It doesn't sound odd to me. Getting older can be very humbling.
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2025 Bible Study Group
- Thread starter Bizet
- Start date
Genesis 3 is the greatest, most truthful story that sums up human nature, rivaled only perhaps by Romans 1. Every time we sin, the story of Genesis 3 gets played out again and again.
The lie that the Devil tempts Eve with is that she can be like God. It is the same lie that the Devil himself fell for as described in Isaiah 14. It is the same lie that Romans 1:25 talks about when it says that men exchanged the truth for a lie and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. It is the same lie that the whole world has fallen for in Revelation 12:9. Satan is both Deceived and Deceiver. Deceived in that he has fallen for his own lie. Deceiver in that he propagates his lie to Man. The cure for the lie is the truth, and the truth is that God is God and we are not.
By believing the lie and propagating it to Adam, Eve goes from being the Tempted to the Temptress. Thus begins the cycle of sin and abuse that Man has proven himself unable to escape from. The irony of the Fall is that Man was already created in the likeness of God, but rather than obeying God in thankfulness he still wanted more. He becomes like Satan, who instead of maintaining his original station, which was incredibly privileged, wanted even more.
Why did Eve believe the lie? Because she did not have faith in the Word of God but rather in herself. If you compare what Eve said in Genesis 3 to God's prohibition in Genesis 2, you will find that she adds to the Word and detracts from it. The only reason anyone would ever do that is because they do not believe the Word is sufficient as it is, and so they must necessarily detract and add to it, and in doing so, they bring themselves to their own destruction. Instead of hearing by faith, she trusts in her own eyes.
When Adam and Eve had eaten, their eyes were "opened." That is to say they became aware of their own guiltiness and so they covered themselves with fig leaves, an insufficient covering, in shame. Then when they heard the Lord walking in the Garden, they hid themselves. Guiltiness leads to fear and people who have guilty consciences are the most fearful of all. We cannot cover for our own sin.
God's fiery gaze is able to see through our fig leaves, our coverings, our excuses, our circumstances, our attempts at self-righteousness and self-justification and He sees us for what we really are, guilty, afraid, shameful, naked.
When God held Adam to account, Adam imputed the blame to Eve. The first Adam, who was himself guilty, puts the blame on his bride. But the last Adam, who was Himself innocent, takes the blame for His bride, the Church.
The lie that the Devil tempts Eve with is that she can be like God. It is the same lie that the Devil himself fell for as described in Isaiah 14. It is the same lie that Romans 1:25 talks about when it says that men exchanged the truth for a lie and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator. It is the same lie that the whole world has fallen for in Revelation 12:9. Satan is both Deceived and Deceiver. Deceived in that he has fallen for his own lie. Deceiver in that he propagates his lie to Man. The cure for the lie is the truth, and the truth is that God is God and we are not.
By believing the lie and propagating it to Adam, Eve goes from being the Tempted to the Temptress. Thus begins the cycle of sin and abuse that Man has proven himself unable to escape from. The irony of the Fall is that Man was already created in the likeness of God, but rather than obeying God in thankfulness he still wanted more. He becomes like Satan, who instead of maintaining his original station, which was incredibly privileged, wanted even more.
Why did Eve believe the lie? Because she did not have faith in the Word of God but rather in herself. If you compare what Eve said in Genesis 3 to God's prohibition in Genesis 2, you will find that she adds to the Word and detracts from it. The only reason anyone would ever do that is because they do not believe the Word is sufficient as it is, and so they must necessarily detract and add to it, and in doing so, they bring themselves to their own destruction. Instead of hearing by faith, she trusts in her own eyes.
When Adam and Eve had eaten, their eyes were "opened." That is to say they became aware of their own guiltiness and so they covered themselves with fig leaves, an insufficient covering, in shame. Then when they heard the Lord walking in the Garden, they hid themselves. Guiltiness leads to fear and people who have guilty consciences are the most fearful of all. We cannot cover for our own sin.
God's fiery gaze is able to see through our fig leaves, our coverings, our excuses, our circumstances, our attempts at self-righteousness and self-justification and He sees us for what we really are, guilty, afraid, shameful, naked.
When God held Adam to account, Adam imputed the blame to Eve. The first Adam, who was himself guilty, puts the blame on his bride. But the last Adam, who was Himself innocent, takes the blame for His bride, the Church.
Off-topic, but this makes me think we should consider reading Romans next after Genesis. It would give us the chance to dive into two of the most central and significant books in the Bible.
Also, I really enjoy your commentary. Thanks for sharing your insights!
It's worth considering. I definitely think we should do a New Testament book next. Romans would be a good follow up because within Romans, Paul is arguing that the Christian religion is actually the way back to the beginning. But then the Gospels are also good choices, since they are the New Beginning. Let's cross that bridge when we come to it.
Genesis 3 obviously has a lot of things to think about it in regards to the Garden of Eden.
One interesting thing I thought reading this was that the devil does not exactly lie to Eve. She does not die and she does learn about good and evil.
Would Adam and Eve be better off having not eaten at all from the tree? Or would they have remained in a simple naive frame of mind.
Also God must have known they would be susceptible to this sin of eating from the tree with the devil considering their limitations. Has God created a game they cannot win? It seems at times slightly cruel.
Genesis 3:15 is sometime said to be an early Jesus prophecy. I always felt this was a bit of a stretch but this passage:
:
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.
One interesting thing I thought reading this was that the devil does not exactly lie to Eve. She does not die and she does learn about good and evil.
Would Adam and Eve be better off having not eaten at all from the tree? Or would they have remained in a simple naive frame of mind.
Also God must have known they would be susceptible to this sin of eating from the tree with the devil considering their limitations. Has God created a game they cannot win? It seems at times slightly cruel.
Genesis 3:15 is sometime said to be an early Jesus prophecy. I always felt this was a bit of a stretch but this passage:
:
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.
This line fills me with awe and wonder, especially after understanding its profound significance: it directly prophesies the virgin birth. Why else would God refer to 'her seed,' when it is traditionally the male who carries the seed in child making?
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The curses of God against Adam, Eve, and Satan are well deserved. God is never, ever wrong in carrying out the penalty for breaking His Law. The wrath of God is good, not bad. It is good that God is righteous against sinners. But we have a hard time seeing it as good, since being sinners ourselves, we are either delusional enough to believe that we are righteous and God is evil, or we know that we are guilty and God would be righteous to enact His judgement against us. Hopefully, everyone here fits in the latter category and not the former.
The blessings that God had given them, He now turns into curses. Adam was given dominion over the Earth and was charged to cultivate it. Now his work has become difficult and futile. Eve was given the ability to produce offspring, so that they could be fruitful and multiply. She now bears excruciating pain in childbirth, she will also covet her husband's authority over her. Satan, who was once blessed amongst the angels, is now more cursed than even the lowest of animals. If Satan and his demons, in all of their power and craftiness, cannot escape the wrath of God, then what chance do we have?
God said that Adam and Eve would die the day they ate the fruit. The Devil said they would not die. Judging by your eyes, who was lying? God or the Devil? This is why we should not trust our eyes. Even though Adam and Eve were still alive physically, they did die spiritually that very day. The Word of God cannot be broken.
But at the end of these curses, God gives Man hope. He promises to put enmity between the woman and the serpent, and that she would bear a seed who will crush the head of the serpent, though the serpent will strike His heel. This is called by many the protoevangelium, the prototypical Gospel. I would call it the first promise of the New Covenant, since the Adamic Covenant had been transgressed. It is by the very design of God that the woman's seed and the serpent's seed are utterly opposed to each other, He is the one who puts the enmity between them.
God then makes garments of skins for Adam and Eve to cover them, since their fig leaf coverings can't do the job. God is the one who atones. He is the one who makes sacrifice. Only His sacrifice can sufficiently cover for them, and us.
And after doing this work of justification on their behalf, He exiles them from the Garden in an act of justice. God is both Just and the Justifier. Both graceful and law keeping. Man is now exiled from the Garden and is not worthy to eat from the Tree of Life.
The blessings that God had given them, He now turns into curses. Adam was given dominion over the Earth and was charged to cultivate it. Now his work has become difficult and futile. Eve was given the ability to produce offspring, so that they could be fruitful and multiply. She now bears excruciating pain in childbirth, she will also covet her husband's authority over her. Satan, who was once blessed amongst the angels, is now more cursed than even the lowest of animals. If Satan and his demons, in all of their power and craftiness, cannot escape the wrath of God, then what chance do we have?
God said that Adam and Eve would die the day they ate the fruit. The Devil said they would not die. Judging by your eyes, who was lying? God or the Devil? This is why we should not trust our eyes. Even though Adam and Eve were still alive physically, they did die spiritually that very day. The Word of God cannot be broken.
But at the end of these curses, God gives Man hope. He promises to put enmity between the woman and the serpent, and that she would bear a seed who will crush the head of the serpent, though the serpent will strike His heel. This is called by many the protoevangelium, the prototypical Gospel. I would call it the first promise of the New Covenant, since the Adamic Covenant had been transgressed. It is by the very design of God that the woman's seed and the serpent's seed are utterly opposed to each other, He is the one who puts the enmity between them.
God then makes garments of skins for Adam and Eve to cover them, since their fig leaf coverings can't do the job. God is the one who atones. He is the one who makes sacrifice. Only His sacrifice can sufficiently cover for them, and us.
And after doing this work of justification on their behalf, He exiles them from the Garden in an act of justice. God is both Just and the Justifier. Both graceful and law keeping. Man is now exiled from the Garden and is not worthy to eat from the Tree of Life.
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Also, Adam and Eve did die, though not immediately. The serpent is a liar.
Genesis 3 teaches us how Satan tempts men and women. Before the serpent, Adam and Eve saw the fruit merely as a fruit, and something they were forbidden to eat. But after the serpent spoke to Eve she saw things in the fruit that weren't there, that it was especially beautiful to look upon and good to make one wise.
This is how the devil works, especially today through all the messages we get living in modern western society.
Satan tries to make people feel empty and incomplete so that they'll be willing to disobey God for things that aren't real.
We see the cruelty of Satan. Men give up paradise for a fruit. Esau trades his birthright for lentils. Judas betrays the Lord Jesus Christ for 10 pieces of silver.
Not only that but but he discredits God's kindness, and he makes men disregard God's wrath.
This is how the devil works, especially today through all the messages we get living in modern western society.
Satan tries to make people feel empty and incomplete so that they'll be willing to disobey God for things that aren't real.
We see the cruelty of Satan. Men give up paradise for a fruit. Esau trades his birthright for lentils. Judas betrays the Lord Jesus Christ for 10 pieces of silver.
Not only that but but he discredits God's kindness, and he makes men disregard God's wrath.
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True. I guess the question is can you truly be good without knowledge of evil? Is the state of Adam and Eve preferred? Would we want to live in a state of innocence of ignorance? Is this not a permanent childhood?
Is it not perhaps nobler to know of evil and face it and overcome it rather than be ignorant and therefore unable to even know (as is the case with Eve) how to confront it.
I used to want to be wise in doing good and evil because I thought it would be good to know how to be both. But I came to realize that you can't have both and the knowledge of evil was too much for my conscience to bear. Paul says towards the end of Romans: I want you to be wise in good and innocent in what is evil and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. There is a sense of a transition from childhood to adulthood in the Garden of Eden story, as the story is about loss of innocence.
What I do know is that what we will have in Christ will not only be as good as what Adam and Eve had, but even better. It will be what Adam and Eve were working to achieve. We will be in a greater state than where they were even in their original innocence.
Well indeed the central question is whether they were good at all since they were so easily tempted by the snake? Especially Eve. And God made them that way and surely knew their limitations.
Did God want this to end? Did he revise his plan?
It seems to me that to know evil and combat it is more noble than being ignorant it exists.
Adam and Eve were created good, but clearly were not created to be impeccable or infallible. Why? Because God has a grander purpose. Jesus Christ is not Plan B to Adam's Plan A, He was Plan A all along.
Sure, I'm not saying to stick your head in the sand. But I am saying that the weapons of our spiritual warfare are not the weapons of the world. Knowing how to use a gun will not help us tear down demonic strongholds.
It's kinda hard to get your head around if God expects us to sin or not though. If he creates conditions that are very likely for us to sin, seems a bit unfair to react so harshly when it happens. Seems he revised his stance on this later on with Jesus' forgiveness and later atonements possible through church going.
I think the hardest part of the Old Testament for a lot of people is God seems pretty cruel and unforgiving if people don't do what he says and in this case - putting some incredibly innocent naive humans in a garden with a satan - it's neglectful. Ok, he did it for a reason and wanted us to understand sin? If so, no need to freak out when it happens.
If God wanted his garden to be innocent, he wouldn't have put the snake there. It even said God 'made' the snake. In some ways, it kinda reminds me of the Saw movies (apologies for the low brow reference) with God a kind of Jigsaw figure in the Garden of Eden creating a trap.
Or perhaps God was expecting Eve to ignore the serpent? In any case, intense moral experiment.
Although this is getting slightly off-topic, the story of Adam and Eve surrendering paradise for an apple (a piece of food) is quite symbolic.
Many westerners accept and justify mass immigration from third-world countries, because "immigrants make better food".
Many westerners accept and justify mass immigration from third-world countries, because "immigrants make better food".
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I never considered this. It's an interesting thought.
Great summary once again mate.
Genesis 4.
There is some dispute over how to translate verse 1. Most Bible translations, including mine, say something to the effect of "I have gotten a man from the Lord." But some people, including Martin Luther, have argued it should be translated more literally: "I have gotten a man, namely the Lord." The latter translation comes with very interesting Christological implications and is not without historical precedent as the Targums translate it as: "I have gotten a man, the Angel of the Lord." I can't say for certain either way but it seems very possible that Eve would've considered her firstborn son to be the promised seed of Genesis 3.
Regardless, Cain proved to be no Messiah. Both he and Abel make an offering to God. Abel's was the firstborn of his own flock, it was a sacrificial offering. Cain's was fruit, the work of his hands as a gardener. Hebrews says that by faith Abel made a better offering than Cain, and so Yahweh had no regard for Cain's offering but He accepted Abel's. Thus we see a division between acceptable worship and unacceptable worship. Not all worship is acceptable, not even if it's offered to Yahweh.
Cain killed his own brother. It speaks to man's inhumanity to man, a result of the Fall, but more deeply, it is the first casualty in the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The people of God have always been persecuted by the people of Satan.
Abel is the first martyr. His blood cried out from the very ground. What did it cry for? Revelation 6:10: “How long, O Master, holy and true? Will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
The blood of Abel speaks a word of justice. But even still: the blood of Christ speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, a word of forgiveness.
Cain and Abel were born outside of Eden, to Adam, under his transgressed covenant, and thus liable to it's curses. The same is true for all of us. This is the doctrine of Original Sin or Total Depravity. Just as Adam sinned, we sin. We our like our father.
Under God's exile, Cain becomes a wanderer. Down his familial line, his descendants would become mighty men and murderers as well.
God gave Seth to Adam and Eve, and it was through Seth that the promised seed would come to be born. After Seth began having his own children, men began to call upon the name of Yahweh.
There is some dispute over how to translate verse 1. Most Bible translations, including mine, say something to the effect of "I have gotten a man from the Lord." But some people, including Martin Luther, have argued it should be translated more literally: "I have gotten a man, namely the Lord." The latter translation comes with very interesting Christological implications and is not without historical precedent as the Targums translate it as: "I have gotten a man, the Angel of the Lord." I can't say for certain either way but it seems very possible that Eve would've considered her firstborn son to be the promised seed of Genesis 3.
Regardless, Cain proved to be no Messiah. Both he and Abel make an offering to God. Abel's was the firstborn of his own flock, it was a sacrificial offering. Cain's was fruit, the work of his hands as a gardener. Hebrews says that by faith Abel made a better offering than Cain, and so Yahweh had no regard for Cain's offering but He accepted Abel's. Thus we see a division between acceptable worship and unacceptable worship. Not all worship is acceptable, not even if it's offered to Yahweh.
Cain killed his own brother. It speaks to man's inhumanity to man, a result of the Fall, but more deeply, it is the first casualty in the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The people of God have always been persecuted by the people of Satan.
Abel is the first martyr. His blood cried out from the very ground. What did it cry for? Revelation 6:10: “How long, O Master, holy and true? Will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
The blood of Abel speaks a word of justice. But even still: the blood of Christ speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, a word of forgiveness.
Cain and Abel were born outside of Eden, to Adam, under his transgressed covenant, and thus liable to it's curses. The same is true for all of us. This is the doctrine of Original Sin or Total Depravity. Just as Adam sinned, we sin. We our like our father.
Under God's exile, Cain becomes a wanderer. Down his familial line, his descendants would become mighty men and murderers as well.
God gave Seth to Adam and Eve, and it was through Seth that the promised seed would come to be born. After Seth began having his own children, men began to call upon the name of Yahweh.
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