Notice the serpent was more crafty than any of the animals God made, Genesis 3:1. The word ‘serpent’ in Hebrew is ‘nachash,’ Genesis 3:1 / Genesis 49:17 / Exodus 4:3 / Ecclesiastes 10:11.
When the words Elohim and Jehovah are together, it’s translated as LORD GOD, Genesis 3:1 / Exodus 34:5-6. Notice the serpent is being compared to other animals. Does this mean that other animals were able to speak? Numbers 22:21-30.
Was this a literal snake through which Satan spoke through? Or was it Satan himself described as a snake, 2 Corinthians 11:3 / Revelation 20:2 / John 8:44? There are a lot of theories concerning this; however, we do know for certain it was the devil that deceived Eve, Revelation 12:9.
Notice the conversation between the serpent and Eve, when the serpent says, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden,’ Genesis 3:1. Look closely at Eve’s response. She says, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die,’ Genesis 3:2-3.
What did God actually say back in Genesis 2:16-17? In Genesis 2, God says, ‘don’t eat’, but in Genesis 3, we find Eve saying, ‘don’t eat AND don’t touch’. We don’t know why she has come to that conclusion; maybe it was just extra security to stay clear.
Also, notice that Eve says, ‘We MAY eat fruit from the trees in the garden’, which was true, but then she fails to say that God granted them permission to eat freely; the only restriction was on that one tree, Revelation 22:18-19, but Eve knew if she ate from that one tree, they would die, Genesis 3:3.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Some of the Jewish writers, who are only serious on comparative trifles, state that as soon as the woman had asserted this, the serpent pushed her against the tree and said, ‘See, thou hast touched it, and art still alive; thou mayest therefore safely eat of the fruit, for surely thou shalt not die.’
The devil tries to assure her that she won’t die, Genesis 3:4 / 2 Corinthians 11:3. This is the first recorded lie of human history, and thus Satan identifies his deceiving nature, John 8:44. But notice his lie, he says, ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, Elohim, Genesis 1:1, knowing good and evil,’ Genesis 3:5.
Now you might be wondering what’s so interesting about this statement, but this idea of ‘being like God’ is something which Satan himself tried to make himself before being cast down from heaven, Isaiah 14:12-15.
Although Isaiah 14:12-15 describes the King of Babylon, the text is describing him as having the same mindset as Satan and notice the phrase, ‘I will make myself like the Most High’, Isaiah 14:14. Satan is trying to get Eve to do what he failed to do, become like God.
There is nothing in these verses which implies Satan had sexual relations with Eve.
Skinner, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A connection between sexual shame and sin is not suggested by this passage, and is, besides, not true to experience.’
Sin has three characteristics that make up its essence, and the first one is unbelief. Satan’s chief strategy is deception. Why? We know he’s the father of lies, but why does he use that strategy?
Because he cannot overpower God, he tried, he gathered together some angels, he tried to topple God off the throne, and he lost. He cannot overpower God. So, he can’t take us on that way; he must use deception and trickery.
He moved in with a mixture of questions and contradictions in order to persuade Eve that disobedience would bring blessings. I want you to notice that God allowed the forbidden fruit, its full appeal. She looked at it, it looked good, it was nice to look at, it was nice to smell, it was nice to touch, and everything about it was appealing, Genesis 3:6.
John reminds us of the three things that work against us, 1 John 2:16. Notice what Genesis 3:6 says, Lust of the flesh, she saw it was good for food. Lust of the eyes, she saw it was pleasing to the eyes. Pride of life, she said it was desirable for gaining wisdom.
There was an appeal there. If there is no appeal, there’s no temptation; sin had an appeal. Hebrews talks about ‘the fleeting pleasures of sin’, Hebrews 11:24-26. God allowed sin to have an appeal; if there wasn’t an appeal, there would be no temptation, and if there wasn’t temptation, there would be no freedom of choice.
I don’t think this was the first time Eve had seen the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I think it was the first time she had seen it through Satan’s eyes. What Satan wants to do is to take something that God says is wrong and get you to see it through his eyes, and she did, and she was seduced, 2 Corinthians 11:3.
Paul understood that Satan still operates the same way; he wants to deceive you and seduce you with lies, 1 Timothy 2:13-14. The Bible doesn’t say Adam’s sin was deception; it was Eve who was deceived.
That doesn’t excuse Eve because I want you to remember the root of deception is in unbelief. Satan dangled before Eve a statement that couldn’t be proven until after the fact, and God’s warning wasn’t motivation enough to stay away.
It still works that way, Satan says. Try it; you’ll like it. God says NO, stay away, Satan says Oh, it will bring you blessings; it’s good for you. And the only way you can know if Satan’s telling the truth is to disobey God.
And so, the first thing we learn about sin is that it’s taking somebody’s word over God’s, it’s unbelief. Let me say again, the issue that is in the Bible is not; Do you believe in God? The issue is, do you believe God?
Eve didn’t sin because she stopped believing in God; she sinned because she didn’t believe God when it came to the fruit. She took someone else’s word. Now I think it’s significant that the Scriptures never say Adam was deceived, 1 Timothy 2:14.
The roots of his fall are explained in the second thing we learn about sin. And that is in its essence its rebellion. Adam was not duked by devilishly clever arguments; in fact, it’s almost insulting. Satan had to work on Eve; he had to come back two or three times with clever lies.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Another feature of this passage is the greater blame that lay upon Adam for involving himself and his total posterity in the disaster of Paradise Lost. ‘Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled fell into temptation’, 1 Timothy 2:14. Thus, Adam sinned deliberately with his eyes wide open, whereas Eve was deceived.’
The Bible said, ‘she took some and gave it to her husband, and he ate,’ Genesis 3:6. Adam’s fall was not due to ignorance; it was arrogance. It’s not that the rebel doesn’t know the truth; it’s that he doesn’t care. Adam was not fooled; he was deliberately defying God’s right to set limits.
There was something about that tree that bugged him. Granted, he had a paradise, he had a beautiful climate, he had a wonderful wife, and he had all of the trees to enjoy and cultivate.
But there was this one tree which God said he couldn’t have, and it bugged him. He thought to himself, so long as that one tree stands in the garden as a symbol of my creaturehood, reminding me that I am not tenement, I hate it.
Adam was making a statement we make when we knowingly sin, and if we were truthful, most of our sinning is knowingly. Most of our sinning is not because we do not know what God said on this, but because we don’t care.
Adam was saying, ‘No one tells me what to do, I’m the master of my fate; I’m the captain of myself’. That’s why I believe the Bible assigns the guilt for the fall of the human empire on Adam.
Notice 1 Corinthians 15:21 says, ‘Death came through Adam’, ‘the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.’ But as in Adam, all die so in Christ all will be made alive, it came through Adam.’ I think it’s significant that Eve sinned first.
I’m not making light of Eve’s sin; she didn’t take God’s word, and she sinned. Significantly, she sinned first because she couldn’t say later, ‘well, I was just following my husband’s lead.’ No, she sinned, she was deceived, and she didn’t believe God. But the fall of the human race was never blamed on Eve, and Jesus is never called the second Eve; he’s called the second Adam.
The issue here is not what to have for lunch; the issue is how we are going to relate to God. God offered Adam and Eve everything except hostility. Satan came along and said, ‘I know how you can be like God,’ and they bit.
And that leads to the final and most important thing we learn about sin, sin at its core, the essence of sin is pride, and the Bible says, ‘What pride goes before fall,’ Proverbs 16:18. It goes before destruction; pride went before the fall of the human empire.
For Eve, it was trust in her observation over God’s word; she decided, ‘I think based on what I see about this fruit, how it looks to me, based on my observation, it seems to me that God was wrong.’
For Adam, it was his desire for independence from God’s rules. For both, it was a decision to place confidence in their own will instead of God’s. And for people, this is going to be the temptation that is going to be in front of every creature who has their own will.
Do you want to be Lord, instead of recognising one? That’s what sin is, and that’s why God hates it, and that’s why the consequences are so devastating, because at its very core, it comes back to this. Will you have a Lord, or will you be your own?
Behind every temptation, there is a struggle not so much between good and evil but between God and self, and the essence of temptation is my will or his will. Let’s fast forward a few thousand years to another garden, another absolutely sinless man and the exact same choice, Luke 22:44.
My will or His will? Will it be your life over God, or will it be God over your life? Most people choose the national religion of hell, and they bow down to the altar of self. And so, the human empire remains fallen, and paradise remains lost, and it’s going to remain lost.
We’re not going to have Eden again until sin is gone. The absence of sin will only exist when God’s will is the only will; that’s what’s going to make Heaven, Heaven, Matthew 6:10.
On earth, we have about six billion wills, and it is chaos, and it is evil, and it is death. In heaven, there is one will. Now we cannot undo the consequences of Adam’s choice on our bodies, this body of mine is mortal.
God and his grace might give it extended years, but it’s going back to dust unless Jesus comes. I cannot undo the consequences of Adam’s choice on my body, and neither can you. When temptation comes, we have a choice, James 1:13-15.
Notice that Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened and then they realized they were naked, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves,’ Genesis 3:7. This was not how God intended them to live, Genesis 2:25. As Christians we are clothed with Jesus’ righteousness, Isaiah 61:10 / Galatians 3:27 / Revelation 3:5 / Revelation 3:18 / Revelation 16:15.
When Adam and Eve heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden, Genesis 3:8.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The voice is properly used here, for as God is an infinite Spirit, and cannot be confined to any form, so he can have no personal appearance.’
Because of guilt, Adam and Eve hid themselves from a visual presentation of God, Genesis 3:8. God called to Adam, Genesis 3:9, not because He didn’t know where Adam was, but to give him an opportunity to confess their sin, Genesis 3:10.
Adam’s fear when God approached manifested that separation had now come between God and man as a result of sin, Isaiah 59:1-2. This was the very first act of confessing sin.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The anthropomorphisms of this passage present no problem. The only way God could communicate with man was upon a level that man could understand. Furthermore, the ultimate intention of God’s becoming a man in the person of Jesus Christ was surely inherent in his early intimacies with his human creation.’
Before they sinned, Adam and Eve were naked, Genesis 2:25, and felt no shame, but after they sinned, they realised they were naked and covered themselves because they now felt shame.
Before they sinned, they couldn’t wait to spend time with God, but after they sinned, they are now hiding from God. Before they sinned, they had no fear of God, but after they had sinned, they were now afraid of God, Genesis 3:10.
It’s amazing how popular the blame game is, even today. Even as a child, I remember blaming my brother for things I did, and he blamed me for things he did. Before Adam and Eve sinned, they loved one another and respected one another, but now they’re blaming everyone except themselves, 2 Samuel 12:13.
When God asked him who told him he was naked, Have you eaten from the tree, Genesis 3:11. Adam knew full well what God’s commandment concerning the tree, Genesis 2:15-17, and so he was without excuse.
However, he wouldn’t take the responsibility for his own sin; he shifted the responsibility to his wife, and in stating that it was God’s fault for creating the woman in the first place, Genesis 3:12, he was seeking to shift responsibility back to God. Then he went on to blame Eve, Genesis 3:12.
After being asked what he had done, he also went on to blame the serpent, Genesis 3:13, making it seem that the serpent played her for a fool, Romans 1:25. The fact is that the soul that sins will spiritually die, Ezekiel 18:20. But it’s not all bad news, God in His infinite wisdom had a plan.
In Genesis 3, we see the first temptation, the first human sin, the first pronouncement of judgment and the first promise of redemption, which is the Gospel, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. The extent of the sin is here revealed by the intensity of the punishments that were issued by God.
The fact that the serpent’s curse was more than the rest of the animals assumes that all animals were in some way cursed as a result of the sin, Genesis 3:14.
But the curse of the serpent was humiliating, for he was given the lowest status of life among all creatures, Genesis 3:14 / Psalm 72:9 / Isaiah 49:23 / Micah 7:17. The eating of dust, Genesis 3:14, signifies total defeat, Isaiah 65:25 / Micah 7:17. Science tells us that snakes once sported full-fledged arms and legs.
National Geographic says the following.
‘Snakes used to have legs. Now they have evolved, but the gene to grow limbs still exists.’
In Genesis 3:15, we find the first reference to Christ, Galatians 4:4, and Paul’s reference to the crushing of Satan surely refers to this first prophecy of the future work of Jesus to rectify what was lost in the garden in Eden, Romans 16:20. Jesus says the same thing to Paul in Acts 26:18.
From the time of this first sin, the curse was that there would be hostility between the offspring of Satan, Genesis 3:15 / Matthew 13:38-39 / John 8:44, and the eventual offspring of woman, the Redeemer, Genesis 3:15.
Nevertheless, the Seed of woman, Jesus, would eventually crush the head of Satan by His death on the cross, and so, freeing man from the control that Satan has over man through sin, Hebrews 2:14.
In crushing the head of Satan on the cross, Jesus would bruise His heel by His own death, Genesis 3:15. However, His heel would only be bruised because He would be raised from the dead, Romans 16:20.
We need to keep in mind that beginning with the seed of woman in this context, to the time of the cross of Jesus, Satan launched an attack to destroy the seed of woman that would eventually lead to the Seed who would give His life for the sins of all men, Galatians 3:16.
Satan would make every effort to destroy that which would eventually lead to his own destruction, Matthew 25:41. The seed-line war of Satan against the seed of women would become so intense that at one time in human history, almost all humanity was wiped from the face of the earth in the days of Noah, Genesis 6-9.
Nevertheless, the seed-line from Eve would prevail. From the seed of woman would eventually come the Seed of woman into the world for the salvation of man, Hebrews 2:14-15.
Eve, as the mother of womanhood, brought upon herself and her posterity quite the opposite of what she sought in Genesis 3:6. Childbearing was originally supposed to be a pleasant experience for women but now God says giving birth to a child will be a painful experience, John 16:21. For her presumptuous act without following the headship of her husband, her desire would always be for the man who would rule over her, 1 Corinthians 11:3.
Before they sinned, Adam could enjoy working, but his work was now going to be painfully hard. Before they sinned, they could have lived forever with God, but after they sinned, they were going to die.
Man had been given the pleasant responsibility to work the ground, Genesis 2:5, but now, because Adam listened to his wife and disobeyed God’s command not to eat from it, Genesis 2:15-17, the work would no longer be a joy, Genesis 3:17.
By cursing the earth, the fruit of the ground would come forth only as a result of the intense labour of man. Thorns and thistles would be his enemy in receiving the fruit of his labours, Genesis 3:18-19.
Though not immediate at the time of the sin, physical death would be the second greatest problem of mankind after his spiritual separation from God by sin. For his sin, Adam immediately suffered the guilt of his sin, for he was spiritually separated from God, Genesis 2:16-17 / Isaiah 59:1-2 / Romans 5:12.
For his sin, he would also suffer the consequence of physical death, since he would be driven from the tree of life, 1 Corinthians 15:20-22. Because he couldn’t eat from the tree of life, the natural processes of his body growing old would continue until he physically died, Genesis 3:19.
Death is the opposite of life; separation of the soul from the body is the physical part, and the body returns to dust, Genesis 3:19. Separation from God is death for mankind, Romans 5:12. Spiritual life is conscious existence in communion with God, but spiritual death is conscious existence in separation from God.
When Adam gave names to the birds and animals, Genesis 2:20, he was exercising the authority that God gave him to rule over the living things, Genesis 1:26 / Genesis 1:28. And his naming of Eve, Genesis 3:20 / Genesis 2:23, indicates that Adam was to have headship in the marriage even before the fall, 1 Timothy 2:12-13.
Eve is named Havah, meaning the mother of all humans, Genesis 3:20. There was the hope of a posterity through Eve, ‘life’, since she, through childbearing, would be the one through whom humanity would be preserved.
Notice that God clothed them, Genesis 3:21. This is the first recorded sacrifice in the Bible by God, which tells us that blood needed to be shed because of the sin. Jesus said we can be clothed with His righteousness, Philippians 3:9.
The coats of skins Genesis 3:21 / Deuteronomy 22:5 meant that some animals had to die in order to rectify the nakedness of man. And from this time on, we would assume that animals were commissioned to die as sacrifices for the sins of men until the final death for all sin on the cross of Calvary, Romans 3:25 / Hebrews 7:27 / Hebrews 10:1-4.
Man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, Genesis 3:22, doesn’t mean that man became in nature and character as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It was only when man learned the guilt and consequence of rebellion against the divine law that God could establish this.
Notice the use of the word ‘us’ again, Genesis 1:28 / Genesis 3:22 / Genesis 11:7. This does not mean there are three gods; Elohim means there is one sovereign God, the Godhead or what Christians call the Trinity. God is one being, or essence, which exists in three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Father and the Son are both God, Ephesians 4:6 / John 5:18, and are one, meaning perfectly united, John 10:30, but they are not the same divine person, John 14:28. The Holy Spirit is God, Acts 5:1-4, but He is not the same person as the Father, John 14:26 / John 15:26, or the Son, John 15:26 / John 16:7.
They are three perfectly united divine persons. The Father possesses all that makes God who He is, the Son possesses all that makes God who He is, and the Spirit possesses all that makes God who He is.
Notice that God prevented Adam and Eve from living permanently in their fallen state, hence why they weren’t allowed to also eat from the tree of life and live forever in that fallen state, Genesis 3:22.
Answers in Genesis says the following.
‘This seems to imply that Adam and Eve could have eaten from the Tree of Life after they sinned to live forever. Had they been permitted to eat from the Tree of Life, then they would have been forced to live eternally in a sin-cursed world.’
This is the last reference to the Tree of Life, Genesis 3:22, until it appears again in the Book of Revelation, Revelation 2:7, where it is depicted as being set in three places, and it yields twelve crops every month, Revelation 22:2 / Revelation 22:14.
Before they sinned, they enjoyed a close relationship with God, but after they sinned, death entered the world, they were banished from the garden and lost that relationship with God, Genesis 3:23-24. That’s what happens when we sin: it ultimately cuts us off from God, Isaiah 58:2.
The word, cherubim, Genesis 3:24, is plural; they were winged creatures with feet and hands, and they represent the presence of God, Exodus 37:7. They were embroidered onto the Ark of the Covenant curtains on the Holy of Holies, Exodus 26:1 / Exodus 36:35, two cherubim overlaid with gold with outstretched wings were placed facing one another on the cover of the Ark in the Tabernacle, Exodus 25:18-20, and their task here was to defend the presence of God.
Sin always drives us away from the presence of God; we need to repent, or we will be continually separated from God. Let me ask you, how is your relationship with sin? Can’t you see that your relationship with sin has separated you from God?
If you don’t believe that He is the Christ, the Head crusher, then you will die in your sins because death is the penalty for sin, John 8:24. But if you believe that Jesus really is the Christ, The Head crusher, whom God promised would come to die for your sins, then you will receive the gift of eternal life, Romans 6:23.
There are many people alive today, but at the same time, they are still dead; they are the walking dead, they are what Christians were. We were all dead in our transgressions and sins, and we lived like it, Ephesians 2:1-5.
But now, because of God’s great love for us, we’ve been made alive in Christ even when we were dead. Before we were made alive in Christ, we all stood condemned, but now in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation, Romans 8:1.
The question is, who are you going to listen to, the devil or God? Satan says, Hey, what does God know? Don’t worry about sin, you just enjoy your life and live however you want to because you will certainly not die, Genesis 3:1-5. God says, Listen, sin really is that bad; if you don’t obey me, you will certainly die, Genesis 2:16-17.
Let me encourage you to think seriously about who you would rather have a relationship with. The devil who offers nothing but death, or Christ, who offers eternal life and much more.