Genesis 3:1-7

1. Locate the passage

This passage is the account of the fall. Note how the nakedness of 3:7 is juxtaposed by the nakedness of 2:25. It explains the origin of sin and its consequences on mankind. It anticipates the consequences of the man and woman being relocated out of the garden.

2. Genre

The passage is narrative. The recorded conversations include: the serpent to Eve and Eve to the serpent. No conversation is recorded between the serpent and Adam or Adam and Eve.

3. Determine the structure of the passage

4. Exegete the passage

This passage reveals the pattern of temptation. The serpent, who only speaks twice in the text, offers an alternative to God’s plan and their yielding to temptation brings imbalance into God’s good creation.

The temptation is omniscience—knowing good and evil. It is the quest to be like God.

3:1 – the serpent – the general word for “snake.”

• See other passages of snakes in the Bible (Ex. 4:3; Lev. 11:41-45; Num. 21:8; Job 26:13; Ps. 58:4; Isa 27:1; Matt. 10:16)
• The text does not explicitly identify the serpent as satan. However, 3:15 reveals the ongoing battle between mankind and the “evil” of the serpent. Paul equates the serpent in 3:15 with “satan” (Rom. 16:20). The role of the serpent parallels the adversary of Job 1 & 2, the “devil” in Matt. 4:1, and the identification of Peter’s opposition to Jesus’ plan as “satan” in Matt. 16:23. Satan is also described as by Jesus as a “murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).
• The tempter (as one NOT created in God’s image; cf. 1:26-27) opposes mankind and God’s Word

3:1 – “more crafty” – the word “crafty” (“arum”) is a Hebrew play on words with the word, “naked” (“eyrom”)

• Temptation is enticing, but still a choice
• The serpent’s strategy is to:
  1. Distort God’s Word (misquotes God’s Word)
  2. Question God’s Integrity (You will not die)
  3. Reject God’s Goodness
     • God knows …
     • You’ll be like God (He’s keeping you from it)
  4. Entice Mankind’s Pride (You will be like God)
     • The serpent’s appeal to mankind’s pride (“like God”)
  5. Attack the Family (She gave to Adam who was with her)
     • The serpent went to Eve and not Adam
     • Part of the temptation was for her to “persuade” Adam to sin with her

3:1 – He said to the woman – the serpent speaks to the woman and not to the man. This is a clear effort to undermine Adam’s role as head of his family. See 1 Tim.            2:14.

3:1 – “Has God said” – the serpent avoids the use of the name of the Lord

• Note: only the serpent and Eve refer to the Lord merely as “God.” Every other reference in the chapter, the narrator refers to Him with the two-fold title, “Lord God.”
• The serpent begins by misquoting God’s command by:
  • Making the command a negative instead of a positive
    • Adding a “not” at the beginning of the command – did God tell you not to eat of any tree?
    • An effort to make God’s commands seem burdensome
  • Deemphasizing the liberal nature of God’s goodness
    • Moving the phrase “of every tree” to the end of the sentence to emphasize the questioning of “every tree.”
      • This question of the serpent is intended to undermine God’s goodness. Of course, God didn’t say that they could not eat of “any” tree.
      • Moreover, this is clearly contradictory to what God specifically said to them in 2:16.
    • Omitting the word “freely” from the command (cf. 2:16; note that Eve also misquotes this in her response in 3:3)
  • Under-emphasizing the individual responsibility
    • Use of the plural “you” instead of the singular “you” in 2:16
  • The enemy always tries to distort God’s Word for his purpose (cf. Matt. 4:6)

3:2 – Eve knew God’s command from 2:16. Either the command was reiterated by God or relayed to her by Adam.

3:3 – Eve knew the consequences of sin

3:4 – “You will not die”

• A direct denial of the truthfulness of God’s Word
• The irony of the woman not only talking to a serpent by listening to the serpent overrule God’s Word is thick

3:5 – God knows … the suggestion that God is holding something back from you

3:5 – Your eyes will be opened – you’ll be like God

• This is half-true. A common tactic of the enemy
• You will be a god.

3:6 – The woman “saw” – cf. 1 John 2:16

• Note the staccato nature of the verbs: she saw; she took; ate; gave; he ate
• The pattern of temptation begins with a look
  • Seeing the fruit wasn’t the problem, but the look led to the action

3:6 – “Good … pleasant … desirable” – the lure of temptation

• “tov” (good) is a clear distortion of how God saw the “goodness” of His creation (cf. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 25, 31)
  • Here, Eve makes herself the determiner of what is good, rather than God.
• The lure of the temptation was noted in Eve’s senses – She “saw” that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and believed the temptation of the serpent that it would make them wise.
• The enticement was the goodness of the food, the attractiveness of its appeal, and the desired result (make you wise).

3:6 – she gave to her husband with her

• The obvious temptation to disrupt the family
• The fact that Adam was there and did not stop her from eating is significant
• The fact that Adam so willingly participates is noteworthy
• While Eve is presented as giving the fruit to Adam, that does not absolve him of any guilt in the exchange. He is the one who was tasked to tend the garden and protect it (cf. 2:15).

3:7 – the staccato description of the consequences parallels the pattern of the sin

• Their eyes of both were open … they knew … they sewed … and made

3:7 – “they knew” – what sin does to your mind; the cognitive reality of sin

3:7 – covering – the effort to cover up one’s sin begins here

• The only other use of this exact form of this word in the OT is Joel 1:8 describing a woman clothed in sackcloth mourning the death of her husband.

5. Let the structure of the text drive the sermon

• The choice of sin – sin is a choice
  • Exp. Being tempted is not sin, but yielding to it is
    • The devil didn’t make you do it!
    • Sin begins listening to the wrong voices
      • Adam should have stepped in to intervene or stopped Eve when she offered it to him.
    • The pattern of temptation:
      • Distort God’s Word
        • Making the command a negative instead of a positive
        • Deemphasizing the liberal nature of God’s goodness
        • Under-emphasizing the individual responsibility
      • Question God’s Integrity
      • Reject God’s Goodness
      • Entice mankind’s Pride (You will be like God)
      • Attack the Family (She gave to Adam who was with her)
      • Guarding against temptation begins by being careful with God’s Word
        • The devil’s half-truths lead to whole untruth
• The consequences of sin
  • The end of innocence
  • The distortion of something good (cf. 2:25)
  • A break in a relationship with God and also between Adam and Eve as Adam later blames Eve for the sin.
  • The beginning of a pattern of trying to cover it up
    • Sin can’t be covered up!