Genesis 3: Half-Truths And The Blame Game

After two chapters of Paradise, the Bible takes a dark turn in Genesis 3.  What happens in this chapter involving the original sin of humanity will affect everything else to come.

We begin with the sinister character of the serpent, which is described as the most crafty of all the wild animals.  Noticeably, he slithers up to the woman, rather than the man, and poses a misleading question: "Are you really not allowed to eat fruit from any of these trees?"

This "half-truth" is a classic attack still used by the devil today.  Satan loves to misrepresent God, to call into question the nature of our relationship.  Whether tempting us toward legalism or antinomianism (your 25 cent word for the day which means "anti-law" or libertinism), Satan loves to draw us off God's path of righteousness.

Eve responds with some confusion of her own.  She explains that she and Adam may indeed eat fruit from the trees in the Garden - except for the one in the middle, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  This one, Eve says, (correctly) that they may not eat from and (incorrectly) that they cannot even touch.  That's adding restrictions to what God has said.

Using this wedge as opportunity to call God's rules further into question, the serpent makes a bold claim undermining what God has declared.  "You won't die - instead your eyes will be opened and you will be like God."

This also is one of Satan's favorite ploys from his bag of tricks.  Enticing us with the temptation to be like God is something that humans (and fallen angels) have often found difficult to resist.  In fact, some believe that this was the fatal flaw underlying Satan's own fall from grace - the desire to enter into the Trinity and become like God.  Interesting that Satan would use the temptation that he succumbed to on Eve.

The rest, as they say, is history.  Eve ate of the fruit and gave some to her husband, who also ate.  Human sin (rebellion against God) was introduced into Creation.

The chapter then focuses on the blame that the variously guilty parties cast upon each other.  Adam blames Eve for corrupting him.  Eve, in turn, blames the serpent for tricking her.  And the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on.  (Sorry!)

One lesson to draw from this is to admit our mistakes rather than laying the blame for them at the feet of another.  God, in His infinite mercy and patience, did not immediately kill Adam and Eve.  Instead, he began working through them, their descendants, and throughout the rest of human history to bring His fallen creation back to Him, redeemed.  That overriding viewpoint of redemption allows the Bible to make the most coherent sense for all that follows.

P.S. Some have raised the question as to why God cut off access to the Tree of Life from Adam and Eve.  Why not give them the opportunity right then to live forever?  Isn't God being cruel to let them, and their descendants, die?  For a deeper look at this question, I recommend C.S. Lewis' book, "The Magician's Nephew," from The Chronicles of Narnia.  It explores a similar issue that takes place in another (fictitious) world.  Had God's creatures reached out their hand and taken from the Tree of Life, Lewis' speculation is that their sin nature would have become an indelible and tragic part of their eternity.

According to Revelation, one day we will once again be allowed to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life, because our sin problem has been definitively dealt with on the Cross of Jesus Christ.