2 Ne 2:21-25
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
The Book of Mormon > Second Nephi > Chapter 2
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Questions
Verse 23
- This verse connects having children directly to the necessity of opposition, with being able to have joy and being able to sin. What explicitly is the connection? Why is it that if Adam and Eve could not have had children they could not have known what joy was (because they wouldn’t know misery) and they couldn’t have done any good (because they wouldn’t know sin)?
- Why "would" Adam and Eve not have had children had they remained in the garden? This verse doesn't suggest the impossibility of that ("would" vs. "could") as I'd heard before.
Verse 24
- Does v. 14 shed any light on what this verse means by "knoweth all things"? Does v. 18 shed any light on what it means to say that God knows all things?
Verse 25
- Isn’t there a sense in which this is a restatement of v. 23? If so, each might help us understand the other. Does this verse tell us what Adam intended to do in falling or what the Lord intended him to do? Is the word "Adam" being used here of only Father Adam, or is it being used as it is used in Gen 1:27, "God created man [adam] in his own image, male and female created he them"?
Lexical notes
- Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes
Exegesis
Verse 21
Prolonged seems to be a reference to the fact that though God told Adam "in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," Adam does not die right away but is given time to repent. Note though that the subject here is not Adam but "the children of men." Since for Lehi here Adam represents all of us, this change is natural.
The second (and last) sentence in the verse requires some interpretation. Here we learn that the Lord showed unto us all that we were lost because of the Adam and Eve's transgression. It isn't clear what event is being referred to when the Lord shows this. It could be that the Lord shows us that we are lost if we don't repent by living a perfect life (though in Lehi's time that hadn't happened yet). It could be that simply giving the commandment to us to repent shows us that we are all lost if we don't, or it could be that along with the commandment the Lord taught Adam and Eve so that they were lost without repentance.
What does it mean though to say that we all are lost because of Adam and Eve's transgression? Does this mean that we would be punished for sins we don't accomplish because of our sins? These questions don't seem to be where Lehi is going with the point and he doesn't address it directly. Mormon in Moro 8:8 does deal with this question. See the exegesis there. In short, it is because of Christ that we aren't punished for our own sins. He takes away this "curse of Adam." And, though Lehi doesn't say this directly here, the point is the same. Lehi is telling us here as well about the situation we would be in without Christ--we all would be lost.
Verse 22
Verse 22 tells us that if Adam had not transgressed, he would have remained in the garden of Eden in the same state without end. The most natural reading of this seems to be that what Adam had to do in order to not remain in the same state without end, was to disobey God's law.
Some believe that there was a way for Adam and Eve to progress without disobeying the Lord's command. In that line of thinking it was the proper role for God to give Adam and Eve the fruit at the right time, and Satan was trying to usurp that role by jumping in and doing what God was supposed to do. The appeal of this belief is that it suggests that God did not put Adam and Eve in a position where it was best for them not to obey God. However, at least on the face of it, this verse would seem to argue against that line of thinking. Those who hold the belief, in spite of this verse, see Lehi's point here as explaining the necessity of gaining knowledge of good and evil. They read Lehi as saying that without gaining that knowledge Adam and Eve could not make progress. In that line of thinking, Lehi is misunderstood when we try to import his arguments here for the necessity of opposition, into an argument about whether God prepared a way for Adam and Eve to progress without disobeying his commands. See related exegesis on Moses 5:11.
Related links
Verse 25
- Marcus B. Nash, "The Great Plan of Happiness," Ensign, Nov 2006, pp. 49–50.
- "In order to have joy, you need to understand that, as a child of your Heavenly Father, you inherited divine traits and spiritual needs—and just like a fish needs water, you need the gospel and the companionship of the Holy Ghost to be truly, deeply happy. Because you are the offspring of God (see Acts 17:28), it is incompatible with your eternal nature to do wrong and feel right. It cannot be done. It is part of your spiritual DNA, as it were, that peace, joy, and happiness will be yours only to the degree you live the gospel.
- Robert D. Hales, "To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency," Ensign, May 2006, pp. 4–8. Elder Hales states: "Sometimes we forget that our Heavenly Father desires that each of us have this joy. Only by yielding to temptation and sin can we be kept from that joy. And yielding is exactly what Satan wants us to do."
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