Genesis 3.1-15
Last week, after Ash Wednesday, we focused each day on some aspect of the cross. But how and why did we ever reach that point? Where did it all start?
This week we go back to the very beginning of the story. Well, nearly the beginning, for, of course, the Bible story begins with God’s good creation and the part God intended for us to play within it. We were created to love God and one another and, as the the image of God, to steward and care for God’s creation. But instead, in the profound simplicity of today’s reading, we chose a different way, disastrously. We chose the path of evil and sin.
Did we fall or were we pushed?
Genesis 3 is usually called the story of ‘the fall'. But don’t you think that’s an inadequate word for what happened? I mean, we didn’t just accidentally slip and fall, did we? No, quite deliberately, we chose to distrust God’s goodness, we chose to disregard God’s warnings, we chose to disobey God’s instructions. ‘Rebellion’ would be a better word. Or, in the story’s own terms, we decided that we would choose for ourselves what constitutes ‘good and evil’, rather than trusting God to determine that for us. And what a mess we have made of the moral autonomy we grabbed. The first things it brought us were both fear in the presence of God and shame in the presence of one another. And a lot worse would follow in the coming chapters.
But were we pushed? Well, the story shows we were tempted, but that’s not the same thing, is it? Eve’s conversation with the serpent shows her acquiescing to the serpent’s hints and suggestions, and not rebutting its straight denial of God’s warning. Neither she nor Adam was forced to disobey God. It was their freely chosen act.
The radical invasion of sin.
In that one act, a mysterious force of evil found an entry point into human life and history. Sin invaded every dimension of the human person. Look how the simplicity of the story conceals great insights.
Spiritually, Eve trusting relationship with God is already fracturing. Mentally, she is using God-given powers (verse 6, rationality, aesthetic appreciation, desire for wisdom, all good things in themselves) in a direction that God had prohibited. Physically, she ‘took. . . and ate', actions within the created world. Relationally, she shared her sinful act with her husband (who was ‘with her', please note, gentlemen).
So sin totally infects the individual person. But when you read the next few chapters, it get much worse, doesn’t it? There are jealousy, anger and murder between brothers, boasting vengeance, corruption and violence throughout society, and the rampant arrogance of the human race. Evil and sin escalate, engulfing individuals, generations, nations creation itself. The Bible gives us a very radical diagnosis of human sin. Thankfully, God also gives us a Reconciler to deal with the scale of the problem.
The mystery of evil
Genesis 3 does not, however, tell us ‘the origin of evil’ as such. In fact, I don’t think the Bible ever gives a straight answer to the question, ‘Where did evil come from?’ We are not told what the serpent was, why it was ‘more cunning’ or how it could talk. All we can say is that it just seems completely out of place, an intruder. Later, of course, the Bible does identify it with Satan. But in Genesis all we know is that the enticement of evil doesn’t come from God, or indeed from within humans themselves, originally. A mysterious evil presence and power is at work, lying, deceptive and clearly hostile to God. Where, what, why, how, all these are left unanswered. Presumably, God thinks, ‘That is something you don’t need to know.’
God’s plan is not to explain evil, but ultimately to overcome and destroy it. And that is why Genesis 3.15 is so important. God’s promise is that evil, embodied here in the serpent, will not have the last word, but will finally be crushed. That is such good news. A serpent-head-crusher will come! A human son of Eve. We rejoice to know that he has indeed come, and won that victory for us. Truly, the gospel begins in Genesis.
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