Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

What does Genesis Chapter 3 mean?

After the triumph of the creation of the universe and all life, as described in Genesis 1—2, chapter 3 turns to the tragedy of paradise lost. As chapter 2 ends, the first humans, Adam and Eve, are naked and unashamed, blissfully free from any experience of evil. By the end of this chapter, they will be burdened. Rebellion will bring awareness of their own capacity for sin, and their separation from the God who created them.

Their fall begins with a talking serpent. Satan seems to have either taken possession of a serpent’s body or assumed the form of a snake. He is described as the craftiest of all wild animals. This creature approaches Eve with the single purpose of convincing her to disobey God by eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Conversations recorded in the Bible often have the appearance of a summary, rather than a transcript. We don’t know exactly how long it took the serpent to convince Eve. However, his masterful temptation is so effective that she seems to make her fatal choice in the space of one short conversation. First he casts doubt on what God actually did or did not command. Then, he draws the woman into thinking about the fairness of God’s command. Then he flatly calls God a liar, questioning God’s character and motives.

Eve buys it all. The forbidden tree is beautiful, the food looks good to eat, and she believes the lie that it will make her wise. Adam quickly joins her, and the pair are immediately crushed by their shame. This includes a sudden self-consciousness about their nudity. The “knowledge of good and evil” is achieved by the rejection of good and the embracing of evil.

So, though it is pointless to do so, Adam and Eve attempt to hide from God. God found them anyway. They confess their sin, but even then attempt to shift the blame. God confronts the serpent and Satan, delivering to him the first of the curses resulting from the fall. Serpents would crawl on their bellies forevermore, serving as a reminder of this moment. In addition, Satan’s existence would be characterized by his war with humanity. He would win a painful victory—bruising Christ’s heel—but would be crushed—by Christ—in the end.

The sentences pronounced for Eve, and then Adam, are heartbreaking in the way they continue to reflect our everyday human experiences. Women would suffer pain, both in bearing and birthing children and in ongoing conflict with her husband. Men would face pain and frustration in his work, struggling to make the cursed ground yield food until he finally died and returned to the ground himself.

Despite their disobedience and sin, God still provides for mankind. This begins with clothes made from the skin of an animal, the first sacrifice of life for a covering. But Adam and Eve cannot stay in the Garden of Eden. It is no longer for them. For one thing, God would not allow them to eat of the Tree of Life and gain physical immortality in their state of spiritual death and sin. To be trapped in a perpetual state of death and separation would be truly cruel.

God banishes mankind from the garden and assigns an angel to guard the way to the Tree of Life. With that, the painful story of fallen human history begins.

Chapter Context
Genesis 2 ended with the last glimpse of a sinless world. Adam and Eve are perfect in themselves, in their purpose, and in their relationship as husband and wife. Chapter 3 tells the story of that paradise lost; the result of the first willful human sin. The consequences: immediate shame and lifelong separation from their home with God. Chapter 4 will describe the beginning of their lives together, the beginning of the painful story of human history.

Verse by Verse

Verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

The previous two chapters described God’s creation of the universe and how fully He provided for the first two human beings. Genesis chapter 3 turns to describing how they became separated from God.

In this verse, a new character is introduced: the serpent. Who is he, and where did he come from? We have no reason to assume that animals possessed the power of speech and reason at this time. Still, some commentators remark that the woman—later named Eve—seems oddly unsurprised when the serpent speaks to her. Others point out that many conversations recorded in the Bible appear to be summaries, not word-for-word transcripts. The actual discussion might well have taken longer than what’s recorded here.

We’re told the serpent is the most crafty or shrewd of all the wild animals. This is from the Hebrew term ā’rum, which also means “prudent” or “sly.” The term, itself, is not necessarily negative. However, as with any gift or ability, how one chooses to use it makes the difference between sin and righteousness. In this case, the serpent uses “craftiness” in order to ruin mankind. After the fall God specifically curses the serpent (Genesis 3:14–15).

Not all Bible scholars agree, but most understand this speaking serpent to be Satan himself. As a result, conservative Bible teachers generally hold one of two interpretations. First, that Satan possessed and spoke through a serpent created by God. Second, that Satan took on the form of a serpent for the purpose of tempting the woman to sin. That seems consistent with what we know of Satan from other passages in the Bible. First of all, Satan and the other demons are spiritual beings, not physical, but with the ability to take control of both people (Luke 22:3) and animals (Mark 5:11–13). Jesus describes Satan as the Father of lies (John 8:44), and Genesis 3 describes the first recorded lies to be heard on earth. Finally, Revelation refers to Satan as a dragon, the “ancient serpent” or “serpent of old” (Revelation 12:9; 20:2).

His first recorded words to the woman challenge God’s commands with a simple question, casting doubt on God’s words. The serpent seems to either misstate or question God’s restrictions about what she and the man could eat: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

It will become clear the serpent knows exactly what God had commanded. His intent is to provoke Eve to judge God’s fairness.

Context Summary
Genesis 3:1–7 tells the story of Satan’s temptation of mankind, the first human sin and the immediate consequences which followed. Created sinless, ”very good,” and placed into a perfect environment by a fair and loving Creator, Adam and Eve choose to sin anyway. They earn spiritual death and separation from God, as well as lives punctuated by pain, conflict, and frustration, ending in physical death. This is followed by God’s response to human sin, tailored to each of the parties involved. The following chapter will tell the story of the beginning of human life apart from God and the garden.

Verse 2. And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,

In the previous verse, the crafty serpent—most likely Satan in control of an animal, or taking on an animal form—began his temptation of the first woman. This conversation is his attempt to convince her to disobey God. He starts with a question he knows the answer to, one apparently intended to draw her into judging God’s character. This begins by encouraging her to consider, or even to doubt, God’s command: Did God really say you can’t eat from any tree in the garden?

Verses 2 and 3 describe the woman’s response. She immediately corrects the serpent: “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden.” This part of the response is all well and good. Her answer is correct, but getting her to talk is part of the Devil’s trap. The end of her response, in the following verse, shows the woman doesn’t have a clear understanding of God’s command.

Verse 3. but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

In verse 1, the serpent questions the commands of God by asking the woman a slanted question: Did God really say you could not eat fruit from any tree in the garden? In verse 2, she begins to answer, and at first her answer seems solid. She correctly responds that no, they could eat fruit from trees in the garden. She then concludes her answer with God’s actual restriction. However, she doesn’t seem to quote it exactly right. This reflects just enough doubt over God’s words to give Satan an opportunity.

Here’s what God said to Adam about what not to eat in Genesis 2:16–17: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

The woman, either by accident or out of sincerity, added an extra layer to God’s statement. The restriction that they were not even allowed to touch the tree wasn’t part of God’s actual command. Either Eve, as the woman would later be known, did not fully understand the command, she misremembered it, or she intentionally misquoted it in an effort to be more emphatic.

Instead of bolstering her willingness to obey, this addition to the words of God actually makes Satan’s strategy more effective. In the context of this conversation, her error makes God appear even more restrictive than He is. The serpent will quickly zero in on the issue of God’s character, His honesty, and His fairness.

Verse 4. But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

After drawing the woman, later named Eve, into a conversation about God’s restrictions for their food, the serpent now flatly contradicts God. This creature—Satan in a serpent’s form—rejects God’s warning that the humans would die if they ate fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

This conversation serves as a prototype for temptation to sin. The serpent’s strategy begins with starting a conversation about it, then subtly questioning the fairness of the command, then candidly calling God a liar. To this day, every temptation to sin is, at some level, a question of God’s character using that same path: Did God really make that statement…is God really telling the truth…should I trust what He says…don’t I actually know better…shouldn’t I choose my own way? These are the questions, and the path of pride and sin, through which the serpent will lead Eve.

One key aspect of the serpent’s strategy, of course, is that he never fully lies. Compelling deception is always built on half-truths about God’s intentions and restrictions. As we’ll soon see, Adam and Eve did not instantly die physically after eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. However, they did die as a result of their decision, both spiritually and physically. They began the “slow dying” of the aging process and they immediately lost their deep connection to God. They became spiritually separated from the source of all life. In the New Testament, Paul will describe this as being dead in our sins, the state of spiritual death each of us continues to be born into (Ephesians 2:1–2).

Verse 5. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Here the serpent continues his deception of the first woman. His goal is to convince her to disobey God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In the previous verse, he flatly called God a liar for His warning that Adam and Eve would die if they ate the fruit from that tree. Now Satan reveals what he wants Eve to believe: that God’s true motive for His rule is selfishness. According to the Devil, God just wants to scare them away so they don’t become like Him. God is competitive and jealous. He can’t be trusted to give commands for their good.

In fact, the serpent says, eating that fruit will open their eyes. They’ll finally see the world as it really is, knowing all things: “good and evil,” just like God. As in the previous verse, this deception contains a partial truth. Looking ahead a few verses, we see that mankind’s eyes are opened. They do come to know good and evil. But that knowledge brings them neither God’s power, nor His wisdom, nor His ability to love. Knowledge without corresponding maturity brings perversion. Humanity is not equipped for this knowledge, and so it brings them shame, fear, and pain. They come to know good by abandoning it. They gain the knowledge of evil by committing it for the first time in human history.

The power in the serpent’s temptation was his attack on God’s character and motivations: Don’t obey God because He is neither good nor loving nor trustworthy. The Devil says God wants to rob us of experiencing true power, from gaining full understanding. This assumes that mankind is in a position to judge the character of God. That lie continues to drive humans toward sin and away from the good God who loves us.

Verse 6. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

One could argue these are the most tragic words in human history. Sin enters into the world, into God’s “very good” creation, for the first time. Verses 1 through 5 describe the temptation to sin, but it’s not until the moment described here that the line is crossed. Satan has encouraged the first woman to doubt the words of God and the goodness of God. He has tempted her to place herself above God as a moral judge.

The verse reveals Eve’s three motivations for crossing that line: The tree’s fruit could satisfy her body’s appetite for food, the tree was visually attractive, and the tree could make her wise. Those motivations line up closely with the Apostle John’s description of the things which still drive the world as we know it today: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).

In response, Eve takes the fruit, eats it, gives some to Adam, and he eats also. The mention of Adam is a bit abrupt in the context of the story, as is his willingness to follow Eve’s lead. Does the Bible’s statement that “her husband, who was with her” mean Adam has been present for the entire conversation? If so, why did he remain silent? Why didn’t he jump in and stop it? If he has come into the picture later, why wouldn’t he question her choice, or resist?

In any case, Adam’s sin is no less than Eve’s. In fact, according to the Bible, it’s Adam’s sin which causes the fall of man (Romans 5:12). Some people willingly engage with temptation and dive into sin; some let others make that decision for them. Some follow the crowd instead of standing up for what they know is right.

Both humans are guilty, as will become clear in the following verses.

Verse 7. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

In the previous verse, the first woman crossed the line from engaging with temptation to willfully disobeying God’s command. She is followed soon after by the first man, Adam. This is literally ancient history, but it’s still heartbreaking. Part of the reason it resonates so painfully is that we’ve all had the experience of engaging with and falling to temptation. Adam and Eve started the ball rolling, but all of us who have lived have kept it going (Romans 3:23).

Within the context of the story, the immediate consequence of their sin is unexpected and also tragic. Just as the serpent said, their eyes were opened. They now understood many things, including both good and evil. But this wasn’t the wisdom either was hoping for.

Genesis 2:25 tells us pointedly that before their sin, Adam and Eve were both naked and unashamed. They were truly innocent, so their nudity was sinless and free of shame. Now, instantly, they are aware and ashamed. Though they’d never worn clothes before, the knowledge of good and evil creates a fearful urge to cover themselves, to hide from each other, to mistrust the other person’s motives and thoughts, and to protect themselves.

This was just the beginning, though. The consequences for their sinful rebellion would be deeply devastating for them and for all of us to follow.

Verse 8. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Adam and Eve have sinned against God. In direct disobedience to His command, they have eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The previous verse revealed the first consequence of their sin. They moved from being innocently naked and unashamed to being self-conscious over their nakedness and desperate to cover themselves. Now we see their shame and guilt also drives them to hide from God. Their sin has broken their intimate relationship with Him.

The implication of this verse is that God would regularly come to the garden to spend time with Adam and Eve. It’s impossible to know exactly what that would have been like. The passage raises many interpretations. How does God, who is a spirit, “walk?” What form did He take to be with them? Some see this as a purely metaphorical expression. Others imagine this to be a pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.

What we will see, though, is that one of the greatest consequences of sin was the loss of those face-to-face moments with the Creator. Instead of enjoying His presence, Adam’s and Eve’s first instinct was to hide from Him. Sin always separates us from God.

Context Summary
Genesis 3:8–24 describes the consequences of man’s rebellion against God. After falling to temptation, humans are ashamed and foolishly attempt to hide from God. When confronted with their sin, the man and woman confess, but also attempt to shift the blame to others. Adam even blames God. In response, God issues three individual ”curses” which affect humanity to this day. Mankind can no longer stay in the ”very good” garden, and is banished. Even so, God continues to provide for His creation.

Verse 9. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

Previous verses revealed the first consequence of human sin: shame and guilt. The combination of knowledge, disobedience, and human frailty led to an overpowering urge to be covered and to hide from God. Prior to this, the nakedness of Adam and Eve was nothing to be ashamed of. Their minds were pure and innocent, so there was no reason to be embarrassed or self-conscious. The immediate result of having their eyes opened to good and evil was that the man and woman understood their own evil and the goodness they had lost.

Adam had never hidden from God before. God had never had to ask where the man was. It’s not that God did not know, of course. God’s question here is no different from any other parent who asks a question to their child, when they already know the answer. God wants Adam to answer, to reveal himself to God, and to confess.

It should be noted that the Hebrew word for “you,” both here and in verse 11, is singular. In other words, at this moment, God is not calling to Eve, or challenging her actions. He is not asking “where are you [two]?” He is specifically asking, “where are you, [Adam]?”

Adam, right from the beginning, is treated as the one ultimately responsible for the fall of mankind (Romans 5:12).

Verse 10. And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

In the previous verse, God called out to the hiding Adam: “Where are you?” This used a singular term, meaning one “you,” not a plural “you” which would include both Adam and Eve. God asked this question in the same way parents ask their disobedient child to explain an incident. He already knows the truth, but the question gives the child an opportunity to confess and do the right thing.

In this verse, Adam answers. It’s easy to picture him wide-eyed, desperate in the awareness of what he has done. He is full of shame at his newly-perceived nakedness, and fearful of how God will respond. It’s crucial to remember that this moment is unprecedented. Human sin had never happened before. No process existed for confession, judgment, or restoration. Adam, in this moment, honestly has no idea what to expect. He has no knowledge of how God will react, and knows only a desperate need to hide his unholy sin from a holy God.

Adam’s response is not the whole story, of course. He does not immediately confess to eating from the restricted tree. He admits his fear, likely an entirely new emotion. He focuses on his nakedness, not wanting to be seen by God.

Verse 11. He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Overwhelmed with shame after disobeying God, by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve attempted to hide from God. This was foolish, of course. These first humans had never sinned, had never thought to hide from God. And yet, they should have known, that such a thing is not possible.

When God asked where Adam was, Adam’s response was that he hid because he was afraid and naked. Once again, God asks a question He knows the answer to in order to force Adam to admit his own actions. He demands an explanation of who told Adam of his nakedness. Had they disobeyed Him?

All these centuries later, each of us can relate to this moment at a fundamental level. We all know what it is to give in to temptation, to sin, to be caught, and to face the question about what we have done. Because sin entered into the world, this is a foundational human experience being played out for the first time.

The following verses will show mankind’s response to our first sin. Unfortunately, this mostly involves an attempt to blame others.

Verse 12. The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

Adam and Eve have introduced human sin into the world. They gave into temptation; they disobeyed God. The wisdom of knowing good and evil that they hoped to discover turned out to be a gift of shame and separation. They came to know evil by participating in it. In the previous verse, God asked Adam directly, “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

In Adam’s response, we see the next consequence of human sin. The first was overwhelming shame. The second was a deep desire to get away from the Creator. Now we see that their choice to sin together will drive a wedge into Adam’s and Eve’s relationship to each other.

In short, faced with his own guilt, Adam looks for someone else to blame. This has been human instinct ever since. In one skillful sentence, he points the finger at both his wife and God: “The woman [blaming her], whom you [blaming God] gave to be with me” did this.

The implication of Adam’s words is an accusation. If is as if he is implying, “You’re actually to blame, because you made her, God. There’s something wrong with her. Yes, I went along, but I never would have done this if she hadn’t gone first. The whole thing should be between you and her.”

This is an ugly, embarrassing moment, but we should all understand it. Learning to take responsibility for our own sin does not come naturally.

Verse 13. Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

When directly questioned by God about whether he had eaten from the forbidden tree, Adam threw all of the responsibility on his wife, and God—anyone but himself. Adam’s claim is not only that Eve gave him the fruit, but Adam goes so far as to remind God that the woman is there by God’s decision. Adam has already failed in his responsibility to be the leader and guardian of his wife. And he compounded it by trying to blame others for his actions.

Here, God turns His gaze on Eve and asks her a more open-ended question: What have you done? Eve’s response still shifts some of the blame, but it is far simpler, more direct, and more apologetic than Adam: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

What we see in both responses is the beginning of another consequence for sin: broken human relationships. In fact, in God’s pronouncements about what will follow humanity’s choice to sin will become the normal course of life. These include deep strains in marriage relations, and in all the marriages to follow.

Before dealing with mankind, however, God first turns to the serpent.

Verse 14. The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,cursed are you above all livestockand above all beasts of the field;on your belly you shall go,and dust you shall eatall the days of your life.

In the previous two verses, God directly asked Adam and then Eve if they had disobeyed His command and had eaten from the restricted tree. Adam essentially said, “Yes, but the woman gave it to me, and you’re the one who gave me the woman.” Eve admitted she had been deceived by the serpent and had eaten the fruit.

Now God turns to the serpent, but with a notable difference: He doesn’t ask the serpent what he did. He doesn’t look for a confession or to engage in debate with the serpent. As discussed previously, this serpent is consistently understood by conservative Bible scholars to be Satan himself. Apparently, Satan either possessed a snake created by God, or he took the form of a snake. As Jesus will say centuries from this moment, Satan is a liar (John 8:44). God chooses not to give the liar a chance to speak in this moment.

Instead, God begins to pronounce a series of curses on the serpent, the man, and the woman. In each case, the curse is for each of them and for the future generations of their offspring. In this verse, God begins His curse on the serpent and on all of his species to follow, as well as on Satan himself. Why curse serpents if the Devil was just using that form or body to commit his evil? Apparently, God intended for the serpent to serve as a reminder to all future generations of humans both of who the Devil is and of God’s power over him.

The serpent would be uniquely cursed in comparison to all other animals on earth. That serpent and all of those to follow would crawl on the ground, unable to avoid eating the dust of the earth, from that point forward. Does this mean that all serpents or this particular species of serpent had legs before this time? This is possible, though it’s also possible that the change of earth’s nature after the fall might be part of this curse, as well.

Verse 15. I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her offspring;he shall bruise your head,and you shall bruise his heel.”

In direct response to the serpent’s deception and Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience, God pronounces curses on each of them, as well as on the generations to follow.

In the previous verse, God began his curse on both the serpent and on Satan, who took the serpent’s form or body. In this verse, the curse is focused entirely on Satan. God promises to make enemies of Satan and the woman. In fact, their offspring—or “seed”—will remain enemies throughout all generations.

Eve’s offspring, of course, includes all of humanity, born one generation after another up to the present day. But who is Satan’s offspring? It’s unlikely this refers to actual biological children of the Devil. Satan’s offspring may include all of the fallen angels, demons, who will follow him. It definitely includes those humans who will come to believe and practice his lies.

Jesus, calling out the Jewish religious leaders in John 8:44, said this: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

God’s final curse or oracle to the serpent was that the offspring of the woman will crush, or bruise, Satan’s head, and Satan would strike or bruise his heel. Many Bible scholars see this as a reference to Christ, the Son of God, and also the ultimate member of Eve’s offspring. Satan would damage Christ, but He would have the ultimate victory on behalf of humanity. Those in Christ will celebrate the victory with Him for eternity.

The bottom line of God’s curse on Satan is this: He has been the enemy of humanity since the beginning. He can never be trusted. As Peter wrote, he continues to hunt and seek to devour humans to this very day (1 Peter 5:8), though he won’t be allowed to do so forever.

Verse 16. To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;in pain you shall bring forth children.Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,but he shall rule over you.”

In direct response to the serpent’s deception and Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience, God pronounces curses on each of them, as well as on the generations to follow. Here, God turns to the woman who was deceived and willfully ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. His oracle or curse for her has to do with her relationships and family life. Having children may bring her great joy, but bearing and giving birth to them would require severe pain. More children would always bring more pain.

The marriage relationship would now be strained instead of simply being the source of love, comfort, and belonging the woman would desire. It’s unclear exactly how the second part of the curse about husbands and wives should be read. Scholars have offered various interpretations of this subtle Hebrew phrasing. Most interpret this to mean that the woman would desire to be in control of her husband, but he would be the master. Others see this as implying that the woman’s desire for her husband would be frustrated by his role as an authority in her life.

Male headship in the marriage relationship is not part of the curse and this idea is not implied here. On the contrary, God’s response to this incident proves that Adam’s role as leader and protector was intended before sin entered the world. The New Testament makes clear that God’s design for human marriage, with husband as the self-sacrificing head, is meant to be a beautiful picture of Christ and the church. Paul even quotes Genesis 2:24 when he paints that picture in Ephesians 5:22–33.

Instead, it seems this curse involves conflict over the God-given marriage roles. Adam and Eve both failed to uphold God’s intended pattern of spiritual leadership, and it caused the greatest disaster in history. This is especially felt in our individual lives as each spouse fails to live up to God’s design for selfless love and respect between husbands and wives.

Verse 17. And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wifeand have eaten of the treeof which I commanded you,‘You shall not eat of it,’cursed is the ground because of you;in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

After pronouncing curses on the serpent/Satan in response to his deception and on Eve in response to her sinful choice, God now turns to Adam. Compared to the punishments given to Eve and the serpent, this curse is longer and more detailed.

Adam’s sin was not, simplistically speaking, that of listening to his wife. Taking godly counsel is always a good thing (Proverbs 15:22). Instead, Adam sinned by not standing up and speaking the truth to his wife when she invited him to participate in her sin. And, judging by the description of Eve’s conversation with the serpent, for failing to protect and lead her as he should. God makes clear that Adam was independently responsible for his choice to eat from the tree. He wouldn’t be allowed to get away with passing the blame to her or anyone else.

As with Eve, Adam’s curse is one of hardship in doing the necessary work of life, in doing something that would otherwise have brought great joy and meaning to his existence. Instead of easily producing crops as seeds were planted, as had been the case in the garden up to this point, the ground would be cursed. Adam will suffer great pain in getting the ground to yield edible crops in doing his daily work. And this curse will afflict him all the days of his life.

It’s interesting to notice that Eve’s curse involved pain and struggle in her family relationships, while Adam’s involves pain and frustration in his working life.

Verse 18. thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;and you shall eat the plants of the field.

This verse continues God’s curse on Adam for his sin. Adam disobeyed the command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And, he failed to guide and protect His wife according to God’s original plan. This remark from God to Adam has to be read along with the previous two verses to be fully understood.

God has pronounced that Adam’s lifelong work of getting food from the ground would now bring him great pain and frustration. The ground itself would be cursed. Part of that curse, revealed here, includes thorns and thistles coming up with the crops, making it more difficult to sustain and harvest them. Rather than the earth being a cooperative partner, it would now be an uncontrolled landscape.

However frustrating it becomes, though, Adam and all of his offspring would not be able to quit the work. They would need to eat the plants of the field in order to live, so the painful work must continue.

Verse 19. By the sweat of your faceyou shall eat bread,till you return to the ground,for out of it you were taken;for you are dust,and to dust you shall return.”

This verse concludes God’s curse on Adam for his sin, and it has a devastating ring of finality. In the previous two verses, God revealed that Adam’s working life in the fields would be marked by pain and frustration. The ground itself would be cursed, making it difficult to get the crops they would need to live.

Now God concludes by saying that instead of work being a joyful source of purpose and meaning in Adam’s life, it would be a lifelong source of necessary frustration. It would be hard and sweaty. And it would end in Adam’s eventual death. God, who formed Adam out of the dust of the ground, announces that Adam will one day die and return to dust. Death would be the final consequence of Adam’s choice to sin, just as God had warned when giving the command.

It’s true that Adam did not stop breathing on the day he ate of the tree, but death entered into his life on that day. In modern language, we sometimes refer metaphorically to a person with a fatal injury or disease as “already dead.” Adam’s heart may have continued to beat for many years, but the poison which killed him entered his body when he sinned.

In addition to being separated from God’s presence in a spiritual death, every day of Adam’s life from this moment on would be marked by an awareness that he would one day die. That’s the curse all humans have lived under ever since. For those in Christ, though, the curse of death will be overcome (Ephesians 2:1-10).

Verse 20. The man called his wife ‘s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Most people know of the first woman as “Eve.” However, in the book of Genesis, it is not until this moment that the woman created from Adam’s rib actually receives her name. Why Scripture chooses this particular moment to mention her name is not entirely clear. It’s possible that this is meant to be part of a transition from the doom-and-gloom of the prior passage to a more positive tone. Despite all that’s happened so far, this is truly a hopeful verse, especially following God’s devastating curses on humanity. A future remains. God would continue to provide in some specific ways.

The name Eve is literally the word “living” in Hebrew, haw’wāh, and is actually used only twice in the Old Testament: here and in Genesis 4:1. In giving her this name, Adam is looking forward to the generation of humans to come.

The following verses will show further proof of God’s merciful love for mankind. Rather than destroying them, God provides clothing, and allows them the ability to live on, though in much less ideal circumstances.

Verse 21. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

As with the previous verse, this passage contains some hope for Adam, Eve, and humanity. God’s curses for their sin were severe and painful to hear. However, Eve’s name points to the future generations to come. And this verse reveals that God will still provide, starting with clothing for Adam and Eve. Their hastily constructed fig leaves would not be adequate to continue to cover their nakedness. In clothing them, God demonstrates that it is right for them to be clothed.

In order to make this clothing of skin, though, an animal had to die. This is the first recorded physical death in Scripture, even of an animal. No death is explicitly recorded until after human sin. God Himself is the one who takes the animal’s life to provide warmth and covering for the humans. Later in Genesis, God will require the sacrifice of animals to provide a blood covering for human sin. Eventually, Jesus’ Himself would bleed and die to provide a final covering for the sins of all who would trust in Him for salvation.

Verse 22. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever — “

Who is God talking to in this verse when He says that the man has become like “one of us?” Some Bible scholars see this as a reference to the Trinity: God the Father speaking to the Holy Spirit and to Christ. Logic suggests, and Scripture confirms, that all three aspects of the Trinity were present from before the foundation of the world. Other scholars think that maybe God was speaking to nearby angels, one of whom is mentioned in the following verses.

In any case, God confirms the serpent’s half-truth that eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has made Adam and Eve like God, in one way. However, this is certainly not the way the snake led them to believe.

According to God’s curses, Adam’s and Eve’s knowledge of good and evil would lead to great frustration, pain, and heartache. They would experience happiness and receive good gifts from God along the way, to be sure, but their days would be punctuated by conflict. In addition, their disobedience, knowing evil, meant that they and their offspring would be capable of continuing to commit great evil.

Although part of the curse, God’s oracle that Adam would eventually die was also an act of mercy. Adam’s hard life and ability to rebel against God and do harm to others would be limited—unless he ate from the Tree of Life. That would lead to an unending, hopeless existence separated from God.

Apparently, the fruit of the Tree of Life would provide physical immortality to Adam and Eve. For their own good and the good of all, God would not allow this. To be spiritually dead while remaining physically alive forever could only bring endless suffering. It’s interesting to note that, depending on how one translated the original Hebrew, God doesn’t appear to even finish His sentence before removing Adam and Eve from the garden in the next verse.

Verse 23. therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

Now we arrive at the moment of humanity’s greatest loss, the true and lasting consequence of sin. God banished Adam and Eve from His physical presence to a life that would be characterized by pain, frustration, difficult work, and eventual physical death. Adam’s destiny is poetic and heartbreaking: Formed from the dust of the ground, he would live out his days working to pull his livelihood from the ground until he died and returned to the ground.

God had already begun His plan to redeem His people, to purchase back at the price of His own Son’s life all those who would trust in Christ. For them, this separation from God will one day end. We will be united with our Father in the Eden-like home of an eternity with Him.

But we’re not home, yet. In the New Testament, Paul will describe the groaning of the Christian’s longing to be with our Father as we wait for that day (Romans 8:18–25).

Verse 24. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3 ends with our last glimpse of the Garden of Eden, of the paradise God had built for the first humans. Sinful man could not be allowed to become immortal by eating from the Tree of Life. While this might seem cruel, it is actually an act of mercy. Existing forever in a fallen, earthly state, separated from God, would have been a fate worse than death. Humans die, but we have the opportunity at an eternal, restored relationship afterwards. Preventing access to the Tree of Life is so essential to God that He sets a guard at the entrance to the garden.

The Bible describes different varieties of angels. Angels are not former or future humans. They are specially created race of supernatural beings that serve God and carry out His plans in heaven and on earth. God’s Word tells us many things about them, but there is clearly much we do not know.

This is the first mention of a cherubim in Scripture. Cherubim angels are mentioned over 90 times in the Old Testament. Ezekiel 1 and 10 describe them as powerful winged creatures. They almost always serve in the capacity of guarding or protecting what belongs to God or even His own presence. Here a cherubim is assigned to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

End of Chapter 3.

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