WEBVTT 00:00:16.989 --> 00:00:19.769 Let's begin at the beginning. There is a phrase 00:00:19.769 --> 00:00:23.570 in Genesis that we rarely stop to question. Very 00:00:23.570 --> 00:00:27.149 good. After creating humanity, God looks at everything 00:00:27.149 --> 00:00:30.170 he has made and declares that it was very good. 00:00:30.530 --> 00:00:34.659 Not perfect. Not complete. We often imagine Adam 00:00:34.659 --> 00:00:38.060 and Eve as perfect beings, but scripture never 00:00:38.060 --> 00:00:40.799 actually says that. And I want to suggest that 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:43.960 almost everything in Western theology depends 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:47.420 on whether we hear Genesis correctly. Because 00:00:47.420 --> 00:00:49.820 if you start with perfection, you build one kind 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:52.960 of story. If you start with very good, you build 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:56.219 another. If humanity is created with potential, 00:00:56.579 --> 00:00:59.719 then growth is assumed. Potential implies movement. 00:01:00.020 --> 00:01:02.780 Potential implies development. Potential implies 00:01:02.780 --> 00:01:05.459 that the present state is not the final state. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:09.659 Now, pause and think. If Adam was created already 00:01:09.659 --> 00:01:13.700 fully mature, fully righteous, spiritually complete, 00:01:13.980 --> 00:01:16.859 what was his life like? Was he becoming anything? 00:01:17.159 --> 00:01:20.239 Did he have a trajectory? If there's no potential 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:23.120 for growth, then Adam's purpose becomes static, 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:27.040 maintenance, preservation, existence without 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:29.659 development. And I think this explains something 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:32.489 else. Many Christians imagine heaven as static. 00:01:32.709 --> 00:01:36.090 You arrive, you're perfected, and then you remain 00:01:36.090 --> 00:01:38.510 in fixed bliss forever. Where's the deepening, 00:01:38.629 --> 00:01:42.829 the ascent, the movement? Why? We imagine Eden 00:01:42.829 --> 00:01:46.090 that way. If the beginning was static perfection, 00:01:46.430 --> 00:01:50.170 the end must also be static perfection. But what 00:01:50.170 --> 00:01:52.950 if that assumption is wrong? See, Eden was a 00:01:52.950 --> 00:01:56.150 beginning, not the end. That means that the world 00:01:56.150 --> 00:01:59.549 outside Eden is not yet Eden. It is supposed 00:01:59.549 --> 00:02:03.370 to become Eden. That assumes expansion. That 00:02:03.370 --> 00:02:07.010 assumes growth. That assumes sacred space is 00:02:07.010 --> 00:02:10.449 meant to spread outward. But if Adam had no potential, 00:02:10.770 --> 00:02:14.729 then what exactly was he called to subdue? If 00:02:14.729 --> 00:02:17.810 he was already perfect in a finished sense, what 00:02:17.810 --> 00:02:20.189 was he cultivating? The command itself implies 00:02:20.189 --> 00:02:23.569 movement. Eden is not the final state. It's the 00:02:23.569 --> 00:02:26.110 starting point. And once you look for it, the 00:02:26.110 --> 00:02:29.930 imagery of growth and ascent is everywhere. Jacob 00:02:29.930 --> 00:02:31.830 sees a ladder stretching from heaven to earth. 00:02:32.009 --> 00:02:35.490 Angels ascend and descend. There's movement between 00:02:35.490 --> 00:02:38.669 realms. Later, Christ identifies himself with 00:02:38.669 --> 00:02:41.689 that ladder. The angels of God are ascending 00:02:41.689 --> 00:02:45.050 and descending upon the Son of Man. That is not 00:02:45.050 --> 00:02:48.849 static imagery. That is communion. That is participation. 00:02:49.669 --> 00:02:52.750 Humanity invited upward. The temple itself is 00:02:52.750 --> 00:02:56.330 built on a mountain. You ascend to worship. You 00:02:56.330 --> 00:02:59.800 literally move up. The Psalms are songs of ascent. 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:02.699 Israel's journey is movement, not maintenance. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.400 Exodus is not merely escape, it is formation, 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:09.819 it is becoming. Paul says that we are being transformed 00:03:09.819 --> 00:03:14.180 from glory to glory. The Bible reads like a story 00:03:14.180 --> 00:03:16.960 moving upward, not preserving something frozen. 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:20.240 The church fathers often described Adam as a 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:23.719 child. Saint Irenaeus writes, Man was a child, 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:27.599 not yet having his understanding perfected. a 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:32.900 child, not ruined perfection, not shattered metaphysical 00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:36.400 brilliance, a child. Children are not perfect, 00:03:36.580 --> 00:03:40.080 but they are very good. They are growing. That 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:43.520 language matters because it frames Eden as formation, 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:47.000 not finished glory destroyed. The fathers also 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:51.439 did not teach that Adam was inherently immortal 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:55.180 by nature. The fathers did not teach that Adam 00:03:55.180 --> 00:03:58.819 was inherently immortal by nature. That point 00:03:58.819 --> 00:04:01.939 is extremely important. Saint Athanasius says 00:04:01.939 --> 00:04:06.439 that humanity was by nature mortal, yet capable 00:04:06.439 --> 00:04:09.979 of remaining incorrupt through communion with 00:04:09.979 --> 00:04:14.319 God. By nature mortal, by communion capable of 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:17.680 immortality. Immortality was not automatic, it 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:20.100 was relational. The tree of life was not decoration, 00:04:20.339 --> 00:04:24.459 it signified dependence, communion, contingency, 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:28.939 participation. Life flows from union. Separation 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:32.300 results in corruption. That is a very different 00:04:32.300 --> 00:04:35.220 picture from inherited guilt. When Augustine 00:04:35.220 --> 00:04:39.220 confronts Pelagius, the emphasis shifts. Humanity 00:04:39.220 --> 00:04:42.100 becomes not merely mortal, but condemned. And 00:04:42.100 --> 00:04:44.139 once condemnation becomes the starting point, 00:04:44.300 --> 00:04:49.139 salvation becomes primarily legal pardon. If 00:04:49.139 --> 00:04:52.240 the problem is inherited guilt, then the cure 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:56.579 becomes acquittal. That logic is internally consistent, 00:04:56.860 --> 00:05:00.759 but it is built on a specific anthropology. Earlier 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:03.740 fathers emphasized corruption and death. Augustine 00:05:03.740 --> 00:05:07.620 emphasizes guilt, and that shift reverberated 00:05:07.620 --> 00:05:10.439 through Western theology. Now, Reformed covenant 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:14.079 theology formalizes this structure. Adam stands 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:17.279 in a probationary covenant, the covenant of works. 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:26.439 He acts as humanity's federal head. Ask, why 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:29.779 would a perfect being need probation? Probation 00:05:29.779 --> 00:05:32.639 implies growth. It implies something not yet 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:35.259 secured. Honestly, I do not even like the word 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:38.699 probation here. Christ says, abide in me. That 00:05:38.699 --> 00:05:41.300 is relational language, not courtroom language. 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:45.600 The Edenic vision seems less like passing a legal 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:49.459 test and more like deepening communion. If Adam 00:05:49.459 --> 00:05:51.959 is already perfect, then what exactly is being 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:55.519 confirmed? The very existence of probation. suggests 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:59.120 immaturity, movement, and potential. Adam was 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:03.120 very good, but not yet consummated. If you think 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.860 in terms of temple imagery, this framework makes 00:06:05.860 --> 00:06:08.759 far more sense. We are temples of the Holy Spirit, 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:12.319 but temples are meant to deepen, to expand, to 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:15.500 become places where divine life radiates outward. 00:06:15.899 --> 00:06:18.759 Humanity becomes sacred space like Eden, and 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:21.199 then spreads that life outward into creation. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:25.000 Temple formation makes sense. Courtroom Probation 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:27.660 makes less sense if perfection is already assumed. 00:06:27.939 --> 00:06:30.639 Now, things become more complicated because Calvin 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:33.420 writes that nothing happens apart from divine 00:06:33.420 --> 00:06:37.779 decree. So, if the fall becomes necessary for 00:06:37.779 --> 00:06:41.180 election, and election becomes necessary for 00:06:41.180 --> 00:06:44.360 the maximal display of divine glory, then history 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:47.680 starts to feel inevitable. It begins to look 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:50.759 as though this exact world had to exist. And 00:06:50.759 --> 00:06:52.420 if this world could not have been otherwise, 00:06:53.050 --> 00:06:55.430 then what happens to freedom? Does God have freedom? 00:06:55.589 --> 00:06:58.370 Do we? And this is where Eastern Orthodox theology 00:06:58.370 --> 00:07:01.389 introduces something extremely important, the 00:07:01.389 --> 00:07:04.329 essence -energies distinction. God's essence 00:07:04.329 --> 00:07:08.230 is who God is in himself, his innermost reality, 00:07:08.550 --> 00:07:11.949 transcendent, beyond comprehension. But God's 00:07:11.949 --> 00:07:15.449 energies are how he acts, how he creates, sustains, 00:07:15.509 --> 00:07:19.149 how he saves. Think of the sun. You cannot approach 00:07:19.149 --> 00:07:22.420 its core, but you truly... experience its light 00:07:22.420 --> 00:07:25.279 and warmth. The light is not the essence. It 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:28.300 is the activity. God's existence is necessary. 00:07:28.540 --> 00:07:31.839 God must be God. But creation is free. God did 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:35.100 not have to create. The fall was not necessary. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:39.199 Redemption was not inevitable. These are expressions 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:42.060 of divine freedom. But if God's will collapses 00:07:42.060 --> 00:07:45.439 into his essence, then willing creation becomes 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.699 necessary. And if creation becomes necessary, 00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:52.430 freedom begins. disappearing. Everything starts 00:07:52.430 --> 00:07:54.910 to look deterministic, whether we admit it or 00:07:54.910 --> 00:07:57.569 not. This is why creation from nothing matters 00:07:57.569 --> 00:08:00.589 so deeply. Creation is not eternal. It is not 00:08:00.589 --> 00:08:04.550 necessary. It is free. The fathers insist on 00:08:04.550 --> 00:08:07.550 this repeatedly. Saint Basil says creation was 00:08:07.550 --> 00:08:10.529 not of necessity but of will. Saint Athanasius 00:08:10.529 --> 00:08:13.209 says God was not compelled to create. History 00:08:13.209 --> 00:08:16.629 is relational, not inevitable. Someone might 00:08:16.629 --> 00:08:20.540 say, I do not believe in original sin. I'd I 00:08:20.540 --> 00:08:23.339 don't believe in total depravity. I believe in 00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:25.879 Jesus. I invited Jesus into my heart. But if 00:08:25.879 --> 00:08:28.720 salvation is fundamentally understood as moving 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:32.539 from hellbound to heavenbound, and if humanity 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:36.379 is assumed to begin condemned, then the inherited 00:08:36.379 --> 00:08:39.919 guilt framework is already underneath the system. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:43.139 It is so deeply embedded in the modern imagination. 00:08:43.580 --> 00:08:46.639 Even when people reject the labels, the structure 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:50.970 often remains. Without inherited guilt, the entire 00:08:50.970 --> 00:08:54.350 heaven versus hell from birth framework starts 00:08:54.350 --> 00:08:57.830 collapsing. So what's the alternative? Healing, 00:08:58.009 --> 00:09:02.570 resurrection, participation, communion, not merely 00:09:02.570 --> 00:09:05.450 acquittal. This is why Eastern Christianity approaches 00:09:05.450 --> 00:09:09.289 infants differently. Infants are baptized. They 00:09:09.289 --> 00:09:12.370 are charismated. They receive communion, not 00:09:12.370 --> 00:09:15.450 because they are acquitted criminals, but because 00:09:15.450 --> 00:09:18.690 they need life. That difference flows from an 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:48.590 entirely different anthropology. not probation, 00:09:48.909 --> 00:09:53.049 freedom, not inevitability. And that difference 00:09:53.049 --> 00:09:54.370 changes everything.