Test 1: The Nature of the First Law
A Comprehensive Legal Analysis
Questions Under Examination
- What specific law/instruction was given to Adam?
- Was this law moral, ceremonial, or unique?
- Did this law apply only to Adam or to all his descendants?
The Central Question
What specific law or instruction was given to Adam, and does the evidence support that this represented or embodied the moral principles later codified as the Ten Commandments? This question forms the foundation for understanding whether God's moral law existed from creation or was introduced later at Sinai.
The Explicit Biblical Record
The Genesis account provides us with only one explicitly stated command given to Adam:
On its surface, this appears to be a singular, specific prohibition regarding food. However, a comprehensive legal analysis requires us to examine not merely the letter of this command but its broader implications and the circumstantial evidence surrounding it.
The Legal Necessity Argument
The New Testament provides a critical legal principle that fundamentally shapes our understanding of the Eden situation. Romans 4:15 states unequivocally: "where no law is, there is no transgression." This creates an absolute legal necessity - if Adam and Eve transgressed, as Scripture clearly states they did, then law must have existed. Furthermore, Romans 5:13 declares that "sin was in the world" before the Mosaic law, and yet "sin is not imputed when there is no law." The very fact that sin was imputed to Adam and Eve, evidenced by the death penalty they incurred and passed to all humanity, proves conclusively that they were under law.
Key Legal Principle
If Adam and Eve transgressed and incurred penalty, law must have existed. The question becomes: was the tree command the totality of the law they were under, or was it a specific test point of their obedience to a broader moral framework? The evidence strongly suggests the latter.
The Transgression Analysis
When we examine what actually occurred in the transgression, we find violations of multiple moral principles that would later be codified in the Ten Commandments. Eve "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise" (Genesis 3:6). This single act revealed violations of several commandments:
Multiple Commandment Violations in the Single Act
- Tenth Commandment (Coveting): Broken when Eve desired what was not given to her
- Eighth Commandment (Stealing): Violated when they took what God had not granted them
- Fifth Commandment (Honor Authority): Transgressed when they dishonored their Creator's explicit instruction
- Ninth Commandment (False Witness): Broken when they hid from God and attempted to shift blame
- First Commandment (No Other Gods): Violated when they chose their own wisdom over God's command, effectively making themselves their own gods
This multiplication of transgressions from a single act suggests that the tree command was not the sum total of moral law but rather a test point that, when broken, revealed rebellion against God's comprehensive moral authority. It is legally significant that one action could constitute multiple violations - this typically occurs when a specific act breaches broader underlying principles.
The Pre-Sinai Evidence
The strongest evidence that the moral law existed before Sinai comes from examining how God dealt with humanity between Eden and Mount Sinai. Genesis 26:5 provides crucial testimony when God says of Abraham:
This statement, made centuries before Sinai, uses multiple Hebrew terms for law (mitzvot, huqqot, torot), indicating a comprehensive legal framework that Abraham knew and followed.
How could Abraham keep God's commandments if they had not been communicated? The only logical conclusion is that God's moral law was known before its codification at Sinai. This is further supported by multiple pre-Sinai recognitions of sin:
Pre-Sinai Recognition of Sin
- Cain's murder was punished (Genesis 4:9-11): Indicating the sixth commandment's principle was operative
- Joseph called adultery "sin against God" (Genesis 39:9): Showing knowledge of the seventh commandment
- Abimelech was warned about taking another man's wife (Genesis 20:3-6): Demonstrating that adultery was recognized as sin even among non-Hebrews
The Manna Evidence
Perhaps the most compelling evidence comes from Exodus 16, which occurs before the giving of the law at Sinai in Exodus 20. When some Israelites went out to gather manna on the Sabbath, God's response is telling:
God doesn't say "I am now introducing a new law called the Sabbath." Instead, He expresses frustration that they are refusing to keep His already-existing commandments and laws.
This pre-Sinai expectation of Sabbath observance, combined with the "Remember" command in Exodus 20:8 (unique among the commandments in calling for remembrance rather than simple obedience), strongly indicates that the Sabbath, and by extension the moral law it was part of, existed before Sinai and was known from creation.
The Creation Week Establishment
The Sabbath's establishment in Genesis 2:2-3, where God "blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it," occurs before sin enters the narrative in Genesis 3. This chronological fact is legally significant. If the Sabbath was instituted in a sinless world, it cannot be merely remedial or temporary. It was part of the "very good" creation order. The legal principle of "first in time, first in right" suggests that what God established at creation takes precedence over later modifications or accommodations.
The Written on Hearts Principle
The concept that God's law was originally written on human hearts in their perfect state, then had to be externalized to stone due to sin, and is now being rewritten on hearts in the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10), provides a coherent framework for understanding the law's presence in Eden. Romans 2:14-15 speaks of Gentiles showing "the work of the law written in their hearts," suggesting this is a residual echo of humanity's original design.
If Adam and Eve were created in God's image with His moral law inherently understood in their perfect nature, this explains how they could be held accountable to principles not explicitly stated in the Genesis narrative. The tree command then becomes not the totality of law but a specific, concrete test of their willingness to submit to God's comprehensive moral authority.
The Legal Precedent Principle
In jurisprudence, patterns of behavior and consistent applications of principle establish precedent. When God rewrote the Ten Commandments after Moses broke the first tablets, He explicitly stated:
This establishes divine precedent - when God rewrites His law, He writes the same law. This pattern suggests that whether the law is written on hearts (Eden), stone (Sinai), or hearts again (New Covenant), the content remains consistent.
The Tree of Life Connection
Revelation 22:14 provides a striking parallel:
The same tree of life that was guarded from humanity after they broke God's command in Eden is made accessible to those who keep His commandments in the end. This creates a juridical bookend - access lost through disobedience to divine law, access restored through obedience to divine law. The parallelism strongly suggests these are the same fundamental commandments throughout Scripture.
The Judgment Standard Argument
James 2:10-12 explicitly states that we will be "judged by the law of liberty" and specifically references the Ten Commandments (mentioning adultery and murder). If the same law that judges humanity at the end existed at the beginning, it provides consistency in God's government. It would be legally inconsistent for God to judge humanity by a different standard than the one originally broken.
Conclusion
While the explicit command in Eden concerned the tree, the comprehensive evidence strongly supports that this command was a specific test point of obedience to broader moral principles that were inherent in humanity's perfect creation. These principles, later codified as the Ten Commandments at Sinai, were not new inventions but rather the externalization onto stone of what was originally internal to human nature. The tree command was to God's comprehensive moral law what a test case is to constitutional law - a specific application that reveals broader underlying principles.
The legal evidence, taken comprehensively, supports that Adam and Eve were subject to the moral law of God from creation, though it was not yet codified in the form seen at Sinai. This law was moral in nature, universal in application, and perpetual in duration - characteristics that distinguish it from the ceremonial and civil laws that would later be added specifically for Israel.