The first covenant is at the beginning of human history with the first human pair, Adam and Eve. Genesis 1:26 says that they are made in the image and likeness of God. What does it mean to be made in the image and likeness of God?
Image and Likeness, Covenant Relationship
Genesis 5:3 recounts the birth of Seth to Adam, his father. It says that Seth was in the image and likeness of Adam, his father. That’s a little interpretive clue right there as to the meaning of the phrase “image and likeness.” It describes how a son is like his father. Taking that analogy back to Genesis 1:26, the Scriptures are telling us that Adam and Eve were made as God’s children — God’s family. That is a covenantal relationship.
What’s more, we know that a covenant exists at creation because at the end of the creation story is the Sabbath.[1] Later, in Exodus 31:16, the Sabbath is called a “perpetual covenant.” Remember that the Sabbath is given at creation. That’s a clue, one of several, that a covenant existed between God and humanity from the beginning of its creation.
What would the privileges of the covenant be? Part of this privilege is the peace of the living environment that God created for His son and daughter. Adam and Eve lived in a garden-temple on Mt. Eden.[2] In that garden temple, they had access to the tree of life[3] and to the river of life.[4] That was divine food and divine drink which enabled them to live forever. Likewise, Adam received God’s breath or spirit.[5]
The Church Fathers understood this breath as the Holy Spirit, given to Adam, constituting him as a living being, bringing him to life. The Spirit bestowed on Adam what is called “original holiness” or “original justice,” and also with it, the “preternatural gifts.”[6] In that original, perfect relationship with God, our first parents enjoyed the perfection of knowledge, of righteousness, and of immortality.
All this is a picture of God’s original intention for us. He created us and placed us in a beautiful dwelling, a garden-temple where all our needs were met, and gave us the ability to live in perfect peace with Him and with others. God’s intention was that we live in harmony with nature, harmony with one another, and harmony with Him, forever.
Relation to Evangelization
How does the Adamic Covenant relate to our task of evangelization? The point is that God created the world good. The mess around us was not God’s original intention for us. God has high goals and expectations for each one of us. He wants us to be His sons and daughters. To be a child of God brings with it other special roles. In making us His children, our God makes us kings, priests, and prophets. We see this in our father Adam: his kingship is clear when he is given “dominion” over all the earth.[7] His priesthood is clear from his commission to “work and guard” the garden,[8] just as the priests and Levites “worked” and “guarded” the Tabernacle.[9] His prophethood is seen when he speaks authoritatively for God by naming the animals.[10] That status of king, priest and prophet is intended for each human being. This really speaks to people’s search for meaning in life and for value in themselves and the hope for a good God.
The mess all around us is the result of sin by which human beings are devalued. There is a sense within ourselves that something is wrong. If people think that the mess around us is what God made originally and what God intended for us — that, of course, will lead to depression, and perhaps to giving up belief in God completely, ending in atheism and nihilism.
It’s very important for people to understand that the mess around us is not God’s original intention. God is Love, and He created this world good. He intended for us peace, harmony, and love. He loves us very much, and His goal is that we again become His children, and enjoy a royal, priestly, and prophetic role in the beautiful world that He created for us. The gospel kerygma is that through the eternal Son of God, Christ Jesus, this plan is still in the works.
[1] Genesis 2:3.
[2] Cf. John Bergsma and Brant Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament (San Francisco, California: Ignatius Press, 2018), 65.
[3] Genesis 2:9.
[4] Genesis 2:10.
[5] Genesis 2:7.
[6] Cf. CCC 375-379; 396ff. For some instruction concerning the preternatural gifts, see Thomas Scannell, “Supernatural Gift,” The Catholic Encyclopedia Volume Six (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909), 554.
[7] Genesis 1:28.
[8] Genesis 2:15.
[9] Numbers 3:7-8; 8:26; 18:7.
[10] Genesis 2:19-20.