The Estuary of Theology 12

The Work of Man (Satan, the Devil)

“The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). The fact that the man gave a name to the woman has become the direct cause of the deportation of the man from the garden of Eden. 

The two, who were both virgins at that time (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 5), could not understand the following word of God: “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). The man fulfilled the word, “he shall rule over you,” by calling “his wife's name Eve.” He showed off the authority of ruling the woman before God. The action of the man of having given a name to his wife like man, who had given names to the living things (cf. Genesis 2:19), ignores the command of God given to the two, who had made humans male and female from the beginning and had blessed them: “[H]ave dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing” (cf. Genesis 1:27-28). Also, it is against the experience of man, that is, the fact that he could not find a helper fit for him among those to whom he gave names (cf. Genesis 2:20, The Estuary of Theology issue 4). 

The ground of the action of the man is the information of the serpent, and he came to have a contradiction in him because God’s word that supports it did not exist in his five-sense data (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 11). Therefore, he understood his wife gave birth to the offspring of “all living” from the word of God, “[Y]ou shall bring forth children,” and made this understanding the reason why he had given a name to her. He justified the action he did. Here in him, Satan (the devil) appeared who ignored God’s manner and evolved without any connection with God and intended to rival God by showing off human authority. Satan (the devil) is the figure of the personification of the information of the serpent just as God and the Bible tell. Satan (the devil) appears from inside of a human when he/she has a contradiction in him/her and tries to hide it from him/herself. At this time, he/she has become Satan (the devil). Therefore, God “drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24). 

Eve, after she was deported from the garden of Eden with her husband, matured, and “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD’” (Genesis 4:1). God had certainly desired Cain’s birth. However, it is her husband that cooperated with her to give Cain his body. Eve’s saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD,” tells the imaginary mystery. She understood she had conceived with the help of the Lord from God’s word, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing.” Moreover, her word, “I have gotten a man,” suggests she might have regarded the man to be hers. This word of hers contradicts the fact that a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and a child is born, who is one flesh (cf. Genesis 2:24). Also, it ignores the command of God, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28), that he said with blessing to both the man and the woman. 

In her, Satan (the devil) has appeared who intended to rule others by the imaginary mystery ignoring God’s manner and evolving without any connection with God. The information of the serpent personified and appeared from inside the woman, who had the characteristic of a helper. Eve has become Satan (the devil) as Adam. When a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” (Luke 11:27), he responded, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28). Also, he taught that “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21) and spoke to his mother calling her “Woman” to teach everyone not to be ruled by the imaginary mystery (cf. John 2:4, 19:26). 

The scene of the temptation by the devil in the wilderness (cf. Matthew 4:1-11) shows that Jesus personifies the information of the serpent and calls it Satan and rejects it. This is so that readers who read this scene may avoid falling into the contradiction by distinguishing the information of the serpent from God’s manner and by ruling it imitating Jesus. Jesus, as the God the omnipotence, was memory itself and was making the knowledge of God into the Word, and on the other hand, he, as one who was fully human, experienced humanity with the memory of five-sense data, which a human body was equipped with, and with the knowledge of good and evil, which always perfectly connected its own word and deed with God’s manner, and ruled the information of the serpent as a part of nature (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 11). Therefore, also he must have had the information of the serpent as follows: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread,” “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” and “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” As Jesus said, “[E]very one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40), people can distinguish their own information of the serpent from God’s manner and rule it like Jesus the teacher did. For this purpose, Jesus had prepared every necessary thing so that people, after Pentecost, could be trained through the twofold spirituality of the Holy Spirit (cf. The Estuary of Theology issue 7). 

When Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” to Jesus’ question, “But who do you say that I am?,” Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:15-17). The reason why Peter was directly connected to the will of the Father in heaven is because his knowledge of good and evil had been trained by Jesus. Peter had been focusing on Jesus, connected with him, and had been amid God’s manner with him. Then he had memorized the God who had been present as a man in his five-sense data. This memory brought about the recognition of God’s presence into his knowledge of good and evil. 

However, in the next scene where Jesus began to tell the disciples that he was to suffer many things, be killed and be raised, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22). What was in the base of his action was the information of the serpent that had nothing to do with God’s manner. Then Jesus said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Matthew 16:23). He made his disciples, through this contrast, experience distinguishing the information of the serpent from God’s manner by watching the manner of God, the only one who is good, and taught them not to become Satan (the devil) and fall into the “work of man.” 

The information of the serpent, at the end of the day, desires the living things to evolve, and they evolve doing the desire. In the case of humans, the main player of evolution is the knowledge of good and evil. Unless the knowledge of good and evil directs itself towards knowing the manner of God, the only one who is good, its evolution will always become the “work of man”, which fulfils human desires, and will be directed to evil. This is as Jesus said: “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). 

The following word of Jesus asks people’s knowledge of good and evil to direct itself to God the Creator and to know the manner of God, the only one who is good, and to distinguish the information of the serpent from God’s manner: “He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God” (John 8:47). The experience of Ananias, who helped Paul’s conversion after Pentecost, tells us the state of the one who has been trained as one of the disciples of Jesus in detail. His knowledge of good and evil was distinguishing the information data of Paul, that had been conveyed by other disciples, from God’s manner even though it was correct. Therefore, he followed the word that Jesus’ spirit told him (cf. The Acts of the Apostles 9:10-19). His knowledge of good and evil had been trained by Jesus and had been “He who is of God,” who knew God’s manner. 

To be continued. 

Apr. 2020 in Hiroshima

Maria K