By: Kevin Cauley
Consider Adam and Eve. Before their fall, humanity only had one pattern to follow: keep and tend the garden, and do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:15-17). So long as they followed it, they could do anything and never displease God. After the fall, they could no longer please God with just any behavior. It became necessary for God to instruct them how to please Him. So, God began to provide a pattern for mankind’s behavior.
The first application was to Adam and Eve’s clothing. The pair realized they were naked and sewn together fig leaves, but this did not please God. He made coats from animal skins to cover their nakedness, establishing a divine pattern for modesty. Adam and Eve’s efforts to establish their own righteousness did not please God. They needed God’s pattern to do that. When they followed God’s pattern, they were covered. Without it, they were naked.
Man’s fall affected worship also, as shown in the story of Cain and Abel. Man’s inability to approach God with a righteousness of his own necessitated God’s giving a pattern for worship. Fallen man cannot worship acceptably without God’s revealing what pleases Him. When one worships according to the God-given pattern, God will count him as righteous. When one steps outside that pattern and acts on his own, he creates his own righteousness and cannot please God (Romans 10:3). Without revelation, man can never restore God’s order. However, if one humbles himself and returns to God’s pattern beautiful restoration occurs. This is true in matters concerning worship, salvation, the organization of the church, the behavior of Christians, and many other activities related to God.