Hi santgem,
http://bible-truths.com/lake4.html -----------
A parable is a story that contains in figurative or symbolic language a higher moral or spiritual truth.
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Many people have tried to tell me that parables are to be taken literally. What they don’t realize is that they are talking about square circles. The very reason a parable is called a parable is so that we will know for sure that whatever is contained in the parable IS NOT LITERAL. Parables require spiritual understanding. Some require little (albeit some) spiritual understanding.
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So I'm thinking if these stories in Genesis are parable and I think they are, then basically there is much more to what is being literally said. Yes these were real people that lived, but the story/parable has a much higher spiritual meaning than what is actually said.
The chronological order is not a factor, as the symbolism and the hidden meaning transcends that. How can we figure out these symbols and the meaning of the parable, well that is tricky and that is why the Bible is such a mystery. Understanding the plan of God and how He is working in this world makes all the difference in understanding parables.
Again, when you see the Genesis v.24 there already a notion of man leaving his father and mother wherein there are no parents yet at the beginning of Adam and Eve. What i am saying is that Genesis is written not in a chronological order.
Gen 2:23 And Man said, This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man.
Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
When you understand that Adam represents all of mankind, then you can understand that this spoken about leaving father and mother and cleaving to a wife is speaking of part of God's plan for humans. So it's not literally just speaking of Adam, but he is used in the parable to get this understanding across. Then you can carrying this same way of thinking (parabolic) over to Adam being the cause of sin and death...
Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
So if there were other people living before Adam, were they sinless? Of course they were not, all mankind is carnal from birth in this age. But if they were not taught about sin, right and wrong, then what?
Rom 5:13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed (recorded, accounted) when there is no law.
It is only through Adam's line that God begins to teaches right/righteous from wrong beginning with Adam and recorded through the law given to Moses. But Paul explains that even if somebody doesn't know about the law, death still reigns and comes to all men.
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
So my point was that Adam represents mankind and Paul saying that it was by the first man, Adam that, "sin entered the world, and death through sin" is not to be taken literally. Paul is speaking of the condition of mankind in this age, all have sinned, all will die. It's a parable about God's plan. God only vaguely revealed His plan of salvation in the OT, it was not until the "second man" came on the scene that a remedy for this seemingly hopeless condition of sin and death appeared, Jesus the Christ.
Rom 5:15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
Jesus was not literally the "second" man... it's all a parable about God's plan of salvation written throughout the Bible, hidden in plain sight.
1Co 2:4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
v. 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
v. 6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
v. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
mercy, peace and love
Kat