#4 - The fall into sin: Genesis 3; Reflection by Mike and Remi Langum

Reflection on Genesis 3

In the third chapter of Genesis, we learn how evil came to be an intimate part of our human experience. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, ate the forbidden fruit, and in that expression of free will wreaked unanticipated and unintended consequences upon all of humankind. Until that moment, Adam and Eve were innocent and naïve. God provided for them. Yet they also possessed the desire for knowledge, for the understanding that belonged only to God. They apparently didn’t know how horrific this knowledge could be, and God’s directive was not a sufficient deterrent. Ironic, isn’t it, that from the very beginning, we have carried within us the seeds of our own destruction?

Evil exists. We know it and we perpetuate it. Hatred, war and injustice exist; we hurt those we love; people want and are in need of everything from food, health care, shelter and clothing to love, acceptance, kindness and understanding. We know evil and the pain and devastation it causes. As a result of Adam and Eve’s sin, however, we also know and are capable of good. We understand and appreciate good in part because we are acutely aware of its antithesis. We have a moral sense which distinguishes us from the rest of creation.

The best news of all, however, is that God never abandoned us – He was with Adam and Eve both before and after they sinned, and He is always with us. While we can never reclaim our innocence, in knowing good we know the hope of what can be, and in Christ we have salvation and can see the promise of what will be.

Genesis 3
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord GOD had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, "You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" ²The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; ³but God said, "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; ⁵for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." ⁶So 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. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
⁸They heard the sound of the Lord GOD walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord GOD among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the Lord GOD called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" ¹⁰He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." ¹¹He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" ¹²The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." ¹³Then the Lord GOD said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate." ¹⁴The Lord GOD said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
¹⁵I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel."
¹⁶To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you."
¹⁷And to the man he said,
"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
'You shall not eat of it,'
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
¹⁸thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return."
²⁰The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹And the Lord GOD made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.
²²Then the Lord GOD said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" — ²³therefore the Lord GOD sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.