In the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis, we see that their mistake in eating the fruit as the sin that set humanity on the course for destruction. A lot of Christians have taken this story of the first humans and used it to tell the story of everything in the Bible. The rest of the history found in the pages is often overlooked.

What if you look at Adam and Eve as characters in a much bigger story that God is telling. Yes, they are big characters, but they are only in the first few chapters, then we don’t hear mentioned again until Romans 5:12-19 when the story of Jesus demonstrates the power he has over death, with the ability to conquer the sin of Adam (my paraphrase). The main story in the Old Testament is about the children of Israel and their struggles. What does God want to teach us about the Israelites? What is their story saying about God’s character, about the culture in the time these stories and events took place? We should be asking ourselves these questions as we read. 

The New Testament it is about Jesus and how he came to replace the old covenant with a new one, the gospel. It is less about sin and more about living out the gospel with the life we have left. It does teach about sin, but if we make that the focal point, we miss out on so much of the richness of its teaching and ideology.  

When Christians look at the Bible with such a narrow view, we miss much of what God is trying to impart to us. We can’t simply think that Adam and Eve’s sin is what Christianity is based on, simply because they screwed up and God had to come up with a new plan. It makes it sound as if God was fumbling around in the universe, thinking “oh no, my kids messed up, I better go with plan B.” He created us, He put the tree in the middle of the garden. I am pretty sure; Jesus was a part of the plan the whole time. (please don’t anyone come after me for that statement).

Renowned biblical scholar NT Wright teaches a way of looking at the Bible as a five-act drama that is much more than that. Creation, Fall, Israel, Jesus, and Church. “The Christian life is the living out of the remaining scenes of the final act” (Wright). When you look at the Bible this way, it becomes more than just a rule book, or a condemning book of how people are shamed, or even worse, an example of what a horrible deity God is (which he is not).

There is more to the Christian life than caring about sin. Jesus came to free us from the curse of sin and death. He is trying to free us from this constant fear as we try to live in the shadow of a life of sin. Our lives should be consumed with spreading the good news about Jesus, helping the broken, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, setting those who are in prison free, and everything the word says. Yet somehow our lives are consumed with our own sin life. (A selfish view I might add because it is all about me or how your sin might affect me). It is time for us to put our worries about sin behind us. 

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Since we are surrounded by so many examples of faith, we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially sin that distracts us. We must run the race that lies ahead of us and never give up.”

Don’t let sin trip you up, run the race without all of the baggage around your neck. Never give up, and invite others to run with you. It is like a marathon, there can be many runners in this race. We all win, if we run with Jesus.

©2023 Marsha L. Brown