A Theology of Animals

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. – Matthew 10:29

And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”– Jonah 4:11

This article appeared at reKnew, a blog we usually associate with Greg Boyd; in this case the author is Dan Kent. Click to read this at reKnew.

What “Man Gave Names to All the Animals” REALLY Means?

“So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field.” Genesis 2:20

In the fog of our over-Googled, ‘Hey Siri,’ information-obsessed minds I believe we may be looking upon the story of Adam naming the animals with dull eyes. We watch Adam mechanically identify the genus and species of each animal. “This one shall be rabbit,” he says, and marks the appropriate spot on his clipboard—as if, in God’s eternal garden, categorization is so very important.

It’s not.

What’s important to God is relationship. Community. Connection between individuals. In the bible, naming was a sacred act. It meant something. When Jacob wrestled God (and won!), God renamed him Israel (meaning, roughly, “wrestles with God”). The name captured something unique about this unique individual.

So maybe, when Adam was naming the animals, he wasn’t establishing a taxonomical structure. Maybe he was connecting with friends. He wasn’t saying “you shall be called and ‘Ectotherm Testudine,’ (‘turtle’)” he was saying, “I’ll call you Norbert.” He wasn’t saying “this is a duck,” he was saying, “hey Maude!”

This makes so much more sense of a God who loves each animal.

• A God who cares about each sparrow (Matthew 10:29),
• A God who saved a city from destruction because of some cows (Jonah 4:11).
• A God who identifies as a lion (Revelation 5:5), a lamb (John 1:29), and even as a mother hen (Matthew 23:37).

Animals are important. Each one.

To the people of our world, though, animals are not so important. Oh, sure, dogs are. And maybe cats. And we all love pictures of cute baby animals. But we also live in a perverted place where our own adaptation diminishes and humiliates animals. For instance, we’re each wickedly dependent on cars, which slaughter countless animals every day. Just look at the carnage on the sides of our freeways. Drive through Wisconsin in the fall. You’ll find a decimated deer carcass every couple miles or so.

We become desensitized. We shrug our shoulders and move on.

We’re stuck with cars, at this point. But we don’t have to let our hearts harden. One little thing my wife and I do to push back against apathy: we name each roadkill we see. We’ll be driving along and one of us will break the silence with a “Karen,” or a “Walter,” or a “Quincy.” Then we’ll take a brief moment, an impromptu ceremony, to appreciate each one. It’s silly, for sure, and it does nothing to help the victims. But it does guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). It keeps us in an appreciative spirit, keeps us oriented to the actual value of things in a world that so ruthlessly disregards the precious and exults the meaningless. We’re dependent on cars. But we don’t have to let this fact harden our hearts.

Naming the animals is simply one tactic to help, one little way to push back against the deluge of messages that pressure us to think “they’re just animals,” and dupe us into lifestyles that are horrendously violent (even if that violence is conveniently hidden from our dumbed-down eyes, as in factory farming). The point is, we can make choices to maintain a sensitive heart. At the very least, we can do as Adam did: we can name the animals.

Were Adam and Eve Tempted By a Snake, or Tempted By Satan?

Last summer at The Meeting House, Canada’s largest multi-site megachurch, author Philip Yancey suggested that perhaps it would have been better if God had told Adam and Eve, “Don’t eat the snake.”

Back to our title question…

Okay, at first I didn’t get all the nuances of this question, but apparently some of us have different understandings about this aspect of the Genesis story. Clark Bunch — who is a frequent commenter at Thinking Out Loud — raised this a few days ago, with a link to Answers In Genesis. But knowing the “click record” here, I decided to include both Clark’s comments and the AIG article. You know the saying, “Copying from one source is plagiarism; copying from two sources is research.”  But then again, that’s how we roll here; except that C201 readers are very strongly encouraged to click to read things at source; so that would mean starting at Clark’s blog, The Master’s Table, where this appeared as Was The Serpent in the Garden of Eden Satan?

Most people believe that Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden as a serpent and tempted Eve to commit sin.  Some point out, however, that the Genesis account does not directly identify the serpent as Satan, and others will actually argue againstthe serpent being Satan.  So am I knowing and willfully opening this potential Pandora’s box?  Oh yeah.

I suggest beginning with a read of Genesis 3.  In verse 15, God speaks of enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.  This makes little sense if God is speaking to a mere serpent.  But if the seed of woman is a veiled reference to the Son of Man, i.e. Jesus who is the Christ, then this is the first prophesy of the Messiah.  My readers already know I believe this to be true.  If Genesis 3 is the first mention of a future salvation, then the serpent must be Satan, the Devil, whom Jesus will ultimately defeat and cast into the lake of fire.

The next thing I wish to do is acknowledge Troy Lacey and the website AnswersinGenesis.org.  This article is the most concise listing of the scriptures making this case that I’m aware of.  Lacey begins with Genesis 3 as I have above.  He then goes to Ezekiel 28, and includes linkage to some back story on how this passage may be interpreted.  If you conclude that Ezekiel 28 address the fall of Satan from glory and his future demise, then notice verse 13 that says “you were in Eden.”  No kings alive during Ezekiel’s time (nor any human being besides Adam and Eve) could have been in the Garden of Eden.  Like many Bible prophesies, Ez. 28 refers to events that are both near and far in fulfillment.  The prophesies listed are only somewhat fulfilled in the destruction of the actual prince and king but describe the already and future demise of Satan.  Similarly with Isaiah 14.

Finally, the Revelation refers to Satan three times as a serpent.  (Lacey links each occurrence, be sure to read his article.)  Rev. 12:9 offers the best support that Satan and the Garden serpent are one in the same:

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

The Bible never says the devil was the Genesis 3 serpent; but Satan is called the ancient serpent in Revelation.  Notice the ancient serpent/devil/Satan, whatever name he is known by, is the deceiver of the whole world.  At the time of outcast from Eden, Adam and Eve were the whole world.  And after being cast from Heaven the earth, this plane of existence, has been home to Satan.  When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden he knew that it was already the dwelling place of Satan and his angels.

Was the serpent in the Garden of Eden Satan?  I believe it was.  Does the Bible say so?  I believe it does; what do you think?

~Clark Bunch

Next, for those of you didn’t click the link in the above, here’s the AIG piece, Feedback: Who Was The Serpent?

In your [July 15] feedback you wrote “according to the scriptural record only God, Adam, Eve, Satan, and the two Cherubim placed there to guard it were ever in Eden.” I have read Genesis and it does not say anything about Satan or a being known as Lucifer being in the Garden of Eden. There was a serpent but except for the fact that it talked there is nothing in a plain reading of Genesis to indicate that this serpent was anything but a snake that was clever and could speak. A talking animal would have to be regarded as somehow involved with the supernatural but nowhere in Genesis does it say that Satan or Lucifer disguised themselves as a serpent or took the form of a snake to trick Eve. When God found out what had happened he did not punish Satan or Lucifer.  ~S. K.

Dear S.K.,

You are correct when you say that the book of Genesis does not mention the name or title “Satan,” nor does it specifically state that Lucifer or any demonic being controlled the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Having said that, however, we can ascertain who this serpent was (or rather who was controlling and speaking through this serpent) from other passages of Scripture, and from the context of Genesis 3 itself. As mentioned in the feedback article, Lucifer and Sin, Ezekiel 28:13 states that the being addressed was listed as being in Eden, the Garden of God. If this passage is talking about Satan, as I argued in that previous article, then there is a clear reference to Satan being in the Garden of Eden. Since Satan was a created being, and since Eden was guarded by cherubim after the Fall, he must have been in Eden between his creation and the Fall of man. Many scholars believe, based on Job 38:7, that all the angels, including Lucifer, were created on or before Day 4 of creation week along with the Sun, Moon and Stars, only two days before the creation of Adam and Eve.

Secondly, Satan is called a serpent, not once but three times in the book of Revelation (Revelation 12:9, 12:15, 20:2). When combined with Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 11:3, the identification of the serpent in Genesis 3 with Satan is unmistakable. Revelation 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3).

We see an obvious parallel here with Genesis 3. Revelation 12:9 says that Satan is called “that serpent of old,” that he was punished (cast out), and that he presently deceives the whole world (remember that Adam and Eve were even the “whole world” of humanity at the time of the Fall). Revelation 20:2–3 also calls Satan a serpent and speaks of his punishment again. This time he will be bound and thrown into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years, so that he will not be able to deceive the nations. Satan’s work of deception began in the Garden of Eden and has continued worldwide ever since then. Only Christians can escape Satan’s deceptions by simple and pure devotion to Christ (i.e., trusting and obeying His Word by His Spirit).

Finally, in Genesis 3:14-15 we read of God’s curse upon the serpent and the promise of a Savior from the seed of the woman.

So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

The prediction of enmity (hatred and warfare) between the seeds (in some sense offspring or descendant) of the woman and of the serpent makes no sense if the serpent was merely a physical animal. The seed of the woman is a future male child. If only serpents and natural human descendants are in view here, then that means that snakes are doomed to go around biting men in the heels and then getting their heads crushed. Given the verses in Revelation and 2 Corinthians, this obviously is not the intent of the prophecy.

Orthodox Christians have always understood this to be the first prophecy of the Messiah, who would be the savior of the world. Satan did bruise Jesus on the heel (so to speak), by moving men to crucify Him. But it was only a temporary wound, for He rose from the dead. But the same act by which Satan thought he had defeated Jesus Christ, was the very act by which Jesus destroyed the power of Satan, and His resurrection was the proof and seal of that victory. One day the full results of that victory will be realized when Satan’s head will be crushed in the sense that he will be cast into the Lake of Fire where he will be tormented day and night, forever (Revelation 20:10).

He condemned all snakes to crawl on their bellies but if all created “kinds” have not changed since creation they must have been doing that anyways, so mankind were the only ones punished.

Creationists do not say that the original created kinds have not changed since Creation. It is clear from Scripture and from the study of living things that God implanted a great capacity for change and adaptation in the DNA of created kinds. We see this, for example, in the great variety within the cat and dog kinds or the variety within mankind. So there is great variation within each kind but one kind does not change into a different kind. Cats reproduce cats, dogs reproduce dogs and people reproduce people. But Genesis 3 also makes it clear that because of God’s curse on all of creation, the serpent was physically changed (to crawl on his belly), the woman was changed physically (increased pain in childbirth), and both man and woman were changed physically so that their bodies began the process of decay leading to eventual death. Given that God also cursed the other animals (Genesis 3:14), they undoubtedly were changed physically in some ways also, e.g., some herbivores became carnivores sometime after the Fall.

So, Genesis 3 is teaching us about Satan’s deception of Eve, the sin of Adam, God’s judgment of the whole creation, and His first promise of the coming Messiah to overcome the work of Satan and the sin that infects us all, inherited from Adam. That freedom comes to us when we turn from our sin and put our trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. If you haven’t done that, I would urge you to find out more and do so.

~Troy Lacey