LESSON 4 – ORIGINAL SIN (PART 1) – IT WASN’T ABOUT THE FRUIT
Genesis 3:1 through 3:7
Preparing for Lesson 4
In Lesson 3, we talked about the creation of the first man and first woman, and as I read those verses, I wondered about Adam’s name. The first time the proper name Adam was used in reference to the first man is in Genesis 2:20, when Scripture says, “…but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.” Prior to that, he was referred to as “the man” or simply, “man”. I’m just speculating here but as he was recording the story of creation, maybe Moses decided the first man deserved an actual proper name. The name he chose, Adam, is similar to the Hebrew word ha agama which means earth (from which man was formed), so the proper name Adam seemed like a good fit.
And Eve did not receive her proper name until Genesis 3:20, when Adam realized that she would bear children, at which time he gave her the name Chavvah, meaning “llife-giver”. Prior to that, she was simply known as “woman”.
The following Bible study covers Genesis 3:1 through 3:7 so be sure to read those verses before you begin. I hope you enjoy today’s lesson.
Lesson 4 – Original Sin (Part 1) – It Wasn’t About The Fruit
A friend once said to me, “You know, I think God was pretty hard on Adam and Eve. After all, surely He could have spared just one more piece of fruit.”
Now hear this: It wasn’t about the fruit.
When we last saw Adam and Eve, they were living blissfully in the beautiful Garden of Eden. Everything they needed had been provided for them and beyond that, their only desire was to fellowship with God. But things began to change in the opening verses of Chapter 3.
We are introduced to a serpent. When we see this word, we think of a snake and in fact, according to Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary, that is exactly what it was. But there was something a little off with this guy. First of all, he talked. We’ve got a talking snake here.
Also, I don’t think he looked like snakes look today. Some commentators have even gone so far as to say he was probably a beautiful creature which might have been why Eve seemed to be drawn to him. Well, that and the talking thing. Did he have legs and feet, or maybe wings? We’ll consider that later.
He was very intelligent, subtle and shrewd, and you already know this, but it was Satan talking through the serpent. And Eve was no match for him.
Just consider the stark contrast between this serpent’s craftiness and Eve’s innocence.
When Eve encountered him in the garden, he struck up a conversation with her. “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” He already knew the answer, but the question was designed to make Eve doubt God.
“From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Nowhere in Scripture do we see God telling Adam not to touch the tree. But just as the Pharisees did centuries later, Adam may have added his own rules to go above and beyond God’s commandment, or Eve may have made the addition herself. We should never add to or take away from God’s words; He already knows what is best for us.
And Satan said to her. “You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
With those words from Satan, God had been diminished in Eve’s eyes. Satan had cast doubt on God’s knowledge and authority (“You surely will not die!”). He also suggested that God was keeping something good away from them (“For God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”)
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)
Think About This: In verse 3:5, when Satan says, “…in the day YOU eat from it…”, the plural form of the pronoun is used. This means that Adam was right there along with Eve when this conversation took place. Rather than assert his headship and authority, and walk away with Eve, he silently stood by while she was taken in by Satan’s lie.
Satan knows human character only too well, and he constantly uses it against us. He is still using the same tactics on us that he used on Adam and Eve. McGee draws a parallel between Genesis 3:6 (stated above) and 1 John 2:16:
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world.”
| 1 John 2:16 | Genesis 3:6 |
| The lust of the flesh | The tree was good to eat. |
| The lust of the eyes | The tree was pleasant to look at |
| The pride of life | The tree could make one wise. |
When Adam and Eve bit into that fruit, it was the crunch heard around the world. And this is why God forbade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God was establishing His authority over Adam, and this was a test of obedience. It wasn’t about the fruit.
And with that, paradise was lost.
J. Vernon McGee says, “Temptation will either develop you or destroy you; it will do one of those two. Character must be developed and it can only be developed in the presence of temptation.”
In that moment of failure, so much was lost. R. Kent Hughes says, “Adam and Eve had fallen from the pinnacle of innocence and intimacy into the pit of guilt and estrangement.” But specifically, what was the cost of this sin?
Adam and Eve lost the ability to freely fellowship with God.
The image of God was marred in man.
Innocence was lost; now they knew good and evil, and everything in between.
Spiritual death came immediately, and the perfect health they had enjoyed was gone. Their physical bodies were already beginning to decay and this would eventually lead to physical death.
Think About This: Did Adam and Eve understand the concept of death? Spiritual death means separation from God and it was an immediate consequence of their sin.
Their enjoyable and satisfying work was gone. Working to make a living would become back-breakingly difficult.
Before the fall, man was sinless and had complete free will. That meant he was free to choose to sin or not to sin. But human nature was drastically altered by the fall, to the extent that man is no longer able not to sin. In the fall, human nature lost its freedom not to sin (A Beginner’s Guide to ‘Free Will’ by John Piper…www.desiringGod.org)
We all understand how our DNA controls the traits we inherit from our parents. My mother had green eyes; I have green eyes. My father had big feet; I have big feet. My grandmother was overweight; I’m…well, chubby. In any case, we have no choice over the characteristics that are contained in our DNA.
I don’t think there is really any such theological term, but consider there could be something called “spiritual DNA”. One trait that all of us inherit through our spiritual DNA is a sinful nature that was created when Adam and Eve sinned. We will discuss this in more detail in Lesson 6.
It would be interesting to know exactly how long Adam and Eve remained in perfect obedience to God. We do know they were created with free will and were able to choose to be obedient or not; to choose to fellowship with God or not. No relationship is rewarding if the participants in the relationship have no other option, and from God’s perspective, such a relationship would have been empty and worthless. And by creating human beings in His image, He gave them the ability to choose.
God warned Adam that in the day he ate the forbidden fruit he would surely die, but did Adam even know what that meant? I believe both Adam and Eve understood the concept of good and evil or they would not have known what obedience meant. However, until they sinned, they had no firsthand experiential knowledge of the difference between good and evil.
But even if God never fully explained why eating from the tree was wrong, Adam and Eve knew enough to know that it was wrong. The Ten Commandments tell us that we must not commit murder but it does not necessarily tell us why it is wrong. Even so, we are still accountable for any act of murder we commit simply because God commands us not to murder.(“Did Adam and Eve Know What Death Was?” – www.gotquestions.org)
In our next lesson, we will discuss the judgments that were handed down as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin: Lesson 5: Original Sin (Part 2): It Was About Obedience.
Think About It, Talk About It
Think about all of the blessings God had given to Adam and Eve through His provisions for them in the Garden of Eden. Why were they willing to risk all of that by being disobedient to Him?
Why did God give Adam and Eve the freedom to choose whether or not to be obedient to Him?
How do we know God explained the concept of good and evil to Adam and Eve?
Sources
Got Questions, Did Adam and Eve Know What Death Was? (www.gotquestions.org)
Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, NASB, AMG Publishers, Inc.
Hughes, R. Kent, Preaching the Word – Genesis
McGee, J. Vernon, Through the Bible – Genesis through Deuteronomy
Piper, John, A Beginner’s Guide to ‘Free Will’ (www.desiringGod.org)
Ryrie, Charles, NASB Ryrie Study Bible, Expanded Edition