Genesis 3:1–13, 22–23

Professor of Christian Studies, School of Christian Studies, University of Mobile

Admit Your Sin Problem
Genesis 3:1–13, 22–23
Part of being human is wanting to make a good impression upon others and feel good about oneself. To do that, people tend to hide their faults, flaws and failings from others. God expects people to admit their moral and spiritual struggles to Him as well as to themselves and to confess their sins to Him. As they do, they find freedom from guilt and a restored relationship with God.

Temptation Lures Us (1–5)
Genesis 3 is the most dreadfully tragic and profoundly sad chapter in the Bible. It records the historical entrance of sin into the human race and spells out the basic pattern of temptation. The key agent instigating the temptation to disobey God was Satan, who, disguised as a serpent (2 Cor. 11:3, 14; Rev. 12:9, 20:2–3), questioned Eve about the Lord’s motivation in forbidding a particular fruit. Satan deceived Eve (1 Tim. 2:14) into disobeying God by denying God’s Word about the serious consequences of disobedience. He raised doubt about God’s Word: “Has God really said” was his question. Next he denied God’s Word: “You surely shall not die.” Here is history’s first lie; it was a denial of God’s judgment upon sin. Then Satan attacked God’s character by saying God was preventing Adam and Eve from being God-like. Satan suggested God had an ulterior motive in forbidding the fruit; God cannot be trusted was Satan’s idea. It never occurred to Eve that God gives us restrictions in order to protect us. In one short conversation, Satan reinterpreted God to be a liar who, possessed with jealous pride, made empty, harmless threats. He charged God the Creator with selfishness and with a malicious falsehood, representing God as envious and unwilling for His creatures to have something that would make them like the Creator; He challenged God’s integrity.

The issue remains the same today. Do we listen to God’s Word, trusting what He says and obeying Him? Or do we listen to other voices and run headlong into disaster and defeat?

Sin Alienates Us (6–10)
Deceived Eve gave the fruit to Adam, and he, free from deception, deliberately, with conscious intent, disobeyed God (1 Tim. 2:14). Their sin was more than merely eating fruit; it was disobeying the revealed Word of God, believing the lie of Satan and placing their will above God’s will. Rebellion against the Creator-God had now entered human history with its disastrous and horrendous consequences. The immediate consequences for Adam and Eve were a keen sense of shame, guilt and fear. Their sin, instead of bringing them godlikeness, separated them from God and from each other. Their intimate fellowship with God was broken. Instead of seeing their nakedness as a thing of beauty, they felt it a shame that needed to be covered. That is what sin does; it leads us to hide the truth from each other and to attempt to hide ourselves from God. Like Adam and Eve, all people sin and experience alienation from God and, to various degrees, alienation from one another.

God Confronts Us (11–13, 22–23)
God was well aware of Adam and Eve’s sin and their attempt to hide among the trees of the garden. God’s question to Adam, “Where are you?,” was not a question for information; it was a question designed to cause Adam to realize sharply and clearly where he was spiritually, namely, cut off from God. It was the first step in God’s confrontation of Adam’s sin. All people will be called eventually by God to account before Him for their attitudes, works and deeds. Sin, as in Adam’s case, always has negative consequences, which may or may not continue when the sin is forgiven.

After cursing the serpent and the ground and placing restrictions upon Adam and Eve, God made for Adam and Eve clothing from the skins of innocent animals. The sacrifice of those animals pictures the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross as a sacrifice for our sin. Christ’s death and resurrection provide a completed sacrifice for us. We need to admit our sins to Him and honestly confess them to Him. He has made the way of forgiveness available to us.