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are His willing subjects. The paradise of the past lies beyond the pale of human history. Says
Barth: “When the history of man began; when man’s time had its beginning; when time and
history commenced where man has the first and the last word, paradise had
disappeared.”[God’s Search for Man, p. 98.] Brunner speaks in a similar vein when he says:
“Just as in respect of the Creation we ask in vain. How, where and when has this taken place, so
also is it with the Fall. The Creation and the Fall both lie behind the historical visible
reality.”[Man in Revolt, p. 142.]
Others who do not deny the historical character of the narrative in Genesis, maintain that the
serpent at least should not be regarded as a literal animal, but merely as a name or a symbol for
covetousness, for sexual desire, for erring reason, or for Satan. Still others assert that, to say
the least, the speaking of the serpent should be understood figuratively. But all these and
similar interpretations are untenable in the light of Scripture. The passages preceding and
following Gen. 3:1-7 are evidently intended as a plain historical narrative. That they were so
understood by the Biblical authors, can be proved by many cross-references, such as Job 31:33;
Eccl. 7:29; Isa. 43:27; Hos. 6:7; Rom. 5:12,18,19; I Cor. 5:21; II Cor. 11:3; I Tim. 2:14, and
therefore we have no right to hold that these verses, which form an integral part of the
narrative, should be interpreted figuratively. Moreover, the serpent is certainly counted among
the animals in Gen. 3:1, and it would not yield good sense to substitute for “serpent” the word
“Satan.” The punishment in Gen. 3:14,15 presupposes a literal serpent, and Paul conceives of
the serpent in no other way, II Cor. 11:3. And while it may be possible to conceive of the
serpent as saying something in a figurative sense by means of cunning actions, it does not seem
possible to think of him as carrying on the conversation recorded in Gen. 3 in that way. The
whole transaction, including the speaking of the serpent, undoubtedly finds its explanation in
the operation of some superhuman power, which is not mentioned in Gen. 3. Scripture clearly
intimates that the serpent was but the instrument of Satan, and that Satan was the real
tempter, who was working in and through the serpent, just as at a later time he worked in men
and swine, John 8:44; Rom. 16:20; II Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9. The serpent was a fit instrument for
Satan, for he is the personification of sin, and the serpent symbolizes sin (a) in its cunning and
deceptive nature, and (b) in its poisonous sting by which it kills man.
3. THE FALL BY TEMPTATION AND MAN’S SALVABILITY.
It has been suggested that the fact that
man’s fall was occasioned by temptation from without, may be one of the reasons why man is
salvable, in distinction from the fallen angels, who were not subject to external temptation, but
fell by the promptings of their own inner nature. Nothing certain can be said on this point,
however. But whatever the significance of the temptation in that respect may be, it certainly
does not suffice to explain how a holy being like Adam could fall in sin. It is impossible for us to