As a result of Original Sin in Genesis 3, humans continue to go down a path of selfishness, indulgence, and non-virtue as generations go by. The world has become, as Kass states in the reading, like a Hobbesian State of Nature, filled with violence and anarachy. This lack of godliness is so encompassing and persistent that God resolves to destroy all of the earth. That is, until he recognizes Noah’s simplicity, righteousness, and piety. God’s choice to save Noah and his family, as well as animals on earth, is important because it sets up a human world after the destruction of the flood. This is very profound in my opinion, because even though God had regretted ever creating Man, he gives humans a second chance through Noah’s salvation. Noah responds by accepting God’s will and saves humanity as well as all earthly life. This also enables the future fulfillment of having eternal life in God. God chooses to repopulate the earth with humanity, despite their previous failure to follow His covenant. This showcases the profoundly forgiving and loving nature of God.

This account emphasizes knowledge because knowledge is the defining characteristic of being God-like. It then becomes necessary to understand what exactly is meant by knowledge in Genesis 2-3, and how possessing it makes one like God. According to Legaspi, the knowledge that is communicated by eating fruit from “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad” is all that there is to be known. This is explained as “good and evil” being opposites which stand for the whole of knowledge in general. Therefore, knowledge of “good and bad” is really absolute knowledge and thus elevates humans to a God-like status in this regard. Eating, particularly, is important in this narrative, because it reveals the human position as one that is dependent on nourishment from the earth, and such nourishment is given freely by God. I also believe the act of eating is more meaningful than simply looking at or touching a special object because eating is a very intentional action. One could accidentally look at an object, for example, but it takes a concerted effort to pick the fruit, chew and swallow. There is no doubt in this scenario that Adam and Eve deliberately and knowingly disobeyed God’s wishes. This means that Adam and Eve’s disobedience was an intentional turning from God out of selfish want for the knowledge with which they were tempted.

Such an act makes Adam and Eve both more and less God-like. They are more God-like in the sense that after eating of the forbidden tree they possess God-like knowledge which they did not previously. They are less God-like in that they acted intentioannly directly contrary to God’s wishes. It might be merciful, then, that God banishes them from the Garden of Eden, because He sees that they may be further tempted, and He prevents that from happening by exiling them from the garden.

In Genesis 1:1-2:4, God is creating the universe. The human person is created in God’s image and charged with taking dominion over the Earth, that is, caring for all living creatures and the Earth as a whole. God resting on the seventh day is not a physical rest; it is more of a stopping or cessation of creation, as He determined all of His creation was good.