LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 265

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THEOLOGY OF FELLOWSHIP 265

B. MAN DESTROYS THE FELLOWSHIP
1. The Fall into Sin

a. With God

The fellowship for which God had created our first
parents, and into which He had placed them, and in
which He sought to preserve them by hedging them
round about with a commandment (Gen. 2: 16-17),!
Adam and Eve themselves broke when they yielded to
the temptation of Satan and transgressed God’s com-
mand (Gen. 3:1,6).2 That man had destroyed his fel-
lowship with God through sin became evident from the
fact that he fled from God and attempted to hide from
Him (Gen. 3:8) * and that God drove him from the gar-
den (Gen. 3: 22-24) 4

1 Gen. 2:16-17. “And the Lord God 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.”

2 Gen. 3:1,6. “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?” 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.”

3 Gen.3:8. “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.”

4 Gen. 3:22-24. “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 forever, therefore the Lord
God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the
ground from whence he was taken. 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.”

b. With Man

The fall into sin also destroyed the fellowship of man
with his fellowman (Gen. 3:12; 4:5, 8, 9) ?

1 Gen. 3:12. “And the man said, The woman whom
Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and
I did eat.” Gen. 4:5. “But unto Cain and to his offering
He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his
countenance fell.” Gen. 4:8-9. “And Cain talked with
Abel, his brother; and it came to pass, when they were
in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother,
and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is
Abel, thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my
brother’s keeper?”

2. Fallen Man Continually Negates the Fellowship

Man has continued to negate this fellowship with
God and man for which he was created (Gal. 5:19-21).?
God continues to reveal Himself to fallen man through

His works, but man’s response to this revelation is
a continually renewed revolt and a continual breaking
of the divinely willed fellowship between God and man
(Rom. 1:18-32).?

1 Gal, 5:19-21. “Now the works of the flesh are mani-
fest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witcheraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the
which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of God.”

2 Rom. 1:18-32 (passim). “For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and un-
righteousness of men, who hold the truth in unright-
eousness.... When they knew God, they glorified Him
not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in
their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and
changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an
image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and
fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. ... Who changed
the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
Amen.”

Similarly, God’s revealed Law, which clearly dem-
onstrates God’s will that man should live in communion
with Him and with his fellowmen (Matt. 22:37-40) *
provokes enmity and rebellion (Rom. 8:7),? which in
turn leads to separation instead of fellowship (Is. 59:2;
64:6-7) 3

1 Matt. 22:37-40. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart and with all
thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two com-
mandments hang all the Law and the prophets.”

2 Rom. 8:7. “Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God,
neither indeed can be.”

3 Isaiah 59:2. “Your iniquities have separated be-
tween you and your God, and your sins have hid His
face from you, and He will not hear.” Isaiah 64:6-7. “We
are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf, and our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 7. And
there is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth
up himself to take hold of Thee, for Thou hast consumed
us because of our iniquities.”

C. GOD HAS RESTORED THE FELLOWSHIP —
IN CHRIST

1. As Promised Under the Old Covenant

As God established fellowship in the beginning, so
He also took the initiative in restoring it after the Fall.
When man hid himself from the presence of God, it was
the Lord God Himself who sought man (Gen. 3:8,9) !
and called man to account (Gen. 3: 16-19) ? and gave
man the first promise of redemption (Gen. 3: 15) 3