We read in Genesis that God made ‘Adam’. In English we think this means that God made a guy named Adam. But in Hebrew, this means God made humankind. In the beginning God made humankind as ‘one’ and then He separated them into two beings (male and female) and He meant them to choose to work TOGETHER as ‘one’, so with the same goals and desires and in the same plan. Different but equal in God’s plan.
God gave a command to humankind (both man and woman) and that was (you can read the words in Genesis 1:28-29) “Have lots of children…teach them what I’ve taught you…raise them to fill the earth with people who will care for it and manage it well, who will care for the birds, fish and every creature I’ve created.” They were also to manage each other, they were to care for each other and be careful to stay in God’s plan and to help each other stay in God’s plan and be happy. This is important to remember and understand. (Because neither one of them cared for each other or stayed in God’s plan, both of them sinned.)
God placed humankind in a beautiful garden He’d created for them. This was also the place He met with them. In this garden, He gave them one RULE that would test whether they would use the choice He’d created them with to obey Him. It is important to have choice, otherwise they would have been puppets or slaves. But He didn’t make puppets or slaves, did He? He gave them (and us) choice to obey Him or not. If we obey Him, we stay in His will. If we disobey Him, we take ourselves out of His will. And that is where ‘death’ really begins.
So God told the man and the woman this rule. God said there were two trees in the middle of the garden that were special. One He called the Tree of Life. They were allowed to eat from it because they had no sin. The other tree God called the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This one He said NOT to eat from. Both of them heard the rule.
Notice in Genesis 1:31 that all God made was not only good, but very good. Genesis 2:1 says it was complete. Nothing more could be added to make it better. Remember this…it affects what happens next.
Now if you read Genesis 3 carefully, you see that the Deceiver (also called Satan) made Eve doubt whether God really did make everything good and complete. He said something different. He said God really didn’t give them EVERYTHING. And you know what? He was right! God didn’t give Adam and Eve the awareness of evil. That was the one thing they lacked. Did they need to know about evil in order to rule well? NO! But Satan spoke to Eve and planted some doubt in her mind.
Genesis 3:6 says she looked at the tree (that they had been commanded not to eat from) and she saw that it didn’t look bad, in fact it looked really good, it was beautiful and its fruit looked good and would be good for food, and even better…it would make them LIKE GOD! This was very appealing, to be like God. To make ALL YOUR OWN DECISIONS…just as if YOU were GOD!
This is still humankind’s biggest temptation, you know? To hear what God says, and then to decide to do things our own way. Worst is when we convince ourselves we’re still doing what God wants, but we’re really doing it OUR way…not HIS. (It says in 1 John 3:4 that sin is acting without God’s Law, its law-less-ness.)
So what did Eve do? Well, you can read in Genesis 3:6 that she took some of the fruit and ate it. AND she gave some to Adam. Where was Adam this whole time? He was WITH HER! Did Adam care for his wife as God had intended? Did he protect her and help her to do the right things? Did he step in at any time and say…NO that’s not what God said, don’t do what Satan says! What did Adam do? … NOTHING!! It is just as wrong to do nothing when God says to do something, as it is to do something that God says not to do.
Adam actually sinned even before Eve did. His sin was actually greater than hers. He was the first one to break the commandment God gave in Genesis 1:28-29, to care for the earth and each other. When he didn’t care for Eve, she fell too. Yes, she was deceived, wasn’t she? But what about Adam? He willingly not only did nothing, putting Eve in danger, but then did something…he took of the fruit and ate too.
Both of them sinned and both of them received ‘death’ which came in different ways. They knew immediately that they had come out from under the protection of God’s will. In English it says they realized they were ‘naked’ and they felt shame. In Hebrew it means they realized they had come out from the covering of God’s will.
If you read the words of God recorded in Genesis 3 carefully, you’ll notice a few things. God gives them a chance to be sorry. He asks, ‘Where are you?’ and then ‘Did you eat from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?’ At either of these times, Adam and Eve could have admitted their sin. But they didn’t. Note Adam’s response in Genesis 3:12…’she made me do it’. And Eve’s response in Genesis 3:13…’the serpent tricked me’. They passed the blame, didn’t they? They stayed in sin. They didn’t repent, which means to turn away from the sin and leave it behind and return to God’s will. Neither one of them did this. And its important to note. They were both guilty.
Eve couldn’t have sinned without Adam having sinned first, by failing to protect her from sin. And he couldn’t have sinned without her failing to care for him and turn to him for advice at least. Both of them sinned, and both sinned willingly.
If we skip over to some of Jesus words now…in Mark 12 someone asked Jesus what was the most important of God’s Laws? And he said that the most important one was to listen to God and do what He said. That is what it means to love God. It means to TRUST Him ENOUGH to actually DO what HE says!! This is something that each one of us still struggles with daily. It is hard. We really want to act as our own ‘god’ and do what WE think is best. As we begin to see and understand this, it really does make it easier to trust in God and NOT to trust in ‘me’ as if I was ‘god’.
If we trust God that way, we will also care for each other, and help those around us to also listen to and obey God. To live in God’s ways is good for us. To live in any other way is to remain in death. Jesus lived in God’s way, no matter what hard times he encountered. He loved US enough to protect and save us. Isn’t that amazing? If we ‘remain in him’ like he says in John 15, we will do what he did…we will obey God and care for each other.
God’s way!
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