Genesis 3 - In a Mess

The narrative of Genesis tells us of the origin of evil in the world and its consequences in the life of man. It reminds us that things did not remain in the good condition in which God had made them at the beginning - mankind fell and sinned against God, bringing ruin and misery into the life of the race. From the blessings of Paradise, Adam and Eve fell into a pit of sin, and they brought the whole of the human race with them into that condition.

The apostle James tells us in James 1:15 that "when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death". This pedigree gives us an understanding of what happened in Genesis 3.

Desire

God placed man in the Garden of Eden, and, when he did so, he made provision for all of man's needs - his aesthetic, emotional, religious, physical, sexual, intellectual needs were all satisfied out of the bounty of God's provision. And God gave man a promise, that if he remained faithful and true to Him, he would continue to enjoy the blessings of God's world, God's fellowship and God's presence with him in the garden.

But Genesis 3:1 tells us that the "serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field". In the form of the snake, the devil came to Adam and Eve, tempting them to break the bounds of God''s law, and suggesting that they could improve on Paradise if they did.

That is always the devil's way. The Bible, in other places, tells us that the devil fell from Heaven - that he was once an angel, and that he rebelled against God. The Bible is clear in its assertion of a personal, powerful devil, who stands opposed to God and all that God is. He tempted the last Adam, Jesus Christ, as he tempted the first. And unlike the last, the first Adam yielded.

How did he do so? We are told in Genesis 3:6 that Eve looked at the tree which God had proscribed, and she saw that it was good ... it was pleasant ... it was desirable. Satan had succeeded in painting sin in glowing colours. Goodness could be improved! Paradise could be made better! God didn't intend to be a spoilsport!

How we need to see sin as it truly is! To realise that however sweet its waters may appear, it can only drive a wedge between us and God. Little wonder Paul laboured to keep his desires in check, to bring every thought in his mind captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corithians 10:5).

Have you ever wondered why the Bible is so emphatic on the discipline of our minds? We are to gird up the loins of our mind (1 Peter 1:13), to be renewed in our minds (Romans 12:2), to have the mind that was in Christ (Philippians 2:5) and with the mind to serve the law of the Lord (Romans 7:25). The reason is that the devil's first attack is always in our minds - to make us desire what is forbidden, and want what will only be to our hurt.

Sin

James says - when desire conceives, it brings about sin. That's what happened in Genesis 3. They saw, they desired, and they took the forbidden fruit and ate. God's law lay shattered at their feet. Instead of obedience, they rebelled against God.

Sin is the abominable thing God hates, but it is also the characteristic of man in this evil world. For the Bible makes it clear that by one man's disobedience, mankind was plunged into sin (Romans 5:12). Adam's sin, to use the theological jargon, was imputed to the whole race, whose representative before God he was. That means that what he did, all of us would have done. And what he did has consequences for all mankind after him.

We need to recover in our lives, consciences and churches, the reality of sin, in the darkness of its nature and the potency of its effects. Sin is what Jesus came to deal with and to reckon with. He was made sin for us, that we might be saved.

Death

And sin, James says, is the parent of death. Sin can never give life. It can only issue in death. In the Bible, the essence of death is separation - and death separates. It separates between man and God. There was a spiritual alienation between man and his creator, where before there had been harmony, friendship and shalom. Now Adam's heart is compromised; his mind is darkened; his will is taken away from the one great object of obedience. Now he has asserted his independence of God, and that separation is spiritual death for his soul.

That is why we so desperately need the grace that brings salvation - the grace that can raise to life and that can deal with our lost and pitiful condition. Without it, we are nothing, but in consequence of it there can be restoration and peace, hope and fulfillment.

But death separates soul and body. The book of Genesis begins with the perfection of creation, but quickly moves to the despair of dying. Now there will be mourning, sorrow and loneliness - dust you are, and to dust you shall return (3:19).

Death separates for all eternity. Hell is eternal death - not annihilation, not the end, not a stamping out of existence, but an incessant, eternal separation from God.

How we need the Gospel now, in a time of grace, in a day of salvation. May God grant us to look to Jesus, our great Adam, our covenant representative before God, who restores what we have lost in the Fall.