthenware. And whereas the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of earthenware, part of the kingdom shall be strong, and part of it shall be broken. Whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with earthenware, they shall be mingled with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave together, as the iron does not mix itself with earthenware. And in the days of those kings the God of Heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and His kingdom shall not be left to another people, but it shall beat to pieces and grind to powder all other kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Whereas thou sawest that a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, and it beat to pieces the earthenware, the iron, the brass, the silver, the gold; the great God has made known to the king what must happen hereafter: and the dream is true, and the interpretation thereof sure. (Dan. 3:31-45, LXX; Dan. 2:31-45, Hebrew)

There are four kingdoms mentioned in this prophecy. One succeeds the other. The first is Babylon. Babylon was represented in this dream by the head of gold. King Nebuchadnezzar who had this dream was the King of Babylon. The next one is the Medo-Persian Empire. This kingdom was represented in this prophecy by the arms of silver. The Medes and Persians ruled much of the Mediterranean region of the world after the Babylonians did. (See Dan. 6:31, LXX; Dan. 5:31, Hebrew; and Esther 1:1-4.) The next kingdom that replaced the Medo-Persian empire as the dominant power in that part of the world was the Greeks under Alexander the Great. In the First Book of Maccabees, it says:

And it happened, after that Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came out of the land of Chettiim, had smitten Darius King of the Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead, the first over Greece, and made many wars, and won many strong holds, and slew the kings of the earth, and went through to the ends of the earth, and took spoils of many nations, insomuch that the earth was quiet before him; whereupon he was exalted and his heart was lifted up. And he gathered a mighty strong host and ruled over countries, and nations, and kings, who became tributaries unto him. (I Macc. 1:1-4)

The belly and thighs of brass in the dream represent the Greek Empire. The Greeks were the dominant power in this part of the world until the Romans supplanted them. The Romans were governing the Mediterranean region of the world during the birth of Jesus.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. (St. Luke 2:1-7)

Caesar Augustus was the Roman Emperor who issued a decree that the world should be taxed. He reigned from 27 B.C to 14 A.D. King Herod the Great was the king in the land of Judea when Jesus was born. (St. Matt. 2:1) The last year of his reign was 4 B.C. The calendar is off about four years. Jesus was born in about 4 B.C. which probably should be called 1 A.D. The Roman Empire is represented in the dream by the legs of iron. The stone that smashes the image is Jesus Christ. Daniel said that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands. This indicates the virgin birth of Christ. No man was involved in impregnating Christ's mother. That is why the stone was cut out "without hands." In the dream, the stone smashed the image and grew into a large mountain that covered the entire Earth. This is prophetic of Christ conquering the world through the spread of the Gospel message. In the early fourth century, the Emperor Constantine the Great became a Christian and made Christianity the state religion. The Christian Gospel has continued to spread to all parts of the world and people continue to convert to Christ today.

Remember that the Kingdom of Christ is not like earthly kingdoms. Jesus told Pilate:

My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence. (St. John 18:36)

Unlike earthly rulers, Jesus governs people's hearts. He rules and conquers through His Church.

Steve

More Old Testament Prophecies of the Incarnation and Birth of God the Word

Having seen that there are prophecies in the Old Testament that say that God would have a body and have flesh, we will now look at some more prophecies which pertain to the incarnation and birth of the Word of God. We will look at the ones that say that He would be born of a virgin.

The clearest prophecy of the virgin birth of the Word of God can be found in the seventh chapter of Isaiah. There, it says:

And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a little thing for you to contend with men? And how do ye contend against the Lord? Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall He eat, before He knows either to prefer evil or choose the good. For before the Child shall know good or evil, He refuses evil, to choose the good; and the land shall be forsaken which thou art afraid of because of the two kings. (Isaiah 7:13-16, LXX)

The corresponding Hebrew word for virgin in this passage is almah. An almah is an unmarried woman who may or may not be a virgin. In the Septuagint, the word translated virgin is parthenos. A parthenos can be nothing else but a virgin. It says in this passage that the Lord shall give a sign to the house of David. The sign is that a virgin will give birth to a Child. Well, if a woman were to give birth to a child she had conceived after having sexual intercourse with a man, that would not be very significant. That is how women usually get pregnant. (Some women today become pregnant by artificial insemination. In ancient times, that practice was unheard of.) On the other hand, if a woman were to get pregnant without having had sexual intercourse with a man and without having been artificially inseminated with a man's semen, that would truly be a sign. The word, sign, in this passage is another word for miracle.

Also, in this passage, it says:

For before the Child shall know good or evil, He refuses evil, to choose the good. (Isaiah 7:16, LXX)

The Birth of Christ. This is a painting by an unknown South German painter. Photo: courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

How many sinless babies have you seen? Most of them cry and whine. When they get a little older, they start demonstrating the vices of selfishness and jealousy. In this prophecy, this Child would be sinless. He would refuse evil and choose good before He had mentally developed a concept of good and evil. This aspect of the Child points to the His divine origin.

The two kings in this passage are Herod the Great and Archelaus. (St. Matt. 2:13-23) Joseph, Mary, and Jesus left Judea and lived in Egypt because Herod was killing babies. Later, after Herod's death, they returned to Judea, but did not stay long because Archelaus was king then. They went to Galilee and resided there. The land of Judea was forsaken by Joseph, Mary, and Jesus because of the two kings, Herod the Great and Archelaus.

Another prophecy of the virgin birth of Christ is found in Genesis. In the third chapter, it says:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, He shall watch against thy head, and thou shalt watch against His heel. (Gen. 3:16, LXX)

The seed of the woman is Jesus Christ who was born of a virgin. The serpent is the devil. The enmity is between Christ and Satan.

Another prophecy of the virgin birth is found in I Chronicles. In the 17th chapter God made a promise to David.

And it shall come to pass when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy bowels, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will set up His throne for ever. I will be to Him a father, and He shall be to Me a Son: and My mercy will I not withdraw from Him, as I withdrew it from them that were before thee. And I will establish Him in My house and in His kingdom for ever; and His throne shall be set up for ever. (I Chronicles 17:11-14, LXX)

The Greek word translated "bowels" in this passage is the word, koilia. Koilia means either belly or womb. Usually, whenever children are mentioned as being offspring of a man, the Scriptures refer to them as the fruit of the loins. Here, it says that David's seed shall be of his belly or womb, not of his loins. The offspring of a womb is called the fruit of the womb. In St. Luke's Gospel, St. Elizabeth said to the Virgin Mary:

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb (Greek, koilia). (St. Luke 1:42)

This passage also speaks of David's seed as having a kingdom that lasts forever. It could not have been talking about David's son Solomon. After he died, his kingdom became split into two parts and later both parts ceased to exist as kingdoms altogether.

Another prophecy of the birth of Christ is also found in Isaiah. It is in the ninth chapter.

For a Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us, whose government is upon His shoulder: and His name is called the Messenger of Great Counsel, Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty One, Potentate, Prince of Peace, Father of the Age to Come: for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to Him. His government shall be great, and of His peace there is no end: it shall be upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to establish it, and to support it with judgment and with righteousness, from henceforth and forever. The seal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this. (Isaiah 9:6,7, LXX, Alexandrian text)

Here, it also says that His kingdom will last forever.

In the Gospels, we read:

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end. (St. Luke 1:30-33)

Here, the Archangel Gabriel has told the Virgin Mary that her Child, Jesus, will receive the throne of King David and rule over the house of Jacob forever and there shall never be an end to His kingdom.

During the early first century, Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Herod Antipas was King of Galilee. Jesus Christ was eventually put on trial before Pontius Pilate. Pilate asked Him, "Art Thou the King of the Jews?" (St. John 18:33) Then, Jesus answered, "Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of Me?" (St. John 18:34) Then, we read:

Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered Thee unto me: what hast Thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto Him, Art Thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice. (St. John 18:35-37)

Here, Jesus claims to have a kingdom and does not deny that He is a king. He says that His kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.

Some other prophecies in the Psalms about the birth of this king are the following.

The Lord sware in truth to David, and He will not annul it, saying, Of the fruit of thy body will I set a king upon thy throne. (Psalm 131:11, LXX)

But I have been made king by Him on Sion His holy mountain, declaring the ordinance of the Lord: the Lord said to Me, Thou art My Son, today have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the ends of the Earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. (Psalm 2:6-9, LXX)

The Lord said to my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send out a rod of power for Thee out of Sion: rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. With Thee is dominion in the day of Thy power, in the splendours of Thy saints: I have begotten Thee from the womb before the morning. The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec. (Psalm 109:1-4, LXX)

St. Paul interpreted the words, "Thou art My Son, today have I begotten Thee," to be referring to the birth of Christ.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son? And again, when He bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. (Heb. 1:1-6)

Notice in the passage from Hebrews that I have quoted that it says: "And let all the angels of God worship Him." This is a quotation from Deuteronomy 32:43 in the Septuagint. The complete verse is:

Rejoice, ye heavens, with Him, and let all the angels of God worship Him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with His people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in Him; for He will avenge the blood of His sons, and He will render vengeance, and recompense justice to His enemies, and will reward them that hate Him; and the Lord shall purge the land of His people. (Deut. 32:43, LXX)

In the Hebrew it says:

Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people: for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to His people. (Deut. 32:43)

There is much that is in the Septuagint that is not found in this verse taken from the Masoretic Hebrew. St. Paul used the Septuagint.

When I think of this passage saying, "Let all the angels of God worship Him," I am reminded of the story of Christ's birth in Bethlehem found in St. Luke's Gospel.

It says that the angels sang praises to God on the night of Christ's birth.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.  And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men. (St. Luke 2:4-14)

In previous blogs I have already shown that Jesus Christ claimed to be God. So, if Jesus truly is God, then the angels were worshipping Him on the night of His birth.

We can also see in this passage from St. Luke's Gospel a fulfillment of the words in Psalm 109:

I have begotten Thee from the womb before the morning. (Psalm 109:3, LXX)

Here, it was prophesied that the birth of the Priest-King, namely, the Christ, would be "before the morning." The angels appeared to the shepherd after the birth of Jesus Christ. The shepherds were "keeping watch over their flock by night. " (St. Luke 2:8)

In the 109th Psalm, it also says that the Christ would be a priest after the order of Melchisedec. Melchisedec (also spelled Melchizedek) was a priest-king who brought bread and wine and blessed Abraham. Abraham paid tithes to him. (Gen. 14:18-20) Jesus established the Sacrament of the Eucharist on the night before He was crucified. In the Sacrament of the Eucharist, bread and wine are used. (St. Matt. 26:26-28; St. Mk. 14:22-24; St. Luke 22:17-20; I Cor. 11:23-26)

I think that the account of Christ's birth in Bethlehem is instructive, too. Bethlehem is a name derived from the Hebrew which means "house of bread." The Virgin Mary placed her Son in a manger. A manger is used for feeding animals. That symbolically indicates that Christ is food. In St. John's Gospel, Jesus said:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am that Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven: if any man eat of this Bread, He shall live for ever: and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this Man give us His flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. (St. John 6:47-55)

So, before He instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, He talked about it. He claimed that He is the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist. Melchisedec used bread and wine in his priestly ministration. Jesus uses bread and wine, too, but, unlike Melchisedec, He provides us with His flesh and blood under the appearance and form of Bread and Wine. I will discourse more about the Eucharist in a later blog, but for now I will continue on with the prophecies of Christ. I would like, however, to leave my readers with this to think about. It is a verse from Psalm 33 (corresponds with Psalm 34 in the Hebrew).

Taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man who hopes in Him. (Psalm 33:8, LXX)

Steve

Some Old Testament Prophecies about Christ: the Incarnation and Birth of God the Word

In the Gospels, Jesus claimed that the Old Testament Scriptures contained prophecies about Him. In St. John's Gospel, it is recorded that He told the Jews:

Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. (St. John 5:39)

In St. Luke's Gospel, it is recorded that He explained Old Testament prophecies about Himself to His disciples.

Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (St. Luke 24:25-27)

For someone to claim that there are prophecies about himself in the Old Testament that would mean one of two things. Either this person is a lunatic or there really is something special about him. Well, Jesus really did claim that there were prophecies in the Old Testament about Him. He even claimed to be greater than King Solomon who was a very wise man.

The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the Earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. (St. Matt. 12:42)

If we take a look at the Old Testament closely, we can find several prophecies of Christ in them. I, personally, find it fascinating to look at the Old Testament prophecies of the Christ (or Messiah) and see their fulfillment in the Gospels. Doing this has done much to increase my faith and convince me that the Bible truly is the inspired Word of God.

When I first started doing this many years ago, I found some discrepancies in the quotations from the Old Testament found in the New Testament and the Old Testament translated from the Hebrew. For example, in Hebrews it says:

Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God. (Heb. 10:5-7)

This is a quotation from Psalm 39 in the Septuagint. The numbering of the Psalms in the Septuagint is different from the Hebrew. So, this particular psalm corresponds with Psalm 40 in the Hebrew Masoretic text. In Psalm 40, it says:

Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; Mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast Thou not required.  Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart. (Psalm 40:6-8)

Nowhere in the corresponding Hebrew version of this passage does it say, "a body hast Thou prepared Me." As one can see, there is a discrepancy between the Hebrew and the passage that St. Paul quoted in his Epistle to the Hebrews. In Sir Lancelot Brenton's translation of the Septuagint, it says:

Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not; but a body hast Thou prepared Me: whole-burnt offering and sacrifice for sin Thou didst not require. Then I said, Behold, I come: in the volume of the book it is written concerning Me, I desired to do Thy will, O My God, and Thy Law in the midst of Mine heart. (Psalm 39:6-8, LXX)

That sounds a whole lot like what I read in St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews.

I had a conversation with someone when I was a catechumen in the Orthodox Church. The person I talked to had had some seminary training. He told me that the prophecies of Christ are much clearer in the Septuagint than the ones in the Hebrew Masoretic text. I have found in my own personal study of the Scriptures that what he was telling me is correct. I have also had a conversation with a Greek priest about this subject. He told me that the Jews altered the Hebrew and it is untrustworthy. When I first heard that, I did not believe him, but I have found out from my own personal study of the Church Fathers and the Scriptures that what he was telling me is true. The Hebrew Masoretic text is untrustworthy. The man who had been seminary-trained had also told me that the Jews edited the Hebrew for the purpose of refuting Christians and the Hebrew Masoretic text is the product of the Jews' editing.

Well, in the passage in the 39th Psalm, there is a prophecy of Christ there. St. Paul apparently believed that that is what that was because he quotes it in his epistle as being one. He quoted the Septuagint, too, although he was "a Hebrew of the Hebrews." (Phil. 3:5) When it says, "a body hast Thou prepared Me," it is talking about the body of Christ being a sacrifice for sins.

Earlier in this Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul quoted from Psalm 44.

But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. (Heb. 1:8,9)

Here, the apostle quotes from this text and, in effect, establishes the deity of the Son of God. This passage from the Psalms is saying that God anointed God. St. Paul believed that there was only one God. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, he says:

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. (I Cor. 8:6)

In his Epistle to the Galatians, he says:

Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. (Gal. 3:20)

So, St. Paul believed that there is only one God. In his Epistle to the Romans, he called Jesus Christ God there, too.

Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Rom. 9:5)

In his Epistle to Titus, he says:

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13)

St. Paul believed that Jesus Christ is God.

So then, when we consider these verses of Scripture, we can conclude that these Psalms were teaching that God would have a body that would be a sacrifice for sins.

I have already discoursed on the subject of the Holy Trinity in an earlier blog. I do not wish to discourse much on that subject here. I would just have to remind any of my readers that Christians believe that God is three distinct Persons, but one God. The Father is not the Son, nor is He the Holy Spirit. The Son is neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Each Person of the Trinity, however, is God in His entirety and there is only one true God. This is a mystery. Do not try to analyze it and figure it out.

If God has a human body then He must have become incarnate. There are several Old Testament prophecies about the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

There are other prophecies in the Old Testament that indicated that God would have a body. One of those is in the Septuagint version of Hosea. There, it says:

For even if they should rear their children, yet shall they be utterly bereaved: wherefore also there is woe to them, though My flesh is of them. (Hosea 9:12, LXX)

There is a discrepancy here also in the Masoretic Hebrew text. It says:

Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them! (Hosea 9:12)

If one were to write "my flesh is of them" in Hebrew, add a consonant to one of the words, and change the vowels, then it would be possible to have the text say, "when I depart from them." (See footnote number 5, vol. 7, p. 79, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series.)

Add a consonant to the Hebrew word for "my flesh" and change the vowels. Then, it will be possible to have the Hebrew word for "at my departure." The Jewish Masoretes edited the Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament so that they would be able to refute Christians who claimed that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

Originally, the Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament were written with only consonants, but later in the 7th century A.D., the Masoretes invented a system of dots and dashes that they placed over, under, and near the consonants to indicate vowel sounds.* I believe that the Masoretes, in order to be able to refute Christians who claimed that Jesus is the promised Messiah, added an additional consonant to a Hebrew word in Hosea 9:12 and put a different set of vowels with that word. The Septuagint is a third century B.C. Greek translation of much older Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament books. The Septuagint translators were Palestinian Jews and they provided the traditional interpretation of the text in their translation.

So, in Hosea 9:12 God claims to have flesh that He got from the Hebrew race. We must remember that God transcends time and sees all of time all at once. For Him, all of time is present time. So, although from a human perspective the incarnation and birth of Christ had not even occurred when Hosea was writing his prophecies, to God this event had already happened. So, God could say through the Holy Prophet Hosea, "My flesh is of them" instead of "My flesh will be of them."

Since it was prophesied in the Old Testament that God would have a body, it is only logical that God would take flesh from a virgin. If He took flesh from an already conceived male child, then He and the male child would be sharing the same body. There would be two persons who have the same body — a human person, namely, the male child, and God the Word. In order to avoid this scenario, God the Word became incarnate in the fallopian tube of a virgin woman.

The virgin woman did not become pregnant by having sexual intercourse with a man.

In future blogs, I will talk more about Old Testament prophecies of the incarnation and birth of Christ. I will also talk about other prophecies pertaining to His life, ministry, death, and resurrection.

Steve

* About the seventh century A.D. a vocalic system was introduced by the Masoretes, a group of people interested in preserving and vocalising the traditional Hebrew text and derived their name from the Hebrew word for "tradition". The system consisted of vowel points or signs which were written in and around the consonants so as not to interfere with their traditional sacredness. (p. 21, Teach Yourself Biblical Hebrew, by R.K. Harrison)

Bibliography

Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts, D.D. & James Donaldson, LL.D., volumes 1-10, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. & Henry Wace, D.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts

Teach Yourself Biblical Hebrew, by R.K. Harrison, published by Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., Kent, UK

What Could Have Been

Let us think about what life would have been like, if man had never sinned against God. According to the Genesis account, God created man in His own image after His likeness. He made man in two genders, male and female. He placed them in a garden. The man's job was to till the ground. (Gen. 2:5) His wife's function was to be his companion, helper, and support. (Gen. 2:18; Mal. 2:14; Tobit 8:6; Ecclesiasticus 36:24) Both of them were responsible for taking care of God's creatures. (Gen. 1:28; Psalm 8:6; Wisdom 9:2) God also told them to "Increase and multiply." (Gen. 1:28, LXX)

If they had abstained from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and had partaken of the Tree of Life, they would have had sexual relations with each other without experiencing any sinful lusts. The wife would have become pregnant many times and would have borne children. Blessed Augustine wrote:

In Paradise, however, if sin had not preceded, there would not have been, indeed, generation without union of the sexes, but this union would certainly have been without shame; for in the sexual union there would have been a quiet acquiescence of the members, not a lust of the flesh productive of shame. Matrimony, therefore, is a good, in which the human being is born after orderly conception; the fruit, too, of matrimony is good, as being the very human being which is thus born; sin, however, is an evil with which every man is born. (On Marriage and Concupiscence, Book II, chapter 37, by Blessed Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D., vol. 5, p. 298, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series)

If man had never sinned, people would still continue to have sex and women would still be getting pregnant.

Due to our fallen condition, sex has acquired a bad stigma. People have trouble imagining sex without thinking about the sin and shame that all too often accompanies it. When God created sex, He did not create sin. Through its abuse and misuse, however, sex has become sinful, but actually it is holy and was never intended by God to be done in any sinful way. Sex in and of itself is not evil.

There is an ancient heresy — the heresy of the Encratites. They taught that sex and procreation are evil. Another heretic named Marcion of Pontus taught the same thing. By teaching that sex and procreation are evil, these heretics are essentially saying that God created sin when He created sex and commanded our first parents to sin when He told them to procreate. What these heretics were teaching is, of course, not true.
There would be no doctors and no health insurance. There would be no need for life insurance.

There would be no abortion clinics. Women would conceive and joyfully give birth to their children. They would experience no pain in childbirth. Women experience pain in childbirth now because of the Fall in Paradise. (Gen. 3:16)

If man had never sinned, women would be giving birth to babies and experiencing no pain in childbirth. There would be no need for hospitals or doctors to deliver babies. For attribute click here.

Now, people pass mortality on to their children. If man had never sinned, the reverse would be true. Instead of passing mortality on to their offspring, the couple would have been passing immortality on to them. Their offspring would have contracted heterosexual unions among each other and would have had children of their own. All the posterity of man would be immortal. Death and funerals would never have existed among humans.

If man had never sinned, women would still be giving birth to babies. Instead of passing mortality on to their offspring, they would be passing immortality on to them. Children would grow up at a much slower rate than they do now.

Having immortal children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and other descendants, it would have been possible for someone to spend time doing things with someone who is twenty, thirty, a hundred, or even a thousand generations removed from him.

Children would probably grow up to full maturity at a slower rate. In Isaiah it says that in the afterlife a youth will be a hundred years old.

Neither shall there be there any more a child that dies untimely, or an old man who shall not complete his time: for the youth shall be a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies at a hundred years shall also be accursed. (Isaiah 65:20, LXX)*

After reaching a certain age, they will stop aging. The same would have been true for children if man had never sinned. I think that they would develop faster intellectually and emotionally than they would physically. For example, if man had never sinned, a child might have the mind of a thirty year old and the body of a six year old.

There would be schools for the children and post-secondary schools for adults. People would have forever to study a new discipline and learn it. Many people would be multi-skilled and adept at doing many different things. A man could be a poet, song-writer, electrician, civil engineer, and farmer within the first thousand years of his existence. During the next thousand years, he could be learning other trades.
 

If man had never sinned, there would still be schools for children.

Instead of populating only this planet, we would be populating distant planets in distant galaxies. Mars would not be a dry desert planet. We would have had sufficient time to transform it into a beautiful Paradise with plants and animals from Earth. We, likewise, would have done the same thing with other planets in our solar system.

If man had never sinned, Mars would not look like this. Photo courtesy: NASA.

Instead, Mars would look more like this. For attribute click here.

There would still be genealogical records kept. There would be birth certificates and records of heterosexual unions. Marriage would not exist. (St. Matt. 22:30) The system used for contracting heterosexual unions would be the same system that the angels have. (We really do not know what that system is. We can only speculate about it.)

Snakes would have legs. God cursed the snake and took away its legs after the Fall of Man. (Gen. 3:14)

Man and all animals would be vegetarians. They would live in peace with each other. Originally humans and animals ate only vegetables, fruits, and nuts. (Gen. 1:29,30) Sometime after man had sinned, people and some animals became carnivores. (Gen. 9:2,3)

There would be no prisons. No one would be committing any crimes. There would be no armies. No one would want to go to war with anyone.

People would outlive the usefulness of their homes and would have to replace them with new ones periodically.

A thousand years would not seem like such a very long time to anyone. People would live so long that time would not mean that much to them.

Work would be easier and not toilsome. A man would not have to produce food to stay alive and he would not eat bread "in the sweat of his face." (Gen. 3:19)

People would enjoy worshipping God. Church attendance would almost always be at one hundred percent.

Life, in general, would be much more blissful if man had never sinned.

Steve

* "The sinner who dies at a hundred years shall also be accursed." I have thought about this part of this verse and I think that it means that the unrighteous who are resurrected will spend a hundred or more years with the resurrected righteous. After spending a hundred years with them and seeing the blessedness of the life they could have had if they had followed Christ, they will die the second death spoken of in Revelation. (Rev. 20:11-15) St. John Chrysostom calls it a "deathless death." In the second death, people will be tormented in body and soul in Gehenna forever. Their souls will still be joined together bodies, though.

Bibliography

Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts, D.D. & James Donaldson, LL.D., volumes 1-10, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. & Henry Wace, D.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts

Sifting Truth from Error

I am starting to get into more doctrinal subjects in my blogs now. So, I am going to start talking about how to discern the truth from the Holy Scriptures.

One method that has obviously failed is the Sola Scriptura method. This is the method used by many people today. It involves using nothing but the Bible to interpret the Bible. Each person who uses this method believes that the Holy Spirit has led him or her to the correct understanding of particular texts of Scripture. The problem with this approach becomes apparent when one sees how many different and conflicting interpretations people who use this method have. They even come up with interpretations that the Church has condemned as heretical. For example, someone might look at I Corinthians 15:50 where St. Paul says "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God" and come up with the doctrine that there will no resurrection of the bodies of the dead at Christ's second coming. There are plenty of people who believe that is what St. Paul was saying in this verse. However, they do not know that they are interpreting it the same way the Gnostics did in ancient times. Another example is St. John 3:3-8. It says here:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.  Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (St. John 3:3-8)

Some people in modern times interpret the words "born of water" to mean "born in childbirth." They say that the word, "water," means amniotic fluid. They also teach that baptism is unimportant for a person's salvation. People who have this interpretation do not know that none of the Church Fathers interpreted those words that way. They also do not know that by saying that baptism is unimportant for a person's salvation they have adopted Pelagius' view of baptism. He did not think that baptism was important either and the Church condemned his teachings as heretical.

There are many other examples of false interpretations of Holy Scripture that people have gotten using the Sola Scriptura method of interpretation.

People who use this method often have conflicting interpretations. Each Sola Scriptura theologian thinks that he is right and everyone who disagrees with him is wrong. Each such person thinks that his interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures came from God and anyone who disagrees with him was not fortunate enough to have been led by the Holy Spirit into the correct understanding of the Scriptures.

All one has to do to see what is wrong with this approach to understanding the Bible is to look at all of the various Protestant denominations that have been popping up over the past one hundred years. Each one has its own pet interpretation of some passage of Scripture. The Primitive Baptists interpret the Bible to mean that God has chosen only an elect, select few to be saved and has allowed everyone else to go to eternal damnation. The Methodists say people have a free will and God wants to save everyone who is willing to be saved. The Church of Christ teaches that we are born again in the waters of baptism. The Baptists say that we are born again when we believe in Christ. The Presbyterians say that we should be baptized by sprinkling or pouring. The Baptists say that we should be baptized by immersion. The Baptists refuse to baptize babies. The Methodists and the Presbyterians do. Methodists say that a person can lose his salvation after having been saved. Baptists say that once a person believes in Christ his salvation is guaranteed and he can never lose his salvation. Lutherans say that Christ is in, with, and under the Bread and the Wine of the Eucharist. Baptists say that He is not. They say that the Lord's Supper is done in memory of Christ's death on the Cross and the Bread and the Wine merely represent symbolically His Body and Blood. Presbyterians agree with the Baptists, but they also say that people who receive Communion "feed on Christ by faith in their hearts." The Episcopalians teach apostolic succession and say that a minister must be ordained by a bishop who is a part of the historical lineage of bishops in order to be a legitimate minister of the Gospel. People who have formed "non-denominational" churches say that all that a man must have to be a valid minister of the Gospel is to have a call from God on his heart. Some Protestant denominations like the Methodists and the United Church of Christ ordain women to be ministers. Others like the Primitive Baptists say that God calls only men into the Gospel ministry. Anyway, there is a vast multiplicity of conflicting beliefs among those who use the Sola Scriptura approach to interpreting Holy Scripture.

There are some principles to interpretation that can be derived from the Holy Scriptures. One such principle is found in St. John's Gospel:

Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. (St. John 16:13)

This verse is best understood along with these verses:

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. (II Peter 1:20)

But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (I Tim. 3:15)

Holy Scripture should not be privately interpreted by any one particular individual. The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth and the Holy Spirit leads people collectively into the truth. The people He leads into the truth are those who are part of the Church.

In Ephesians, it says:

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. (Eph. 4:4)

There is only one body, that is, one Church. In Ephesians chapter 1, St. Paul called the Church "His body." (Eph. 1:22, 23)

Another passage that pertains to this subject is in St. Matthew's Gospel. Christ said:

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. (St. Matthew 16:18)

The gates of Hell will not prevail against the one and only Church which is the pillar and ground of the truth. So then, there will be a continuous unbroken history of the Church going all the way back to the days of the apostles. There is one Church on Earth, then, that has always taught the truth.

Since the Holy Spirit has always guided the Church into truth and the Church has an unbroken history going back to the days of the apostles (The gates of Hell have not prevailed against it.), there are some other principles that we should use in discerning the truth. These principles are antiquity, universality, and consent. St. Vincent of Lerins wrote about these principles.

Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense “Catholic,” which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors.

What then will a Catholic Christian do, if a small portion of the Church have cut itself off from the communion of the universal faith? What, surely, but prefer the soundness of the whole body to the unsoundness of a pestilent and corrupt member? What, if some novel contagion seek to infect not merely an insignificant portion of the Church, but the whole? Then it will be his care to cleave to antiquity, which at this day cannot possibly be seduced by any fraud of novelty.

But what, if in antiquity itself there be found error on the part of two or three men, or at any rate of a city or even of a province? Then it will be his care by all means, to prefer the decrees, if such there be, of an ancient General Council to the rashness and ignorance of a few. But what, if some error should spring up on which no such decree is found to bear? Then he must collate andconsult and interrogate the opinions of the ancients, of those, namely, who, though living in divers times and places, yet continuing in the communion and faith of the one Catholic Church, stand forth acknowledged and approved authorities: and whatsoever he shall ascertain to have been held, written, taught, not by one or two of these only, but by all, equally, with one consent, openly, frequently, persistently, that he must understand that he himself also is to believe without any doubt or hesitation. (The Commonitory, chapters 2 &3, written by St. Vincent of Lerins in about 434 A.D., vol. 11, pp. 132-133, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series)

The principles of antiquity and universality say that we should accept what has always been taught everywhere the apostles founded a church. The principle of consent says that we should accept what all or most of the respected teachers of the Church teach. The respected teachers of the Church are the Church Fathers. None of the Church Fathers taught, for example, that the expression, "born of water," means "born of amniotic fluid." So then, that interpretation of Christ's words in St. John 3:5 is false. None of the Church Fathers taught that our salvation is permanently guaranteed after we believe in Christ. So then, that teaching is clearly false.Another verse bearing on this subject is found in Acts.

Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole Church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: and they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the Law: to whom we gave no such commandment: it seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. (Acts 15:22-28)

At the Council of Jerusalem, the apostles and elders (presbyters) who met at this council reached a decision on a matter with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That is why they said in their letter to the Gentile Christians, "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us." The Holy Spirit guides the Church into truth through Church councils.

There is a saying among us Orthodox: "The Church as a whole cannot err." Whenever there is a worldwide Church council and the decisions of the council are accepted by the vast majority of the clergy and laity, there is an Ecumenical Church Council. The doctrinal decisions of such councils were written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and are viewed by Orthodox Christians as infallible statements of doctrinal truth. There have been seven Ecumenical Church Councils. There have also been some regional councils that have canons that have been accepted by an Ecumenical Council.

Just as this woman sifts grain from chaff, so we too can sift truth from error by using the principles of antiquity, universality, consent, and conciliar infallibility.

So then, using the principle of conciliar infallibility we can make sure that we do not come up with a false interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. As to the issue of infant baptism, for example, we should interpret the Scriptures to be teaching that this practice is correct. In Canon XC of the Council of Carthage (419 A.D.), it says:

Likewise it seemed good that whosoever denies that infants newly from their mother’s wombs should be baptized, or says that baptism is for remission of sins, but that they derive from Adam no original sin, which needs to be removed by the laver of regeneration, from whence the conclusion follows, that in them the form of baptism for the remission of sins, is to be understood as false and not true, let him be anathema.

For no otherwise can be understood what the Apostle says, “By one man sin is come into the world, and death through sin, and so death passed upon all men in that all have “sinned” (Rom. 5:12), than the Catholic Church everywhere diffused has always understood it. For on account of this rule of faith (regulam fidei) even infants, who could have committed as yet no sin themselves, therefore are truly baptized for the remission of sins, in order that what in them is the result of generation may be cleansed by regeneration. (Canon XC, Council of Carthage, 419 A.D., vol. 14, pp. 496-497, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series)

As to the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, we should be in agreement with this canon and say that the Bible teaches this doctrine. The canons of this Council of Carthage were accepted by the Second Canon of the Quinisext Council in 692 A.D. The issue regarding the baptism of infants and the doctrine of baptismal regeneration have already been accepted by the Church as a whole. There is no more need, then, to debate these issues. The Holy Spirit has already spoken through the Church.

There is a documented history in the writings of the Church Fathers that indicates that the Church has always taught that the Eucharist is Christ's Body and Blood and not just a mere symbol with a memory attached to it. So then, the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is true.

The Church Fathers taught the doctrine of the resurrection of the body and the Second Ecumenical Church Council affirmed this doctrine to be true. So then, we should not interpret I Cor. 15:50 to be teaching that our bodies will not be resurrected.

In future blogs, I will write more about these subjects. I just wanted to mention these principles of interpretation of Holy Scripture before I start discoursing any further on God's plan for redeeming man.

Steve

Bibliography

Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts, D.D. & James Donaldson, LL.D., volumes 1-10, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. & Henry Wace, D.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts

The Fall of Man

According to the Genesis account of creation, after God created man, He placed in a garden that was watered by four rivers and told him he could eat from every tree in the garden but one — the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. One of the trees that man was permitted to eat from was the Tree of Life, but he never ate from that one. If he had done that, his body would have become immortal. Man did eat from the forbidden tree and as a result of doing so brought death upon himself and his posterity.

According to this account, it was man's wife who first ate from the forbidden tree. She did so after listening to the lies of Satan who had assumed the form of a snake.

In the Wisdom of Solomon, it says:

Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it. (Wisdom 2:24)

God expelled Adam and Eve from the
Garden of Eden after they had sinned.

Another sin that the fallen angel Lucifer committed is that of envy. He became jealous of man who had been newly created by God in the divine image and likeness and because of his jealousy, he wanted to destroy this new creature of God. He tempted the man's wife to eat from the forbidden tree and she in turn got her husband to eat from it. In Ecclesiasticus, it says:

Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die. (Ecclesiasticus 25:24)

St. Paul said:

And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (I Tim. 2:14)

In the Scriptures, the first man is called Adam and his wife is called Eve. Some have said that the first sin committed by humans was gluttony. It may have very well have been covetousness as well. It says in Genesis:

And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes to look upon and beautiful to contemplate, and having taken of its fruit she ate, and she gave to her husband also with her, and they ate. (Gen. 3:7, LXX)

The man and his wife coveted the fruit from the forbidden tree before they ate. Their sin of covetousness led to the commission of the sin of disobedience which resulted in them bringing death upon themselves and on their posterity.

In St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, the apostle wrote:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that (Greek, eph hoi, on account of which) all have sinned. (Rom. 5:12)*

The words translated "for that" in this verse are the Greek words, eph hoi. Eph is another form of the Greek preposition, epi. Hoi is a relative pronoun that can refer to only a masculine or a neuter noun. There are three possible words that hoi can refer to: death (thanatos), world (kosmos), or Adam. The Orthodox Church follows the interpretation of St. John Chrysostom and interprets hoi to refer to death. So then, it is on account of death that all have sinned.**

Later in Romans, St. Paul said:

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. (Rom. 5:15)

In St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, he says:

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (I Cor. 15:22)

In Job it says:

For I know that death will destroy me: for the earth is the house appointed for every mortal. (Job 30:23, LXX)

and in Ecclesiasticus it says:

All flesh waxeth old as a garment: for the covenant from the beginning is, Thou shalt die the death. (Ecclesiasticus 14:17)

In St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, he said:

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. (Heb. 9:27)

So, death has passed on to all men. Everyone inherits death from his parents and ultimately from our first parents, Adam and Eve. Death is transmitted by the woman as well as by the man. (Ecclesiasticus 25:24; I Cor. 15:22)

After our first parents sinned, they transmitted mortality to all of their posterity. Because of their sin, we all die. Photo courtesy freefoto.com.

No one is guilty of any of the sins committed by our first parents.*** In Ezekiel, it says:

But the soul that sins shall die: and the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the iniquity of the transgressor shall be upon him. (Ezek. 18:20, LXX)

We are conceived in sins.

For, behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 50:5, LXX)

Those sins are not sins that belong to others. Those are sins that we ourselves possess. Everyone has a tendency to commit sins, but no one is guilty of someone else's sins. It is on account of death that we sin. Our mortal nature has a tendency to sin. In the Wisdom of Solomon, it says:

For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things. (Wisdom 9:15)

St. Paul said:

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom. 7:18-24)

It is because of our mortality that we sin.

Adam sinned and then he died when he was 930 years old. (Gen. 5:5) We inherit death from Adam and because we die, we sin.

There are three kinds of death spoke of in the Scriptures: physical death, spiritual death, and the second death. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. In the Epistle of James it says:

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:26)

The body dies when the immaterial part of the person (namely, the spirit and soul) leaves the body. This is physical death. Physical death, in the Orthodox view, is seen a remedy for sin and not a punishment for sin. God has to take us apart at death and put us back together again in the general resurrection in order to repair the damage that has been done to us by sin. There are, of course, things that we must be doing in this life to promote the spiritual healing process before we die. If we do not do these things, we will not be resurrected with incorruptible, deified bodies. I will talk more about the things we must be doing for our spiritual health is some future blogs.

Another kind of death is spiritual death. St. Paul spoke of this kind of death in his Epistle to the Ephesians:

And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. (Eph. 2:1)

Spiritual death is spiritual separation from God. We separate ourselves from God in our souls and in our wills when we sin. God never physically separates Himself from us. He is in all places at all times.

The knowledge of Thee is too wonderful for me; it is very difficult, I cannot attain to it. Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? And whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I should go up to Heaven, Thou art there: if I should go down to Hell, Thou art present. If I should spread my wings to fly straight forward, and sojourn at the extremity of the sea, it would be vain, for even there Thy hand would guide me, and Thy right hand would hold me. When I said, Surely the darkness will cover me; even the night was light in my luxury. For darkness will not be darkness with Thee; but night will be light as day: as its darkness, so shall its light be to Thee. (Psalm 138:6-12, LXX)

One of the things that has been lost as a result of the Fall of Man is the likeness of God. We still have a free will, but it becomes weakened by sin. Our sins diminish our humanity. Sin, in the Orthodox Christian view, is unnatural.

The second death is eternal death. It is a deathless death. Body and soul are rejoined together in the general resurrection of the dead and the person experiencing this kind of death experiences eternal suffering and torment in body and soul. He can never physically die, however. This kind of death is spoken of in Revelation.

And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and Hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.  And death and Hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire. (Rev. 20:11-15)

Jesus said:

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell (that is, Gehenna). (St. Matt. 10:28)

Everyone must die a physical death. That is the kind of death we inherit from Adam. Everyone sins.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23)

Therefore, everyone experiences spiritual death. Not everyone has to experience the second death, though. There is hope. God has provided us a way to avoid this kind of death. Through Jesus Christ our Lord we can avoid the eternal damnation of the second death and live forever in eternal bliss in God's kingdom. I will write more about how we can have eternal life through Jesus Christ in future blogs.

Steve

* Hoi is the dative singular masculine and dative singular neuter form of the relative pronoun hos. That means that epi in the phrase, eph hoi, has a dative case pronoun as its object. Whenever epi has a dative case object, it can be translated "on account of." (See epi, definition B. 2. d. on p. 233 of A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, translated, revised, and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer.)

** As the best physicians always take great pains to discover the source of diseases, and go to the very fountain of the mischief, so doth the blessed Paul also. Hence after having said that we were justified, and having shown it from the Patriarch, and from the Spirit, and from the dying of Christ (for He would not have died unless He intended to justify), he next confirms from other sources also what he had at such length demonstrated. And he confirms his proposition from things opposite, that is, from death and sin. How, and in what way? He enquires whence death came in, and how it prevailed. How then did death come in and prevail? “Through the sin of one.” But what means, “for that all have sinned?” (Rom. 5:12) This; he having once fallen, even they that had not eaten of the tree did from him, all of them, become mortal. (Homilies on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Homily X, by St. John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D., vol. 11, p. 401, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series)

*** For that one man should be punished on account of another does not seem to be much in accordance with reason. But for one to be saved on account of another is at once more suitable and more reasonable. (Homilies on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Homily X, by St. John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D., vol. 11, p. 402, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series)

Bibliography

Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts, D.D. & James Donaldson, LL.D., volumes 1-10, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. & Henry Wace, D.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Complete and Unabridged, translated, revised, and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer, Regency Reference Library, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan