Bible Basics 101 - The Fall and the Fracturing of the Foundational Relationships: Genesis 3 - Part 4

This is the fourth and long overdue post is a series called "Bible Basics 101". The goal of this series is to lay out the basic story that the Bible is telling us and how we as Christians living today should understand this story. What are we able to learn from it and how do we fit into its powerful message. It is also meant to form a strong footing that enables us to grasp the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament. I have found this to be very lacking in most practicing Christians today. With the result that if we do not know the history and roots of the plan that God has put into place through Jesus, also why he had to send his Son in to the world, then how can we truly know what his victory has brought about. Even more, what our own unique part is in this Christ centered plan. What actions is God calling each of us to do within his creation. In the third post of this series, "The Foundational Relationships of Creation", we looked at the three key relationships that God has given to Man and how these relationships function together. There we learned the answer to the often-asked question, “why did God make me?”. God has revealed everything to us, we just have to know where to find the answers.

We now move to Genesis Chapter 3 and the Fall of humanity. We quickly find that Sin enters God’s good world and fractures those relationships God has just put into place. Here we discover the root of so many problems people in our world experience daily. We also quickly realize the faithful God has a plan to fix this ordeal that Man has gotten himself in to.

Genesis 3:1-7 “Now the serpent was more subtle (crafty) than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.”

The first thing that always jumps out from this passage is the question, “where is Adam?”. It seems shocking that the one whom God has just made a priest and king in his creation would not be there at the center of this conversation. We do find out next that he is right there with Eve, but he is not doing his task of “keeping” the garden. He is not protecting his wife and God’s world as he was called to do. Then, we find out how the evil one works, from that time till now. He creates confusion in people’s minds. He sets up false dreams and goals to live by which takes them away from God’s plan, this in the very reason he is called the father of lies. Eve is there, seemingly alone, and the serpent asks her, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” Now she should be able to answer this question easily, but as we all know, when evil is at hand, nothing is easy. She tells him, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” Notice that she adds the word “touch”, God did not say this. He told them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, nothing about touching it. Now the wily one lays out the temptation, as he says, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” With this we see the first temptation in the Bible. What else do we find with these words from the evil one?

We find many of the themes here that God has to deal with throughout salvation history: death, the renewal of the mind, and the relationships of knowing both good and evil. The serpent gives Eve a half-truth as he so often does, telling her, “you will not die.” While technical true, what happens to Adam and Eve is much costlier than simply a “physical death” that happens on that very day. We will soon see that a “spiritual death” is far worst and its effects are indeed very, very, long term. The key temptation of the Evil One is to be “like God.” What does that mean? How are we to understand this? God has already made man in his “image and after his likeness” (Genesis 1:26), how then does this desire fit into the picture here?  I think the key for us to grasp at this point is that God had already given man everything that he needed to live and carry out his vocation in God’s new world. But this was meant to be a partnership, man was a coworker and image bearer on behalf of God. Communion then was at the heart of this new relationship, but Adam and Eve go around God’s plan and his desires, in order to try to obtain everything fully for themselves, not realizing that God had already done so, he had already given them the world. They wanted to be “like God”, without him being in the picture at all. “We will do it all for ourselves, thank you very much.” Sounds like a very familiar story that we find in our world today. People trying to make it own their own without God; over and over this path leads to despair and further darkness.

When Adam and Eve do eat from the forbidden tree, we are told that their “eyes are opened” and they “knew that they were naked”. The vital question is what does it mean here to “know”? We must understand that “knowing” involves relationship. Now that Adam and Eve “know” both good and evil, they are in relationship with them, knowing the fullness of both. Well the problem is with the evil. In some way “evil” has come into relationship with man and now he knows that he is naked. Now he knows that he is with sin and is ashamed by it. At the end of Genesis 2 we are told that, “the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.” (2:25) The “knowing” here then becomes the realization that they have listened not to God but the serpent instead. They are then ashamed by this and have “relationship” with Evil over the Good of God himself. With the result that “chaos” has returned to God’s creation. The chaos that had been dealt with in Genesis 1 is back and disrupting the relationships that God put into place when he gave the world its order and purpose. With the rest of Chapter 3 and the entire Bible for that matter, we will see the full effects of this “knowing”.   

Genesis 3:8-13 “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.”

What kind of relationship does God desire with his people? Here is the full display of that relationship; two friends walking in a garden in the cool of the day. Our God is very intimate, he is not far away, but one who is in close relationship with his people. Adam and Eve hear God walking and they hide themselves because of this new-found shame. They know that they have broken their relationship with him and have been unfaithful to him by giving worship to the serpent over him. Then God asks the most important question of the Bible, “where are you?” What is going on here? God is God, does he not know full well where Adam and Eve “are”? Some people say that God is just seeking a response from Adam. Like a father asking a child, “why did you do that?” Just to hear what is to be said in reply. Well, there is far more going on here than that. In some very true way God does not “know” where Adam and Eve are, why? Because they have died a “spiritual death” and gone somewhere that God himself cannot go. They have joined themselves, through disobedience and ungodliness, with death itself. So now, instead of being in communion and relationship with the living God, they are in communion and relationship with death. And God simply does not “know” where they are, they have left him alone and found another. The story of the entire Scriptures then becomes, how is God going to deal with the problem of death. How is he going to go where he cannot go? This certainty gives us a clue of where this story is headed down the road.

Then upon further investigation by God, Adam puts all the blame upon Eve. Even though he was the one changed to guard the Garden and to defend his wife. Adam also blames God for what has happened because he is the one that “gave” him Eve. As with many situations in life, Adam as humanities representative, places all the blame upon others and not upon himself. Sound familiar? Yes, I think so. Then God asks Eve another very important question, “what have you done?” Here we find another question that repeats itself in some form, over and over in the Bible. Very often when something bad goes wrong this question appears in the text. For example, God asks Cain this same question in the next Chapter of Genesis after he kills his own brother. The Bible has many links when we know what to look for. What then can Eve say in response, she tells the truth, the serpent tricked me, and I ate. Yes, the first woman tells God the first truth in the Bible, something for us to think about, just not in this post. But this should reveal to us the large and often overlooked role that “Woman” is going to play in God’s plan to restore the creation after the Fall. We are soon to hear more about this, but first God has to condemn the Serpent.

Serpent is Cursed – Genesis 3:14-15 “The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he (she) shall bruise (crush) your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Here we find the first curse in the Scriptures. For me the best way to understand the word “curse” is that it is the absence of blessings. This would of course mean blessings from God himself. Then this “curse” is signified here by the action of having to lay upon the ground and eat dust. What is most important for us though, is what God further tells the serpent. With this statement we have what is often called the “first gospel” or “first good news”. The “seed” of the woman is indeed going to be the one that puts to right what has happened here. This gives us great assurance, that from the beginning, God never leaves his people too steep in their own misery or wrongdoing, but he always has a way out if we just follow his direction and lead.

Relationship Between Man and Woman is Fractured – Genesis 3:16 “To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” – Greek OT “To the women he said, “I will multiply and increase your pain and moaning, in pain you will bring forth children, and towards your husband, your recourse will be, and he is your lord and master.”

Now we discover the full effect that Sin has on God’s good creation and his original plan for it. First we see the fracture of the relationship between Man and Woman. The divine command to be “fruitful and multiply” is made more difficult because of sin. Pain over blessings is now at the center of the union and the action to bring new life into the world. Also, the Man is now the “lord and master” over the woman, whereas before they were partners and helpmates in caring for God’s Garden. This should also alert us that part of salvation will be the restoration of a true partnership between Man and Woman. More about this later on.

Relationship Between Man and Creation is Fractured – Genesis 3:17-19 “And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Sin’s destruction is not yet complete. We learn that God’s command to Adam to “till” the ground, for him to be a good and wise steward over God’s world is made much more difficult. Now instead of simply enjoying the good fruits of God, he had to work hard and toil all the days of his life. Were as before there was abundance, there will now be thorns and thistles. This aspect of Sin’s effects will become much clearer as we discuss the “Land” in future posts. God also makes it clear to Adam that though he did not physically die that day, a certain death in coming down the road and it will happen outside of the Garden. Death itself has no place in God’s paradise.

Relationship Between Man and God is Fractured – Genesis 3:20-24 “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Now we must face the greatest tragedy of the Fall, man’s exile from his personal presence with God. The first action that God takes is to himself clothe Adam and Eve in animal skins. Why does he do this? To answer that question we must ask first, what are animal skins? What do they signify? Well, since they must be taken from “dead” animals, then the skins are a symbol of death. God is telling Adam and Eve, yes you are leaving my Garden alive, but you are truly walking in death. You now longer have my “life giving” Spirit flowing through your body. God then has to exile Adam and Eve from the tree of life, in order that they may not live forever. This demonstrates for us that death itself is an unnatural state for man and one that will be corrected in the future. But for now, man is put out of the Garden, from the tree of life and is not allowed to return. From here we see the fracturing of our greatest “foundational relationships”, the one between Man and God. With man offering worship to God as priest, taking the goodness of creation and giving it back to God. This is now broken down and corrupted by Sin. Man can no longer approach God himself, he cannot stand in his presence because of Sin. As with the commands to be “fruitful and multiply” and to “till” the Garden, the command to “keep” creation through worship is made much more difficult. All this is the result of Sin and shows us fully what God will deal with when he comes into the flesh. All three of our “foundational relationships” will need to be restored by God himself.

When we bring together the results of the Fall, Sin and Death entering creation, and how these effects all three of the “foundation relationships” that God gave Man at creation, we also grasp the “image” that God put into the world has been distorted. Becoming not a reflection of God, but of Man himself.  This will be the focus of our next post. What has happened to God’s imaging bearing partner man? Whose image is he now projecting into the world? What will the result of Sin be on the wider world as the story in Genesis moves along?