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Jul 95 min read

Genesis: The Introduction To Sin



The Fall


As we go further into the Genesis story, we find ourselves in a familiar situation that will impact the world from this moment on. This situation, of course, is the introduction of sin into God’s perfectly created world. The reason this is a familiar situation for us is that we just did a study a few months ago on hamaritology and we discussed many of the aspects and origins of sin itself. For this study, however, we aren’t going to search all of scripture for the effects of sin, instead, we’ll limit our study to the very beginning of sin since this particular study is all about Genesis. As the Gospel Coalition tells us, “God does not create sin but creates a good universe and good human beings. Sadly, Adam and Eve do not obey God’s command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil but “fall.” Make no mistake about it friends, God is not the one who created sin in order that we might fail and break our covenant with Him. It is because of man’s free yet fallen heart that sin made its way into the world through the tempting of the devil himself. This is one scenario we must get clear. Yes, God foreknew what would happen if He gave man free will and allowed the Tempter to use his power to deceive mankind, but it was never God Himself that created sin or caused man to sin. With this in mind, let’s see what these opening chapters in Genesis can teach us. 


The Father of Lies


To start, we must look at where the first sin ever recorded takes place. Genesis 3 shows us where Satan himself makes Eve question her original command from God and tempts her to partake in an act that God clearly told her not to. Genesis 3:4-6 says, “The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! “For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” 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 desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husbandwith her, and he ate.” One aspect of this very first sin that we almost always hear about when we read over this passage is that this sin is partaken in because of the belief in a lie. I find this tactic by the devil very intriguing because so many sins that we commit in this day and age can almost always be drawn back to a lie that we believe. Whether that lie is believing that this sin will fulfill our heart’s desire, this sin will not have any lasting impact, or even this sin just isn’t that big of a deal, we can almost always draw our sin patterns back to the basis of believing a lie. This is the devil’s number one tactic it seems for tempting people to disobey God. This is why Jesus tells us in John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” There are few titles that I find more fitting for the devil than this one right here. It is unmistakably clear that from the very first sin on, the recipe of Satan is to get mankind to go against their God by getting them to believe lie after lie. This is why Jesus makes it clear that we not only desire what the devil desires before we are born again, but He is sure to remind us that his name is ‘The Father of Lies’ for a reason. It doesn’t get more clear than that. 


Question The Truth


Furthermore, we are going to see this exact same response and act from Satan himself in the Book of Job. Now I know I said at the beginning that this was solely a study on the book of Genesis, which is why I really contemplated putting this part in here. But when you look at the timeline of when Job was written and when this book historically took place, it seems to fall very close to the beginning of the earth and land somewhere in the book of Genesis timeline. This is why we will be looking a bit at this book as well. In the very beginning of this book, we see that Satan has a conversation with God about Job and why he honors the Lord so much. Look at Satan’s response. Job 1:9-10 says, “Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? “Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.” Sounds pretty familiar doesn’t it? In one instance we see the devil say to Eve, ‘Did God really say?’, and in another instance we see him tell God, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’. The Father of Lies always seems to get us to believe his lies by first getting us to queiston to the truth. The stark difference in this scenario, however, is that in one book, Satan is questioning Eve, and in the other, he is questioning God. 

Obviously, God cannot sin and fall into the schemes of the devil so He doesn’t turn His back on Job when questioned by the devil unlike Adam and Eve turning their back on God when tempted by Satan. Regardless of who Satan is tempting, however, it always seems to be in his plan to get the lost to believe a lie by first getting them to question the truth. And when you look at the world you live in today, how can you not wholeheartedly agree with that? Our current society and culture lives how they want to live, not because they intentionally know they are living out a lie, but because they have questioned the truth from the very beginning. The devil is completely satisfied if you believe he doesn’t exist, as long as he knows you believe God doesn’t exist either. The Father of Lies could care less about which lie you believe, as long as it takes you away from the truth. I hope and pray that as you read through Genesis and go through this study with us, you will learn more and more about God and His ways but also about the devil and his schemes. May these posts not scare us, but rather better equip us to live in a fallen world where Satan’s lies rule and where we must constantly fight for the truth. 

 






Sources

[1] Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/



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