to eat fruit from the tree of life and fruit from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. If he had eaten fruit only from the tree (or trees) of
life, would it have been possible for God to expel him from the garden?
I think not. On the other hand, after he ate fruit from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, would it have been possible for God to
keep him in the garden? Again, I think not. Likewise, once an angel has
been accepted into heaven, God cannot throw that angel into hell; and
once a devil has been judged, God cannot move him to heaven. For
God’s inability to do either of these things despite his omnipotence, see
the part on the divine omnipotence in the first chapter, §§ 49 – 70.
The preceding part of this chapter (§§ 337 – 339 ) showed that the faith 342
that saves us is faith in the Lord God our Savior Jesus Christ. The ques-
tion is, what is the first step toward faith in him? The answer is acknowl-
edging that he is the Son of God. This was the first step toward faith that
the Lord revealed and proclaimed when he came into the world. If peo-
ple had not started by acknowledging that he was the Son of God, and
therefore God from God, it would have been pointless for him, and later
for his apostles, to have preached faith in him.
There is in fact something like this today among people whose
thoughts are based on their own self-importance, that is, on their outer,
earthly selves alone. They say to themselves, “How could Jehovah God
conceive a son? How could a human being be God?” Therefore it is nec-
essary to use the Word to establish and support this first step into faith;
the following passages are offered for this purpose:
“The angel said to Mary, ‘You will conceive in your womb and give
birth, and you will call his name Jesus.He will be great and will be called the
Son of the Highest.’And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this take place,
since I have not had intercourse?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will
descend upon you, and the power of the Highestwill cover you; therefore the
Holy Onethat is born from you will be called the Son of God’”(Luke 1 : 31 , 32 ,
34 , 35 ). When Jesus was baptized, a voice came from heaven saying, “This is
my beloved Son,in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3 : 16 , 17 ; Mark 1 : 10 ,
11 ; Luke 3 : 21 , 22 ). Furthermore, when Jesus was transfigured, a voice came
from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son,in whom I am well pleased.
Hear him” (Matthew 17 : 5 ; Mark 9 : 7 ; Luke 9 : 35 ). [ 2 ] “Jesus asked his disci-
ples, ‘Who do people say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son
of the living God.’Jesus said, ‘You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah. I say to
you, on this rock I will build my church’” (Matthew 16 : 13 , 16 , 17 , 18 ).
The Lord said, then, that he would build his church on this rock,
that is, on the truth and the confession that he is the Son of God. In fact,
§342 faith 411