The types and shadows have been replaced by Christ the substance. And the serpent said . . The book of Genesis describes our revolt from dependence on the wisdom of God and our reliance on our own wisdom. We feel that we ourselves now know good from evil, and no longer need God's guidance. This ancient question has taken on tragic urgency in our time.
Recent history shows how easy it is to return to barbarism.
Certainly there are enough questions and problems to cause us to wonder if our own knowledge of good and evil is sufficient. In the age when Quakerism arose, the other Christian denominations said this was not possible. They said that we fallible humans could only try to do the will of God, but that to think we could succeed was spiritual pride, which is the worst sin. The early Friends said that what cannot be done through our own power can be done through the help of Christ within, whom God sends for that very purpose. Thus Friends saw the coming of Christ as the means by which God restores all things.