The Beginning of Sin
May 8, 2024
Commentary
This is the story of the fall of mankind. There are four steps that Eve took on the path to sin and these are the same steps we find it happening today: (1) she saw the opportunity to sin, (2) she desired it, (3) she indulgence in it, & (4) she involved others (Adam) in it. We could also add (5) Adam stood by passively and then joined in. Because of their first sin, Adam and Eve lost their fellowship with God. When they heard God walking in the Garden, they hid themselves (v. 8).
When we are caught in sin, we often try to shift the blame. What Adam said was partly true, but he was more concerned with the consequences of his sin than with what he had done. Adam tried to shift the blame to the woman (vv. 11-12). Adam had chosen to follow instead of taking the lead. He implied that if God had not given him the woman the sin would not have happened. Sin divided the family, and it divided man from God. Just as Adam tries to find someone to blame so does Eve as she blames the serpent (v. 13). The amazing thing is that God does not abandon them.
As a result of sin: (1) the serpent (Satan) was cursed (vv. 14-15) to go on his belly, eating dust, and to ultimately have its head crushed by the seed of the woman (Christ Jesus). (2) the woman was cursed (v. 16) to have pain in childbirth, to be disappointed by her husband, and to be ruled over by him. (3) the man was cursed (vv. 17-19) in that because of his lack of leadership, joining his wife in sin, the ground itself would be cursed as well, and he would have to work it through toil and sweat, fighting thorns and thistles to make it produce. And it would all end in Adam and Eve returning to the ground in death (v. 19).
Application
If I am honest, I can see how I have acted in a similar way to what Adam and Eve did. I often need to go to I John 1:9 and simply confess my sin and not try to have an excuse.
Genesis 3:1– 19 (NET)
1 Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 11 And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” 13 So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the cattle and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”
17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
Illustration: George Sweeting Watching Sea Gullls Riding The Ice
Dr. George Sweeting said that “Several years ago our family visited Niagara Falls. It was spring, and ice was rushing down the river. As I viewed the large blocks of ice flowing toward the falls, I could see that there were carcasses of dead fish embedded in the ice. Gulls by the score were riding down the river feeding on the fish. As they came to the brink of the falls, their wings would go out, and they would escape from the falls. “I watched one gull which seemed to delay and wondered when it would leave. It was engrossed in the carcass of a fish, and when it finally came to the brink of the falls, out went its powerful wings. The bird flapped and flapped and even lifted the ice out of the water, and I thought it would escape. But it had delayed too long so that its claws had frozen into the ice. The weight of the ice was too great, and the gull plunged into the abyss.” The finest attractions of this world become deadly when we become attached to them. They may take us to our destruction if we cannot give them up.(George Sweeting, in Special Sermons For Special Days).