Paradise Lost and Adam’s response to the Gospel
That all this good of evil shall produce, [470] And evil turn to good; more wonderful Then that which by creation first brought forth Light out of darkness! full of doubt I stand, Whether I should repent me now of sin By mee done and occasiond, or reJoyce [ 475 ] Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring, To God more glory, more good will to Men From God, and over wrauth grace shall abound. (Milton, 12. 469-477) The passage above is about Adam responding to Gabriel’s message about the Gospel.
Gabriel has Just told Adam the story of how through Adam and Eve’s mistake Jesus overcame sin. “But to the Cross he nailes thy Enemies,” and “Shall bruise the head of Satan, crush his strength” (Milton, 12. 430,415). The news of Jesus’ gracious victory over sin and death overwhelms Adam. He responds in lines 471-472 by saying that the post-fallen world (with Jesus) is greater than the pre-fallen world in the Garden of Eden. Adam is basically saying he does not feel as bad for the fall ecause of the good that will “spring” (line 476) forth from it.
I think this passage is very neat and speaks a whole lot to the work of Jesus in my life. So much evil has come from the fall, and sometimes I ask myself, “if God is all- knowing, then why did he make humans when he knew that we would fall? ” The whole poem has helped me understand that “why’. Specifically the passage above ultimately, more good has come through Jesus, than bad has from sin and death! This takes some weight off my shoulders whenever I sin and fall short.
I now see that God’s grace and love is more powerful than anything bad that I can do. Jesus had slain sin and death, and I am victorious through Him. Even seeing Adam’s cheerfulness after the good news makes me see the fall of humankind differently; it reminds me to look at Jesus rather than at my sin. In my discussion with my friend about this passage and the poem as a whole, I learned the power of literature. This poem speaks not only about Christianity, but also about the history of beliefs.
