Genesis 3 – The First Sin
February 19, 2019
“Father in heaven, as we read your words in the Bible today, will you point out to us any sin in our lives – or anything we believe about you that is not truth? Thank you Father. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.”
Please take a few moments to read Genesis 3.
In a week’s time, all of the heavens were created. God and man walked together in the Garden of Eden in a trust-filled relationship. Then in a day’s time, it all simply fell apart. It started with a lie.
Satan is crafty and cruel. From the very beginning of time, he has twisted God’s words. Why did Satan care if there was a tree whose fruit they were not to eat? He didn’t. His only purpose was to raise questions in Adam and Eve’s minds that God was not fair, and perhaps was even holding out on them.
They knew what good was. God had said everything was “very good,” (1:31). What they wanted to know about was evil. How do you learn about evil? You experience it.
Before knowing about evil, Adam and Eve had been completely exposed before their Creator and each other, but the moment they understood evil, they covered themselves. Suddenly vulnerable to be hurt, they no longer felt safe. It was no longer the good they had always enjoyed. They began to hurt each other almost immediately.
And so the blame games began.
God found them in the garden. It’s not like He hadn’t been watching. “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” God asked (3:11).
Adam tried to blame God! “The woman YOU PUT HERE WITH ME gave me some fruit,” (3:12). He neglected to say he had been standing right beside her during the whole snake/woman episode. (3:6). Adam simply chose the desires of his wife over obeying God. He should have stopped her from eating the fruit, but not wanting to disappoint her, he ate it too. She was more important to him than God. Then, instead of admitting it, he simply blamed God for ever giving her to him in the first place. So much for loving your wife.
The woman was no better. “What is this you have done?” God said. Eve blamed the snake. “The serpent deceived me, and I ate,” (3:13). The desire to try something forbidden got the best of her. She bought into the lie that it would give her wisdom (3:6), but “knowing good from evil” is not the same as wisdom. Wisdom comes when you recognize evil and choose good. She not only didn’t choose good, she talked someone into doing evil with her. So much for loving your husband.
With the first sin came the first death.
God explained to them the meaning of death as He made garments of the skin of an animal to provide for their clothing (3:21). It was the beginning of the sacrificial system. But it wasn’t just the beginning of death. Right in the middle of the curse God gives the serpent, we see the beginning of the story of hope.
Remember when God is speaking to the serpent, He’s talking to Satan himself.
“I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your offspring and hers (remember Jesus was born of a virgin); he (Jesus) will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” It’s a foreshadowing of Jesus! All of hell will seek to destroy Jesus (the only man born solely of woman). Satan will strike Jesus’ heel (like a true snake) on the cross, and it will seem like Satan has won…until Jesus rose from the dead and crushed Satan’s power completely!! (Hebrews 2:14-17)
Questions for thought:
1) For discussion: What lies does Satan want us to believe about God?
2) For you: Who are you blaming for your own sin?
Without the first sin we would not have the authority to make our own choice in the world. To follow the Lord or not. He will not force us to choose him. But in the last days of judgement many will wish they had. The plan was to allow Adam and Eve to make a choice then understand the consequences of that choice. If the option was never brought forth there would still only be Adam and Eve. Unfortunately in later time the Lord had to wash the earth clean and start over. satan thought he had control but was shown by God he was not.
I blame no one but myself. I honestly know im a sinful man on this earth. I make the decison to fall away. But im grateful to Heavenly Father that he with my repentance will restore the Holy Ghost to be my still small voice to guide and protect me.
Like Adam & Eve I have the choice given to me by my Heavenly Father to follow him or or to ignore his gift. I very happy I excepted his gift . And he continues to forgive me when I wander from the narrow path that leads to eternal life with him in Glory.
That God doesn’t love us ( if He loves us bad things would not happen to us or the ones we love).
“Knowing good from evil is not the same as wisdom. Wisdom comes when you recognize evil and choose good.” That is so true. If we are honest, most of us know the difference between good and evil. I guess there is really no wisdom in that at all. Lord, help me to make wise choices. Choices that honor You and are best for me. It is so amazing that, in the middle of all this devastation, God gives us a glimpse of hope. We need to remember to listen to the “Voice of Truth” don’t we Lora? He is always there. Thank you for reminding us of that today Lora.
1. That God does not want the best for us and that we know what is better for us than God does. That God wants to keep things from us in which we think we deserve.
2. I would say I am pretty good at blaming myself, because I can look back at all my wrongs and the situations that the wrongs or my sin has caused and I can see it is where I chose for myself. I know that I am responsible.
Great conversation going everyone! Feel free to respond to each other, as well.
Gary, thank you for your insights! You are certainly right that God showed us the consequences of sin through Adam and Eve. I had never considered that if they had not sinned, then we wouldn’t exist. I’ll have to ponder that. God had told them to increase in number, so maybe they would have still had children? I’m not sure that any of us are capable of going very long without sin – wanting our own way – including Adam and Eve and ALL of their descendants, though. So the question is probably moot.
I admire that you don’t blame anyone but yourself. I must say that I’m not always that honest with myself. Sometimes I blame circumstances for making me late or impatient, or people for making me angry,…. All of it only serves to prolong my sin, and keep me from repentance!
Cindy, thank you for pointing out the huge lie that “God never lets bad things happen to those He loves.” I think my story really slams hard into that lie. Without a doubt, J. and the kids were serving God, and telling others about Him and still they died young. For some, that is proof God doesn’t exist, or doesn’t love us. But for me, it has been the most dramatic expression of God’s love that I have ever experienced! I was more broken and weaker than I have ever been, and God strengthened me and gave me purpose and hope.
Belinda, thank you for your honest prayer. I think that we are drawn into the short term fun of sin…and try to convince ourselves its worth the long term pain. Or maybe we don’t even look into the distance to see the long term consequences at all. In our society’s culture, we don’t want to have pain or disappointment or cost of any kind. We simply want our own way, all of the time. God must be so sad.
Shannon, Yes. What a lie that God wants to keep things from us that are good, or that we deserve. The truth is that we deserve death. We deserve to be separated from God forever, because we have all broken His commandments. It’s not that He wants to send us to hell. It’s that He can’t allow sin in His presence. Therefore, there’s a place where God does not exist – hell. And furthermore, He doesn’t want us to go there, so He made a way to forgive us…a way where we don’t have to pay the penalty ourselves. Instead, He paid it for us. Bottom line: He kept from us what we deserved. We deserve hell, and He keeps us from having to go there. Satan sure twists the truth!!
I often wondered why God was angry when they partook of the fruit. He knows everything so obviously he knew they would choose to taste the fruit. But I think it was because it was not in his time and satan tried to userp his power and influence his plan for choice. Had they not tasted the fruit I do believe they would have multiplied and in time Adam would have been given the wisdom of choice between the natural man and God’s law. From the very beginning it is a very deep subject and the world as we know it is shaped in just the first few pages. Not much has changed from those first pages. Man still struggles with satan. Man still makes the choice to follow God’s law or to turn away and sin. God still offers his love through his only son . Justice has to be meted out for the circle to be perfect for man to come into the presence of the full glory of God. I look forward to the day God gives me clear thought so I can see the past and understand his total plan for life.
Where do I start.. lies Satan wants us to believe about God. Media spreading words of God not being real and slandering Christianity as a whole. Also Satan wants us to believe that when we do sin that God won’t forgive. Satan makes us give into the notion that God is not besides us through unbearable heart break.
Who do I blame for my sin?! Hm. It’s more like what. I blame my lapse of judgement or forgetfulness often for my sin when I know it’s just sin and there isn’t always a rhyme or reason to it. I don’t know if this makes sense at all.
Oh Theresa, that makes perfect sense! I totally understand blaming my weaknesses, instead of just saying I am wrong!! My husband would have totally agreed with that statement!
Speaking from personal experience, I think Satan holds us back by making us fearful. If we live in fear, then we aren’t trusting God, or at least not enough. Satan would have us believe any lie that would separate us from God. So, depending on the personal situation, he could lie about anything and everything. He plays on our weaknesses. When we choose to have a closer relationship with God, we become a threat to Satan because maybe we don’t believe the lie so easily…
Learning to take responsibility for your own sin can be a difficult thing to do. But the more ownership (acknowledgment) you take, you are able to ask for forgiveness and further strengthen your relationship with God. As soon as we realize we CANNOT be perfect, it’s easier to become humble and welcome the act of accountability and seeking forgiveness.
Well said Shawna! I think you are absolutely right about learning that we cannot become perfect – and thus becoming more willing to admit our faults. I know that’s sure true in my life. The older I get, the more I learn that!!