“Evolution” Or “Devolution”?

Against the background of the observation of a צִמְצוּם ה’/Tsimtsum HaShem[1], the question now arises for our efforts to understand the Holy Scriptures: Are our possibilities of knowledge, understanding and cognition developing further and further upwards? Do we have more insight today than the patriarchs or the prophets of the Old Testament or the elders and rabbis of Israel or the apostles or the church fathers or the reformers – or do we know less? Are we on an upward development when it comes to our relationship with God – or on a downward development? Compared to previous generations, have we grown spiritually, closer to our Father in heaven – or have we degenerated, further away from the Creator?

The idea of upward development stems from our human need to do something meaningful, to improve, to succeed. The thinking of our time is permeated by the idea of evolution at all levels. Any idea of a degeneration of our level of knowledge or even of our relationship with God is indignantly rejected out of hand. But isn’t the unshakeable belief in progress, even in the field of theology and on the spiritual level, perhaps the remainder of a pagan and therefore unbiblical conception in our thinking?

Is there an evolution of theological knowledge?

In the Bible we learn that everything is in the process of growth. Nothing stays as it is. Everything is changing. Every gardener knows that his garden is a different garden every year. And every human being who grows older attentively experiences first-hand that not everything automatically gets better, the longer growth continues. This also applies to the community of people, to the society in which we live. And the Holy Scriptures testify that growing older may include a clouding, a deterioration, a degenerative development, a “devolution” in our relationship with our Creator. That is why He prefers to be praised from the mouths of babes and sucklings.[2] Anyone who gets older and grows spiritually very quickly realizes that their need for salvation is increasing, not decreasing.

Starting with Adam, Cain and Enoch…

The Bible tells us that at the beginning of this world, the first human being was still walking quite naturally with his Creator in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8-9). Without explanations, let alone theological studies or even a Bible school education, it was clear to Cain what the living God was thinking. The Lord (ה’/J-h-v-h!) was able to speak to Cain about His thoughts and talk to him about what had happened (Genesis 4:4ss).

Enoch was able to lead a life “with the [one, true] God” while the rest of the world ignored the Creator or even rebelled against Him. That was unquestionably an option. Doubts as to whether this would be possible at all, especially without any mediator or at least a sacrifice; how Enoch should have known what was “with” and what was “against” the living God or even “missing Him”; whether God was even interested in a fellowship with Enoch, were not even worth mentioning – and interestingly are practically not expressed by today’s Bible readers.

All our English translations summarily dismiss this as insignificant, but: In Genesis 5:22 and 24, the article is deliberately used twice before the term “God”. The literal translation is not just “Enoch walked with God”, but “Enoch lived his life with the God”. The striking repetition of this phrase in the otherwise sketchy text emphasizes that Enoch did not just believe in some higher being and lived his life accordingly. Enoch actually had a living relationship with the Only one for whom the term “God” is appropriate.

… via Noah, …

Whereas Cain and Abel had brought their gifts to the heavenly Father as a matter of course, Noah after the flood obviously already had the impression that a building that would bring the earth closer to heaven might be necessary as a basis for expressing his worship of the Creator: an altar.[3] Somehow, Noah must have gotten the impression that there was a distance to be bridged that his ancestors had no idea about. Thus, the survivor of the Flood became the first altar builder in human history (Genesis 8:20).

After the Flood, the audience of God’s word was explicitly extended from Noah to his sons (Genesis 9:1). But the sons only heard the voice of God when they were “with”[4] their father. In purely functional terms, then, Noah was the “prophet” for his sons, the “mediator of revelation” between them and God, even if such a term is not yet used in this context. And this despite the fact that no one, least of all God Himself, would have demanded it.

… Abraham, …

Abraham was then the first person in history to be explicitly given the title of prophet by God Himself (Genesis 20:7). At the time of Abraham, the direct conversation between the Creator and His creatures was obviously an exceptional situation and therefore worth mentioning.

The Letter of Jude says already of Enoch that he “prophesied” (Jude 14). Because of the immediacy of his relationship with God in the time before the Flood, the New Testament author may do this[5] just as naturally as a national-religious rabbi in Israel today observes the Creator’s conversation with Cain and concludes: “Cain was a prophet.” This title for the fratricide Cain may seem just as offensive to orthodox Jews as it does to Bible-believing Christians. However, it is no less correct considering the fact that the living God spoke to Cain in an uncomplicated and unmediated manner.

… Moses…

After Moses, there was no prophet anymore in Israel “whom the Lord knew (ידע/Yada’) face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10), with whom He spoke “as a man with his friend” (Exodus 33:11). The Hebrew word “to know” (ידע/Yada’) describes a deep, intimate relationship that produces fruit. This word root first appears in the Bible in Genesis 4:1, where it is explains: “Adam had known Eve his wife.”

It does not say about Moses’ relationship with the Lord: “Before and after” there was no man who saw so clearly and communicated so directly with God. But rather: From the time Moses died, there was no prophet in Israel with whom the Lord would have cultivated such a deep relationship as with Moses. In plain language, this means that after the death of Moses, the relationship between God and mankind continued to decline.

…and the Prophets

The series of scriptural prophets begins with Samuel. At the beginning of his time, we read: “The word of the Lord was precious, rare. There was hardly any revelation left” (1 Samuel 3:1). But starting with the living God speaking to the young priest in the sanctuary in Shiloh, there are a whole series of people who – like King David (2 Samuel 23:2) – were able to say: “The Spirit of the Lord has spoken in me. His word is on my tongue.”

According to Jewish tradition,[6] “the spirit of prophecy” departed with the last prophets of scripture, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. After them, no writer of Holy Scriptures dared to use the authoritative כֹּה-אָמַר יְהוָה/Ko-Amar J-h-v-h (thus says the Lord). The powerful נְאֻם יְהוָה צְבָאֹות/Ne’um J-h-v-h Zeva’oth (prophetic utterance of the Lord of hosts) pulls back the curtain, opening our eyes to realities and connections that our human mind cannot comprehend. No writer of the New Testament dared to qualify his statement in this way – except when the so-called “Old Testament” was quoted.

Our possibilities for knowledge are dwindling

The fact that God is withdrawing further and further, thus reducing the possibility of knowledge for human beings, can be traced on very different levels and in very different images throughout Holy Scripture.

For example, originally the whole of creation was intended to be a space of encounter between the Creator and His creatures. Then the God of Israel had chosen a land, and in this land a place where He wanted to dwell and meet His people. But then the prophet Ezekiel (10-11) observed how the glory of the Lord withdrew from this place – and to this day it has not returned there in a comparable way.

The New Testament in no way contradicts this observation of the Jewish experts of Scripture. Rather, it holds out the prospect – entirely in line with the prophet Ezekiel – of a time when the glorious presence of the one, true, living God will return to Jerusalem.[7]

God’s withdrawal from creation also corresponds to the development of the revelation available to us humans. At the time of Moses, the Lord began to write down certain key sentences of his revelation or to have them written down. Previously, it had been possible for the Father in heaven to simply say something to his human children – and they had the capacity to absorb the words of the Lord, store them, implement them in their lives and pass them on to their children unadulterated and precisely. The written record points to a degeneration of memory capabilities – just as perhaps every technical advance indicates a decline in mankind’s abilities.

Libraries and computers as symptoms of “devolution”

If today we have libraries that are only manageable with the help of computers, and in the foreseeable future artificial intelligence will have to help us study the Bible, then this is not progress, not evolution upwards, but a scary indication that we are becoming increasingly incapable as God’s dialog partners.

Jesus was still able to send out his disciples to preach the gospel and gave them nothing more than the Old Testament. Today, we not only have difficulties understanding the New Testament, but view reading the Bible generally as challenge, let alone being able to convincingly proclaim the Gospel without the New Testament.

Biblical prophets foresaw that we are approaching a time when people are wandering about with a hunger and thirst for the Word of God. But they will not be able to satisfy this need.[8] Is the concern unfounded that even the most modern technical achievements will not be able to protect us from this?

“Help us to turn back!”

The Jewish people pray: “Make us return, Lord, [up] to you. Then we will [be able to] turn around. Renew our days as of old!” When these words are sung in the synagogues right after the Torah reading, this is first and foremost a quest for the gift of repentance in regard to the Word of the living God. The conclusion of Lamentations (5:21) about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem is a cry for help towards a theological re-orientation.

The last three Hebrew words of this verse “חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם/Hadesh Yameinu KeKedem” contain a play on words. They are correctly translated as “Renew our days as of old!”, as is commonly done. But the Hebrew root קדם/KaDaM not only describes something that used to be in the good old days. It also stands for something that we focus on, where we turn to, that we pursue, what we live for.

Therefore, with these words, the prophet Jeremiah is not only looking back wistfully and longing for the restoration of an ideal Davidic kingdom under Solomonic rule. He doesn’t just dream of a Garden of Eden. In fact, he has the new heavens and the new earth in vision that the prophet Isaiah describes (Isaiah 65:17).

“Yes, but we do have Jesus…,”

“…and above all the Holy Spirit!”, I hear some readers object. And that is of course absolutely true! And I personally would like to emphasize, that I am grateful from the bottom of my heart for what Yeshua, as we call him in Hebrew, has done for me. Without Him, I would not be what I am. My existence, my life, is inconceivable without Yeshua, the Messiah and Redeemer of Israel, the Savior of the world. From the bottom of my heart, I confess with the words of the Apostle Paul (1 Timothy 2:5-6a): “One is God, and One is mediator between God and men, the man Messiah Yeshua, who gives himself as a ransom for all.”

And then I am infinitely grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the Comforter whom the Father has sent us, who teaches us, who reminds us of what Yeshua said (John 14:26). It is my daily prayer that I am open to the speaking of the Spirit; that I hear what the Spirit is saying to the church; and that all my actions are done under the guidance of the Spirit. In no way do I want to dampen, extinguish or even grieve the spirit.[9]

The question of the mediator

Apart from the fact that Noah was a prophet and mediator of revelation between God and his sons, and that we see Abraham mediating between Abimelech and the living God through his intercession (Genesis 20), it is first Moses who explicitly exercises a mediating function between God and man.

Moses took on this task because the people had not responded positively to the heavenly Father’s heartfelt cry “I wish to dwell in their midst!” And the “prophet like Moses”, who is promised to the people (Deuteronomy 18:15-18), is also, in the original context, God’s response to the people’s refusal to endure a direct, immediate relationship with Him.

Originally (כְּקֶדֶם/KeKedem! – Lamentations 5:21), the Creator had wished to be in direct and immediate contact as a Father with the creatures who were created “in His image, like Him”. That is why Yeshua is not the goal, but the way to the Father. It is all about this “knowledge relationship” with the Father (John 14:6-7) – and this relationship has obviously been subject to a permanent “devolution” since the beginning of this world.

What are the consequences?

If we abandon the illusion of spiritual evolution and accept a general downward trend in our relationship with God as an appropriate observation, what does that do to us?

First, this has a decisive influence on our attitude towards our mothers and fathers. This is not just about our biological parents, but also about our spiritual ancestors. We realize that we are no better than our fathers (1 Kings 19:4). In some respects, we are perhaps even worse (Jeremiah 7:26; 16:12).

Quite a few attitudes and statements of modern revival movements towards old traditions may be exposed as symptoms of spiritual arrogance. Certainly, our attitude towards new technical developments and the invention of ever-new crutches will undergo a correction towards more realism. And maybe we can look at and admit our own helplessness more impartially.

Our relationship as Gentiles to the Jewish people will experience a decisive turnaround. The people of Israel are indeed our older brother. This older brother may have his problem with the Father and be angry at us because we have a reason to celebrate.[10] He may be “cursed and separated from Christ” – but the “giving of the Torah” belongs to him.[11] At least that is what Paul as apostle to the Gentiles states. In plain language he says: “If you wish to learn how to read the Bible, go to the Jews. There you can learn it!” Could it be possible that we have been feeding on the pig’s pods of pagan philosophies for thousands of years, mixing it with biblical statements into an inseparable slurry of Christian theology?

But it is not about Gentile Christians becoming Jews. The most important and decisive effect of the realization that we are experiencing a spiritual devolution is a new appreciation of the Bible as Holy Scripture. Yeshua could, as I said, send his disciples out into their world mission with nothing but the “Old Testament” in their hands. He was so certain that the Scriptures testified to him (John 5:39). He was so sure that everything written about him in the “Tanach” – that is, “in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms” – must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44-47). We may therefore confidently imitate Paul, who taught “nothing(!) but what the prophets and Moses said” (Acts 26:22).

Footnotes:

[1] See the previous article “When God withdraws” (https://gerloff.co.il/en/tsimtsum/) in this series on biblical hermeneutics.

[2] Compare Psalm 8:3; Matthew 21:15-16.

[3] Carl Friedrich Keil und Franz Delitzsch, The Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus 1-11, Commentary on the Old Testament vol.1/1. Transl. by James Martin (Peabody, Mass/USA: Hendrickson, 1989), 150.

[4] In Genesis 9:8, the אִתֹּו/ito = “with him” actually catches the eye.

[5] and perhaps also because of the intertestamental Enoch traditions.

[6] See in the Babylonian Talmud the tractates Yoma 9b; Sanhedrin 11a; Sota 48b.

[7] Ezekiel 43:1-12; compare also Revelation 21:1-4.

[8] Amos 8:11-12; compare Ezekiel 7:26.

[9] 1 Thessalonians 5:19; Ephesians 4:30.

[10] Compare Luke 15:11-32.

[11] Compare Romans 9:3-4, where Paul invents a new word (νομοθεσία/nomothesia) in order to be able to grasp the gift of the “elder brother”. I have translated it here once as “giving of the Torah”. The translation “law” commonly used in English editions is simply inaccurate and does not appear in the original text.