They at the very least, I would say, types or shadows of the born again or born from above believers of today. They were clean until they defiled themselves by disobeying God.Adam and Eve are beyond us to wrap our modern-day minds around. They are not representative of us or we of them in totality.
When a person truly repents and receives the Holy Spirit today, he is similar to Adam and Eve prior to their disobedience. He has something very good, but like them he still has not partaken of the Tree of Life... not until he has overcome as Jesus overcame.
If we keep our eyes always on Him while loving always the Truth that He is, we will always avoid deception. How many of us are always doing those things?We should all be alert and eyes open to self-deception.
I should be slow call out a person's name or point a finger at him based on my own ideas or suspicions alone.You see a good number on this forum who are not.
You are likely correct on this, but since I don't know any such person definitely I stand back and simply wait on God. If He wants to use me with regard to such a person hopefully I will hear and obey when He speaks to me about it.Yes, there are people claiming to be saved who knowingly or unknowingly are not.
This is probably true, but there are also cons [conmen] pretending many things in order to line their own pockets with the things of this world.There are cons who make a living pretending to be Christians.