“Everything he saw walking around the city made him think of some way that it could be better. He was always burning up with ideas, just burning up with them!” So Robert Caro records the words of Frances Perkins who was describing the great Robert Moses. Robert Moses is the man who single handedly transformed New York City.
And there was one particular idea that once got Robert Moses really burning inside. As Caro writes, “One Sunday in 1914, a group of young men and women were taking a ferry to a picnic in New Jersey, Robert Moses was standing besides Frances Perkins on the deck, and as the ferry pulled out into the Hudson, and the bleak mudflats [of Manhattan Island] shrouded in smog spread out behind them, he suddenly said excitedly, ‘Isn’t this a temptation to you? Couldn’t this waterfront be the most beautiful thing in the world?’”
Robert Moses had an eye for seeing something be developed out of nothing. But, as much talent and vision as he had, he also produced a lot of havoc and destruction. We love to see when someone takes nothing and makes it into something. But, we also feel the injustice when someone takes something and makes it into nothing. And as Moses developed and created so many incredible upgrades to New York City, he also destroyed many peoples’ homes and neighborhoods and left some places worse rather than better.
It’s not hard to see how bad things are today. We have seen more deaths, division, and disagreement in these last few years than we have in a while. We have all been affected by the curse of this fallen world. And the question is: Is there someone out there who has even better visions of transformation than Robert Moses? But, will that Person make sure not to make things worse off?
That’s what Genesis 3 is all about. We see a world that we ruined but yet a world that will be restored by our very Creator. If someone can make things right then He can. And that’s what this text tells us.
The World Is Fallen (v1-7)
First, the world is fallen. Look at 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’?”
When God made the world, He gave all of humanity a representative in Adam. And as the representative of all humanity, what happened to Adam would affect all humanity. Adam’s performance would be our performance. Now, that might sound unfair at first, but that’s actually the only way that Jesus’ performance can become ours. It’s like an ambassador who acts on behalf of other people. Their actions affect the rest.
But, that’s exactly what Satan wanted to corrupt. As the serpent, Satan knew that if he could mess up the Head then he would mess up humanity. And that’s where he attacked. The text says he was “crafty”. In other words, he was subtle, shrewd, and sly. And that’s what true evil is. True evil isn’t obvious and up front.
What are his first words? He asks a question. “Did God actually say?” That is always Satan’s first tactic. If Satan can convince us that the Word is not authoritative, that it can’t be trusted, that it should be watered down, or not be taken seriously then he can win. That’s how all false teaching sneaks and slithers into the Church today. It can sound good. It can sound slick. It can even quote a lot of Scripture and talk about Jesus. But, it ends up subtly asking, “Did God actually say?”
And how does Eve respond? Look at verses 2-3. And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 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.’”
Earlier in Genesis 2:17, God had told Adam that if he ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would die. In Hebrew, in order to put emphasis on something, the language will repeat the word. In the original language it literally says that if Adam and Eve or anyone ate the fruit of that tree they would “die die”. But, that’s not how Eve responds. She waters down God’s Word. Eve doesn’t say “die die” but only “die”.
Eve doesn’t only water down God’s Word but she also adds to it. She says that God said they could not even touch it. But, if you go back and read chapter 2, God doesn’t say that! What Eve does is that she adds to God’s Word. That’s another one of Satan’s tactics.
Watch how Satan capitalizes on this. Look at verses 4-5. But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Satan outright denies God’s Word by saying that death won’t even happen. And that’s always the subtlety of temptation. It first uses the Word and quotes the Word followed by watering it down. Then it tries to add its own ideas to the Word. And following that, it denies the Word altogether.
And how is Satan denying the Word? What Satan is saying is that sin isn’t that bad. Isn’t that what we say today too?
Here is the motivation for buying into Satan’s temptation. This is the temptation behind all temptations we face today: “And you will be like God.” And that’s what we want. We don’t like God to be God (Rom. 1:21). We think we would be a better God. And that’s what sin is. Sin is when we stop honoring God as God and we give that honor to ourselves.
And Eve, with Adam close by, buys into that idea. Look at 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.
Watch how she is tempted. She saw, she delighted, she desired, and she took. It’s the same process with us today. The longer we look at temptation, the more we delight in the idea, the desires develop, and then we take.
And what does she do after that? She turns and gives it to Adam. When Adam eats, then their eyes are opened. They know they have sinned. They know they have fallen. Adam, the Covenant Representative, has ruined humanity.
What does it mean for our world to be fallen? As Romans 5 talks about, it means that in Adam we have sinned. We are not only guilty for our particular sins but we are also guilty for Adam’s first sin. Because there was such a union between us and Adam, when he sinned we sinned too. Now, before rejecting that idea we need to remember that in order for Jesus to save us this idea must be true. For Jesus’ righteousness to be ours, Adam’s sin must be ours too.
When the Fall happened, when Original Sin took place, we died spiritually. And that death spiritually would have ripple effects into dying mentally, emotionally, relationally, and physically.
The Fall means that now the heart of the problem for us is the problem of our hearts. We are often tempted to think that the biggest threat to the Christian is “out there”. But, Genesis 3 shows us that the biggest threat to us is “in here”.
And that’s why the world is the way it is. Even as Jerome, the 4th century theologian, realized this the hard way. He tried to separate himself from the world in order to avoid sin. But, even when no one else was around him he was still tempted with lust. He realized that the heart of his problem was the problem of his heart. Wherever sinners go, sin goes with them.
The reason why so much evil is in the world today is because of the Fall. And because of our sinful hearts, we overflow with sin every day.
And that’s what their eyes were opened up to. Their eyes were opened up to the horror of what happens to the world when we try to be God rather than depending on God. And now that our eyes are opened to see our sin we see how naked and exposed we are. And when we see how unclean and sinful we are we will do whatever it takes to cover it up.
Brennan Manning said, “Adam and Eve hid, and we all, in one way or another, have used them as role models. Why? Because we do not like what we see. It is uncomfortable—intolerable—to confront our true selves.”
Isn’t that why we are obsessed with social media today? We are constantly striving to dress ourselves up, to cover our faults, to hide our weaknesses. We are swimming in the waters of trying to be “enough”. And social media is one of the perfect avenues where we see that lived out.
It is a tragedy what happened. And Adam’s sin is what has caused such chaos. That’s why we see broken bodies, broken relationships, murder, revolt, betrayal, backstabbing, war, gossip, political turmoil, and death. It seems that every week we are pummeled with bad news we see on TV or hear in person.
The world is broken. Even more than broken—it is shattered. And it should make us long for transformation. It should make us long for renewal. Things aren’t the way they should be. And that’s what the Bible shows us.
We need a Savior to save us from ours sins!