Process Pattern Sequence and Glorification

PPSG Pattern Process Sequence to Glorification 9 30 26

The Image-Bearer, the Command, and the Breach

PACKET 1 OF 14

Before the breach, there was a purpose.

God made humanity in His image, gave life and work, and spoke a command. Yet the people placed in the garden hid from His presence and were sent outside it. What happened between the gift and the exclusion—and what would restoration have to answer?

THE OPENING QUESTION What was the image-bearer made for, what command was breached, and why can the resulting condition not simply be ignored?

The reading movement#

Design and breach → Grace and response → judicial acceptance → the Spirit and changed condition → family and restored relationship → lived faith and vocation → completion under the King → the image-bearing purpose completed.

Principal readings: Genesis 1:26–28; Genesis 2:15–17; Genesis 3:1–24; Romans 2:14–15 in context; Romans 5:12–21.

Scripture quotations: King James Version.

Contents and reading guide#

The three opening fields#

Other markers encountered in the readings#

[D] Grace · [F] Promise · [G] Word / Gospel / Witness · [J] Receive · [1] Belief / Trust · [2] Justification · [3] Forgiveness / Remission of Sins · [4] Righteousness · [10] New-life family

A bracketed marker follows a key word through the study. A verse keeps its own speaker, action, and setting. A marker’s number does not turn a future statement into a past event or postpone a benefit that the passage says is already present.

JUSTIFICATION [2] Justification is not confined to one moment. See the appendix Justify / Justified / Justification — Forms and Time Profiles for the fuller comparison.

Supporting reading: Thirteen-Witness Receipt Stack — Living, Sin, Death, and Quickening, Witnesses 1–13, pages 3–8.¹

1. The image comes before the breach#

The Bible does not first show a guilty person trying to escape judgment. It shows God speaking about the humanity He intends to make. The image-bearing purpose is present before the failure. That order matters: the remedy must answer a damaged life and vocation, not merely remove an unpleasant verdict.

Genesis 1:26–28 — KJV#

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

God is the giver in every part of the passage. He creates, blesses, and appoints. Humanity has real work in His world: fruitfulness, multiplication, and dominion. Yet that dominion is given by God. Bearing His image does not make the image-bearer the source of life or the final authority over good and evil.

Genesis 2:7 — KJV#

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Man begins as a living creature because God gives him life. This is the beginning of the account, not yet the later making-alive of a sinner in Christ. The gift of created life and the work that answers sin and death must both remain visible.

DISCOVERY / PATTERN The first intention is life under God, expressed in a received vocation. The question that follows is how the living image-bearer comes to stand outside the place appointed for him.

2. The command establishes accountability#

Genesis 2:15–17 — KJV#

15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

16 And the LORD God [A] commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The command comes within provision. God has given a place and work, and the permission is generous: the man may eat freely. One boundary is stated, and its consequence is announced before it is crossed. The later exclusion cannot be understood without this earlier word.

LEGAL / COVENANT WITNESS [A] Command → breach of that command → [B] Separation / Consequence of Sin. The boundary, the accountable action, and the resulting condition are related, but they are not the same thing.

The work of the law and the witness within#

Paul later addresses responsibility both with and without possession of the law. The heart, conscience, thoughts, and coming judgment belong in the reading together.

Romans 2:12–16 — KJV#

12 For as many as have sinned without [A] law shall also perish without [A] law: and as many as have sinned in the [A] law shall be judged by the [A] law;

13 (For not the hearers of the [A] law are just before God, but the doers of the [A] law shall be [2] justified.

14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the [A] law, do by nature the things contained in the [A] law, these, having not the [A] law, are a [A] law unto themselves:

15 Which shew the work of the [A] law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my [G] gospel.

Paul says “the work of the law written in their hearts.” He also names conscience and thoughts that accuse or excuse. Possessing or hearing instruction is not the same as answering it rightly. Verse 16 keeps the final Judge in view: God judges through Jesus Christ.

The words [2] “shall be justified” in verse 13 face judgment. Their future setting remains intact; the fuller Justification appendix follows this word through its initial, continuing-life, and final-judgment uses.

3. A spoken contradiction becomes an actual breach#

3.1 A second voice challenges the command#

The boundary has already been spoken when another voice enters the scene. The contest begins with what God has said. The woman and the man are not given a new garden; they are given a contrary account of the word governing the garden.

Genesis 3:1–6 — KJV#

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

The speakers must remain distinct. God’s direct command was given in Genesis 2. Here the woman reports it, and the serpent contradicts its announced consequence. The narrative then tells what she saw, desired, took, ate, and gave—and that the man ate.

The [C] Enemy / Bondage / Grip / Hostile Dominion field does not begin only after the breach. The serpent’s hostile speech precedes the eating. His contradiction seeks a human response against the command; the actual eating remains the action of the people who heard it.

DISCOVERY / PATTERN A contradiction becomes a breach when the forbidden act is performed. The passage does not replace personal action with a vague condition or make deception and obedience interchangeable.

3.2 Hiding does not undo the act#

The eating does not produce the life the contrary voice had offered. The next scene brings exposed nakedness, self-made covering, fear, hiding, and God’s questions.

Genesis 3:7–13 — KJV#

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I [A] commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

The man points to the woman; the woman points to the serpent. Those relationships matter, but both accounts still end with the act: “I did eat.” The explanation of influence does not make the eating disappear.

God’s question returns to the command. He does not merely ask why the man feels afraid. He asks about the act against the word already given. Fear and hiding are now part of the damaged relationship, but they are not substitutes for identifying what was done.

The people can cover themselves with leaves, but they cannot change the word they breached or pronounce a new judgment over their own act. The story has moved from a life appointed by God to a condition they cannot simply talk away.

LEGAL / COVENANT WITNESS The command identifies the boundary. The admitted eating identifies the breach. The account of deception does not erase the image-bearer’s responsibility.

4. Judgment, the living line, provision, and exclusion#

4.1 God names the consequences#

Genesis 3:14–19 — KJV#

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I [A] commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

God addresses the serpent, the woman, and the man in turn. His words to Adam join the heeding of another voice to the eating of the forbidden tree. The consequence is not a detached penalty with no cause: “Because” connects the judgment to the action.

The ground is cursed for Adam’s sake; toil and the return to dust become part of the announced human course. The original work is now carried amid sorrow and resistance. The creature appointed to tend the garden cannot produce lasting life by the labor of his hands.

Yet judgment is not the only thing God speaks. Within these same words He sets enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between their seed, and announces the bruising that will follow. The account contains a [F] Promise to be followed, not only a consequence to be endured.

DISCOVERY / PATTERN The obstacle is now visible: sin has damaged the relationship, the work, and the human course toward life. God’s answering word is also present inside the judgment.

4.2 The living line and the guarded way#

Genesis 3:20–24 — KJV#

20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The statement about Eve remains in its place after the judgment speech: “the mother of all living.” The living line is not erased from the story when mortality and exile appear. Neither does that statement remove the consequence just announced. Both belong in the account.

God also acts toward the exposed pair. The clothing in verse 21 is His provision. The earlier leaves were made by the people; these coats are made by the LORD God. The provision is real, but it does not mean the breach was imaginary or that the garden boundary has disappeared.

Then the way to the tree of life is guarded. The man is sent out, and his work continues outside the garden. [B] Separation / Consequence of Sin is therefore more than a label: the narrative has shown a changed relationship, a changed condition, and an exclusion that the man does not reverse for himself.

LEGAL / COVENANT WITNESS God gives clothing; God also guards the way. Provision and judgment are both present. Genesis does not yet narrate the full later sacrificial and priestly procedure, so the coats are not made to explain that entire process here.

The wider living-line comparison is preserved in Thirteen-Witness Receipt Stack — Living, Sin, Death, and Quickening, Witnesses 1–13, pages 3–8.¹

4.3 The condition and the personal response#

The image-bearer’s descendants live in the world affected by Adam’s breach. Mortality and exile are real. Personal desire, personal action, and personal responsibility are also real. One part of the account must not be used to remove the other.

James 1:14–15 — KJV#

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

James distinguishes enticement, desire conceiving, sin, and the death to which sin leads. Desire is not simply another name for the completed act. The passage shows movement, including the image-bearer’s own participation.

The supporting witnesses likewise distinguish predisposition toward sin from a personal deed already performed. They place the living line, developing moral knowledge, accountable action, Adamic consequence, and God’s [10] quickening in Christ beside one another. This is the study’s cumulative reading, not a technical claim drawn from Eve’s name alone.¹

Romans 7:7–11 supplies a related witness: Paul speaks of being alive, the commandment, sin taking occasion, deception, and death. He expressly rejects calling the law sin. The command reveals the boundary; sin takes occasion through it. The full passage is preserved as Witness 7 in the supporting exhibit.¹

Ephesians 2:1–5 adds the former walk under hostile influence and the life God gives with Christ. That is where the [C] Enemy / Bondage / Grip / Hostile Dominion field connects with the need for a changed condition. The same passage moves to God’s mercy and [10] making alive; the record is not only a diagnosis.¹

DISCOVERY / PATTERN The need is larger than an explanation of why people fail. The separated image-bearer needs what God supplies: a true answer to guilt, estrangement, bondage, and death.

5. Adam’s consequence; Christ’s answer in view#

Paul does not leave Adam’s act by itself. He places it beside the work of Jesus Christ. Read the whole comparison before drawing the conclusion: its judgment words, its gift words, and its references to those who receive all belong together.

Romans 5:12–21 — KJV#

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

13 (For until the [A] law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no [A] law.

14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the [D] grace of God, and the gift by [D] grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which [J] receive abundance of [D] grace and of the gift of [4] righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto [2] justification of life.

19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

20 Moreover the [A] law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, [D] grace did much more abound:

21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might [D] grace reign through [4] righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

LEGAL / COVENANT WITNESS The comparison includes the offence and the free gift, Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience, condemnation and life. Neither side of the passage can be removed without changing Paul’s argument.

5.1 The last word is not Adam’s offence#

The first movement is severe: through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin. Verse 14 also preserves the reign of death from Adam to Moses, including those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression. The passage is broader than a retelling of one act at one tree.

Then Paul repeatedly gives the contrast: “not as,” “much more,” “the free gift,” and “the obedience of one.” The answer comes through Jesus Christ. The comparison is not between one failed human attempt and a later attempt to manufacture a sufficient standing without Him.

Verse 17 gives a particularly useful relationship. There is an abundance of [D] Grace and a gift of [4] Righteousness, and Paul names those who [J] Receive. The provision is not created by its recipients. Yet their reception is not absent from the sentence. God’s gift and the human response must both remain visible.

The closing verse gives the direction of the answer: [D] Grace reigning through [4] Righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. That takes the reader back to the opening purpose. Humanity was appointed to life and vocation under God. The remedy must reach farther than hiding, self-made covering, or an explanation of failure.

WORD DISTINCTION Romans 5:16’s “justification” and verse 18’s “righteousness” translate dikaiōma (G1345), a distinct deed/decision term. Verse 18’s [2] justification is dikaiōsis (G1347). The former is not silently treated as the same word as the latter. The fuller comparison belongs in Justify / Justified / Justification — Forms and Time Profiles.

The initial judicial relationship is developed in Packet 4: [1] Belief / Trust → [2] Justification → [3] Forgiveness / Remission of Sins → [4] Righteousness. The initial relationship is concurrent, but sequenced. The words also have continuing and future applications. Here their presence allows the promised answer to come into view without leaving Adam’s consequence unexplained.

6. Why the hearer needs God’s provision#

The opening question can now be answered from the readings. The image-bearer was made for life and meaningful work under God. A command made the boundary known. A contrary voice disputed the word, and the forbidden act was performed. Fear, judgment, mortality, and exclusion followed.

The obstacle is not merely a lack of information. The people who had heard the command still crossed it. Nor can the problem be solved by pronouncing the act harmless. God’s questions and judgments keep its reality before the reader.

WHAT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED God gives life and vocation → [A] Command → breach → [B] Separation / Consequence of Sin. The [C] Enemy / Bondage / Grip / Hostile Dominion field exposes the hostile voice and bondage without replacing human responsibility.

But the human act is not the last act in the story. God speaks concerning the seed, provides clothing, and continues His purpose. Romans places the reign of death beside the greater gift through Jesus Christ. [D] Grace is therefore the next question: what does God supply to the person who cannot undo the breach or reopen the guarded way?

The study will return to the image-bearing purpose in Packet 14 — The Image-Bearing Purpose Completed. The present need and the final destination belong to the same story: life with God, received from Him and lived under His rule.

Next reading: Packet 2 — Grace, the Call, the Promise, and the Word.

Sources and reading references#

1. Thirteen-Witness Receipt Stack — Living, Sin, Death, and Quickening. Bible SuperChat, Packet 1 supporting exhibit. Witnesses 1–13, pages 3–8; the relevant witness number supplies the precise subsection. It preserves the fuller life/condition/responsibility comparison used in sections 4.2–4.3.

Scripture text. KJV: Genesis 1:26–28; 2:7,15–17; 3:1–24; Romans 2:12–16; James 1:14–15; Romans 5:12–21. Each passage is identified beside its text. Bracketed study markers are editorial references; the Scripture wording is retained.

Word records. Romans 5:16–18: the separately retained Strong’s entries G1345 and G1347; compare G1343 in 5:17,21. See Justify / Justified / Justification — Forms and Time Profiles for the related words and their different settings.