Was Adam Perfect and Does That Mean He Would Have Lived Forever?

Index of Blog Articles

Part 1: Perfection And Creation. How Does the Bible Use The Word "Perfect"?

Part2: If Adam Was Perfect, How Could He Sin?

(This is Part 3)

In the first part of this article, I stated that one question I've come across is: Since the scriptures teach that everything God does is perfect, then why do we accept the death of animals as normal but death of humans as abnormal?  I mentioned that there are at least two things I can think of that need to be addressed here: 1) Does being perfect imply eternal existence? 2)  Does God’s intentions and promises toward us differ from other living life forms? I also stated that perfection does not necessarily mean something or someone lasts forever. It lasts for the duration of the intended use.

There is no record in scripture that animals sinned against God, so their dying cannot be attributed to that. Nor is there any promise from God that animals could have the potential of living forever. We accept animals die as part of planned obsolescence. (Animal lovers, please take note. I intend no cruel coldness here. At present, I have four animals, two dogs and two cats. I’ve trained them all live in harmony as a united pack and they all play and sleep together. In the past several years, as our animals aged, both my wife and I have shed heartfelt tears over having to put down sick and elderly pets. At present, two of our four animals have grown old and we know we’ll be faced with losing them.)

But the question is did God intend for us to become obsolete? In the most simplest and straightforward terms, the Bible itself answers that question by stating that Jesus came to undo what Adam had done and reverse what Adam had lost, and thus give us everlasting life. God’s Word plainly calls death “the last enemy” and that it will be eliminated. In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, we read that “death will be no more.” This will mean “life everlasting” for us. So if Jesus had to undo what Adam lost, it must have been that Adam lost more than God’s approval--he lost everlasting life for all his descendants. In short then, God did not originally design obsolescence into us. Just as his spirit creatures (the angels) have never died, he also intended for his fleshly intelligent creatures (that were the only ones on earth referred to as being made in God’s image) to also live forever.

Index of Blog Articles