What would spiritual warfare look like without a Fall?

[Puritan Sailor]

I know this is entirely speculative, but sometimes hypotheticals help us explore our theology.

Assume for the moment Adam did not Fall. What would a war against Satan and the fallen angels have looked like? What role would mankind have played in it? Would there even be a war, or would Satan and his minions have just been cast into hell by God after Adam's successful probation? God created men in part to use their strength to defend the weak. But what would an unfallen man do with that strength when there are no weak humans to defend or physical enemies to fight? Would mankind simply subdue the world without opposition? Or would they have to resist Satan's temptations the whole time as sinless people until the world was finally filled and subdued and then judgment comes for Satan?

I know CS Lewis's Perelandra comes close to this hypothetical situation, but in that story the unfallen world is protected by an outsider, Ransom, who defeats the devil for them after the long resistance of the queen. So it's not the same scenario.

Anyway, any thoughts?

 

[Deuteronomy2929]

Dear Puritan Sailor,
First, the fall was decreed by God.
Second, Adam was our perfect representative, and therefore each and everyone of us would have fallen had we been in Adam's position (in fact, its possible we would have been even worse).
Third, for Adam to not have fallen would have required him to be impeccable like Jesus Christ with an immutable human will able to withstand Satan's tortuous tests and trials.

 

[Puritan Sailor]

Westminster Confession 9.2
"Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it."

The question is "what if" Adam had exercised his freedom to obey rather than sin? Again it's hypothetical. Obviously God decreed otherwise, and Adam freely failed. But what would spiritual warfare have looked like if he chose to obey? Perhaps the closest parallel we get is Jesus resisting the devil. But what would it look like in an unfallen world with a completely unfallen people and a creation untouched by the curse?

 

[Deuteronomy2929]

Westminster Confession 9.2
"Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it."

The question is "what if" Adam had exercised his freedom to obey rather than sin? Again it's hypothetical. Obviously God decreed otherwise, and Adam freely failed. But what would spiritual warfare have looked like if he chose to obey? Perhaps the closest parallel we get is Jesus resisting the devil. But what would it look like in an unfallen world with a completely unfallen people and a creation untouched by the curse?

No Puritan Sailor,
Adam & Eve could never have endured sustained attacks of Satan, and the fall was inevitable.
Only the Second Adam, God Incarnate, could endure the tests and trials of Satan,
and ultimately defeat him.

 

[iainduguid]

We should certainly be tentative with our answers to hypothetical questions not directly addressed in the Scriptures. However, Adam was created as a priest, assigned to "guard and work" the garden, tasks elsewhere assigned to the Levites. So his primary tasks as priest should have been to guard the sanctuary (challenging anything in the lower form of creation that sought to instruct Eve with erroneous views about God) and to teach Eve torah: ("Eat freely of all the trees of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat"). Obviously he failed in both tasks, but it seems plausible that had he succeeded the first time there would have been other attempts; even Jesus was tempted multiple times. Again, speculation but it seems like plausible speculation.

 

[Dachaser]

No Puritan Sailor,
Adam & Eve could never have endured sustained attacks of Satan, and the fall was inevitable.
Only the Second Adam, God Incarnate, could endure the tests and trials of Satan,
and ultimately defeat him.

Jesus endured due to Him being God Incarnate, correct?