Scriptural Background
God created a perfect universe—one that he himself called very good (Genesis 1:31). So when and how did sin enter the world? Because the creation was perfect, we know there was no sin at that time. We can thus conclude that Satan sinned against God and was cast out of heaven sometime after the seventh day of creation and before he tempted Eve. Satan’s temptation of Eve and the disobedience of the first couple marked the point that changed God’s perfect creation to a world filled with death, disease, and decay—all a result of sin.
In the account of the temptation and fall into sin from Genesis 3, Satan challenged the authority of God and deceived Eve into eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:4–5). Adam, who was with her, also ate of the fruit (Genesis 3:6). This first sin was not just the eating of some fruit; it was disobedience toward a holy God. God now had to punish the sin and disobedience of Adam, Eve, and Satan (Genesis 3:14 -19).
As they ate, their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked (Genesis 3:7). They felt shame for their nakedness and tried to fashion clothing from leaves to cover their shame. These coverings were not adequate to conceal their sin from God. Nor were they able to hide from him when he came to the garden (Genesis 3:9). This is when they quickly and easily fell into the “blame game.” Eve quickly blamed the serpent (Genesis 3:13). Adam, in turn, blamed Eve then ultimately cast the responsibility of his sin onto God (Genesis 3:12).
God’s justice requires that he punish any disobedience of his commands, but his mercy allows many to avoid that punishment. The sin that plagues every human entered the world through Adam and was consequently passed to all of his descendants. The doctrine of original sin (demanding God’s justice) and redemption (displaying his mercy) is present throughout the Bible and is presented concisely in Romans 5:17–21. It seems unfair that all of us would pay the consequence of one man’s sin—but the Bible tells us that our hearts are deceitful and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9). If we honestly examine our hearts, we know this to be true. We would have sinned just as Adam and Eve did had we been faced with that same temptation. And that is why we praise God for his immeasurable grace through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:7). For it is only by his grace that we can be freed from the wages of our sin—death and eternal punishment (Romans 6:22–23).
There is hope in this account of the very first sin. Adam and Eve’s rebellion did not take God by surprise. God is omniscient—he knows all things. And he did not leave Adam and Eve in despair but offered them the promise of a Savior who would bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Some Bible translations use the word “Seed” or “offspring” to refer to the coming Savior, Jesus, who would bear the sins of the world on the cross. This preordained plan for redemption was in place before the foundation of the world and would perfectly exhibit God’s mercy to sinners who, through Jesus Christ, would believe in God (1 Peter 1:20–21).
Sin entered the world shortly after the creation of Adam and Eve. Although Scripture does not specifically tell us how long Adam and Eve lived in the perfect creation before sinning, we can determine that very little time passed before the fall. Scripture tells us that God commanded Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28), and, because of their perfect bodies, conception would have occurred quickly. We also know that Cain, their firstborn was not conceived until after they had sinned and were sent out from the garden (Genesis 4:1).
How sad that they would sin so soon and that they would disobey the God who had created them and everything good around them. God had given them freedom to enjoy every good gift (Genesis 1:28–29). However, God did prohibit them from eating the fruit of one tree—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eating from this tree would bring death (Genesis 2:16–17).
The very thing God told them they couldn’t have was what they wanted. Their sin led to the first death—the death of an animal that provided skins to cover their shame. This very first death was a foreshadowing of the sacrificial system revealed to Moses for the atonement of sin and further pointed to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for the complete forgiveness of sins. Scripture tells us that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” of sin (Hebrews 9:22). The first blood had been shed—it pointed toward the perfect, redeeming blood of the coming Savior. This glorious account of God’s intervention in covering the sins of Adam and Eve gives us solid scriptural grounds to refute evolutionary thinking. Since we understand from Scripture that there no animal death before sin entered the world, any
fossilized remains of dead animals cannot be dated before Adam and Eve. Evolutionary thinking cannot be partnered with a biblical worldview. Anyone who says the rock layers and fossils are billions of years old are accepting death, disease, and suffering before sin when, in fact, they are a consequence of the first sin in the garden (Romans 5:21; 1 Corinthians 15:21–22). Animals could not have been dying millions of years before sin entered the world since, according to God’s Word, they started dying after Adam’s sin about 6,000 years ago. When we maintain our biblical worldview by the plain reading of Scripture, we can confidently answer the questions the world presents.
Studying God’s Word
Introduction
We are going to move on to the second of the Seven C’s of History— Corruption. Over the past weeks we have been looking closely at the events and doctrines connected to God’s creation of the world. We have seen that God created everything in the universe in six days about 6,000 years ago. That included the special creation of man and woman in God’s image.
? What are some of the topics we’ve covered that have helped you
understand these various issues more fully?
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The Fall of Man into Sin
God created a perfect universe and placed Adam and Eve in a perfect garden where they enjoyed communion with God. These next several lessons will look at how that perfection was marred and how the world we live in today is a corrupt version that will someday be restored. We can all look forward to that glorious day.
Genesis 3:1–7
? Who are the characters?
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? How is the serpent described in verse 1?
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? Whom did the serpent approach?
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? How does the serpent’s question in 3:1 compare to God’s command to
Adam in Genesis 2:16–17?
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? How did the woman’s response compare to God’s command?
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? What was the penalty for eating the fruit in 2:17?
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? What was the serpent’s reply to God’s warning?
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? What did the woman notice about the fruit?
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? How did the woman respond—by listening to God or to the serpent?
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? Where was Adam?
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? What was the result of eating the fruit?
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? How did their reaction to their nakedness change from how it is
described in 2:25?
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? How did Adam and Eve respond to their realization that they were naked?
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Revelation 12:9
? Many people mock the biblical account of the fall for including a talking
snake, but there is more to the story. What extra information about who
was behind the serpent’s words do we find in Revelation 12:9?
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Discover the Truth
This is where the corruption of God’s perfect creation begins. Satan had rebelled against God and had now led mankind into rebellion against God. Passages in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 talk about how Satan fell from his position as an angelic being. This must have occurred sometime after day seven of the creation week since God had proclaimed everything
he had created “very good” at the end of day six, and this would have included the angels since they are created beings.
So, Satan must have been cast out of heaven sometime after day seven and prior to his temptation of Eve. Although Scripture does not give a clear time frame, most scholars would suggest the fall was not far removed from the creation—just a few days or weeks.
Many religious and spiritual movements have repeated the same lie that Satan offered to Eve—you can be like God. But the Bible clearly teaches that God is infinite, and we have no hope to ever be like him—apart from the righteousness that we can claim as those redeemed with the blood of Christ. As we read the Old Testament, we cannot forget to look for
Christ in its pages. Jesus does not first appear in the pages of the New Testament in the opening chapters of the Gospels; he was present before creation, at creation, and throughout all of history.
God’s Curse and Mercy
Read the remainder of chapter 3, but we will come back and look at more of the details over the next few weeks
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Genesis 3:8–24
? How did Adam and Eve respond to hearing God walking in the garden?
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? What question did God ask of Adam?
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? Was God unaware of Adam’s location?
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? Why did God ask Adam where he was if he already knew?
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? What question did God ask in verse 11?
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? Did God know the answer to the question?
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? How did Adam respond to God’s question about his obedience?
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? How did Eve respond to God’s question to her?
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? In general, how did God act toward these three parties?
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? We said earlier that the serpent was acting as a mouthpiece for Satan.
Looking at verses 14 and 15, how is that distinction present in the curse?
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? As God pronounced the curse on the serpent, what does verse 15 say
about the future?
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? How should we understand the imagery of offspring/seed in this verse?
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? What will the Seed (offspring) of the woman do to the serpent?
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? What truth about humanity is clearly stated in verse 20?
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? After pronouncing the curses, God expelled the couple from the garden.
But before that, what else did he do for Adam and Eve before kicking
them out?
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? Was it necessary for God to punish the sin of Adam and Eve?
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? If God made tunics of skin, where did he get the skins?
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? How had Adam and Eve tried to cover up their shame of being naked?
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Hebrews 9:22
? What does Hebrews 9:22 add to our understanding of God’s killing of the
animals?
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? Why do we refer to this event as the fall?
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Discover the Truth
Adam had been told that he would die when he ate of the fruit of the tree— when he disobeyed God’s command. This included both physical death and spiritual death—spiritual separation from God. Adam died spiritually immediately when he sinned, and his fellowship with God was corrupted. But the promise of physical death was ultimately fulfilled more than 900 years later when Adam died and returned to the dust he was made from.
God displayed his mercy when he covered the sin of Adam with a sacrificial animal. God could have rightly given Adam the wages of his sin—death—immediately, but he allowed a substitute to stand in Adam’s place. Ultimately, the substitute would be the Seed of the woman who would take the penalty for Adam’s sin—Jesus.
It is remarkable that even this early on we see glimpses of God’s grace, and how his gospel, or good news, is woven together throughout all of Scripture. Even when people first rebelled against God, he provided for them. Throughout Scripture, there is a concept called atonement that is taught. In Scripture, atonement is the reconciliation of the relationship between people and God. God and his people are thought of as being at one with him (thinking of “at-onement” is a way some people remember the meaning of the word).
In the Old Testament, animals were used to represent atonement, as they were sacrificed in place of the people. All of this foreshadowed Christ’s ultimate, once-and-for-all atonement on the cross. He died for his people so that they do not experience any condemnation in Christ (Romans 8:1). Atonement is described by the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3:18 when he tells us that “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put
to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” It was God’s merciful provision of a substitute that offered Adam hope. This is the same hope that the Apostle Paul spoke of in Romans 5:19 when he said, “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
Connect to the Truth
? What are the four phrases that describe when God had planned to
redeem mankind?
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God knew before he created the world that Adam would rebel against him, but he created mankind anyway. Not only that, but the triune Godhead had a plan to redeem mankind. The Father would send the Son to bear his wrath against sin, and then he would credit Christ’s righteousness to those who repent and trust in him and send the Holy Spirit to dwell in them, sealing their redemption. The gospel was not “Plan B.”
What a gracious and merciful God to provide a way for those who have rebelled against him—that includes each of us as we have sinned in Adam and individually—to be restored to a right relationship with him! This should give us great hope in what God has done for us and give us a great reason to praise him for his kindness extended to us before we
were even born. (Consider reading Romans 5:6–11 to emphasize this point.)
Application
God created a perfect world where Adam and Eve enjoyed a perfect relationship with God. He provided everything they needed and had forbidden them from eating only of one tree. Eve was deceived when Satan, speaking through the serpent, questioned the words of God. Adam ate of the fruit after his wife and willfully rebelled against God. Rather than carrying out immediate justice for their rebellion, God was merciful and covered their sin and shame with a sacrificial animal. This foreshadowed the sacrifices that would cover the sins of people until the Lamb of God would come as the final sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. The scarlet thread of the coming Messiah who will eventually come to crush the head of the serpent is woven throughout the narratives of the Old Testament. The gospel message is not isolated to the New Testament—its foundation is in Genesis, and we see glimpses of it throughout the 4,000 years that passed until the Messiah was born in a humble state in Bethlehem. Born as the Seed of a woman, Jesus Christ crushed Satan on the cross and bore the wrath of God for those of Adam’s race. His resurrection demonstrates that he has conquered death, and his sending of the Holy Spirit empowers us to live a life of holiness in a corrupted world. One day, those who have trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins will live forever with him in the new heaven and the new earth where the curse has been removed and the perfection of the original creation is restored. This is the hope that every Christian has and the hope that we have the privilege of sharing with a world full of people that are still in rebellion against their Creator.
? How is the question that Satan asked Eve in Genesis 3:1 still found
in our world today?
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? Many people, even some who claim to be Christians, will make the claim
that God did not know Adam and Eve would sin when he created them.
How could you use the Bible to demonstrate the flaw in their thinking?
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? If you were discussing the gospel with someone and they said that God
was too harsh in cursing Adam and Eve for eating a piece of fruit, how
would you respond to help them understand the gravity of the situation?
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? Adam and Eve tried to cover up their sin by sewing leaves together.
This was an attempt at self-atonement—trying to cover up their own
sins. God stepped in to provide a proper atonement according to his
prescription and plan. In what ways do we try to cover our own sins
today, even though we know Christ has already paid for them?
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Group Prayer Time
• Praise God for providing a sacrifice to take away our sins.
• Ask God to embolden each person to share the gospel with others.
• Thank God for his mercy in pardoning us from our sin.
Addition Request:
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