05.008. Chapter 3

Genesis 3:1-24 The serpent that appeared to Eve is later revealed to be none other than Satan himself (see Revelation 12:9). Those who seek to “demythologize” the Bible believe that this account of the fall is allegorical and not literal. They cite the talking serpent as proof. Can the story of the serpent’s deceiving Eve be accepted as factual? The Apostle Paul thought so (2 Corinthians 11:3). So did the Apostle John (Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2). Nor is this the only instance of a talking animal in Scripture. God gave a voice to Balaam’s donkey to restrain the madness of the prophet (Numbers 22:1-41), and the Apostle Peter accepted this as literal (2 Peter 2:16). These three apostles were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write as they did. Thus to reject the account of the fall as literal is to reject the inspiration of Holy Scripture. There are allegories in the Bible, but this is not one of them.

Notice the steps that plunged the human race into sin. First Satan insinuated doubt about the Word of God: “Yea, hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1). He misrepresented God as forbidding Adam and Eve to eat of any tree (Genesis 3:1). Next, Eve said that they were not to eat or touch the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden (Genesis 3:3). But God had said nothing about touching the tree. Then Satan flatly contradicted God about the inevitability of judgment on those who disobeyed (Genesis 3:4), just as his followers still deny the facts of hell and eternal punishment. Satan misrepresented God as seeking to withhold from Adam and Eve something that would have been beneficial to them (Genesis 3:5). Eve yielded to the threefold temptation: the lust of the flesh (“good for food”), the lust of the eyes (“pleasant to the eyes”), and the pride of life (“a tree to be desired to make one wise”) (Genesis 3:6). In doing so, she acted independently of Adam, her head. She should have consulted him instead of usurping his authority. In the words “she took of the fruit thereof and did eat” lie the explanation of all the sickness, sorrow, suffering, fear, guilt, and death that have plagued the human race ever since that time. Eve was deceived (1 Timothy 2:14), but Adam acted willfully and in deliberate rebellion against God (Genesis 3:6). The first result of sin was a sense of shame and fear (Genesis 3:7-11). The aprons of fig leaves speak of man’s attempt to save himself by a bloodless religion of good works (Genesis 3:7). When called to account by God, sinners excuse themselves. Adam said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me …” as if blaming God (see Proverbs 19:5). Eve said, “The serpent …” (Genesis 3:13), In love and mercy God searched after His fallen creatures with the question “Where art thou?” “This question proved two things—that man was lost and that God had come to seek. It proved man’s sin and God’s grace.”1 God takes the initiative in salvation, demonstrating the very thing Satan got Eve to doubt—His love.

God cursed the serpent to degradation, disgrace, and defeat (Genesis 3:14. The fact that the serpent is cursed more than the cattle or other beasts of the field suggests that reptiles are primarily in view here rather titan Satan. But Genesis 3:15 switches to the Devil himself. This verse is known as the protevangelion, meaning the first gospel. It predicts the perpetual hostility between Satan and the woman (representing all mankind), and between Satan’s seed (his agents) and the woman’s seed (the Messiah). The woman’s seed would crush the Devil’s head, a mortal wound spelling utter defeat. This wound was administered at Calvary when the Savior decisively triumphed over the Devil. Satan, in turn, would bruise the Messiah’s heel. The heel wound here speaks of suffering and even of physical death, but not of ultimate defeat. So Christ, suffered on the cross, and even died, but. He arose from the dead, victorious over sin, hell, and Satan. The fact that He is called the woman’s seed may contain a suggestion of His virgin birth. Note the kindness of God in promising the Messiah before pronouncing sentence in the following verses.

Sin has inevitable consequences. The woman was sentenced to suffering in childbirth. And yet she would still be subject to her husband (Genesis 3:16 NASB). The man was sentenced to earn his livelihood from ground that was cursed with thorns and thistles. It would mean toil and sweat for him. Then at the end of life, he himself would return to dust (Genesis 3:17-19). It should be noted here that work itself is not a curse; it is more often a blessing. It is the sorrow, toil, frustration, perspiration, and weariness connected with work that are the curse.

Adam displayed faith in calling Eve the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20), since no baby had ever been born up to this time. Then coats of skin were provided by God through the death of an animal (Genesis 3:21). This pictures the robe of righteousness which is provided for guilty sinners through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, made available to us on the basis of faith.

There was a shade of truth in Satan’s lie that Eve would become like God (Genesis 3:5). But she and Adam learned by the hard way of experience to discern between good and evil (Genesis 3:22). If they had then eaten of the tree of life, they would have lived forever in bodies subject to sickness, degeneration, and infirmity. Thus it was God’s mercy that prevented them from returning to Eden (Genesis 3:22-24). Cherubim are celestial creatures whose function is to “vindicate the holiness of God against the presumptuous pride of fallen man.”2

Adam and Eve had to decide whether God or Satan was lying. They decided that God was. “Without faith it is tin-possible to please God.” Thus their names are missing from the Honor Roll of Faith in Hebrews 11:1-40.