The story of human liberty begins in Eden.

Conceptually, a garden is a special place separate from the rest of the land. It is populated with plants chosen by the gardener for some purpose and all other plants are excluded. The garden in Eden was set up especially to be congenial to humanity. The plants and climate were such that clothes were not needed for warmth or protection. The animals were tame and benign. In other words, God created a perfect environment for people and that is where He placed the first couple.

In this garden, God gave the first man all of the information he needed. First God said that the man should be fruitful and multiply and that he should have dominion over all of the other creatures. God also said that man could freely eat of all the fruit in the garden. There was, however, one tree that was toxic and God warned the man not to eat of that one. He said that the man would die (become mortal) if he did eat of the toxic tree.

(The term ‘toxic’ here does not necessarily mean poisonous in the sense that arsenic is poisonous. It means that eating of the fruit of that tree would result in eventual death. Whether it is the case that humans were initially immortal and eating of the tree changed them physically or that access to the tree of life was what conferred immortality is not addressed by Scripture. Scripture does say that continued access to the tree of life would have enabled humans to live forever.)

The Garden and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil then became humanity’s first – and at that point only – opportunity for the exercise of free will. Had God not wanted to give humanity that opportunity, He could have excluded the toxic tree from the Garden, or He could have stationed a cherub by the tree to keep people away. In other words, the toxic tree was a ticket out of the Garden should the first couple not be able to resist temptation. Notice that God did not say, “If you eat of that tree, I will kill you.” He simply pointed out the consequence - mortality - of ignoring the warning.

Speaking of temptation, what was going on with the serpent? In context, the serpent would have been among the animals that God brought to the man during the search for a companion. In which process, the man gave each animal its name. All Scripture tells us about the serpent is that it “was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.” (Gen 3:1) There are only two instances of talking animals in Scripture, the serpent and Balaam’s ass. Since Scripture explicitly says that God opened the mouth of Balaam’s ass, we might assume that the serpent was also speaking through the agency of someone else, typically Satan. In any case, had God not wanted the possibility of temptation to arise, He could simply have kept the serpent away from the woman or stationed a cherub to keep an eye on things. The entire setup described in Genesis 3 seems designed to give the first couple an opportunity to make an important decision. Given that God did not take several obvious steps to control that decision, one can reasonably conclude that human free will is important to God and His purposes.

That conclusion is further bolstered by the aftermath of our decision to eat of the toxic tree. God could certainly have destroyed the first couple and restarted the whole project with ‘Humans 2.0.’ He could also have healed us, issued a ‘do over’ and let us try again. He, of course, did not do either of those things.

The first thing that God did was to curse the serpent. The next thing that He did was to explain the consequences of humanity’s decision: we would be mortal; the woman would have difficult childbirth and her husband would be her leader; the man would have to work for food instead of simply picking it off of a tree. To make that change, God explicitly cursed the ground. The earth would no longer be congenial, but would be a dangerous place that would resist the man’s quest for sustenance. It is significant that God did not curse either the woman or the man. In other words, He respected their decision and treated them as beings with independent agency. An important component of agency is that choices have consequences, both good and bad.

Having said all that, God also showed His mercy and love. Since humans were being expelled from the pleasant and congenial garden into a difficult and often hostile world, they would need some protection. The weather would get cold and the bushes would have thorns. Thus, He slaughtered animals and provided leather clothing for protection and modesty.

This first story in the Bible sets up everything that follows. We get a profound insight into human nature as well as into the character and purposes of God. Since we are created in His image and He has given us the ability to reason and to make independent decisions, we can infer to some extent (however limited) the purpose of the creation and our place in His economy.

There is a Jewish idea that helps shed light on God’s goal for humanity. This idea views the universe as a sort of womb, a place created by God in which something that is not God can grow and develop. The reason it is likened to a womb is that a woman’s body is her own except when part of it is dedicated to the growth, protection, and nourishment of a separate person. The key concept here is that the person growing in the womb is not either the mother or the father but a new and different person. In an analogous way God created a space where new and different beings could be conceived and grow. Like children in the womb, these beings would completely depend on their mother for all of the material things needed for life and growth. The analogy can only be taken so far because a child eventually becomes independent of its parents, whereas humanity never becomes independent of God’s created world. The goal, however, is the same: a new person who is not his creator.

Why would this be important to God? Surely He is sufficient in Himself, complete and perfect.

A story might be useful here. There is an old movie, ‘Svengali,’ made in 1931. Svengali is a hypnotist who enthralls a young girl named Trilby, makes her a great singer, and takes her to perform on stages throughout the world. She can only sing under hypnosis and so completely depends upon him. There is a scene in the movie where they are in a hotel room and Trilby, hypnotized, is laying on a bed. Svengali approaches the maiden with lustful intent. As he starts to undress her, he stops and looks into the camera with a sorrowful expression and says, “It’s only Svengali talking to himself.” In other words, he could do as he wished with her body, but there would be no reciprocation, no emotional connection. And thus, he stops and leaves her alone.

The story sheds light on God’s purpose in creating beings ‘in His own image’ and giving them free will. The ‘in His own image’ part means that we are able to have a relationship with Him. The free will part means that we must freely choose to do so. In that way, our relationship is not just ‘God talking to Himself.’