Having a faith conversation with old and new friends is as easy as setting the table.
FAITH FEEDS GUIDE
SCRIPTURE: ADAM & CHRIST
CONTENTS
• Introduction to FAITH FEEDS 3
• FAQ 4
• Ready to Get Started 5
• Conversation Starters 6
• Old Testament: Creation and Death in the First Adam 9 Conversation Starters 11
• New Testament: Re-Creation and Salvation in the Second Adam 12 Conversation Starters 14
• Gathering Prayer: Lectio Divina 15
The FAITH FEEDS program is designed for individuals who are hungry for opportunities to talk about their faith with others who share it. Participants gather over coffee or a potluck lunch or dinner, and a host facilitates conversation about faith.
The FAITH FEEDS GUIDE offers easy, step-by-step instructions for planning, as well as materials to guide the conversation. It’s as simple as deciding to host the gathering wherever your community is found and spreading the word.
The cover of today’s Faith Feeds is a photo by Priscilla du Preez at Unsplash. The photo directly left is by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash. The marginal photo throughout the guide is by Jeff Sheldon on Unsplash.
The C21 Center Presents
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who should host a FAITH FEEDS?
Anyone who has a heart for facilitating conversations about faith is perfect to host a FAITH FEEDS.
Where do I host a FAITH FEEDS?
You can host a FAITH FEEDS in-person or virtually through video conference software. FAITH FEEDS conversations are meant for small groups of 10-12 people.
What is the host’s commitment?
The host is responsible for coordinating meeting times, sending out materials and video conference links, and facilitating conversation during the FAITH FEEDS.
What is the guest’s commitment?
Guests are asked to read the articles that will be discussed and be open to faith-filled conversation.
Still have more questions?
No problem! Email karen.kiefer@bc.edu and we’ll help you get set up.
READY TO GET STARTED?
STEP ONE
Decide to host a FAITH FEEDS. Coordinate a date, time, location, and guest list. An hour is enough time to allocate for the virtual or in-person gathering.
STEP TWO
Interested participants are asked to RSVP directly to you, the host. Once you have your list of attendees, confirm with everyone via email. That would be the appropriate time to ask in-person guests to commit to bringing a potluck dish or drink to the gathering. For virtual FAITH FEEDS, send out your video conference link.
STEP THREE
Review the selected readings from your FAITH FEEDS Guide and the questions that will serve as a starter for your FAITH FEEDS discussion. Hosts should send their guests a link to the guide, which can be found on bc.edu/ FAITHFEEDS.
STEP FOUR
Send out a confirmation email a week before the FAITH FEEDS gathering. Hosts should arrive early for in-person or virtual set up. Begin with the Gathering Prayer found on the last page of this guide. Hosts can open the discussion by using the suggested questions. The conversation should grow organically from there. Enjoy this gathering of new friends, knowing the Lord is with YOU!
STEP FIVE
Make plans for another FAITH FEEDS. We would love to hear about your FAITH FEEDS experience. You can find contact information on the last page of this guide.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
We have a unique format for our Faith Feeds Scripture series! Our first guide introduces Scripture and ways to read it. Subsequent guides will include two passages from the Bible, one from the Old Testament and a second from the New Testament. The Old Testament is the collection of scriptures that were written before Jesus and foreshadow His coming. The New Testament is the collection of scriptures that were written after Jesus, and they primarily reveal the salvific meaning of His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
We have arranged the series in this way to illustrate the underlying unity of Scripture. In a sense, the Bible narrates the one story of all creation and communicates the single most important message in the universe: Jesus Christ is the Way. Our hope, then, is that this series will deepen your love for Scripture as a means of encountering Jesus Christ.
In addition to the scriptural passages, you will find a relevant quotation, reflection, and suggested questions for discussion. We offer these as tools for your use, but feel free to go wherever the Holy Ghost leads. Conversations should ensure confidentiality.
This guide’s theme is Scripture: Adam & Christ.
OLD TESTAMENT
Creation and Death in Adam
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ...God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.
...In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
…The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”
The First Sin and Its Punishment
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be de-
sired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
And to the man he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
THE OLD TESTAMENT
“O
happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” — Paschal Vigil Mass Exsultet
Summary
Why is Adam’s name “Adam”? Adam is named after what he’s made out of: “The LORD God formed man (adam) from the dust of the ground (ha-adam).” Scripture recognizes the deep connection humanity has to the rest of the material world. God created us as embodied souls or ensouled bodies. This is why salvation is not an escape from creation, but the re-creation of all things through resurrection and transfiguration! To save us, God does not turn us into spirits. He in-carnates, “enters flesh,” and truly becomes one of us, body and all.
Relatedly, humankind is created in the image and likeness of God. This imago Dei refers to our God-like attributes that allow us to commune with God. Among other things, this includes our rationality, freedom, and need for fellowship. These gifts are meant to serve God’s glory and our happiness, but by abusing our freedom, we broke fellowship with God, each other, our very selves, and creation. God desires our free, trusting love. yet when we exercise our freedom without love-filled faith, we wound ourselves and the world.
The collective guilt of humanity is a consequence of our communal nature. There is no such thing as a pure individual. Every last one of us is bound to others through genetics, history, social mores, and the ripple-effects of virtue and vice. Our fates are mysteriously intertwined. Every member of a body politic will suffer that body’s plights and enjoy its victories. Since all humans are a part of the “body” of Adam (i.e., humanity), we all share in his fate.
Questions for Conversation
• What in these scriptures startles, confuses, or challenges you?
• Why would God ask Adam and Eve not to eat from something good, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Why can’t fallen humans eat from the tree of life?
• Why are Adam and Eve naked before sin then cover themselves with fig leaves afterwards? How do you “cover your nakedness”?
NEW TESTAMENT
Re-Creation and Salvation in the Second Adam
The Resurrection of Christ
Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
The Resurrection of the Dead
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he
has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.
Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?
And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Come to a sober and right mind, and sin no more; for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
NEW TESTAMENT
“God became man so man could become like God. Christ became what we are, so that He might bring us to be what He himself is.” — St. Irenaeus of Lyon
Summary
Do you remember the gravest consequence of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace (pun intended)? Death. “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Now, what is Christ’s most august accomplishment in the paschal mystery of His life, death, resurrection, and ascension? St. Paul answers, “As all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.”
The historical and spiritual reality of Christ’s resurrection from the dead should entirely transform how we live. Nothing stays the same! Easter assures us that death has been terminally wounded by Jesus, and we now await the day when He will return to finish the job. Yes, we continue to live with the ongoing half-reality of evil and death, yet we live with the sure hope that Jesus will not break His promise of superabundant life for anyone who rests in His merciful love. Like the apostolic martyrs, we can therefore live with a generosity, courage, and love that is incomprehensible apart from our faith in this hope that Love will someday “be all in all.”
Where Adam doubted, Jesus trusted the Father. Where Adam caused us to be cast out, Jesus gathers us in. Adam was deprived of the tree of life; Jesus grafts us into Life through “the tree” of His cross. All of humanity fell with Adam since we all were a part of his “body.” Now, anyone who is united to Christ through His Body, the Church, has new life! This is not just good news. This is the Good News. Jesus Christ has not only reversed the curse of the Fall and restored the goodness of creation. Everything that is incorporated into Christ will be transfigured. The new heavens and earth will not only be “good” or even “very good.” The human heart cannot imagine the goodness of the new heavens and earth: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).
Questions for Conversation
• How is Jesus the New Adam? How is God transforming you into a New Adam?
• The Resurrection overcomes death, the worst curse of the Fall. How are the other curses of the Fall affected by Jesus?
• Why would early Christians like Sts. Justin Martyr and Irenaeus see Mother Mary as the New Eve?
• After establishing that Jesus has conquered death, St. Paul says he dies daily. What does this mean?
GATHERING PRAYER
Lectio Divina
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
For more information about Faith Feeds, visit bc.edu/c21faithfeeds This program is sponsored by Boston College’s Church in the 21st Century Center, a catalyst and a resource for the renewal of the Catholic Church.
