The Book of Genesis

Chapter Three

The Origin of Sin

Lesson Verse: Romans 5:12

I.         Lesson Introduction

A.      In this chapter, God shows us how sin entered into the world

1.        If you want to know how sin entered heaven, you have to study Isaiah 14, and Ezek 28

2.        Sin was not created by God. The potential to sin was created

a)       The ability to fall off a cliff if you so jump is always there

b)      The ability to turn away FROM God’s righteousness

c)       Darkness is the absence of God’s light – switch off a light, and darkness takes over. Sin is the absence of God’s righteousness.

d)      It is therefore possible to have sin anywhere, except in God’s presence (1Jn 1:5; John 8:12)

3.        There are five things that God cannot do

B.       And God shows us the cost of sin

1.        Death and punishment are abstract terms to people unless they see and experience it

2.        God in the very first Book of the Bible, from chapter 2, tells mankind, sin has an awful price (Gen 2:17)

C.       But thankfully, the Lord provides a “way of escape”

1.        The provision of two lambs to purchase Adam and Eve’s forgiveness

2.        A promise to Adam and Eve of life continuing in spite of death

3.        A promise to the devil that he will one day pay

D.      By Adam committing transgression, death entered into the human race, (Rom 5:12)  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: and it remains a curse.  The only way for the curse of death to be removed is for the Second Adam (Jesus) to conquer where the first Adam failed, 1 Cor 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.  Those that trust in the Second Adam inherit eternal life.

II.       Study Lesson

A.      The Subtlety of Temptation (Gen 3:1-5). Temptation will never causesome one to become sick to their stomach and thus make them unable to partake of the evils offered.  Instead, temptation is so sweet and enticing that we are drawn into it clutches.  This is where Eve finds herself.

1.        The Tempter (Gen 3:1; 2Cor 11:3-4)

a)       Satan

1)       Rev. 12:9 informs us that Satan is a serpent and a dragon.

2)       But he never appears as he really is

3)       Satan is a word that means “adversary”

4)       The word ‘devil’ means false accuser, or attacker

5)       Here, Satan appears as a serpent

6)       Sometimes as an angel of light (2Cor 11:14)

b)      The Serpent (Rev 12:9)

1)       Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing

2)       Satan never appears as he really is

(a)     He is like a dragon - A seven headed dragon

(b)     He is a beast – indescribable

3)       Uses the serpent – a reptile

(a)     Of all the basic animal groups, represented by the seraphim, only the reptile is missing (Rev 4:7)

(b)     This particular class of creation is not found in the new heavens or the new earth.

4)       Unsaved religious leaders are referred to as “serpents” (Mt 23:33)

c)       Subtlety - crafty or full of guile. What does Satan use as bait?  He uses whatever bait is the most effective.  He is also a fisher of men.

1)       Satan will use whatever he thinks will work

2)       He is very crafty, wiley (Eph 6:11), and wise (Ezek 28:12)

2.        The Tease (Gen 3:1-5)

a)       Targets Eve – not Adam

1)       Adam had seen all the animals that exist created before his eyes (Gen 2:19,20)

2)       If an aminal came up and started talking to Adam, Adam would have known it wasn’t normal

b)      Surprises Eve

1)       The element of surprise

2)       Here is an animal that is

(a)     Beautiful

(b)     Talking to her

(c)     Making sense

c)       Slowly, carefully deceives (beguiles) Eve (see 1Tim 2:13,14; 2Cor 11:3). Did you know you cannot be tricked with the truth!? Someone has to tell a lie that SEEMS true, and then get you to believe that lie enough to believe it over God’s truth.

1)       Satan questions God’s word – the first sin

(a)     First word – Yeah, or Yes!

(b)     “Hath God said?” Did God really say such things

(c)     Not doubting it, just questioning – just getting the ball rolling

2)       Gets Eve into exaggerating God’s word

(a)     Thinking it is worse that it really is

(i)       The idea of discontent is presented by Satan

(ii)     Makes the tree itself to be wicked – yet it is only the disobedience that is wicked

(b)     Satan gets her to question God’s wisdom, instead of the wisdom of talking to an unknown animal in the garden – don’t talk to strangers!

(c)     The first step to sin is doubting God – the truthfulness of God’s word, the value of God’s will, and the wisdom of God’s way

3)       Eve doesn’t yet know the meaning of the word ‘die’ so her  quote is empty

(a)     God says, “Ye shall surely die”

(b)     Eve says, “Lest ye die”

(c)     Satan says, “Ye shall not surely die”

d)      So, Satan hones in on the ‘die’ part

1)       Capitalises on her misunderstanding

2)       Makes her think that God would never do such a thing

(a)     Send anyone to hell

(b)     Or punish good people

e)       And then lures her to seek a false hope – to become as gods

1)       Eve was convinced she wasn’t what she could be – in a wrong way

2)       Eve believed now more than ever that God was holding out on her

3)       She has been defiled with a complaining spirit

f)        All of Satan’s efforts up to this point were to get her mind, will, and heart in motion against God, and FOR her own wants as we shall see.

3.        The Trap (Cf 1John 2:15,16)

a)       Lust of the flesh                “…good for food” (healthy, not bad for her)               

b)      Lust of the eyes                “…pleasant to the eyes”

c)       Pride of life                “…to make one wise”                “ye shall be as gods”

d)      Eve didn’t debate very long

1)       Neither did Lot (Gen 13:10)

2)       Neither did Achan

3)       Nor did David (2Sam 11:2)

4)       Just as most modern civilised people do not debate when they are constantly bombarded with coveteous advertising and programming 24 hours a day!

e)       In contrast, Jesus never debated at all

1)       Notice the stages of sin (James 1:14,15)

(a)     Presentation – sin just presents itself – usually according to your lusts – it is not sin – Jesus was presented with temptation

(b)     Illumination – the mind identifies the temptation, and the consequences – God’s word illuminates sin

(c)     Deliberation – debate (Pr 23:7; Mt 15:18-20)

(d)     Decision

(e)     Action – this is where most of us think we are sinning

(f)      Judgment – the wages of sin is death

2)       Jesus never went into the debate part of sin – because THAT is where sin starts, and gets its grip on you

f)        To defeat sin, a Christian must:

1)       Walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16)

(a)     Purposely do what is right, and what the Holy Spirit wants you to be doing – yield yourself to righteousness (Rom 6:11-18)

(b)     If you are not doing right, you are by default doing wrong!

2)       Stop any debate, and let the Scripture decide your course – a great way to react is to have an appropriate “Thus saith the Lord,” of “It is written!”

3)       If you find yourself deciding to do wrong, before you go ahead and DO wrong, REPENT of just the decision itself, instead of waiting until after you have yielded to sin to repent!

4)       See sin as always potentially deadly, and potentially derailing of any ministry you might could have had!

4.        This is the foundation of The Doctrine Of Peccability

B.       The Sad Tragedy (Gen 3:6-7) It caused the following sequence of events to rapidly occur:

1.        She asked that her husband deliberately disobey God’s command – for HER

2.        Adam deliberately disobeys God (1Tim 2:14)

3.        Death takes over, and reigns until Jesus comes and dies on the cross (Rom 2:17). There are three stages to death

a)       Both die spiritually, on the spot

b)      Both begin to die physically

c)       If they don’t trust a sinless sacrifice in their place, their soul will die for all eternity in the lake of fire

4.        All the seed of Adam (not of Eve) were now cursed with a sinful nature

5.        The eyes of both of them WERE opened

a)       Open to what sin was

b)      Open to what sin DID to people

c)       Open to their own nakedness – saw it as sinful – their minds were now warped, and confused, and everything that had been pure and good was now impure (Tit 1:15)

6.        They decide to cover their sin (Prov 28:13)

a)       They used FIG leaves

b)      They only made APRONS – covered just a little of their skin

c)       The less and less a person fears God’s righteousness and holiness, the less and less they wear!

1)       Adam and Eve ONLY used leaves – not matted straw

2)       They only created aprons – not COATS as God ultimately does

7.        The three kinds of trees listed in Scripture

a)       Olive – Gethsemane – the Tree of Life

b)      Fig – cursed by Jesus – a type of self-righteousness (Jer 24)

c)       Vine (grape) – forbidden fruit in Numbers 6, is a type of blood, which is forbidden throughout the Bible (Lev 17:11)

C.       Sin’s Affect (Gen 3:8-13)

1.        They are affected

a)       They run from the voice of God – instead of seeking the closeness that had always been there before – they now only fear the Lord

1)       Wrong kind of fear – they feared GOD – thought God would do awful things to them for sinning

2)       Instead they should have known that God would always do RIGHT – God is JUST in what He does

3)       The right kind of fear of the Lord, fears what God should do, and learns that God can instead save us from what He should do – all by the blood of the Lamb

b)      They hide in the very trees that were created for their enjoyment and even eternal life

2.        God is affected – if you don’t think our sins don’t affect God, you need to study your Bible (Gen 6:5,6; Isa 63:10; Eph 4:30; Heb 3:10)

a)       He has to come looking for them – and He has been doing this ever since

b)      He has to deal with their sin – it grieves anybody to have to deal with people’s sins and problems

c)       Why is God asking all the questions at first?

1)       List of God’s questions:

(a)     Where art thou? (3:9)

(b)     Who told thee that thou wast naked? (3:11)

(c)     Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? (3:11)

(d)     The LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? (3:13)

2)       It was not because God was ignorant

3)       It was because Adam and Eve were ignorant of just what they had actually done, and gotten themselves into

4)       God wanted to help Adam and Eve SEE what had actually happened

5)       THIS is the KEY to soul-winning! To OPEN people’s eyes (Acts 26:18), you have to get them to see just what sin has done to them, and how it has affected their relationship with God!

3.        Man’s relationship with God is affected – can’t be the same – God can’t just “over-look” our sins, no matter how few. Propitiation (atonement) must be made for even the single sin a person commits.

a)       From that moment on, God has to deal with Adam, Eve, and all of creation differently

b)      Notice the curses on the woman:

1)       Eve’s emotions will be changed – much more sorrow

2)       Eve’s conception will be multiplied – it will be much easier to conceive than at the beginning (remember, two people living in a perfect garden, NAKED, and yet Eve has not gotten pregnant yet!)

3)       Eve, and her seed will always be under threat by Satan

(a)     Satan will attempt to kill women in childbirth

(b)     Satan will attempt to kill children in childbirth

4)       Eve will have children in sorrow, instead of in joy – in other words, children generally will only produce sorrow to their mothers

5)       Eve will from now on look to her husband for leadership, and to carry the burdens of life, and yet will never be fully satisfied

6)       Eve will be under her husband’s rule – he will be in charge, and he will be held responsible

c)       Notice the curses on the man

1)       The very ground from which you came is cursed

2)       Thorns, and thistles shall constantly compete for the land instead of just your crops

3)       You will have to work hard to stay ahead of God’s curse

d)      There is a curse upon all the descendants of Adam and Eve (Rom 5:12-14)

1)       The curse of a short life – not eternal in the present body

2)       The curse of death – at any moment (John 7:1-6)

3)       The curse of knowing no joy or happiness outside of having a spiritual relationship with God

4.        Man’s relationship with others is affected

a)       Adam and Eve each have to take up their new roles, and will be defeated unless they stay in those roles

b)      Adam will have to look out for others – can’t just think of himself and ignore his responsibilities like he did here

5.        Man’s relationship with the devil is affected

a)       Satan has taken over – has become the ‘god of this world’ (2Cor 4:3,4)

b)      Adam and Eve forfeited their place of dominion to Satan, and enabled him to become the ‘god’ of this world

6.        The serpent itself is cursed (3:14,15)

a)       Because it just was used of the devil – whatever the devil touches is cursed!

b)      It evidently used to walk on legs like a dinosaur lizard

c)       Now it is cursed to crawl on its belly and eat dust!

d)      This is a picture of what happens to you after the devil uses YOU for his plans – he leaves you worse off – never better!

7.        Time is affected - From this moment on, until the new heaven and earth (Rev 21), time has been detoured, and must go through 7,000 years of sorrow and pain, after which, God will restore time back on track!

8.        The whole universe is affected (Rom 8:22) – it’s no better anywhere in this universe. All the laws of physics show only de-evolution! It will stay this way until the new heaven and earth are created.

D.      Salvation Provided (Gen 3:14-21) – the best part

1.        Physical salvation provided by two things:

a)       Right eating – the herbs will keep you healthy (3:18)

b)      Hard work – sweaty work, not stressful work!

c)       Death – death is actually a blessing

1)       Allows for the end of suffering

2)       Allows for God to resurrect us with new bodies that are free from the sinful nature

3)       Death is therefore as much a part of life now as birth is. It should only be feared if a person is not saved from lies beyond the grave!

2.        Emotional salvation is provided by submission, and accepting responsibility

a)       Submission to authority

1)       For the Man – to God and His word instead of to his wife, and kids, and boss, and everyone else screaming for attention!

2)       For the Woman – to her husband, or father if not married

3)       For children – to their parents until they are gone out of the house and on their own

b)      Submission to limitations

1)       You two are NOT gods, but DUST – remember that

2)       Rely on GOD for what you cannot do, for rest, and for the rest of your lives

3.        Spiritual salvation is provided through the coming of the Promised Seed, the Messiah (3:15)

a)       We are at war (enmity) – especially women and the devil

b)      There will be a battle fought between the seed of the devil (the anti-christ), and the seed of the woman (Jesus, the Christ)

c)       Notice what God says here:

1)       Redemption would not come through Adam, but through a woman (Isa 7:14; Gal 4:4)

2)       Someone had to come just from the woman’s side – so that the sin-nature of Adam would pass on to Him

3)       The redeemer will be a Man “…his heel” not a woman (i.e., Mary, or any of the female deities)

4)       The anti-christ will only hurt the Redeemer’s heel – pierce His least feeling part of his body

5)       The Redeemer will crush the anti-christ’s head

4.        Adam believes God enough to do the following things (3:20,21):

a)       To look forward to children, and life – names his wife Eve – means “ALIVE” or “living” or “Life giver” instead of DEATH, or Trouble-maker, etc!

b)      To accept the skin of animals that died in their place

1)       Blood sacrifice begins here

2)       The skins COVERED Adam and Eve’s nakedness

3)       From this moment on, God says NAKEDNESS is sinful, and expects believers to COVER themselves, instead of following the world’s pressurized fashions!

E.       Separation Established (Gen 3:22-24)

1.        Acts of the separation

a)       Kicks both of them OUT of the garden

b)      Forces them to have to start ploughing, and planting, and working at growing their food – these people are smart enough to figure it out on their own

c)       Keeps them out by placing a Cherub with a flaming sword at the entrance of the garden – this angel will stand here, and be clearly visible by all until the flood!

d)      Expects them to stay close to Him, and AWAY from sin and Satan (James 4:7)

2.        Reason for the separation

a)       Adam and Eve could potentially eat of the Tree of Life and live forever in bodies that are prone to sin, and be forever that way!

b)      Therefore, God allows man to live so that we choose Him (Dt 30:19)

c)       God allows man to die so that we can once again be with Him (Ps 116:15;  2Cor 5:8)

III.     A Review of the Conclusions

A.      How many sins were committed in the Garden? List them:

1.        The Devil QUESTIONING God’s word – its meaning when you KNOW what it means

2.        Eve CHANGING God’s word – adding to it, corrupting it (2Cor 2:17)

3.        Satan REJECTING God’s word – “ye shall not surely die”

4.        Satan presenting a DIFFERENT approach to life – without God (Gal 1:6-9)

5.        Eve debating about the fruit’s benefits to her (Jam 1:14,15; 1Jn n 2:15,16)

6.        Eve handing the fruit to her husband and causing him to choose between her and God

7.        Adam choosing Eve over obedience to God

B.       How Jesus fixes these deep scars:

1.        Never questioned His Father – He did always His Father’s will, and kept His words

2.        Never CHANGED God’s word – what God said, stood

3.        Fulfilled God’s word (Mt 5:17)

4.        Jesus presented the ONLY way of life, and that ONLY with God at the head of it

5.        Jesus faced temptation, but never debated about whether to give in to it

6.        Jesus called for people to come out of darkness, and follow Him – we must choose again, but this time between family and this life and God (Luke 12:46)!

7.        Jesus chose to give up His own life FOR His bride, but this time, in total obedience to God – it was God’s plan of redemption!

C.       Some Types and Anti-Types