God created a perfect world without sin, evil, violence, insecurity, sickness, and death. He is the God of life, the Source of life, and the Giver of life. There is a vast contrast between the world of Genesis 1 and 2, where everything is meaningful, beautiful, and harmonious, pictured in bright, joyful, and light colors, with uplifting melody; and the world of the rest of Genesis, in which everything good is suddenly hit by a storm of sin and, consequently, damaged with loving relations ruined. The colors become dark and the music discordant. Excellent pure potential for growth and exploration is marred.
Yet, God in His mercy is in search of humanity and, despite sin, brings hope and a solution to the problem of sin and death. No philosophical system or religion can bring a solution to death, the process of dying, and restore life without death in our world. Only God can do this—the living God through His gracious actions; thus, nothing and no one can be compared to our Creator and Redeemer. He is, above all His creation, unique and sovereign.
Rebellion and disobedience started in heaven but were transferred to the earth when Adam and Eve sinned, and the great controversy between good and evil began on the earth. God did not leave humanity in their sin but led a war against the powers of darkness and their commander, Satan. God put enmity between evil and humanity so that humans would not be enchanted and snared by evil but would be able to say no while clinging to Him for wisdom and strength. The Creator God brought a solution to the sin problem by sending the Promised Seed (Gen. 3:15), Jesus Christ, as the Savior of humankind (John 3:16, John 5:24, Acts 4:12). Sin not only brought complications but also, ultimately, death. However, Jesus overcame death by His perfect life of loving service, unselfish sacrifice, and willing obedience (Rom. 6:23).
Part II: Commentary
Satan, the Author of Destruction and Death
It was not God but the serpent who introduced mistrust of God into human hearts and made death a part of our destiny. Through Adam’s disobedience, “death spread to all” (Rom. 5:12, NKJV). Thus, death is an integral component of our existence in this sinful world. Solomon says, “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing” (Eccles. 9:5, ESV). Death is an intruder and our enemy (1 Cor. 15:26).
There was a time when death did not exist, nor was it present in the world. Expressing this point, Genesis 2:5, 6 contains the short, but extremely significant, expression of “not yet.” There was a time when there was “not yet” a thorn, painful work, agricultural struggles, and rain. This transitional verse points to Genesis 3, in which things dramatically changed. Death came as the result of turning away from God and living an autonomous and independent life from Him: “ ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’ ” (Gen. 3:19, ESV).
God specifically warned the first couple against disobeying His word and that the result would culminate in devastation and tragedy, namely death: “ ‘Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’ ” (Gen. 2:17, ESV). Satan contradicted God by stating: “ ‘You will not surely die’ ” (Gen. 3:4, ESV). Note that the serpent knew exactly what God had previously said to Adam in the Garden of Eden and denied it with the same words, including “surely,” as in “ ‘You will not surely die.’ ”
Thus, the reader is alerted to the fact that our first parents dealt with Satan and not a mere reptile, because the serpent spoke and opposed God directly. God used “surely” or “certainly,” and Satan emphasized it too. The devil then supported his claim with two deceptive lies: “ ‘Your eyes will be opened’ ” (i.e., you will gain special new insights, become wise), and “ ‘you will be like God, knowing good and evil’ ” (Gen. 3:5, ESV) (i.e., able to decide what is good and what is evil). Satan, a master of intrigues, presented disobedience as a matter of freedom and gain.
By eating, Adam and Eve experienced, indeed, the opening of their eyes (Gen. 3:7). But their eyes were opened differently than they anticipated. They realized that they had lost what they had had before: their purity and innocence vanished, and they saw that they were naked. This nakedness was more than physical nakedness because (1) they also were naked before, but they were not ashamed (Gen. 2:25); and (2) when God visited them and asked, “ ‘Where are you?’ ” (Gen. 3:9, NKJV) Adam responded that he hid because they were naked. To be clear, in that situation, they were not physically naked, as they were covered with garments of fig leaves (Gen. 3:7). But they were morally naked because, for the first time, they felt a sense of guilt.
Satan’s second promise also was a lie. Adam and Eve did not become like God by knowing good and evil because God does not know evil by experience (He has never sinned!). But Adam and Eve lost what they had: the capacity to discern distinctly between good and evil. A literal translation of Genesis 3:22 reveals this fact: “Behold, humans were [not “have become”] like one of us, knowing [discerning between] good and evil, but now. . .” (for details, see Jiří Moskala, “ ‘You Will Be Like God Knowing Good and Evil’: Discernment of Truth and Lies,” Journal of Adventist Mission Studies 12, no. 2 (2016): pp. 10–18). Thus, Adam and Eve not only lost their integrity but also the ability to know what was right and wrong. From now on they would need God’s revelation to know what was good and what was evil. They would need to depend on God’s spiritual power from outside of themselves to be able to do what was right.
Consequences of Sin
Sin is a curse that brings terrible consequences. It is like an avalanche. Seemingly starting as nothingness, it then breaks and tears down everything that is beautiful, valuable, and meaningful, and destroys life completely. It is only a matter of time before this destroying force becomes plainly visible. Where there is wrong thinking, it automatically follows that there also will be evil behavior. Sin breaks down all kinds of meaningful relationships; it brings only misery, suffering, separation, and complications. Breaking our relationship with God (the vertical dimension of our existence) brings multiple horizontal breaks. Saying no to God is the cause of many sinful consequences:
The break in our relationship with God leads to a broken relationship with “self.” Thus, Adam and Eve’s nature was corrupted as a consequence of sin. They lived with a consciousness of guilt and shame and with feelings of degradation and defeat.
Sin/disobedience made Adam and Eve afraid of God instead of permitting them to enjoy His company (Gen. 3:10).
Sin/disobedience led Adam and Eve to blame others for their failure. Thus, they experienced a broken relationship with each other (Gen. 3:12, Gen. 4:5–8). Sin alienated them from one another.
Sin/disobedience brought death to the human family because Adam and Eve’s relationship with their Life-Giver was broken (Gen. 3:19).
Sin/disobedience would make giving birth and raising children a painful experience (Gen. 3:16).
Sin/disobedience would make marriage a place of fighting for dominance and supremacy instead of a loving, caring, emotional, and intimate relationship between equal heterosexual partners (Gen. 3:16).
Sin/disobedience would make work a painful experience; sweat and weariness from laboring to earn a living would become part of life (Gen. 3:18).
The sin/disobedience of Adam and Eve resulted in harming their sense of good and in the loss of their ability to discern between good and evil (Gen. 3:5, 22).
Sin/disobedience broke Adam and Eve’s relationship to nature. As a result, the ground would produce thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:18, Gen. 6:11).
Sin/disobedience brought violence, pain, hatred, polygamy, et cetera (see Genesis 4–19). For more details on this topic of the nature of sin, its consequences, and God’s redemptive plan, see Jiří Moskala, “Origin of Sin and Salvation According to Genesis 3: A Theology of Sin,” in Salvation: Contours of Adventist Soteriology, edited by Martin F. Hanna, Darius W. Jankiewicz, and John W. Reeve (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2018), pp. 119–143. Genesis 3 is a model for understanding the nature of sin and salvation. In this one chapter, the whole gospel already is present, as seen in the undeserved grace already streaming from Calvary to Adam and Eve (Rev. 13:8).
God’s Solution
Hope appears against all hopelessness. Within the midst of darkness, despair, and condemnation, God secures humanity’s future, even though Adam and Eve do not deserve to live.
First, God searches for Adam and Eve: “ ‘Where are you?’ ” (Gen. 3:9, NKJV). This question has multiple purposes. It serves (1) as an invitation to dialogue; (2) as an offer of grace (God cries for His lost and missing children in order to provide a very costly solution to their situation); (3) to help them to realize and understand their attitude toward God following their sin (that is, instead of enjoying His presence, they hide from Him); and (4) as a trial/investigative judgment, which is held because they are accountable for their past actions toward God as their Creator and Judge.
Second, God provides a real garment (Gen. 3:21). As the nakedness of the first couple was more than a physical phenomenon, so it follows analogically that God’s garment represents more than physical dress. God gives them a garment of skin of His own making, and thus He covers sinners with the robe of His righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30, 2 Cor. 5:21). The solution for the sin problem is the Messiah (Eph. 1:4, 1 Pet. 1:20). Forgiveness and redemption are to be secured through God’s gracious sacrifice, represented by the death of the animal whose skin Adam and Eve wore.
Third, God creates enmity between the powers of good and evil so that we can hate evil (Gen. 3:15).
Fourth, God promises to send the Seed (Gen. 3:15) to defeat our enemy, Satan. God’s statement to the serpent lies at the center of this chapter. The Messiah will become humanity’s Redeemer and Savior, and His victorious, deliberate death will ultimately destroy Satan and consequently everyone and everything associated with him. The Messiah is the Victor and gives victory to all who connect with Him (Rom. 8:1–4). The final victory is assured by Him (Rev. 12:7–12; Rev. 19:6, 7, 15–21; Jude 24, 25).
Part III: Life Application
Death is an inescapable reality, and the loss of loved ones is an inevitable part of the fallen world. How can we bring hope in the midst of disappointment and despair to those who are grieving?
Discuss with your class why sin looks so attractive as a gain, rather than as the loss that it really is. What in the nature of evil is so deceitful? Explain.
We are all condemned to death because we are sinners (Rom. 3:23, Rom. 6:23). How did Jesus’ death on the cross defeat the second death so that we may live eternally?
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Key Text: Genesis 3
Part I: Overview
God created a perfect world without sin, evil, violence, insecurity, sickness, and death. He is the God of life, the Source of life, and the Giver of life. There is a vast contrast between the world of Genesis 1 and 2, where everything is meaningful, beautiful, and harmonious, pictured in bright, joyful, and light colors, with uplifting melody; and the world of the rest of Genesis, in which everything good is suddenly hit by a storm of sin and, consequently, damaged with loving relations ruined. The colors become dark and the music discordant. Excellent pure potential for growth and exploration is marred.
Yet, God in His mercy is in search of humanity and, despite sin, brings hope and a solution to the problem of sin and death. No philosophical system or religion can bring a solution to death, the process of dying, and restore life without death in our world. Only God can do this—the living God through His gracious actions; thus, nothing and no one can be compared to our Creator and Redeemer. He is, above all His creation, unique and sovereign.
Rebellion and disobedience started in heaven but were transferred to the earth when Adam and Eve sinned, and the great controversy between good and evil began on the earth. God did not leave humanity in their sin but led a war against the powers of darkness and their commander, Satan. God put enmity between evil and humanity so that humans would not be enchanted and snared by evil but would be able to say no while clinging to Him for wisdom and strength. The Creator God brought a solution to the sin problem by sending the Promised Seed (Gen. 3:15), Jesus Christ, as the Savior of humankind (John 3:16, John 5:24, Acts 4:12). Sin not only brought complications but also, ultimately, death. However, Jesus overcame death by His perfect life of loving service, unselfish sacrifice, and willing obedience (Rom. 6:23).
Part II: Commentary
Satan, the Author of Destruction and Death
It was not God but the serpent who introduced mistrust of God into human hearts and made death a part of our destiny. Through Adam’s disobedience, “death spread to all” (Rom. 5:12, NKJV). Thus, death is an integral component of our existence in this sinful world. Solomon says, “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing” (Eccles. 9:5, ESV). Death is an intruder and our enemy (1 Cor. 15:26).
There was a time when death did not exist, nor was it present in the world. Expressing this point, Genesis 2:5, 6 contains the short, but extremely significant, expression of “not yet.” There was a time when there was “not yet” a thorn, painful work, agricultural struggles, and rain. This transitional verse points to Genesis 3, in which things dramatically changed. Death came as the result of turning away from God and living an autonomous and independent life from Him: “ ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’ ” (Gen. 3:19, ESV).
God specifically warned the first couple against disobeying His word and that the result would culminate in devastation and tragedy, namely death: “ ‘Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’ ” (Gen. 2:17, ESV). Satan contradicted God by stating: “ ‘You will not surely die’ ” (Gen. 3:4, ESV). Note that the serpent knew exactly what God had previously said to Adam in the Garden of Eden and denied it with the same words, including “surely,” as in “ ‘You will not surely die.’ ”
Thus, the reader is alerted to the fact that our first parents dealt with Satan and not a mere reptile, because the serpent spoke and opposed God directly. God used “surely” or “certainly,” and Satan emphasized it too. The devil then supported his claim with two deceptive lies: “ ‘Your eyes will be opened’ ” (i.e., you will gain special new insights, become wise), and “ ‘you will be like God, knowing good and evil’ ” (Gen. 3:5, ESV) (i.e., able to decide what is good and what is evil). Satan, a master of intrigues, presented disobedience as a matter of freedom and gain.
By eating, Adam and Eve experienced, indeed, the opening of their eyes (Gen. 3:7). But their eyes were opened differently than they anticipated. They realized that they had lost what they had had before: their purity and innocence vanished, and they saw that they were naked. This nakedness was more than physical nakedness because (1) they also were naked before, but they were not ashamed (Gen. 2:25); and (2) when God visited them and asked, “ ‘Where are you?’ ” (Gen. 3:9, NKJV) Adam responded that he hid because they were naked. To be clear, in that situation, they were not physically naked, as they were covered with garments of fig leaves (Gen. 3:7). But they were morally naked because, for the first time, they felt a sense of guilt.
Satan’s second promise also was a lie. Adam and Eve did not become like God by knowing good and evil because God does not know evil by experience (He has never sinned!). But Adam and Eve lost what they had: the capacity to discern distinctly between good and evil. A literal translation of Genesis 3:22 reveals this fact: “Behold, humans were [not “have become”] like one of us, knowing [discerning between] good and evil, but now. . .” (for details, see Jiří Moskala, “ ‘You Will Be Like God Knowing Good and Evil’: Discernment of Truth and Lies,” Journal of Adventist Mission Studies 12, no. 2 (2016): pp. 10–18). Thus, Adam and Eve not only lost their integrity but also the ability to know what was right and wrong. From now on they would need God’s revelation to know what was good and what was evil. They would need to depend on God’s spiritual power from outside of themselves to be able to do what was right.
Consequences of Sin
Sin is a curse that brings terrible consequences. It is like an avalanche. Seemingly starting as nothingness, it then breaks and tears down everything that is beautiful, valuable, and meaningful, and destroys life completely. It is only a matter of time before this destroying force becomes plainly visible. Where there is wrong thinking, it automatically follows that there also will be evil behavior. Sin breaks down all kinds of meaningful relationships; it brings only misery, suffering, separation, and complications. Breaking our relationship with God (the vertical dimension of our existence) brings multiple horizontal breaks. Saying no to God is the cause of many sinful consequences:
The break in our relationship with God leads to a broken relationship with “self.” Thus, Adam and Eve’s nature was corrupted as a consequence of sin. They lived with a consciousness of guilt and shame and with feelings of degradation and defeat.
Sin/disobedience made Adam and Eve afraid of God instead of permitting them to enjoy His company (Gen. 3:10).
Sin/disobedience led Adam and Eve to blame others for their failure. Thus, they experienced a broken relationship with each other (Gen. 3:12, Gen. 4:5–8). Sin alienated them from one another.
Sin/disobedience brought death to the human family because Adam and Eve’s relationship with their Life-Giver was broken (Gen. 3:19).
Sin/disobedience would make giving birth and raising children a painful experience (Gen. 3:16).
Sin/disobedience would make marriage a place of fighting for dominance and supremacy instead of a loving, caring, emotional, and intimate relationship between equal heterosexual partners (Gen. 3:16).
Sin/disobedience would make work a painful experience; sweat and weariness from laboring to earn a living would become part of life (Gen. 3:18).
The sin/disobedience of Adam and Eve resulted in harming their sense of good and in the loss of their ability to discern between good and evil (Gen. 3:5, 22).
Sin/disobedience broke Adam and Eve’s relationship to nature. As a result, the ground would produce thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:18, Gen. 6:11).
Sin/disobedience brought violence, pain, hatred, polygamy, et cetera (see Genesis 4–19). For more details on this topic of the nature of sin, its consequences, and God’s redemptive plan, see Jiří Moskala, “Origin of Sin and Salvation According to Genesis 3: A Theology of Sin,” in Salvation: Contours of Adventist Soteriology, edited by Martin F. Hanna, Darius W. Jankiewicz, and John W. Reeve (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2018), pp. 119–143. Genesis 3 is a model for understanding the nature of sin and salvation. In this one chapter, the whole gospel already is present, as seen in the undeserved grace already streaming from Calvary to Adam and Eve (Rev. 13:8).
God’s Solution
Hope appears against all hopelessness. Within the midst of darkness, despair, and condemnation, God secures humanity’s future, even though Adam and Eve do not deserve to live.
First, God searches for Adam and Eve: “ ‘Where are you?’ ” (Gen. 3:9, NKJV). This question has multiple purposes. It serves (1) as an invitation to dialogue; (2) as an offer of grace (God cries for His lost and missing children in order to provide a very costly solution to their situation); (3) to help them to realize and understand their attitude toward God following their sin (that is, instead of enjoying His presence, they hide from Him); and (4) as a trial/investigative judgment, which is held because they are accountable for their past actions toward God as their Creator and Judge.
Second, God provides a real garment (Gen. 3:21). As the nakedness of the first couple was more than a physical phenomenon, so it follows analogically that God’s garment represents more than physical dress. God gives them a garment of skin of His own making, and thus He covers sinners with the robe of His righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30, 2 Cor. 5:21). The solution for the sin problem is the Messiah (Eph. 1:4, 1 Pet. 1:20). Forgiveness and redemption are to be secured through God’s gracious sacrifice, represented by the death of the animal whose skin Adam and Eve wore.
Third, God creates enmity between the powers of good and evil so that we can hate evil (Gen. 3:15).
Fourth, God promises to send the Seed (Gen. 3:15) to defeat our enemy, Satan. God’s statement to the serpent lies at the center of this chapter. The Messiah will become humanity’s Redeemer and Savior, and His victorious, deliberate death will ultimately destroy Satan and consequently everyone and everything associated with him. The Messiah is the Victor and gives victory to all who connect with Him (Rom. 8:1–4). The final victory is assured by Him (Rev. 12:7–12; Rev. 19:6, 7, 15–21; Jude 24, 25).
Part III: Life Application
Death is an inescapable reality, and the loss of loved ones is an inevitable part of the fallen world. How can we bring hope in the midst of disappointment and despair to those who are grieving?
Discuss with your class why sin looks so attractive as a gain, rather than as the loss that it really is. What in the nature of evil is so deceitful? Explain.
We are all condemned to death because we are sinners (Rom. 3:23, Rom. 6:23). How did Jesus’ death on the cross defeat the second death so that we may live eternally?