Genesis 3:1-24

Summary: If Genesis 2 reveals that God created us to be deeply relational creatures–with God and with each other–Genesis 3 reveals the horrific breakdown of those relationships. As it was for Adam and Eve, so it is for us, that sin is fundamentally an issue of trust. Can I really trust God enough to simply be his creature and do what he says, or will I miss out on something? Temptation never presents itself as some horrifying evil; it always looks like some good thing that we ought to have. On one level, Genesis 3 reads like a story of crime and punishment–swift and painful justice. More deeply, it’s a story of crime and grace. The effects of sin will be terrible, no doubt. But more astonishing is God’s continued resolve to preserve the life of his image-bearers, even to the point of prophesying the day when he will come and destroy the serpent and his influence (i.e. v.15). Such deliverance will require Christ to bear the very punishment God withheld from Adam and Eve.