- the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church ... according to THE ETERNAL PURPOSE which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, Eph. 3:10
God had two choices. He could send Adam and Eve to the same “chains of darkness” as all the angels before them (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). He could then create a new man and new woman and His flawless creation would remain uncursed, given to others more worthy. It would be like the potter who “when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred ... he made it again another vessel” (Jer. 18:4). God could have done this. He could have taken new clay and made another vessel.
His second choice was to continue to work with the clay He had made. “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand” (Isa. 64:8). Although God made this second choice, many changes still occurred, both to Adam and Eve, and to the material creation.