Rejecting God’s Grace

Genesis 3:1-7

They had everything they could ever want, everything they could ever need. Adam and Eve lived in a beautiful, sinless paradise where God met their every need. Man was to provide spiritual service to God. He was placed (Heb: nuah, “set to rest”) in the garden to work it (Heb: abad, “to serve”) and to take care of it. Bible scholar Allen Ross explains that “whatever work he did was therefore described as his service to God.”[1] It’s the same for us today. Whatever work we do is to be done as a service to God and done to honor him.[2] 

God assured Adam that he could eat from “every tree of the garden.” Adam wanted for nothing. Scripture’s first command follows this unlimited generosity, “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” (Gen. 2:17). The first command concerned life and death, good and evil. All goods and pleasures were at the man’s disposal, except for the one forbidden tree. Rebellion against God’s directive would open humanity’s eyes to evil—the absence of good—and separate them from the perfect Creator, resulting in spiritual, physical, and eternal death. 

Every command presents a choice. God did not create robots. Humanity, made in God’s image, is neither programmed nor manufactured like AI products. God desires a relationship with us, and forced love is never the basis of a relationship. God grants created beings free will. We can love and follow him or rebel against him.

It is important to note that this command was given directly to Adam. After God created Eve, Adam was responsible for instructing her about what God had said. Then one day, Eve was confronted in the garden. 

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. 

In Hebrew, there is wordplay in this verse. From Genesis 2:25, we learn that Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame. Their nakedness represents their innocence and ignorance of evil. The word “naked” is the Hebrew word arummim. Then the crafty snake appears. The word “crafty” is the Hebrew word arum. Satan would take advantage of their innocence.  

Satan began by attacking God’s grace. He asked the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” He ignored God’s abundant provision of trees in the garden and misrepresented God’s command. The woman corrected Satan, saying they could eat from any tree in the garden, except “the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die” (Gen. 3:3). Notice that Eve added “touching” the tree to the prohibition against eating from it. This is the first instance of legalism, adding man-made laws to God’s instruction.  

Second, Satan attacked God’s integrity. He accused him of being a liar, saying, “You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). Satan further argued, “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). 

Eve couldn’t resist. She instituted a three-step process of sin that we find repeated in Scripture. She saw. She wanted. She took. 

Genesis 3:6
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…. 

A few questions come to mind after reading this account. Where was Adam? It seems he was right there with Eve, because after she ate the forbidden fruit, “she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6b). Adam was there all along and refused to lead. His passivity allowed sin to enter humanity. We will often be reminded in our study that chaos follows when godly leadership is jettisoned.

Here’s a second question. If Adam and Eve were together, why did Satan speak directly to Eve? I can’t know for sure, but here’s a possibility. God commanded Adam not to eat the forbidden fruit before Eve was created; therefore, she received the instruction secondhand from Adam. I think there’s a key lesson here. Anyone who relies on hearing God’s Word secondhand is more vulnerable. There is no substitute for direct, personal engagement with his Word. 

As soon as the man and the woman disobeyed God, their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked, so they covered themselves with fig leaves. Innocence ended. Sin and death entered the stream of humanity “through one man” and “death spread to all men” (Rom. 5:12). 

Temptation inflames the desire to be our own god and to live apart from the Creator. We were made to serve him, yet we want to serve ourselves. We know God as Yahweh Elohim—the powerful personal God. But… we believe Satan’s lies that God is holding out on us, and, like Adam and Eve, we partake of the forbidden. The results are always anticlimactic. The road of pleasure ends in pain. The road to self-fulfillment only highlights our emptiness. The road to power exposes our weaknesses.  

How did God respond to Adam and Eve’s sin? That’s where we will start next time. 

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD 
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on Genesis 3:1-7.

Talking to God: Where am I most tempted to believe that God is holding out on me rather than providing for me?

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SAVE THE DATE: Bible Immersion trip to Israel: November 4-14, 2026.