Genesis 3:15 – “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
One thing that every human being innately feels and knows is that something has gone terribly wrong, and human life on the planet could be much better. Yet, no matter how many wars we wage, politicians we vote for, taxes we raise, money we spend, medications we prescribe, and tears we shed, life on our planet seems to get only more painful, perilous, and precarious.
Why? What went wrong? Only in knowing what went wrong can we begin to discover how it might be made right again.
Genesis 3 is one of the most important in all of Scripture as it explains the source of and solution for sin and death. The scene is the beautiful and perfect garden made by God for our first parents to live in together without sin and its many effects.
The entrance of the Serpent marks the beginning of chaos in creation. The Serpent is Satan (Revelation 12:9, 20:2). Satan began by tempting Eve to mistrust God’s Word by changing its meaning, just as He did when likewise later tempting Jesus. (Matthew 4:1-11) Rather than rebuking Satan, Eve entertained his lies (John 8:42-47) and was subsequently deceived by his crafty arguments (2 Corinthians 11:3; I Timothy 2:14). Satan became so bold as to accuse God of being a liar and tempting the pride of Adam and Eve by declaring that if they disobeyed God, they could, in effect, become His peer and gods themselves. Eve believed Satan over God and chose pride over humility by partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in sin against God.
Tragically, we further read that, while all of this occurred, Adam stood by silently, failing to lead his family in godliness. For some, our sin is commission, and we do the wrong thing. For others, our sin is omission, and we do nothing.
Adam, the passive silent husband, then joined his wife in sin, which brought shame, distrust, and separation between Adam and Eve and between our first parents and God. Adam was the representative and father of all mankind and, when he sinned and fell out of favor with God, so did every person who would ever live (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Consequently, every person since Adam and Eve, other than Jesus, is a sinner, both by nature and choice (Psalm 51:5, 58:3; Isaiah 53:6, 64:6; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:18).
Tomorrow, we’ll continue to walk through the story of Genesis 3 and how it further impacts humanity, creation, and all of history.
Read 1 John 2:16 to discover the three ways that Satan tempts us to sin, which are also the same ways he tempted Adam and Eve.
To help you study the book of Genesis with us, we have the first of three free e-book study guides here.
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