Orange Park Bible Church
(15-16) Genesis 2:25-3:7
“The Fall of Man”
Introduction:
We now find ourselves at what John MacArthur, A.W. Pink, and R.C. Sproul Jr. call the most important chapter in the Bible. “Moses unfolds more in that chapter than all mankind would have been capable of finding out of themselves though they had studied to all eternity” (George Whitefield).
An Overview of Genesis
Who was the author of Genesis? Moses (Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:46; Joshua 1:7-8; 2 Chronicles 25:4, 35:12; Ezra 3:2, 7:6; Nehemiah 8:1; etc.).
Who was the original audience of Genesis? Although it is arguable that different sections of Genesis were written at different times (by Moses), the primary audience of Genesis were the Israelites as they were about to enter the Promised Land:
Evidence suggests that Genesis was written after Israel received God’s Laws at Sinai, for specific Sinaitic laws have made their way into Genesis. For example, Israel’s week of six days of work and one day of rest are reflected in the creation account. Further, Noah distinguishes between clean and unclean animals, works on a seven-day cycle and presumably keeps the Sabbath. Later the LORD says to Isaac that ‘Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws’ (Genesis 26:5). These are indications that Genesis was written to Israel AFTER God gave His law at Sinai (hundreds of years after the events recorded in Genesis). It becomes clear as one reads through the second half of the Pentateuch that it was not written primarily to the generation that came out of Egypt. Its readership was specifically the generation of Israelites that was about to go into the Promised Land.
Try to imagine: Before Genesis, the Israelites had no clue where they came from…
Accordingly, we should probably see the original addressees of the book of Genesis as Israel in Moab, soon to enter the land of Canaan. Israel had tried to enter the land earlier but failed miserably because of their great fear: ‘Our kindred (the spies) have made our hearts melt by reporting, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven!’” (Deuteronomy 1:28). God punished their lack of faith with a forty-year desert journey marked with graves: everyone in that generation died in the desert, except Moses, Caleb, and Joshua. Now Israel still fears to enter the land, as we see in Joshua 1 with its repeated command, ‘Be strong and Courageous’ (Joshua 1:6-7, 9).
Also, the use of the term “LORD” (Yahweh) shows Moses is writing to Israel.
(Italics are to be cited as “Preaching Christ from Genesis” by Sidney Greuidanus)
· Before entering Canaan, Israel had to understand who they were, how they originated, and what purpose they were to serve as the covenant people of Yahweh.
· The two main aims of Genesis are to help Israel “back then” and to help the Church by helping them to see Christ “now.”
Genesis is divided into two distinct parts:
· Primeval History (Genesis 1:1-11:26)
· Patriarchal History (Genesis 11:27-50:26)
· God gives milestones throughout the book by beginning Ten Distinct Sections with “these are the generations of; these are the descendants of). Genesis 1:1-2:3 was the preface. The first of ten sections formally begins in 2:4.
Moses’ aim was to show the Israelites how they became a people and how they got to Egypt. This is precisely why the story of Abraham and Joseph demand so much attention in Genesis.
Covenant is made with Adam, Noah, and Abraham and is renewed with Isaac, Jacob, and all of Israel.
At the end of the “fall,” God promises a seed. Abel is killed (4:8); Sarai is barren (11:30); Rebekah is barren (25:12); Rachel is barren (29:31); Jacob and his family almost starve in Canaan (42:2). The first born Adam, Cain, Abel, Ishmael, and Esau all fail to keep covenant. The story of Genesis is about God’s plan of redemption as seen through Seth, to Noah, to Abram, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to Joseph.
Israel is reading this book while suffering greatly and responding sinfully. Why is life so hard? Why all the suffering and pain? Why do we all die? Moses’ goal was to give hope and instruction to suffering Israel.
THE MESSAGE OF GENESIS: GOD RESPONDS TO HUMAN REBELLION WITH JUDGMENT AND GRACE. GOD’S RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT IS GREATLY TEMPERED BY HIS MARVELOUS GRACE.
Paul tells us that we will be outwitted by Satan if we are ignorant of his strategies (II Corinthians 2:11).
1) The temptation at the tree should signify what God privileged them to do rather than what he prohibited them from doing:
Read Genesis 1:26-28
· God’s probationary commandment allowed man to acknowledge that his own kingship was that of a vice-regent or steward.
· “Good and evil may at times be used as legal terms used in pronouncing judgments (Isaiah 5:20, 23; Malachi 2:17). The reference is precisely to a king engaged in rendering judicial decisions (2 Samuel 14:17; I Kings 3:9, 28). Here man as priestly guardian of the sanctuary would be called upon to enforce the demands of God’s exclusive holiness against the unholy intruder. This is what it means to have dominion.” (Commentator). They were given dominion over the animals, and when this serpent began to question God’s Word, they should have quickly rebuked him.
· “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” did not refer to some “special knowledge” that man might gain, but the application of the knowledge he had already gained from the mouth of God. We see the parallel to Genesis 3 in Luke 4 when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness and answers with only what is knowable from God’s Word. Applying the good God had told them to the evil that endangered them.
Shameless (Genesis 2:25) – The thought of being naked must have been astonishing for Israel, for they had a strong sense of shame, covering most of their bodies with long robes and scarves.
The word “shameless” in English and Hebrew are different. Hebrew: “Bush” – To be disconcerted, discontent or disappointed – “Genesis 2:25 reiterates the contentment of the couple with God’s provision” (Wenham).
2) The call to holiness and obedience is an invitation to find true satisfaction in God alone.
Read Psalm 84 with an emphasis on 84:11b
“Satan is ever seeking to inject that poison into our hearts: to distrust God’s goodness especially in connection with His prohibitions and precepts. That is really what lies behind all evil lusting and disobedience: a discontentment with our position and portion, a craving for something which God has wisely withheld from us. Temptation is the attempt to question God’s love” (Pink).
***Note the name change from “LORD God” to “God” for the first time.
· Explain the difference between the names of “God” and “LORD”
· “God” is used exclusively 35 times in the first 34 verses of Genesis 1:1-2:3
· “LORD God” is uses 20 times between 2:4-3:24 – notice the only uses of the solitary name “God” is in the interaction between Satan and Eve.
· “LORD God” is only used 16 times in the entire Old Testament (following Genesis 2:4-3:24)
Serpent (3:1)
3) The first step into sin is to allow Satan to entice us into questioning the truthfulness of God’s Word.
First, note that Satan chooses a very familiar vehicle (an animal) to incarnate himself into. In our day, He uses things we are most familiar with (media, telephones, television). Notice, Adam is tempted with someone very dear to him (snake a symbol of healing); medical doctors today use the sign of a snake.
Notice: the serpent focuses on God’s prohibition.
- God’s gracious command, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden” (Genesis 2:16) is not mentioned.
God: My restrictions are the giving of my greatest gifts to you (He is the Greatest Gift).
Satan: God’s restrictions express the withholding or withdrawal of His greatest gifts from you.
· “God” instead of “LORD God” happens today. Our problems are looked at prohibitions. We fall into the same snare when we allow our problems, suffering, and God’s prohibitions to increase the perceived distance between us and Him instead of allowing them to draw us closer (LORD God).
God’s most gracious provision is found in His prohibition (command not to sin). For Eve to keep herself from the tree was an invitation to feast on God.
Sin
Part 1: Genesis 3:2-5
“We do not agree with those who charge her with adding to God’s Word in verse 3. For while the ‘neither shall ye touch it’ was not distinctly expressed in Genesis 2:17, nevertheless, it was clearly and necessarily implied. How could Eve eat of the fruit without touching it? The one act requires the other. There is a very important principle involved in what has just been pointed out. Our Lord made this principle very plain in His Sermon on the Mount. He insisted that “Thou shalt not kill” is by no means restricted to the bare act of murder, but also the thought of hatred. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” includes very much more than outlawing the intercourse between sexes, but also impure imaginations and desires” (Pink). Also see Numbers 6:1-4 and Proverbs 6:27.
Therefore, the issue here is not what is said in Genesis 3:3b, but what is NOT said in between verses 5-6. Here is where the whole thing breaks down (between vv. 5-6).
· Read Genesis 39:1-12 – Look at Joseph, a picture of Jesus, given dominion to rule as vice-regent of his master’s house. Notice especially the persistence of the temptation.
· Look at the same persistence in Luke 4.
· Turn to and Read 2 Corinthians 10:3-7; 11:1-3
· Romans 8:13 – Put to death therefore the deeds of the flesh (By setting your mind)
· In Matthew 16:23 Jesus did not sit down and reason with Peter. He immediately killed the thought or idea with “Get thee behind me Satan.”
Part 2 Genesis 3:6
Genesis 3:6 is paralleled by James 1:12-18 and then James transitions into “Hearing and Doing the Word” in vv. 19-27.
James 1:12 “steadfast” - The word in the KJV is “endure” which is used elsewhere for Jesus actions on the Cross (Hebrews 12:2) and “But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).
4) This is the picture of exhausting perseverance.
How? James 1:16-18; James 4:7-8a (the command to resist the devil is fulfilled in the command to draw near to God).
If Eve would have feasted from God’s clear provision, she would not have been hungry enough to entertain His prohibition. God’s command: “You shall eat of every tree” was also the key to obeying “You shall not eat of this tree.”
Love may be regarded in two different conditions. The first is when its object is at a distance, and when it becomes love in a state of desire. The second is when its object
is in possession, and then it becomes love in a state of indulgence. Under the impulse of desire, man feels himself urged onward in some path or pursuit of activity for its gratification. You never will be able to arrest any of its leading pursuits by a naked demonstration of their vanity. It is quite in vain to think of stopping one of these pursuits in any way else but by stimulating to another. The most effectual way of withdrawing the mind from one object is by presenting to it another object still more alluring. Its adhesion to that on which it has fastened the preference of its regards, cannot willingly be overcome by the rending away of a simple separation. It can be done only by the application of something else, to which it may feel the adhesion of a still stronger and more powerful preference. Such is the grasping tendency of the human heart, that it must have something to lay hold of—and which, if wrestled away without the substitution of another something in its place, would leave a void and a vacancy as painful to the mind as hunger is to the natural system. Even the Strongest Resolve is not enough to dislodge Affection by Leaving a Void. We know of no other way by which to keep the love of the world out of our heart than to keep in our hearts the love of God. But faith works by love; and the way of expelling from the heart the love that transgresses the law is to admit into its receptacles the love which fulfills the law.
- From “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection” by Thomas Chalmers
Galatians 5:16-24 – The fruit of the Spirit does not consist primarily of outward growth, but of inward change in the arena of desire.
5) Slippery Slope
Remember 2 Corinthians 10:3-7, 11:1-3 “Look at what is before your eyes”
The woman saw that it was a “delight” to the eyes. The Hebrew root word for “delight” is to covet.
With remarkable brevity, compared with the long-winded descriptions that precede it and the recriminations that follow, the fatal fall of man is described rapidly with eleven consecutive clauses. In one verse we see a very slippery slope (v. 6).
6) Shame (Genesis 3:7)
The same phrase, “man and his wife,” last occurred in 2:25: “The two of them, man and his wife, were nude, but they were not ashamed.” The trust of innocence is replaced by the fear of guilt. The trees that God Created for man to enjoy (creation) are now being used to hide man from God.
“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces, Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them?” (Ezekiel 14:3).
Transition into Sunday Night Discipleship Training:
“Once Adam and Eve declare their autonomy, they at once realize that each of them has the capability and the will to decide independently what is good and what is evil. Since the other person has chosen to defy God to advantage self, how can he or she be trusted not to abuse the other in self-interest? They cover themselves because a relationship cannot survive in an environment of distrust” (Waltke). Genesis 3 explains why we are so hesitant to be vulnerable and intimate with one another. We are driven into seclusion from shameless authentic accountability and discipleship with one another.
This manifest itself in abrasiveness, flamboyance, shyness, intellectualism, withdrawal. This is why discipleship relationships are so important.
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