It Was Just A Piece Of Fruit, Right? Wrong!

Here it is the first of Chapter 3 of Genesis, everything has been created and it was all good. But now in this chapter that is all about to change. It is in this chapter that we see the fall of the human family. This is the chapter that offers an explanation for tragedy, suffering, and evil in the world. With out chapter 3 there would be no explanation for the presence of sin. For we have here an account of the temptation with which Satan seduced our first parents, to draw them into sin, and which proved fatal to them.

OUTLINE OF GEN 3

Satan, by means of a creature here called the serpent, deceives Eve, v. 1-5.

Both she and Adam disobey the divine command, and fall into sin and misery, v. 6-7.

God desires the fellowship with Adam and Eve. v. 8-9

The departure of man from God and man’s denial of guilt. v. 10-13

The creature called the serpent is degraded and punished, v. 14.

The promise of redemption by the incarnation of Christ, v. 15.

Eve sentenced, Adam sentenced v. 16-17.

The ground cursed, and death threatened, v. 18-19.

Why the woman was called Eve, v. 20.

Adam and Eve clothed with skins, v. 21.

The wretched state of our first parents after their fall and their expulsion from the garden of Paradise, v. 22-24.

Things to Note:

1. Satan comes as serpent v. 1

2. The subtlety of the temptation

3. The first insinuation is to doubt God; then disobey God, and then finally deny God.
4. There is a three-fold temptation:
   1. Physical – Bodily – fruit that is good to eat
   2. Mental – “delight to the eye”
   3. Spiritual – “desire to make one wise”
5. Gen. 3:15 is the first promise and prophecy of the coming Redeemer.

THE SERPENT

The Serpent:

• The serpent was apparently a beautiful creature, in its uncursed state, that Satan used in the temptation.
• The serpent it seems stood at the head of all the inferior animals.
• He was an animal of the field, therefore not a domesticated animal
• He seemed to show more wisdom and understanding than all the other animals.
• He was more crafty; i.e. clever; than the other animals. But it is obvious from the whole gist of this context that the term is employed in a bad sense, implying craft, cunning, guile and, accordingly, others have more appropriately translated it to be skilled in all manner of deceit and mischief, any beast of the field.
• There is a good chance that he walked erect, or at least on all fours. This is necessarily implied in his punishment –“on thy belly shalt thou go.
• Was he gifted with speech or did Satan speak through him is not clear. In either case it did not cause Eve alarmed.
• He also seem to have the gift of reason, we see him reasoning and disputing with Eve. Again however Satan influenced this, but to what extent we do not know.

It seems apparent that it was not the serpent, as a sagacious and crafty animal, responsible for the temptation, but that the serpent was simply the tool of that evil spirit, who is met with in the further course of the world's history under the name of Satan (the opponent), or the Devil, the slanderer or accuser.

Gen 3:1-8

3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL (vv. 1-7)

What we have here is an account of the temptation with which Satan assaulted our first parents, to draw them into sin, and which proved fatal to them.

“from any tree of the garden?” The question was designed to suggest that God was not good and fair because He had restricted the eating of the fruit of one of the trees. The serpent quotes the command fallaciously, as if it were a ban, not only of that tree, but of all. God had said, “Of every tree you may eat, except one.” Satan, by aggravating the exception, endeavors to invalidate the concession: “Hath God said, You shall not eat of every tree?” The divine law cannot be rebuke unless it is first misrepresented.

The serpent calls God by the name of Elohim alone, and the woman does the same. In this more general and indefinite name the personality of the living God is obscured. To attain his end, the tempter felt it necessary to change the living personal God into a merely general God, and to exaggerate the prohibition, in the hope of exciting in the woman's mind partly distrust of God Himself, and partly a doubt as to the truth of His word.

The serpent’s words were listened to. Instead of turning away, the woman replied, "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." She was aware of the ban, therefore, and fully understood its meaning; but she added, "neither shall ye touch it," and proved by this very exaggeration that it appeared too stringent even to her, and therefore that her love and confidence towards God were already beginning to waver.

Here was the beginning of her fall: "for doubt is the father of sin, and skeptics the mother of all transgression; and in this father and this mother, all our present knowledge has a common origin with sin" (Ziegler). From doubt, the tempter advances to a direct denial of the truth of the divine threat, and to a malicious suspicion of the divine love

Now that Eve had entered into conversation, the seducer advanced his more powerful argument. He quickly suggested that man's great desire to be on a par with and truly like God had been deliberately thwarted by divine command. Their understanding will be greatly enlightened and improved; and they will be as gods, like God. As the original word is the same which is used to point out the Supreme Being, Gen 1:1, so it has here the same signification, and the object of the tempter appears to have been this: to persuade Eve and then Adam that they should, by eating of this fruit, become wise and powerful as God (for knowledge is power,) and be able to exist forever, independently of him.

The serpent charged the Creator with selfishness and with a malicious falsehood, representing him as envious and unwilling for his creatures to have something that would make them like the Him.

It should be pointed out that this was the first falsehood the woman ever heard. Her mind was also immature, so far as experience was concerned. The opening mind is naturally inclined to believe the truth of every assertion, until it has learned by experience the falsehood of some.

The Fruit

1. The fruit appeared to be wholesome and nutritious. And that it was pleasant to the eyes.

2. The beauty of the fruit tended to wet and increase appetite. And a tree to be desired to make one wise, which was,

3. An additional motive to please the palate. From these three sources all natural and moral evil sprang.

Eve saw the tree not only with the eye of sense. But also with the eye of fancy, highly excited by the hints of the tempter. Eve saw that it was not only good for food, but also to be desired to make one wise. Appetite, taste, and the love of wisdom, are the great motives in the human heart and mind, which assumes this tree, will gratify. Other trees satisfy the taste and the sight. But this one has the pre-eminent charm of administering not only to the sense, but also to the reason.

Eve took it. It was her own act and deed. The devil did not take it, and put it into her mouth, whether she would or not take it was up to her, and so she took it. Satan may tempt, but he cannot force; may persuade us to cast ourselves down, but he cannot cast us down.

Eve gets Adam to Bite

It is more than likely that Adam was not with Eve when she was tempted, but came to her when she had eaten. She gave it to him, persuading him with the same arguments that the serpent had used with her, adding this to all the rest, that she herself had eaten of it, and found it so far from being deadly that it was extremely pleasant and grateful. Stolen waters are sweet. It seems those that have themselves done wrong are commonly willing to draw in others to do the same. Just like the devil, Eve was no sooner a sinner than a tempter.

Adam ate, overcome by his wife. It is pointless to ask, "What would have been the consequence if Eve only had transgressed?" The wisdom of God, we are sure, would have decided the difficulty. However Adam did eat, this act involved disbelief of God's word, together with confidence in the devil's. In neglecting the tree of life of which he was allowed to eat, and eating of the tree of knowledge, which was forbidden, he plainly showed contempt of the favors God had bestowed on him, and a preference given to those God did not see fit for him.

The ultimate consequences of the transgression. Shame and fear seized Adam and Eve, in the fact itself; these came into the world along with sin, and still attend it.

Adam and Eve both strong fell under a strong conviction. Their eyes were opened. The eyes of their consciences were opened, their hearts broken for what they had done. Now, when it was too late, they saw the folly of eating forbidden fruit. They saw a loving God provoked, his grace and favor forfeited, his likeness and image lost, dominion over the creatures gone. They saw their natures corrupted and depraved, and felt a disorder in their own spirits of which they had never before been conscious.

They quickly made aprons or (girdles) to provide some measure of concealment as they looked for a cure for their bewilderment, loneliness, and guilt. The fall of man had occurred.