Serpens in Gardino

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Why do I believe in the record of Creation and Original Sin in Genesis? Because without it none of Sacred Scripture would make any sense. There would be no purpose in Jesus having come into the world. There would be no resurrection of the dead. All of life would be completely pointless. Thank God, however, that that is not the case. Therefore, in emphasizing the need to accept the account of original sin given by Moses, Pope Pius XII writes the following in paragraph 37 of his encyclical, Humani Generis:

When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which, through generation, is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.

Therefore Genesis 3:1-8 in today's Scripture readings is of particular importance. Here the serpent tempts Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and from there comes all of humanity's sin. Verse 6 tells us that she and her husband Adam succumbed to temptation:

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.

This is explained further in 1st John 2:16.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.

Comparing the two passages of Sacred Scripture we see the following:

• The Lust of the Flesh: Eve saw the tree was good for food
• The Lust of the Eyes: Eve saw the tree was a delight to the eyes
• The Pride of Life: Eve saw the tree was desirable to make one wise

Jesus was tempted in the same as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13.

• The Lust of the Flesh: The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
• The Lust of the Eyes: And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours.”
• The Pride of Life: And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

But unlike the first woman Eve, the second Adam (as St. Paul calls him in his epistles) passes the test.

• Jesus Response to the Lust of the Flesh: And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”
• Jesus Response to the Lust of the Eyes: And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
• Jesus Response to the Pride of Life: And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

Jesus got those response from Sacred Scripture:

• Deuteronomy 8:3 - He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your ancestors, so you might know that it is not by bread alone that people live, but by all that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.
• Deuteronomy 6:13 - The LORD, your God, shall you fear; him shall you serve,* and by his name shall you swear.
• Deuteronomy 6:16 - You shall not put the LORD, your God, to the test, as you did at Massah.

Here we see how the Old Testament from the very beginning in the record of Creation and Original Sin is one continuous account to Jesus the Atonement for our sin.

Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned — sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. Romans 5:12-14

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 1 Corinthians 15:42-29