This is one of the comments to yesterday’s post:

“Playing devil’s advocate, why couldn’t death have only applied to man in the Roman’s passage – not to animals?  Why should animals be held responsible for man’s sin?  Wouldn’t death in the Roman’s passage only apply to man?”

Now the temptation for me after considering these questions for nearly 24 hours would simply be to deal with them logically with my own questions …

So if in the Roman’s passage death only applied to man and death could already have been occurring in animals, then was death indeed pre-existent before man’s first sin and not the result of man’s first sin?  Does that then mean man ‘caught’ death from the animals?

And if animals are not held responsible for man’s sin, does that mean animal death is then the result of animal sin?  Or do they just die because God wants them to apart from any impact from sin?

Well, there are two pretty good illustrations as to why I don’t depend on my own human logic too much … I want to know what Scripture says.  Now while I won’t specifically drive to specific answers to what basically amount to two questions above, I will hopefully show what Scripture reveals.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. Romans 5:12-14 (NASB)

Are there aspects of that passage that seem to imply death as a result of sin only applied to men? Yet the underlined passage seems to speak in a broader more encompassing sense.

For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Cor 15:21-22 (NASB)

I realize using such logic in the passage above then raises questions on the resurrection and being made alive … but we have a great deal of additional Scripture to help clarify those points.

Note after the sin of Adam and Eve what God said to the serpent …

The LORD God said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel."

Gen 3:14-15 (NASB)

The bolded occurrence of the word cursed above is the first in Scripture.  While this is a curse of the serpent, it also appears to be a curse on all cattle and every beast of the field … a group of animals a part of a creation God declared as ‘very good’ at the end of the sixth day of creation in the last verse of Genesis 1. 

Would something God considered ‘very good’ already be under a curse?

It would appear from Genesis 3:14-19 that man, beast and earth were all cursed as a result of man’s sin.  And isn’t that really what the following reveals …

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Romans 8:19-22 (NASB)

The bolded-underlined passage seems to imply that all of creation was subjected to futility by the curse God placed upon it as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve.

Was that fair to the animals?  Well, I don’t really think I want to enter into an argument regarding fairness.  Look what Scripture reveals.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Gen 1:26-31 (NASB)

Key points I see here:

·        Man is to rule over all the creatures of the earth

·        Man is to fill the earth and subdue it

·        At this point, it appears man and beast are vegetarian

·        God looked at all that He had made, and behold, it was very good

At this point, man has been given a kingdom of sorts over which he rules.

Here is a simple question, one answered so often in Scripture:

When a ruler and his domain or dominion fall as a result of the actions of the ruler, does the entire domain or dominion then suffer also?

What about the flood?

The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." Gen 6:7 (NASB)

Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Gen 6:11-12 (NASB)

It would seem that not only man but also beast had experienced corruption as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve.

Have you ever stopped to consider that far more animals were saved from the flood than men?  Yet at the same time I imagine far more animals died in the flood than men … oh yeah, that’s also what the fossil record reveals … surprise … surprise.

So what does Scripture suggest were the first deaths of animals vs. what evolution would suggest?

The following verse appears immediately after God’s curse on the serpent, Adam and Eve:

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Gen 3:21 (NASB)

Unless God skinned an animal alive and it survived, this passage would suggest that God had to kill an animal for its skin to make these garments.  I am open to consider other possibilities here if you have them.

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, "I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD." Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. Gen 4:1-4 (NASB)

This would seem to suggest the first sacrifice to God of sheep.

Subsequently there was the flood and then there were the burn offerings offered by Noah and his family after the flood subsided … then finally after the flood … God gave man permission to eat meat.

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. Gen 9:1-3 (NASB)

I realize this post is rather disjointed … but I believe the Scripture to consider in regards to the opening questions are found within.

Your thoughts and comments?  Additional passages of Scripture you believe should be considered?