Day 2 – Sin – The Fall

We don’t know exactly how long man stayed in his sinless state. It could have been very short – a few days – or it could have been longer. The Bible doesn’t say. What we do know is that it didn’t last forever. We read about the fall of man in Gen chapter 3. This is when sin entered into the human race.

Shortly after Adam was created, God told him: “You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat the fruit from the tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die” (Gen 2:16-17). What we see here is not simply a command from God; we see the fact that God blessed mankind with the freedom to choose. We can say this because if man had no choice, this command was entirely unnecessary. It’s that little word, “if” that makes all the difference.

As we look at the fall, let’s remember that Adam was not stupid, nor was he forgetful. He knew what God had said, and no doubt he had every intention of pleasing his Creator. But soon enough his freedom to choose was put to the test.

Gen 3:1-7 tells the story of this testing. Eve was tempted to disobey God because of the physical beauty of the fruit and because of the promise that it would make her even more “like God” (Gen 3:5) than she already was. The devil had set a cunning trap by contradicting God’s warning of death and enticing her with supposed goodness, wisdom and godliness. Sadly, she gave in and ate (Gen 3:6).

But the real tragedy is something we can easily miss if we don’t read carefully: Adam was with her (v 6). You would think that the two of them could have helped each other overcome this temptation. But before you judge them too severely, just take a minute and consider your own life. Has there ever been a time when you did something you knew was wrong? Have you ever done it with someone else? Why didn’t you stop each other?

But back to our story: all we know is that Adam didn’t stop Eve – in fact, he participated with her (Gen 3:6).

And it caused all the trouble in the world.

Consider:

Why do you think it can be so hard to resist doing something that looks good, even though you know is bad?

Can you think of any problems that have come your way because of doing something you shouldn’t have?