The Bible says God gave Adam work to do. So how was work viewed before sin came? How did roles and responsibilities fit into the original picture of God? We can learn a great deal about our lives by looking at the original family. Tune in to learn a fresh perspective on the original family and your own family and life.

The fundamental identity of Adam was found in his being a child of God. If you were to have asked Adam, “Who are you?” he would have answered, “I am a child of God.”

God told Adam that he had work to do. Now, out of his birthright identity of being a child of God, Adam had responsibilities to accomplish. He woke up in the morning to tend a garden and take care of a world he had been placed in charge of. He was a farmer. He was a gardener. There were things that he did daily.

There were also privileges that God gave Adam. But his privilege identity and his sonship identity were not correlated. The sonship identity came from his unique communion and spiritual intimacy with God. This defined who Adam was.

Now, because of his birthright identity, because he was a child of God, he had things to do. These were the privileges that Adam had in taking care of the garden. The privilege identity never defined his sonship identity. What Adam did never defined who Adam was. Who Adam was defined what Adam did.

Adam was able to be a faithful farmer because he was a child of God. The goodness of Adam did not come from what he did. The goodness of Adam, his actions, came from who he was, which was a child of God.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13 NIV)