Temptation and Sin – Genesis 3:1-7

Temptation and Sin

I learned this week that people who fish took over 383 million fishing trips last year and spent 46 billion dollars, and another 23 billion dollars on gear. I also learned that 77 percent of the bait used to catch fish is fake. All temptation comes in three elements: a fisherman, the bait, and the one being caught. In Genesis 3 the fisherman is the serpent, Satan, and he casts a lure to see if he can capture a person.

A friend taught me eight L’s about Eve’s downfall, from a high school Bible teacher: “she lingered, she listened, she loosened, she looked, she longed for, she latched on to, she lapped up, and then she lured her husband to partake with her.”

Why Genesis 3 Matters

Some say it is the most important chapter in the Bible, and others say it is one of the most tragic. Either way we learn how mankind reached its fallen state and that sin was not part of God’s original creation. We learn the subtle devices of our enemy, whom Jesus called a murderer and a liar from the beginning in John 8:44. We learn the effects of sin, our tendency to cover it and hide from God, and God’s attitude: when we sin, he is there to meet us and provide. G. Campbell Morgan said paradise is established in Genesis 1 and 2, lost in Genesis 3, and regained in the rest of the Bible. Man did not start low and work his way up. He started high and fell quickly.

Why would God allow temptation? One author says it was not because the devil was as powerful as God, nor because God was unaware of what would happen. The answer lies in the mystery of God, and he used the whole sorry event to display his stunning greatness.

Temptation Causes You to Doubt the Word of God

In chapter 1, God spoke and it was so. In 2:16-17 he commanded Adam, and Eve was not there. Now the word of God comes under attack. The serpent is crafty and does not announce that he is the devil and has come to destroy. He just asks a question: did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? He focuses on what they cannot have. God said you may freely eat of every tree except one. “The first question mark in all of the Bible was just a temptation to Eve to begin to doubt God’s word.” Today the questions are, did God really say this about marriage, or hope, or grace?

Eve’s reply adds to God’s word. She said God said not to touch it, which God never said. Making God more restrictive makes him seem less generous. God is in the details. We need to know what his word says and be able to quote it accurately. The world’s favorite verses are often taken out of context: judge not, lest you be judged; I can do all things through Christ; where two or three are gathered, which is about church discipline. “Proverbs 22:6. It’s a proverb. It’s not a promise.”

Temptation Causes You to Question the Goodness of God

In verse 4 the serpent moves from insinuation to outright denial: you will not surely die. In verse 5 he says God knows that when you eat, your eyes will be opened. He insinuates that God is withholding something good. The first denial in Scripture is about whether God will judge. But Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed for man to die once, and after that the judgment, and the good news is that Christ has done something about that. Believing a lie was the first step toward sin.

Temptation Causes You to Disobey

Verse 6 is the line set and the hook set. Temptation is not sin in and of itself, since Jesus was tempted in the wilderness without sin. The sin was the heart decision to say, I’m going to live without God and his rules. Think of a mouse that sees peanut butter on a trap. In chapter 2:9, every tree was good to look at and good for food, but Satan focused her eye on this one. We see it with Achan, who saw and coveted and took, and with David, who saw Bathsheba. She desired wisdom, and she took without talking to her husband or to God. “Sinners aren’t content just to sin alone. They want others to sin with them.” Adam was right there with her, silent, abdicating his responsibility. “Eve was tricked, but Adam sinned willfully.” You may think you would not have done it. “No, you’d have been first in line.” F. B. Meyer said that when we see someone fall, there are three things we do not know: how hard they tried not to sin, the power of the forces that came against them, and what we would have done in the same circumstances.

Temptation Causes Alienation from God

In verse 7 their eyes were opened, as the devil said, but not as they expected. It was bait and switch. “Their eyes were open to earth but closed to heaven.” They sewed fig leaves to cover themselves and hide. What a sad day. But it does not have to end that way.

The Way of Escape

Temptation is not from God, James 1 says. We must follow Christ’s example in Matthew 4 and answer with what God’s word actually says. “This is not a message or a church that says, ‘Man, we believe you can do it.’ No, we can’t do it. We need Christ.” First Corinthians 10:12 says let anyone who thinks he stands take heed. First Corinthians 10:13 says no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man, and God will provide a way of escape. James 4:7 says submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. Under the first Adam, death reigns and sin abounds. Under the second Adam, grace has entered. There is justification instead of condemnation, life instead of death, and grace instead of sin.