By: Tin-chee Lo
Introduction
My granddaughter has been loving writing since her childhood. When she was in college, I always thought she was majoring in “English Literature.” I attended her graduation ceremony in May this year, and I asked her what degree is she getting? She said her bachelor degree is titled “Creative Writing and Business.” After I heard it, I felt little bit confused. I understand what is “Creative Writing,” but why is it related to “Business”? After thinking about it for a while, I realized that this makes sense, because in the business world, rigorous language is a must. Doesn’t signing a contract require precise language? Later I asked her to send me an article that she wrote so that I could have a deeper understanding of her thoughts. She gave me one of her works related to John Milton’s masterpiece, <Paradise Lost>. This article is my response to reading my granddaughter’s work and my comments on <Paradise Lost> based on my limiting understanding of Milton’s great classic.
A brief introduction to <Paradise Lost>
Content:
From my granddaughter’s article, I learned that <Paradise Lost> is an exposition, in epic form, of Genesis 3, that is, it deals with the issue of “original sin.”
Author:
John Milton (1608-1674). This masterpiece was written in 1665 when Milton was 57. He was blind at the time and relied entirely on dictation from his many helpers. I think this is one of the reasons why he wrote it in the genre of “epic poem”, because “poetry” can use the least number of words to express the most profound feelings. Although this literary device has a very limited ability to explain Scripture and theological doctrines with the needed precision, it does give readers some freedom for extensions and creative speculations—the value other genres of literature cannot have done.
The necessity of “speculations”
I have never read the book “Paradise Lost” seriously, but from my granddaughter’s article, I can get a slight glimpse of Milton’s thoughts, especially his theological perspectives. The latter is the area that interests me the most.
Chapter 3 of Genesis discusses the fall of our ancestors, Adam and Eve, and its consequences. This is the only source-information on the fall of mankind. Please note that the entire chapter is less than 700 words. However, <Paradise Lost> is a huge book with more than 80,000 words. Therefore, it goes without saying that in order to fill the volume, a huge part of the content in the book is based on speculation. The reader must keep this fact in mind.
Speculation is not a wild and fanciful thought. Speculation is one of many legitimate scientific methods. All scientific theories are developed from speculations. But speculation requires “careful verification” in order to become a scientific theory. The same is true for the treatment of biblical difficulties. In terms of theology, a rigorous theologians can also use speculation as a starting point to explore interpretation, but their speculation must comply with the following criteria:
- It must be logical and comply with common sense.
- It must be supported by the Scripture (at least one verse) in order for this speculation to be qualified as truth.
- If there is no positive support from anywhere in the Bible, we have to step back and ask a second tier question: “Is this speculation refuted by any verse in the Scripture?”
- If so, we must abandon this speculation;
- if not, this speculation can be considered as one of the legitimate possible interpretations.
I shall use these three principles to test the reasonableness of the content of <Paradise Lost>.
Two things that go unnoticed
God issued the prohibition to Adam, “You may freely eat of any tree of the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
- This prohibition was directed only to Adam; Eve was not present at the time. Eve had to understand this prohibition by receiving teaching from Adam. Therefore, what Eve received was only a second-hand knowledge from Adam, not first-hand knowledge from God. We now see that teaching Eve was one of Adam’s responsibilities. We also understand from this why Satan cleverly tempted the vulnerable Eve in the absence of Adam.
- After Eve was created, God brought her to Adam and said that this person is flesh of your flesh and of bone of your bone. God did not give her a name, only called her “woman.” The name “Eve” was given to her by Adam—the taxonomist—not by God. And also this happened after the Fall (Genesis 3:20) not before the Fall.
From these two facts, we can begin to figure out many subtleties in Eve’s thoughts and behaviors.
Milton’s View of Eve’s Fall
Milton points out that Eve’s Fall was a gradual process.
- One day Eve strolled the Garden of Eden alone. Beside the calm and crystal-clear brook, she saw for the first time her own reflection and realized how beautiful she was. So, she went to watch her reflection every day. [Narcissus in Greek mythology was famous for being obsessed with one’s own beauty. This ancient fairy tale may have originated from Eve. This is also the origin of the word “narcissism.”] Eve’s “self-appreciation became the beginning of her vanity in the future. So, the first reason that led to Eve’s fall was “Covetousness of Vanity.”
- Satan praised her beauty in front of her day and night, using flattery to cater to Eve’s “love of vanity.” So, the second reason that led to Eve’s fall was “Being complacent.”
- “Vanity” led Eve to pursue the right of “equality between man and woman.” As she felt God was unfair to her, she thought to herself, “My husband was directly created by God, and I was just made from his rib. Am I inferior by design?” She mused again, “God talk to my husband directly, and I have to learn from him to understand God’s heart. God, is it fair?” Satan egged this doubt on her, saying, “God is indeed not fair; what He says is worth doubting.” So, the third reason that led to Eve’s fall was “Grudging against God”.
- Why should I learn from my husband? Eve questioned to herself. In order not to be a second-rate human being, “becoming like God” had to be Eve’s ultimate goal. Satan knew the time was ripe and used deceitful words to seduce Eve. Everyone knows the rest of the story. So, the fourth reason that led to Eve’s fall was “Disobey Authority”.
Milton’s View of Adam’s Fall
Milton seems not to have said much about Adam’s Fall, this is why Grace’s article mainly focuses on Eve. But Milton is not completely silent about the causes of Adam’s Fall:
- Eve’s beauty became an idol which Adam worshiped. So, the first cause for Adam’s fall was “Idolatry.”
- After Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Adam could actually have refused to make the same mistake. But because Adam loved Eve deeply, he thought, “I love her, and I can’t live without her. I would rather die together than to live alone! There’s no point to live by myself and toil without helper.” Then, Adam decided to eat the forbidden fruit fully aware of the consequences. He, in effect, acted emotionally and put his feeling above his reason. This was the reason for Adam’s Fall according to Milton. So, the second cause of Adam’s fall was “Contempt of God.”
Milton’s Theological Fallacy
Let us first recap Milton’s explanations of the reasons for the Fall.
For Eve:
- “Covetousness of vanity” (Gal. 5:26; Phil. 2:3)
- “Being complacent” (Proverbs 16:18; James 4:6)
- “Grudge against God” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
- “Disobey authority” (Ephesians 5:22-24)
For Adam:
- “Idolatry” (Exodus 20:3-5)
- “Contempt of God” (Genesis 3; Proverbs 1:7)
Milton lists various reasons for the fall of Eve and Adam. At first glance, I think his speculations are quite reasonable and can be regarded as good common sense and logical. I can say that they are “acceptable speculations”. However, after a second glance, I realize that all the so-called “causes of the Fall” listed above are actually typical manifestations of human sinful nature acquired “after the Fall” in the Bible (as shown in the cited verses). However, Milton placed these “post-fall sinful natures” in the “Pre-Fall” world where there should have no sinful nature in the first place. Now, you see that the problem begins to surface.
John Milton is in effect saying, “Adam and Eve, being in a state of innocent sinlessness, committed some sins that brought them into a state of sinful nature.” We sin because our sinful nature compels us to sin. How could a person without sinful nature commit a sin? This obviously falls prey to the fallacy of “circular logic”. Milton’s reasoning throughout the book is thus subjected to be challenged and questioned.
Granted, this is understandable. Because we are all “post-Fall creatures,” our thinking has been distorted by our “sinful nature”. We cannot fully comprehend the state of the human mind in the prelapsarian (or pre-Fall) world. Only Adam and Eve had such experiences, and no one else has had, we then can make some excuses for Milton.
Although we should not regard <Paradise Lost> as a rigorous theological exegesis, we can surely appreciate its beautiful literary work that can make readers’ souls feel refreshed after reading it. Furthermore, we surely can draw practical and valuable applications from this book as below.
Advice to young people
Especially to young men and young women who fall in love, they are advised not to make the same mistakes as Eve and Adam did.
- Young lady! Don’t be vain, don’t be complacent about people’s compliments on your beauty.
- Young man! Don’t lose your mind; only stupid men can’t resist the charms of a beautiful woman and succumbed to her temptation.
- Young men and women! Getting dumped is not a big deal. Falling out of love means that God has prepared a better one for you than the one you have now. The most unwise person in the world commits suicide because of broken love. Usually for those who are lovelorn, even if the person who abandons you is willing to come back to you again after a while, in most cases, you will also lose interest in the boomerang partner. When love is not mutual, beauty can turn into ugliness, and love can turn into hatred. So, trust God for His wisdom in arranging your marriage partner. God always works for good for those (the dumper and the dumped) who love Him.
Theology of the original sin
The concept herein is from “Reason to Believe” by RC Sproul; pp. 117-129.
There are two important assertions in the Bible:
- God is not the author of evil.
- The Bible clearly places the responsibility of transgression and sin on human beings.
With these two assertions, there has been an unanswered question since the ancient times:
Q: Where did sin come from? The answers to this question over the ages can be divided into at least five categories (A1 to A5), as follows:
A1: People sin because they are given the freedom of choice.
Adam and Eve chose sin, which became the source of sinful nature in mankind. This has been viewed as “standard answer” to the very question. Most Christians stop at this point with satisfaction. But this answer is not without difficulties: Adam and Eve were perfectly made by God. Why did the perfect creatures choose evil?
A2: Adam and Eve were deceived.
The difficulty of this answer is: The Bible states that Adam and Eve knowingly committed an act of disobedience. Why was the Jehovah God asking them to be responsible for their own crimes and judged them if they were deceived or ignorant of their actions?
A3: Adam and Eve were forced to sin.
Biblical records do not agree. If they were compelled, sin will not be on them, but on the compeller.
A4: Adam and Eve sinned because they had the inclination to sin.
This statement has the following problems: Where did their tendency to sin come from? Is God unholy if inclination to sin came from God? If it came from the devil, we just push the problem up one level without really solving the problem.
A5: Adam and Eve had no tendency to sin. Their choice was not from logical reasoning. Their actions were just a mere accident.
Winfrey Oprah and Eckhart Tolle, the two prominent New Age Movement proponents, used this argument to downplay the gravity of sin. Accident does not involve moral responsibility. But the Bible states that Adam and Eve’s choices invoked moral responsibility. Without the desire or inclination, there is no ability to choose. I open the refrigerator because I want to eat (desire). I want to paint a picture today because I incline to paint. Adam and Eve did make a choice so they had inclination.
A6: Can you come up with any other answers?
Can you think of any? Please fill in.
Although it appears that we have not really answered the very question “Where did sin come from,” the key point to bear in mind is: We can exhaust all our imagination to leave some impressive “smart” answers to others, but we must realize that human reason is flawed and limited. The truths of Christianity cannot be answered by sophistry. Atheists often say, “The existence of evil proves that there is no God who is good, omniscient, and omnipotent.”
Although Christians do not fully understand the source of evil, we have no reason to ignore the abundant positive evidences of the existence of God. To deny what we have already known based on what we do not yet know is not only a poor theology but also a poor science.
Although Christians cannot fully explain evil, the Bible continually warns us to beware of evil’s influences (1 Peter 5: 8-9). Evil is indeed a mystery. God, in His infinite wisdom, hides something from us that we will never understand them in this world. And I believe the concealment of God is for our benefit, for example, God does not tell me when is the date I should die. Is this to me not God’s grace? The Bible says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). The Origin of Sin is indeed a mystery.
Having said that, we must be careful not to abuse the term “mystery” whenever we encounter any bible difficulty. If we lightly say without hesitation that something is a mystery, we then stop pursue further understanding and research and as a result, we won’t grow in knowledge. It takes a process to reach the certainty of being able to say, “this is a mystery.” Historically, the process of reaching such conclusion may take several centuries. But throughout the process, we have learned. Therefore, I think the process is more important than the answer, because in the future when we see our Lord face to face in heaven, we will certainly get the correct answer from Him, but the processes we have experienced in this world becomes opportunities for us to grow in faith and in holiness. One theologian puts it well, “God has put enough into the world to make faith in Him a most reasonable thing, and he has left enough to make it impossible to live by sheer reason alone.”
