Adam’s First Sin
To listen to the audio file for today, click here: ADAM-Wednesday-Week1
Genesis 3:1-13
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ”
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man* and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
Something to Think About
The two biggest questions I have from this story are 1) why did God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden if He didn’t want them to eat it? And 2) why is gaining knowledge of good and evil such a bad thing to God?
1) Why God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden even though He didn’t want them to eat it:
It seems like God wants His relationship with Adam and Eve to function a certain way. From yesterday’s story, it seemed like God wanted to create the crisis of being lonely that Adam could not resolve on his own. God wanted Adam to know that he needed God. God wanted to teach Adam to turn to Him and trust Him alone.
It seems that in today’s story, God is taking it to the next level. He is putting a real choice in front of them. They can step out on their own and take this knowledge that has been forbidden them, or they can continue to turn to God and trust Him to give them His knowledge as they need it. Without a real choice with real consequences, they cannot see if their faith is real. Unfortunately, like the rest of us at one point or another, they don’t pass that test.
2) Why gaining knowledge of good and evil is such a bad thing to God:
A friend once explained it this way. This knowledge of good and evil was not for them to have because it was more than they could handle. God in His holiness is the only Being who can handle the knowledge of good and evil without being tainted by it. Without being negatively affected by it.
Adam and Eve could not handle that knowledge… it warped them, changed them, twisted their nature to make it sinful. So now things that they had been completely ignorant of and innocent about (such as their nakedness) were things that pulled at them, tempted them, or caused them to feel guilt and shame.
Questions to Think About
Does it strike you as odd that the serpent talked to Eve? Do you think that originally animals and people could converse?
Why do you think God placed the tree in the Garden? What was He trying to teach Adam and Eve by doing that? How do you think He was hoping they would respond?
What are the negative effects of Adam’s and Eve’s choice that we see in this story?
If we can’t handle the knowledge of evil without being attracted to it, what does that tell us about what our relationship with sinful things should be like? (Check out Psalm 34:14, Romans 12:9 and Romans 16:19 for clues.)
If we can’t handle the knowledge of evil without being attracted to it, what does that tell us about how we should relate to God in order to avoid the temptations of sinful things? (Read Proverbs 3:5-8 for clues.)
