I'm actually thankful to RDBD for insisting that Gen 3:21 teaches that God's provision of animal skins (presumably from innocent animals slain in the Garden) "proves" that A&E were both saved. But this
assumption presents more problems than it solves. Chief among them is that the assumption presumes that Salvation is a one-sided coin...or that the Salvation Train runs on only one track, i.e. the Savior's Provision. The assumption conveniently forgets that the Salvation Train runs on two tracks:
The Savior's Provision and the Sinner's Response Thereto. After all, there is no text in scriptue that teaches "the just shall live by God's atoning work". Rather, "the just shall live by [their] faith" (Hab 2:4).
And this in turn presents another huge problem: God's atoning work in the Garden had to be
efficacious, according to such a poor presuppositon above! God saved the entire human race (A&E), without any regard to their response to His work? (Talk about megabytes of irony!) Yet, at the same time, we know that His work could not have been efficacious since it very clearly did not positively affect Cain who turned out to be a seed/offspring of the Serpent. (Or maybe God got creative and had two different plans of salvation: one for A&E and one for their progeny?)
But last night God brought to my remembrance Heb 10, which even more pointedly addresses the text in Gen 3:21. I would strongly urge all here to read carefully the entire chapter -- or at least from vv. 1-31. Since the passage is so long, I'm just going to highlight a few passages that set the tone for the passage.
Heb 10:1-7
1For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
"Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"
ESV
So...the question that is begging for answer in light of the text above is: What was God's purpose in providing animal skin coverings for our first parents? Since the blood of animals can never take away sins and God himself takes no pleasure in such sacrifices as were commanded in His holy Law, then surely what was written above applies with equal force to the pre-Law era. Here's my two-prong answer to the question: God provided animal skin coverings to
generally show mankind that man cannot hide his real guilt and shame for sin by his own methods; but even more
specifically to the Genesis text God provided animal skin coverings to
evoke a Faith Response from Eve whom He had elected earlier unto salvation(3:15).
Election very clearly preceded Eve's faith!
Even Eve understood that her animal skin coverings were not the real answer for her guilt and shame. She acknowledged God and expressed her appreciation to Him twice (4:1, 25) for His help in bringing forth two male children -- both of whom she very likely thought would fulfill the [messianic] "seed" prophecy (Gen 3:15) within her own lifetime. Little did she realize that that prophecy would take thousands of years to fulfill!
So, if we do a chronological timeline flyover of the Genesis account, which I like to do often with narratives because by such an exercise a bigger picture often emerges to provide us with a deeper understanding of a given passage and helps us to avoid that pernicious disease of mental myopia.
1. The first prophecy in scripture is the Fall (2:16-17).
2. We can know this prophecy was a result of divine Prerogative (decree) and not mere Prescience by the fact that God purposely did not consign the devil and the rest of his rebellious horde to eternal punishment immediately after they fell, but rather He cast them down to the earth to interact with humanity in order to accomplish his good, holy and perfect will. Satan would be the perfect Antagonist in God's story of mankind's Redemption.
3. From 3:15 we see God again exercising his Prerogative with the cast of characters involved in humanity's fall. He cursed the Serpent above all the other beasts upon the earth; He [implicitly] reconciled Eve to Himself by placing enmity between her and the Serpent (therefore removing the enmity between Eve and Himself) and between her seed and his seed; and by
excluding Adam from his reconciliation promise which can only mean that God consigned Adam to be a child of the Serpent.
4. This divine decree was certainly effectual since Eve expressed gratitude/faith twice to God in the account (4:1, 25), and even Adam understood that she would become the mother of all the spiritually living (3:20). However, with Adam (who is always contrasted with Christ!) there is not a scintilla of biblical evidence that he ever repented and trusted God for the atonement provision He made.
The really big question, then, isn't whether God's Atonement Provision was sufficient or not for both A&E, but the question is one of
design/purpose for God's atoning work
. The
mere assumption on the part of many professing Christians is that God designed his work to be
effectual for both our first parents (which again is beyond Mega Irony given the complete lack of evidence for any faith on the part of Adam); yet, the biblical evidence tells us that God designed his work to benefit Eve and all her godly seed, which exluded Adam and Cain. So, the post-Fall account not only teaches
Unconditional Election with respect to Eve but also
Irresistible Grace since Eve did respond favorably to God's earlier decree and gracious provision, and
Limited Atonement (in the quantitative sense) as well, and Perseverance of the Saints since Eve's faith carried over many years later 'till the birth of her third son at least, AND last but not least
Total Depravity since Cain could not change what he had become even with the empirical evidence he had for God's existence! He could not bring himself to repent of the sins in his evil heart.
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