Genesis 2

Genesis Chapter 2: Adam gets a roommate

Genesis Chapter 3: The “Plunge” of Man

In Genesis chapter 3 we see what has been called the “fall of man”. I think there is a better word than fall. It wasn't really a fall. A fall is an accident. It was more like a deliberate jump. It was a deliberate act of disobedience. Satan, in the form of a serpent, deceived Eve by placing doubt in her mind as to what God told Adam and Eve. Satan asked, “Did God really say that you can’t eat of any tree?” Did you notice the lie Satan just told? God didn’t prohibit them from eating from any tree, only one specific tree. Satan also told them that they would be “like God” if they ate of the forbidden fruit. By the way, can you think of another talking animal in the Bible? Do you remember Balaam’s donkey? We’ll meet the talking donkey in Numbers.

When they disobeyed God, they came to know evil experientially. They became “like God” in that they now realized what evil was truly like. Of course, in twisting the truth Satan didn’t tell them all the truth. Satan did not say that by knowing evil it would damage their relationship with God.

Now, Satan tells outright lies and half-truths. This shouldn’t surprise us, since Jesus called Satan the “Father of lies” (John 8:44). Satan placed doubt in Eve’s mind and then twisted what God said. Is Satan the only person to twist what God has said? There are many false teachers and cults that twist the Word of God to make it say something that it doesn’t. If Satan is the “father of lies” then what would we call cults, who also distort and truth of God? Perhaps we can call them the children of lies. Like father like son. And don’t think because you are in a mainstream church that everything that you hear from the pulpit is the truth. As I have said many times, not all the kooks are in the cults. There are some preachers in mainstream, orthodox churches who deny the Word of God and twist the Scriptures. I’ve heard preachers claim that the Bible is not inspired by God; deny the virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus, among other basic teachings of Christianity. In fact, I read of a pastor in a Church in Europe who declared himself to be an atheist, and yet his denomination allowed him to remain in his position. These false teachers place doubts in our minds as to what the Bible says. Some may say, “Oh yes, I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. But some of it is more inspired than others and some of it is just myth.”

The church has had to deal with false teachers from the very beginning of its existence. We were warned in Acts 20:28. The Apostle Paul had to contend with them. The church was told to teach sound doctrine and to refute false doctrines (Titus 1:9). Paul even named the names of some of these false teachers (II Tim 4:14). Ah, but I digress. If you are interested in studying cults a classic book on the subject is by Walter Martin entitled, Kingdom of the Cults.

What were the results of this act of deliberate disobedience? Just watch the world news and you can see evidence of the so-called "fall". Why are there diseases, death, and horrible weather? Is this the way God created everything? Is this the best that He could do? Adam and Eve didn’t have to deal with harsh weather and disease. Did God create the evil in this world? God did not create evil. He made evil possible by giving man free will, but man made evil actual. Now the Apostle Paul tells us in Rom. 5 that by one man sin came into the world and through another man, Jesus’ grace came. So why does God blame Adam for the fall then in Gen. 3:6 it was Eve who first ate of the forbidden fruit? Perhaps it was because Eve was deceived, while Adam was not. Adam’s act was one of rebellion, not ignorance.

Well, when God shows up, just like guilty children when the parents come home, the finger pointing begins. God asks, “Have you guys eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from (Gen. 3:11)?” And just like kids, they came up with excuses and started to blame each other, and even God.

Here come the excuses. I’ll paraphrase what Adam says, in Gen. 3:12, “Well, it is your fault, God. This woman that you gave me; she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it. It’s not my fault, I am a victim.”

Then, to paraphrase what Eve said, “That rascal serpent deceived me. Yeah, and who created that serpent, you did.”

The "fall" of man results in several consequences. In Gen. 3:15 God says to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between her offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." In other words, Satan will hurt a descendent of Eve, but he, this descendent of Eve, will in turn destroy Satan. This of course refers to the coming of a Messiah. When Cain is born, they may have thought that he was the person who would crush the head of the serpent. In other words, he might be the Messiah. But that wasn’t to be.

Another consequence of the “fall” is found in Gen. 3:16. It says, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing." I have read several explanations of this difficult passage. One scholar suggests that it refers to the emotional pain that will result when her first son, Cain, murders her second son, Abel. Another explanation teaches that since death has entered the world because of sin, Eve is going to have to have more children, more frequently than before so now she will have monthly periods rather than less frequent cycles. Both are interesting ideas.

Their sin didn’t just mess their life plans, it impacted the whole planet. Gen. 3:17, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you . . .” Yes, that means when you are pulling weeds from your flower beds and trying to kill the weeds in your lawn, you can blame Adam. The whole world needs to be fixed. The Apostle Paul wrote in Rom. 8:19-21, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” This explains why we have terrible weather, diseases, and death in the world. The world as we know it is not the way God originally created it. He really did a terrific job of planning and executing the creation of the world.

Take heart, in time, that curse that came upon the world will be lifted. Rev. 22:3, “No longer will there be any curse.” God is in the process of repairing the world that mans’ sin broke.

You might find my comments on why bad things happen to us in the question-and-answer section of this website of interest.

As the story continues in the Garden of Eden, God changed the dress code and from then on Adam and Eve had to wear clothes. In Gen 3:21, God made them garments of animal skins to replace the fig leaves they made for themselves in verse 7. Why animal skins instead of vegetation? Was it because animal skins would wear longer versus “disposable” plant matter? Was it because the cursed land would require more intense physical labor? Were these leather garments their work clothes? Perhaps but some scholars think that the animal skins were the results of the first blood sacrifices for sin in the Bible.

And that’s not all that changed. Adam and Eve had to relocate, not to another part of the Garden of Eden, but out of it altogether. To be sure that they stayed out, God placed security guards (angels) to keep them out (Gen 3:24). Why the tight security? What would be the harm if Adam climbed over the wall of this gated community? God wanted to keep them from the second special tree in the Garden, the one called the Tree of Life. It they had gotten ahold of this tree, they would have gained eternal life in a sinful state, and that wouldn’t be a good thing.

This first sin of Adam is what is referred to as the original sin and it is what taints all mankind. The Jews don’t believe in the idea that Adam’s sin taints the rest of us. They lean towards the idea that we might be more inclined to sin, but we are stained by our own sins, not the sin of Adam.