Ground Zero: Facing the Fall and Finding Freedom (Session 1): Genesis 3

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’

• “Did God actually say”
  • Elohim vs. Yahweh
  • Satan is misrepresenting God’s desire and will and casting doubt on 1) God’s motives and 2) Eve’s understanding.
  • APP: Distorting the nature and character of God is fertile soil for sin to grow.
  • APP: Distrust in God’s Word is fertile soil for sin to grow.
• “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden”
  • Notice God’s actual command from 2.16 is misrepresented – eat vs surely eat.
• “neither shall you touch it” – Eve adds to the prohibition.

⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

• “You will not surely die”
  • Satan increases his stance against the command of God and outright contradicts Him on the penalty. His goal is to highlight God as having purely selfish motives for the command.
  • Thus God is not good and gracious, but rather selfish and deceptive because he ultimately desire to keep Adam and Eve from achieving the same position He holds.
  • APP: Many today still fall for this same temptation, seeing Christians and God as the ones who are “holding back” civilization from evolving into it’s fullest potential.
• “So when the woman saw that the tree was good”
  • Compare what call calls good in chapter 1 and 2 with what Eve calls good here in this verse. What do we learn? Often what we see with our natural eyes as “good” or delightful and desirable is sin.
  • In this verse, Eve usurps God’s role in determining what is good.
  • QUES: How does our society do this today?
• “It was a delight…to be desired”
  • Adam and Eve rejected the judgments of God and sat in judgment of God.
• “to make one wise”
  • The transgression in this temptation is the acquisition of wisdom independently of God.
• “she took of its fruit and ate”
  • Sin is when we presume to know how to live our lives apart from God in a way that we deem best.
• “she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”
• “the eyes of both were opened and they knew they were naked”
  • Sin always leads to disappointment.
• “they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
  • Their clothes were an attempt to cover and hide the shame of sin.
  • Sin always leads to shame.

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

• “the man and his wife hid themselves…Where are you?”
  • Sin always leads to separation.
  • God is not lost to their location. He’s asking Adam about his reason for hiding.

¹² The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

• “The woman you gave me…The serpent deceived me”
  • No one owns up to their sin. It’s easier to blame.

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ And to Adam he said,

²⁰ The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹ And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

• “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”
  • Sin is not to be hidden by frail attempts of man, but confessed and adequately covered by God himself. This points us to the covering Jesus supplies for sin on the cross.

²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Points to Ponder

1. Why is sin often attractive, even when we know it leads to destruction?
2. Why is our instinct to hid when we’ve sinned – from God and others?
3. What does God making clothes for Adam and Eve teach us about His character and judgment?