Sin and the Fall- Genesis 3

In Genesis 2, God had given Adam instructions while he lived in Eden- that he was to take care of everything in the garden and that he could eat anything, except the fruit from the tree of knowledge which would let him know the difference between right and wrong. It was Adam’s responsibility to to communicate that to his wife, Eve. Adam was set as the spiritual leader of his family. Eve was tempted by the devil to take and eat from that tree. The father of lies, told her the lie that she would not die if she ate it, but that God had lied to Adam by saying they would not die, but God was afraid they would become like Him. Eve took it, and it wasn’t only her fault because she gave some to Adam, who was right there with her. He should have been strong enough to tell her not to take it and be the leader of the family God set him up to be. Unfortunately, he did not, and spiritual death that God told them about for their rebellion happened- they were spiritually separated from God.

God still loves his creation, but had to punish the sin. If He had let the sin go unpunished, God would be un-just. Satan was an angel who was cast out of heaven for the sin of pride and wanting to be like God- the actual first sin, so his sin was punished. Satan demands that God continue to punish sin, since he was punished himself. That is why sin is punished in the world today- God must continue to give punishment for sin, or else He will be judged un-just.

It is sad that God’s creation was cast out of communion with God, but if this had not been done, Adam and Eve would have continued to live in their sin with no way to be reconciled to God. Their offspring would have been condemned to live in their sin without hope of being re-connected with God. God not only cursed the man and woman, that their lives would be full of hardship- the woman with labor pains while she gives birth and the man would struggle to harvest enough food to eat. The curse he put on Satan was the worst of all, and God says basically that Satan had won this battle, and you have inflicted a wound, but one day, through Eve’s offspring will come a savior to strike a fatal blow to him. God already set up a reconciliation between He and His creation- through the human birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus many generations in the future.

Praise God that although we are in sin, and separated from our Heavenly Father, He has made a way for us to be reconnected with Him. He gave us unconditional love through the sacrifice of Jesus because He didn’t wait for us to stop sinning, but while we still sin, Jesus took the punishment we deserve (Romans 5:8). And also, since sin came into the world through the act of one man, it is fitting that all sinners be made right by the act of one man's obedience (Romans 5:12-21). God is good, all the time.