WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
From the beginning most human beings disobeyed God`s laws. The Bible calls this `sin`.
When the work of creation was completed, `God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was `very good` (Genesis 1:31).
Only one of God`s creatures was able to understand what God`s intention in all this was, and that creature was of course Man.
At the beginning there were just Adam and his wife Eve, and they were placed in a fertile garden (Gen 2:8).
Although creation was `very good`, they were given the responsibility to control it (Gen 1:28).
Some animals for instance could be domesticated, and the ground itself needed cultivating Gen 2:15).
Adam began this controlling process by giving names to the various creatures (Gen 2:20), and then when his wife was formed he chose her name too
- `Eve` or `Chavah`, which means `Life` (Gen 3:20).
Adam had the company of angels (that is why God uses the word `us` in these chapters), and of the animals, and now he was blessed by having a wife. So far, all was peace and co-operation.
One restriction was placed upon the Man and his wife. They could eat any fruit or vegetable in the garden except one.
The exception was `the tree of the knowledge of good and evil`.
God had said `of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat thereof you will surely die` (Gen 2:17).
It was a simple law, and it tested their self control.
We are not told how long they kept that law but they did keep it until a different voice suggested that God did not mean what He said `The serpent (snake) said to the woman “You will not surely die”`.
Worse than that, he suggested that God had a hidden motive `”God knows that in the day you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil”`.
Then Eve began to doubt: she saw the attractiveness of the fruit, and although there were numerous alternative fruits, she did so want the forbidden one.
`She took of its fruit and ate. She gave also unto her husband with her and he ate` (Gen 3:6).
Immediately they knew that a change had occurred: they were aware of their sexuality and aware of their sin. They improvised loincloths and they hid in the garden (Gen 3:7-13).
Simple though this lawbreaking was, it happened through disbelief and defiance.
Disbelief and defiance cause much of the wickedness that has filled the earth ever since.
Men and women convince themselves that `there is no God` (Psalm 14:1), or `the Lord does not see us` or that He is not the sort of God who is bothered about how humans behave (Ezekiel 8:12, 9:9).
But even when people who do want to please God slip up and do the wrong thing (or fail to do the right thing), they are guilty also.
The Bible has many words for the different ways in which people disobey Him, but they are all described as `sin`.
The most common words used really mean `to miss the mark`. The `mark` is complete obedience to God, and when we `miss it`, whether by much or little, that is a `sin`.
We all make the same mistake as Adam, and we all suffer the same consequences.
The sin in the Garden of Eden had dreadful results for all who were involved.
The serpent was condemned to move around without legs and to live on soil like an earthworm.
The woman would conceive more, and do so in sorrow, being subject to her husband.
They would be banished from that lovely place and man would work hard to get a living from ground that would lose its fertility.
Finally, sooner or later they would all die (Gen 3:14-23).
However, there were hints that God had not abandoned His purpose.
Adam and Eve did not die immediately: they were given time to repent.
Although they made excuses (Gen 3:12-13), they did admit that they had disobeyed; and the fact that they were given clothing made from skins (Gen 3:21) suggests that God `covered` (forgave) their sin.
Further, the promise in Gen 3:15 that one of their descendants would `crush the serpent`s head` was meant to assure them that the time would come when temptation
and sin would be abolished for ever.
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What The Bible Says
