Messiah Baptist Church of Baesa, Inc.

Every Wednesday Bible Study

December 4, 2024

THE DISPENSATION OF INNOCENCE

     Human history began thousands of years ago with the creation of Adam and Eve. Human history helps us in our study of the different dispensations.  

     The dispensation of innocence refers to the period from the creation of man until the fall into sin, specifically during the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  It is considered the first and shortest dispensations which divide history into distinct periods where God interacts uniquely with humanity.             

I – THE STATE OF MAN AT THE BEGINNING

     We learn the creation of man in Genesis 1:26-27 "And God said, Let Us make man in Our _______, after Our _________ . . .So God created man in His Own _______, in the________ of God created He him."

Genesis 1:26-27 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: … ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

     Genesis, which is the first book of the Bible and is widely regarded by Christians, Jews, and Muslims as the foundational text of their faith.

     The concept of humanity being created in the image and likeness of God, speaks to the inherent value and dignity of every human being, regardless of race, gender, or background. It suggests that every person carries within them a reflection of the divine, and as such, possesses inherent worth and significance. This idea is foundational in Christian theology and serves as the basis for the respect and care that believers are called to have for all people.

     The word “us”, God speaking of Himself (and speaks of plurality within unity) and thus refers to the Trinity.

     The word “Man” refers not just to Adam but to mankind in general and this is substantiated by the fact that in Hebrew man is in the plural form and in Genesis 1:27 God identifies both male and female as man. 

     Man, the crown of creation is the Hebrew word Adam.

     Notice the words “our image” this defines the unique relation of man to God.

     Man is a living being capable of embodying God's communicable attributes (Genesis 9:6; Romans 8:29; Colossians 3:10; James 3:9). Man was like God in that he could reason and had intellect, will, and emotion. In the moral sense, man was like God because he was good and sinless.

      We see that God is taking counsel with Himself when He said “Let Us make man in Our image”, not with angels (as religious denominatiion, the Church of the Latter Day saints or Mormons claimed), since man was to be made in the image of God, not of angels. "Our image," therefore, implies human likeness to the triune Godhead. Plants possess a body and animals possess a body and consciousness; man was not only to have a body (of the created "earth") and a consciousness (of the created "soul"), but man was also to possess a third created entity, the image of God, an eternal spirit capable of communion and fellowship with his Creator. 

     The words "Image" (in Hebrew “tselem”) and "likeness" (in Hebrew “demut”) are essentially synonymous terms. Both indicate personality, moral, and spiritual qualities that God and man share (self-consciousness, God-consciousness, freedom, responsibility, speech, moral discernment, etc.) These distinguish humans from the animals. Some writers have called the image of God man's "spiritual personality."

     So, Adam was created in the image and likeness of God.

     To illustrate what is an image. Would you find a coins and you can see an image. Read Matthew 22:18-21.

Matthew 22:18-21 “But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? ¹⁹ Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. ²⁰ And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?

²¹ They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.”

Would you tell whose image found on the Roman coin? __________

Whose face you will see if you look at Roman coin? ________

Whose image do you see in the Peso bill? ________

Whose image do you see when you look into a mirror?

Does the mirror reflect you?

Did you see your image in the mirror? God’s image was in man.

Genesis 1:26-27 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

     So, God created man with the responsibility to reflect God. Adam was to be like a mirror and this mirror was to reflect God and what God is like. Before Adam sinned, God gave Adam the opportunity to know and to show: God’s truth, God’s goodness, God’s sinlessness, God’s righteousness, God’s holiness, God’s love, God’s faithfulness, God’s purity.

     Find out what God told Adam to have over all the of the animals in Genesis 1:26.

Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have _________ over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

Genesis 1:26 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

This speaks to the dominion that humans are given over the earth. This dominion is not unlimited or unchecked, but rather is given as a responsibility to steward and care for the creation that God has made. This implies a sense of accountability and caretaking for the natural world, and suggests that humans are called to be good and responsible stewards of the earth and its resources.

     God put Adam on the earth with a purpose to be the King of the beasts not the Lion who was known as the King of the jungle. Was God’s blessing on Adam and Even? ____ Genesis 1:28

Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have _________ over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

     This specifically focuses on God's blessing of the first human beings, Adam and Eve, and God’s command for them to be fruitful, multiply, and have dominion over the earth. Here is the idea of stewardship and dominion over the earth. God creates the first human beings in his own image and gives them the ability to rule over the earth.

     Interesting to note that no instruction was given to exercise dominion over other men but only over the earth and the animals. 

     God's purpose in creating human life in His image was functional: man is to rule or have dominion (Genesis 1:26, 28). However, because of sin all things are not under man's dominion (Hebrews 2:8). But Jesus Christ will establish dominion over all the earth (Hebrews 2:5-8) at His second coming.

     At the end of the sixth day of creation, God saw everything that He had made including Adam, and what was the description of all things that God made? ___ Genesis 1:31.

Genesis 1:31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was ______ ______. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

Genesis 1:31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

     This marks the conclusion of the Creation story as depicted in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The completion of Creation on the sixth day is underscored by the statement in Genesis 1:31 that "it was very good." It summarizes the affirmation of God's work and the satisfaction of God’s creative process. This also serves as an important reminder of the inherent goodness of the world that God has created. The repetition of the word "good" throughout the Creation story serves to emphasize the perfection and harmony of God's handiwork. The use of the word "very" in Genesis 1:31 further emphasizes the exceptional quality of God's creation, indicating that it exceeded His expectations.  

     What God created was good because God is not the Author or the cause of sin. God did not create a sinful man. God created Adam who later became a sinner. Listen, when God first created Adam, he did not have a sinful heart. Adam was perfectly innocent.

     Before the fall, Adam lived in a state of innocence and harmony with God in the Garden of Eden. Adam could walk and talk with God, enjoying direct, close, intimate relationship with direct communication and fellowship with their Creator and the fulness of life without sin or suffering.    

     The word “innocent” means free from sin or wrong or guilt. In the beginning Adam was without sin. Adam was not guilty of any crime. Adam never disobeyed God and never broken God’s law. Adam was unacquainted with evil so his mind was not filled with any evil thoughts. There was no sin in his life which would come between him and God (Isaiah 59:2). Adam was not slave of sin and was innocent. Adam would have been speaking the truth if he said “I have no sin” and if he said “I have not sinned”. However, if anyone of us say today “I have no sin” or “I have not sinned”, are we speaking the truth?          

I John 1:10 “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

     The life in the Garden was marked by simplicity and abundance. Adam lived in a perfect environment. Adam and Eve did not experience pain, suffering, or death. Adam lived in a paradise where their needs were met, and they were free to enjoy the beauty of creation with the burdens of toil and hardship. The absence of sin meant that man’s desires were aligned with God’s will. Adam did not live in a sin-cursed world as we do today. Was there any crime, any disease, any death, any poverty  in Adam’s world? Our world we lived today is different from the world Adam lived. Can you think of one thing that was not good and was there? The only thing that was not good on that world is Satan (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 12:9).

Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

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