Bible Commentaries
Genesis 3

Introduction

THE FALL OF MAN

(Genesis 3)

The first two chapters of Genesis record the existence of no disturbing element. This is not the

situation in our world today. It is popular on the part of some people to claim that disruptive factors are

caused by ignorance and weakness. On this basis they urge education upon man. They try to inspire

ambition for higher goals and better performance by assuming that mankind is capable of living

successfully by itself. But the Bible does not leave matters there. It teaches that "our adversary, the devil

as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The devil is also called "Satan" and

sometimes is referred to as "that old serpent." Modern teaching denies the existence of the devil, claiming

that this is a figment of the imagination. No one can deny that there is trouble and disaster and calamity

in this world. Some people dare to blame God for such evil, but the Bible speaks of "your adversary the

devil."

In chapter 3 of the Book of Genesis, we read of the appearance of the serpent in the garden.

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said

unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said

unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in

the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the

serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the (p.44) day ye eat

thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the

woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to

make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he

did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. (3:1-7a).

Let us look a little bit more closely at these words which are so familiar to us. When we read "the

serpent was more subtil," no one knows for certain what these words mean. Some translators say that

they suggest "more beautiful, more attractive, more clever, and more cunning." This being we have just

described is called "the serpent" in the Book of Genesis. In the Book of Revelation we read these words:

"the great dragon was cast out; that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole

world." And there we have it in a nutshell: "which deceiveth the whole world."

When we consider Satan as a being we ask ourselves the question: "What do we know about him?" We

need not limit ourselves to this third chapter of Genesis, but may search through the Bible for this

information. In the first place we find that he was created. He is a creature. That means that he was not

intended to be eternal. Why did God make Satan? I do not know. Someone will say, "Then He should

not have made him." This we can never say. Just because we cannot understand something, this does not

make it wrong. We can trust God implicitly, and without reservation. We know He makes no mistakes.

Not only is the reality of Satan true, but we are told that he is a spirit; he does not have a body such as

we have.

All angels who are also created beings do not have bodies such as we have. This is true of both evil

spirits and good spirits. Even the Holy Spirit of God does not have a body like ours, but He is a person.

We are commonly filled with the idea that a person must have a head and arms and legs and a body. This

is not true. To be a person requires only a capacity of thought and of feeling and of will. By the way,

(p.45) while we are thinking in this area, we discover that not only is Satan named, but Michael the

archangel is also named. Gabriel, who came to Mary and announced that she would bear the Holy Son of

God, is spoken of a number of times in the Bible. In fact he is the same angel who announced the coming

of John the Baptist.

Many Bible teachers feel that Lucifer, spoken of in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, refers to Satan.

This could be true, but the Bible does not so specify. There are other things that the Bible tells us of

Satan. He is a liar and the father of lies. The truth is not in him. He is a murderer who seeks to destroy.

He is malicious: he actually means to do us harm. But Satan has certain limitations. He is not omniscient,

he does not know everything. Satan is not omnipotent, he cannot do everything. He can only move

within God’s permissive will. While we think of this, let us remember that Jesus of Nazareth faced Satan

and was victorious. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, warns them that Satan may come transformed as an

angel of light. Peter speaks of him as going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. In other

words, the Bible warns us about Satan. Here is a little couplet which I like very much: "Satan trembles

when he sees, the weakest saint upon his knees." We do not have to be afraid of Satan when we are "in

the Lord." But we certainly are no match for him person to person.

As we read on in chapter 3 we find a description of the course of sin. Being tempted is not an

indication that we are sinning. Temptation is not sin. In this chapter we are brought face to face with the

beginning of sin with all its terrible consequences. We should notice that nothing foreign or alien was

injected into the situation. Sin occurred right where man was living, when he misused the very situation

that was given to him to bless him. When man was created in the image of God, this included his

consciousness of himself as a person with a freedom of choice. This is true today. I can choose whether

to go to the right or left. I can choose whether to open the Bible and read it, or (p.46) whether to leave it

closed. I can pray, or I cannot pray. I am free to choose.

God gave man everything that would promote his well-being, but when God said, "This is forbidden,

this you cannot have," man was to obey. Someone may say, "I do not like that idea." We should

remember that we did not create this world. We do not keep it or control it. Obedience to God is not a

forced or an automatic thing. It must be a conscious, willing choice. For this, man must be free. Here we

have a clue as to what was involved in making man free to choose. All obedient response given to God

must be freely offered.

It has been noted that Satan is a malicious murderer who wants to destroy what God has made. He is

an adversary who is both cunning and shrewd, but God has set bounds beyond which he cannot go.

When we put our trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we need not be afraid of him at all. There is

safety in the Lord. The Israelites were safe in their homes when the angel of death passed through the

land, because the blood of the lamb was over their doors. Noah was safe in the ark when the floods came

upon the earth. So we who believe and trust in Christ are safe in Him.

Satan was too cunning to come up to Eve and ask her to disobey God. Eve might not have done that.

But Satan raised a question about what God had said. He did not contradict God. He did not ignore the

Word of God. He just questioned it and appealed to her judgment. This is a snare into which it is easy to

fall even today. When man stops to think about what God had said, and tries to evaluate it, it is as

though he attempted to judge God’s words. Eve fell into the net the devil had prepared because the devil

flattered her.

This story of "the fall" has a classic format. It happens that way over and over again when temptation

comes along. Satan is a liar, but he is much too shrewd to lie openly. In this case he just called attention

to something that was pleasant and attractive, and he omitted telling Eve of the tragic consequences

which could follow. I am reminded of (p.47) the days when a salesman would bring a new car to my

home to show it. First came the looking at it, then the driving around the block. Nothing wrong with that;

that was a pleasure. The salesman never said a thing about the fact that all this was going to cost more

than I wanted to pay. This was the way to get a decision. Satan works in the same way. He came and

drew attention to the forbidden fruit which was pleasant to the eye, and a fruit to be desired to make one

wise. Satan knew that Adam and Eve would be vulnerable to judgment and death if they ate the fruit, and

this is the very thing that he had planned and schemed to accomplish.

THE NATURE OF SIN

(Genesis 3)

The third chapter of Genesis records the devious way in which Satan approached Eve and tempted her

to sin. In I John 2:16 there is described a sort of pattern which indicates the three areas in which human

beings are tempted. These areas include "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of

life." In the case of Adam and Eve in the garden "the lust of the flesh" can be seen when it is written that

the fruit of the tree was "good for food." That is to say, it would satisfy appetite. It would feel good to

eat it. "The lust of the eyes" in imagination can be seen in the words "pleasant to the eyes." "The pride

of life" as vanity was aroused when the forbidden fruit promised "to make them wise." All of this points

to a yearning to promote self. By subtle flattery Satan appealed to the woman’s own interpretation of

the words God had spoken to Adam. When Eve felt free to make a decision different from the directive

given by God, she made a great mistake. God had said, "No. Do not eat thereof." When Eve began to

think that the forbidden fruit would be good to eat, she had already disobeyed. She left herself wide open

to what happened afterwards.

It will be helpful to contrast this temptation in the garden with that of Jesus of Nazareth in the desert

(Matt. 4:1-11). There it is recorded that Jesus of Nazareth had fasted for forty days and was hungry

when the devil approached Him. His desire for food would be in its own way the desire (p.49) of the

flesh. There is nothing evil about food, nothing evil about being hungry. At this time the devil proposed

that Jesus of Nazareth prove His sonship by turning the stones into bread. He answered Satan with the

Word of God: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone." Satan then took Him on a pinnacle of

the temple and said, "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his

angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy

foot against a stone." But He answered Satan with these words: "It is written again, Thou shalt not

tempt the Lord thy God." Then the devil took Him up into a high mountain and showed Him all the

kingdoms of the world and offered them to Him. Jesus of Nazareth said, "It is written, Thou shalt

worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Thus it is recorded that in each instance

Jesus of Nazareth turned to the Word of God for His guidance. For Him it was all settled because He

came into this world to do the will of His heavenly Father. And right here where Adam was weak, Jesus

of Nazareth was strong.

Why is it that in the strain of living one Christian is strong and another is weak, when both are human

beings? The truth may be seen in an illustration. Suppose two men go out to sea, each in his own boat.

Suddenly a terrific storm approaches. Each boat has an anchor with which it can be secured to avoid

being smashed on the rocks. But one man is so confident in the strength of his boat and the way in which

it is built that he leaves the anchor lying in the hold of the ship. He has the anchor and he has the cable,

but if he does not use what he has, his position is perilous in the face of the storm. The other man is in

the same danger, but he takes his anchor and casts it into the rocks at the bottom of the sea. When that

anchor holds, it holds the boat in place because it is secured to something outside itself that is solid and

strong. This is just what we have in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When I put my trust in God, my faith is

like an anchor of the soul that takes hold of the infinite power of God. This is the significance of my

strength.(p.50) I can hold steady and be faithful when I am anchored in Him.

This same truth can be seen in another example. Suppose there are two mothers and each of them has

a sick baby. One of these mothers is confident in her own skill and her own supplies. She applies her

own remedy because she is absolutely sure that she can take care of her baby. She does everything she

can, but her baby dies. The other woman is not so confident about herself. She has confidence in her

doctor and she brings her baby to him and follows his instructions and her baby gets well. Certainly,

each mother wanted her baby to live. The first one was confident in herself. The second one

had confidence in her doctor, and she obeyed him. The one that trusted herself was foolish. The one who

trusted someone with superior knowledge was wise.

When Adam was tested in the garden he viewed the temptation in his own judgment and decided that

the fruit would be something to accept and eat. He did not follow the commandment of God, his Creator.

Jesus of Nazareth met every temptation with the Word of God. May we who desire to walk in the

strength of our Savior turn to His Word in the day of our temptation to sin.

Many people do not really know what sin is. Sin is best understood when man has an awareness of

God. It is when we think of the holiness of God that we become conscious of our sinfulness. If a man

had no idea of God, he would have no idea of sin. Today we use the word sin rather loosely. We talk

about sinning against society, sinning against children, and sinning against people. In the Bible we read

that all sin is sinning against God. Men say "crime" is against man, but we commit "sin" against God.

However, every crime and every wrongdoing violates His law.

The Bible records the occurrence of the first sin in the Garden of Eden. When God told Adam not to

eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil He did not offer any reason for this; man was

not only forbidden to eat this fruit, but he was warned of the consequences of disobedience: "In the day

that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This indicates that man must not act according to his

(p.51) own judgment when God has spoken concerning a certain thing. Things are not right or wrong just

because we judge them to be so. However, if I am asked to do something which I think is wrong, then it

would be wrong for me to do it. On the basis of what is written in Genesis 3, I am to be obedient to His

Word. Some people will claim that this is too elementary. They say that implicit obedience is for

children. But Jesus of Nazareth taught "Except ye be converted, and become as little children: ye shall

not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:3). I need not be afraid to emulate little children because

this is the very way in which I can come to Him. Being childlike in faith and trust is far removed from

being childish.

Many earnest hearts are burdened with a sense of shame because of certain thoughts that plague them.

They have a sense of sin, because evil thoughts appear in their minds and burden their consciences. Any

who are burdened about this may keep in mind that no human being can be free from evil thoughts. Evil

thoughts come like the seeds of a weed that will fly through the air and fall into the garden. Anyone who

has planted a garden has found plants growing in it that were not planted. The man who has a lawn will

find amongst the grass weeds which he did not plant. They came in from the outside. They blew in, so to

speak. The same thing that is true of the unwanted weeds in our garden is true concerning our minds.

All of us will at some time or another be troubled by thoughts that are hateful to us. In our day and

time a good deal is made of thought transference. Psychology recognizes what is called "extrasensory

perception," which implies that one person can become aware of what is in another person’s mind. This

would only emphasize what I am talking about. Isaiah the prophet said, "I am a man of unclean lips, and

I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." To say we live in the midst of people of unclean lips is

to say unclean thoughts are in the air. At the same time it should be remembered that when it comes to

temptation, nothing that I do not want tempts me, even when it comes from the outside. (p.52) Crude

and vulgar thoughts may come to mind and we may promptly disown and hate them. Ugly thoughts may

come to our minds at times, and certainly we would not want anyone else to know such had even

crossed our minds, yet none of these thoughts need lead us to sin. All men are not alike, and the sins

they are tempted to commit are different. One man may be tempted by whiskey, and the thought of it

may fill him with desire. Another man may be repelled by whiskey. The very thought of it may be

abhorrent to him. I happen to be one of those people who fortunately grew up in a home where people

were very careful in their conduct. When I was a student in high school the idea of drinking had no

appeal for me at all.

We should be very careful not to ascribe our thoughts to other people whose thinking may be very

different from ours. When evil thoughts come to our minds and linger there, they may show us how

sinful we are. This may be because deep down inside us we actually like them. Or it could mean that we

are fascinated by them because they horrify us. In other words many things may tempt us and appeal to

us and yet not be sinful.

Sin is the act which follows inclination to evil. Sin does not need to be vulgar or ugly. Sin can be clean

and refined, but if it puts us outside the will of God it is sin. Had Eve only looked at the forbidden fruit

and seen how pleasant and desirable it was, this would not have been wrong. Her tragic mistake was that

she took it upon herself to defy the direct command of God. Her sin, which brought such terrible

consequences with it, was disobedience. We will see how this disobedience marred forever their

innocence, how it caused them to be driven out of the beautiful garden the Lord God had planted for their

enjoyment, and how it brought havoc to all nature. However, we will also read of the way God provided

to remove their sin and guilt.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN

(Genesis 3)

The sin of Adam, in the form of disobedience to God, brought sin into the world. Each person living in

this world is contaminated with it. God who is sovereign of the whole universe and who holds

everything in His hand, is also the judge of all men. Because of this, God must deal with our sins. We are

responsible human beings, and therefore it is unavoidable that we must pay the penalty of our sin. God

is the judge and He must rule on our guilt. There is nothing so amazing or so remarkable or difficult about

this. When we face the judge, we must first of all admit that we have done wrong. We must confess

openly that we are guilty. It’s a matter of calling a spade a spade, and this is basic to all the judgment of

God. This does not require any action on God’s part. He not only knows all about our wrongdoings and

why we committed them, but He has evaluated them from the beginning. His estimation of our deeds

was there all the time, and this is basic to all that follows afterward. The very act of creation makes God

sovereign, and man as creature is responsible to obey Him.

It would appear that people have developed a whole set of wrong ideas around the notion of freedom.

They seem to think they can do as they please. This is not true. Every time we hear of a man who has

been drinking and who winds up with his car in the ditch, we can be sure that he has found out the

consequences of his action. When a man feels that he can choose as he pleases, he may choose

blindly (p.54) without weighing the consequences. As a result he may find that he has run into a stone

wall. When a man is willful he violates the constitution of the creation. God does not tolerate this. God

made man in such a way that he should obey God’s law and His will. When man disobeyed God he

automatically came under the condemnation of God. At the very time that man sinned, God knew and

evaluated the sin and fixed the penalty for it.

To disobey the will of God is sin, and in every man there is an inner awareness that when he disobeys

God he will suffer for it. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Judgment is implicit in the very nature of

things. There is a sense in which judgment is a good deal like darkness. Darkness is always implicit. In

other words it is absolute. The moment the light is put out, the room is dark. The darkness is right there;

and it is the inevitable consequence of the absence of light. We did not have to pump anything into the

room to make it dark. So it is with death. When a person dies we recognize that death is the absence of

life. Life is a positive factor, and when life is gone, death is there. It follows automatically even the way

darkness follows the absence of light. This is the way it is with judgment. When a man does wrong,

obedience moves out and judgment moves in. That’s all there is to it. The whole concept that God

punishes the culprit in vengeance is erroneous. The sinner brings judgment upon himself.

In Genesis 3:9 we have the record of the famous question: "Where art thou?" This was not asked for

information. God knew what Adam had done and where he was. This question was asked to help Adam.

"Where art thou?" could be put in this way: "Now that you have done what you have done, where did it

get you?" Adam’s conscience needed to be aroused that he might be ready to confess his sin. God’s

judgment was settled all the time, but Adam did not know this. He might have thought that he could

escape notice. So he needed to hear this question, "Where has your disobedience brought you?"

Actually Adam was already a changed man. It is written, "The eyes of them both were opened, and

they knew that (p.55) they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves

aprons." Apparently they already had the sickening realization which follows wrongdoing. Then they

tried by their own inadequate efforts to make themselves acceptable. This did not work, and so they

realized their own helplessness. When God said, "Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten

of the tree?" He wanted to focus Adam’s attention on his wrongdoing. It is only when man will recognize

that God’s judgment follows directly upon his sin, that he realizes his desperate need for grace and the

mercy of God. It is when I become aware of the fact that I am responsible for my sins, and know that

judgment awaits me, that I am ready to cry out, "Woe is me, I am undone."

All who feel their lost condition may know there is a way of escape which God Himself has prepared.

Human beings in themselves are so prone to blame others for their mistakes. They always seek for

reasons behind their trouble and suffering. It is true that men live in a world which is full of trouble. Pain

and sorrow are universal. Many people ascribe distress to ignorance, and say that education is the

answer to this world’s ills. Some say that distress is caused by aggression. They say we must stop the

aggressors. Some say that distress is caused by pride and jealousy and selfishness. In all of this there is

one common underlying idea; everyone agrees on one point: there is something wrong, and if this wrong

is righted, all will be well.

The Bible points out that it is man who is at fault, rather than his circumstances or his environment or

other people who live around him. Man was created in the image of God as a free moral agent. Adam was

given the opportunity to lead a sinless life in a world where pain and death, trouble and strife were

unknown. When Adam chose to sin, he involved all who would be born after him in sin. In Adam all men

are sinful. Here is an aspect of human nature that has profound implications. In the Book of Hebrews we

read of Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedec, the king of Salem. The writer of the Book of Hebrews

goes on to say that "in Abraham," his descendants shared in this act, in the same (p.56) way as all the

descendants of Adam share in his sinful nature. This is sometimes called the federal headship of Adam.

In other words, Adam had in himself all mankind.

The importance of this truth is that in this same way all believers are in Jesus Christ. Just as all men

were in Adam, so all believers are in Christ. Just as in the fall of Adam all men fell, the amazing truth is

that because Christ lived righteously, all believers are lifted unto righteousness.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men,

for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no

law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the

similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so

also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the

gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that

sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences

unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive

abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by

the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the

free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made

sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous (Rom. 5:12-19).

The message of this passage of Scripture is plain. just as sin and death came by Adam, so grace and

life came by Christ. The relationship of Adam to the rest of mankind is easy enough to understand

because of biological connection: it is obvious all men came from Adam. But the relationship of Christ to

all believers is a spiritual connection which escapes our sight. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. We

cannot see it, but it is there. It is true. It is an astonishing and wonderful truth that grace abounds much

more than sin ever could. In chapter 3 of Genesis the dire consequences of Adam’s (p.57) sin are

recorded. It is a short chapter simply written which contains the profound truth that while the practical

details may differ in regard to where and how men live, the general aspects of sin are always present.

This chapter shows the consequences of Adam’s fall. First of all there was the loss of innocence. After

Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened and they knew that they were

naked. Innocence, which had clothed them as a garment, was gone. Then is the record of Adam’s and

Eve’s futile attempts to cover up. They made themselves aprons of fig leaves and hid themselves from

the presence of God. But they were called on to give a reason for what they had done, because they were

responsible for their actions. Even so human beings are always responsible, not only for what they do,

but also for what they hear and follow. Men are responsible for the guidance they follow.

Another consequence of the fall is enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman. In the

words "the seed of the woman," there is something unique and strange. It would be a normal thing to

speak of the "seed of a man," so it is accepted by Bible students that "the seed of a woman" actually

predicts the virgin birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This is seen as the first prophecy that Christ in His

life and death and resurrection would triumph over Satan.

As a further consequence of the fall, woman was destined to suffer pain and sorrow. Generally

speaking, in many cultures woman is helpless and often abused. Also since the fall man must do his

work under difficulties. Originally Adam was to tend the beautiful Garden of Eden, but now outside of

the garden thorns and thistles would make his labor hard.

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of

thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou

art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Gen. 3:18-19).

The most shattering and tragic consequence of man’s fall (p.58) was his alienation from God. The Lord

God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the soil from whence he was created.

So he drove out the man; and be placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword

which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (3:24).

Thus man was alienated from his Creator and God, and so must find some way to be reconciled to

Him that he may be blessed. Thank God that He Himself in love and mercy sent the Gospel of Jesus

Christ into this condemned world. God is calling to men everywhere, "Be ye reconciled to God" through

the complete atonement of Jesus Christ on Calvary, who paid for our sins by dying for them.

"Whosoever will may come."