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people.” Here already people knew God as a “socially related being within himself,” loving one another,
supporting one another, assisting one another, teaming with one another, honoring one another,
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communicating with one another, and in everything respecting and enjoying one another.

Adam has already experienced the joy of a relationship with Eve, quite different from the animals. They
have had the opportunity to observe and converse with one another about the colors of a sunset, the
particular nature of a horse in contrast to a dog, and their own understanding of God. They understand
what it means to be a person through interaction with one another. New to each other, they have been
learning with each passing day.

As they grow in their knowledge of one another, they would also grow in their knowledge of God. The
basics of human life are not so different for us today, even if we do not live in the Garden of Eden. On some
of those walks through the garden with Him, a variety of topics would be discussed. In simple interaction
with their Creator, they would know something of His sufficiency, His power, His knowledge, and his love.
They are interacting with the Son of God in human flesh. He is an accurate representation of God. Just as
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Jesus, walking on the earth so many centuries later, demonstrated the nature of God in human form, so
too did Adam and Eve have God before them.

Some theological reminders taken from later passages of scripture may be in order at this point. Since Jesus
is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8), his appearance in the garden is as a servant to his
creation. He wants to give them what they need to have a blessed life. He wants to fill their deepest needs
and, by doing so, call them to be in awe of him. As Jesus was first in the form of God and became a servant
to die on the cross, so too, even before sin made the cross necessary, he walked and talked to serve his
creation.
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Adam and Eve may also have had a glimpse of God’s joy in being a trinity. The Son of God is walking with
them, not the Father. He has no need of them for fellowship. He is full of love already. So there is another
who wants them to know this Son. There is another who says, “Look at the Son. Praise and honor his name.
Enjoy him. Know me through him.”

All this becomes especially important as we continue in Genesis. Adam and Eve sin. They and their
descendants die. They and their descendants need a Savior. How much did they know in succeeding
generations? Was it enough to believe in a generally trustworthy God? Or did they need to know about a
Messiah to come? What information did God give to them as time went on? “All the prophets testify about
him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name (Acts 10:43).

22 John F. Walvoord, Jesus Christ Our Lord (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), p. 53.
23 Bruce Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Wheaton: Crossway, 2005), p. 20.
24 Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity (New Jersey: R & R, 2004), p. 362.
25 Letham notes of Jesus that his actions in his earthly ministry were in harmony with his attitudes before becoming
human. Jesus acted the way he did because he had always acted like that (p. 9). We should understand the same
about the LORD walking about in the garden.
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