The Fall of Man1
Genesis 2:4-3:7
February 5, 2006


Today’s message is from Genesis 2:4 through 3:7. It’s about the fall of man – about how God’s creation came from what he said was very good to its present condition. I’m not going to read the entire passage first because it’s long. But I’m going to read it a piece at a time as we go through it. You can read along with me. I’m going to read from the Holman CSB again, as I did last week, but if you have a different translation, feel free to read along and compare what your translation says with the HCSB says. But remember that all the translations are taken from the word of God. God, who is our Creator and the Creator of all things, is telling us what he wants us to know about him. I can’t emphasize too much how important the Bible is to us. Our very lives for eternity are at stake!

Also, as always, in view of the fact that our very lives are at stake, I remind and encourage you to read your Bible every day. And don’t just read it as some kind of an exercise or ritual, but make every effort to understand what God wants to show you through his word. Pray!

[Prayer]

Last week I talked about Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 2:3. These verses describe the entire creation – God’s making the heavens and the earth, the seas and the dry land, the plants and all the living creatures –the fish, the birds and the animals – and finally, his creation of man in his own image. When God finished his creation, he saw that it was very good and rested from all his creating.

Now let’s go on to today’s passage. Let’s read chapter 2 verses 4 through 7. (And remember that we are reading the word of God!)

4These are the records of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation at the time that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5No shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. 6But water would come out of the ground and water the entire surface of the land. 7Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:4-7)

These verses summarize the creation up to the point where God made the first man. God made the man out of the dust of the ground, just as he did the plants and all the other living creatures. (Verse 7 says that the man became a living being rather than a creature. However, the Hebrew word translated being is the same word that’s translated creature in chapter 1. So man is also a creature.) God made the man out of the dust of the ground just as he did all the other creatures; but there was one very important difference: The man was made in God’s own image! None of the other creatures were.

Now let’s look at verses 8 through 14. Let’s read them:

8The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed. 9The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the midst of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. 11The name of the first is Pishon, which encircles the entire land of the Havilah, where there is gold. 12Gold from that land is pure; and onyx are also there. 13The name of the second river is Gihon, which encircles the entire land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows to the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. (Genesis 2:8-14)

God made a special place in all his creation for the man – a garden. He also provided rivers to make sure there was adequate water for the garden. (The Greek translation for the Hebrew word translated garden, by the way, is paradise. Do you remember that Jesus told the criminal that was on the cross next to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise?” God made a paradise for the first man.) Verse 9 says that the Lord God – and just so that you know, the Lord (with small caps) is what the translators substitute for God’s name. God’s name is derived from the Hebrew for I AM. This is the first time God’s name is used in the Bible. Verse 9 says that the Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food. The Lord not only provided good food for the man, but also provided trees that were pleasing in appearance.

What does it mean that the trees were “pleasing in appearance”? Who decides what is pleasing in appearance and what isn’t.? It’s the same one who determines what is good and what isn’t good in every other situation. It’s the Lord God. The reason we can say that the things he made are beautiful is that he gave us the ability to appreciate beauty. We have that ability because we are made in his image. Verse 9 also tells us that the Lord God put two special trees in the midst of the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now let’s look at verses 15 through 17. Here’s what they say:

15The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:15-17)

The Lord God had put the man in the garden to take care of it. But up until now, he hadn’t told him anything about what he should or shouldn’t do.  However at this point he commanded the man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on that day he would die.

You know, we are used to thinking in terms of what we are permitted to do. Is it OK to do this or to that or to do some other thing. But, in this case, the Lord God had provided for all of the man’s needs and had permitted him to do absolutely anything he wanted to do.  He could even eat from the tree of life if he chose. There was just one exception. He was not permitted to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now let’s look at verses 18 through 23. Follow along as I read them.

18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is like him.” 19So the Lord God formed out of the ground each wild animal and each bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found who was like him. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. 22Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23And the man said:

This one, at last, is bone of my bone,
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called woman,
for she was taken from man. (Genesis 2:18-23)

The Lord God said that it wasn’t good for the man to be alone. (And, by the way, do you know what the Hebrew word for man is? …  It’s Adam.) The Lord God said that it wasn’t good for the man to be alone and that he would make a helper who would be like him. (Most of the translations say “a helper that would be suitable for him.” The King James says “an help (or helper) meet for him.” Meet means suitable.)

God said that it wasn’t good for the man to be alone.  But before he made the helper for him, he brought each of the animals to him to see what he would call them. According to verse 20, the man looked at each of the animals and named them (and probably also noticed that they came in pairs). But he didn’t find a helper that was like him. That’s when the Lord God put him to sleep, took out one of his ribs and made that rib into a woman. When he brought the woman he had made to the man, the man said (according to one interpretation I’ve heard), “Wow!” However, that’s a paraphrase. The more literal translation is: “This one, at last, is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called woman, for she was taken from man.” And I might add that the Holman CSB translation makes it clear that the woman was the last creature that the Lord God brought to the man to be named. When he saw her, he said, “at last,” and called her “woman”.

Now let’s look at verses 24 and 25. Here’s what they say:

24This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. 25Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame. (Genesis 2:24-25)

The marriage relationship is the closest possible human relationship. It’s closer than that of mother and daughter, closer than that of father and son and closer than that of brother and brother or sister and sister. A man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife and they become one flesh. God’s intent is for people to be married. To remain single is not necessarily against God’s will. In fact, it may be God’s will for a person to remain single. But, it’s an exception, not the rule. The marriage relationship –the relationship between a husband and wife –is fundamental to God’s creation.

Verse 25 says, “Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.” If you read through the Old Testament, you will see that nakedness is sometimes used as a metaphor for sinfulness. At this point, there was no sinfulness. The man and the woman were pure and holy and free of any sin. Sin didn’t exist. But the immediate significance of the statement that both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame is made plain in the next chapter, in chapter 3.

Now let’s go on to chapter 3. Let’s look at verses 1 through 7. Here’s what they say:

1Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 
4 “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. (Genesis 3:1-7)

“Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made.” Just so that everyone knows who or what the serpent is, I’m going to quote a couple of passages from the New Testament. This first one is from Revelation 5:7-9. It says:

7Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, 8but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer. 9So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him. (Revelation. 5:7-9)

That ancient serpent is called the Devil and Satan. The Greek word translated Devil is diabolos, from which we get the English word diabolical. It means slanderer. Satan is from the Hebrew word for adversary. Do you get the idea of what we are talking about here? Slanderer, adversary. The serpent is the Devil and he is Satan.

Here’s the second verse I was going to quote. This is from John 8:42-44:

42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on My own, but He sent Me. 43Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to My word. 44You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars. (John 8:42-44)

Satan’s purpose is to kill us. He has been a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Genesis 3:1 says that the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

You know, I believe that when the serpent said, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” he said it with a tone of incredulity: “Did God really say that? I can hardly believe he would say a thing like that! Why would he say such a thing?” The serpent was very subtle. What he was doing was causing the woman to question God’s motives. Was God selfishly withholding something good? Did God really love her? Do you ever question whether God loves you? If you didn’t know before, now you know where that kind of question comes from.

When the serpent said, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” the woman knew exactly which tree he was talking about. She answered him by saying that they were not to eat from or touch the tree in the middle of the garden or they would die. She made it quite a bit stronger than what God had said. He hadn’t said anything about touching the tree, only not to eat from it. It may be a good thing to add further restrictions for yourself if you are trying to avoid temptation. But the woman had not been tempted up until this point. This was the first temptation. And it’s not a good thing to add to the word of God.

Well, the serpent went on. He said, “No! You will not die. In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Now the serpent said it plainly: “God is withholding something from you. He is keeping you from becoming like him.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom.  So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. (Remember that they had been naked and had felt no shame. This was the first effect of their sin.)

Well, in one sense the serpent was right when he told the woman she wouldn’t die. They didn’t immediately drop dead. But remember that the serpent was very subtle. Do you remember what Jesus said in John 5:24? (I remember it because we memorized it 21 years ago –the NIV version, anyway. But I’ll quote the HCSB version.) Here’s what Jesus said: “I assure you: Anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.” The NIV says, “He has crossed over from death to life.” When you have passed or crossed over from death to life, you will most likely still die physically, but you will be raised. You will be raised not to physical life, but to eternal life. The first woman and the first man went the opposite direction. Although they didn’t immediately die physically, they had crossed over from life to death!

The man and the woman had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It’s my belief that the decision the woman made was to take it upon herself to decide what was good and what was evil, rather than to trust what God had said concerning what was good and what was evil. This is something we must never do! We must carefully examine ourselves concerning this! Do you ever reject the word of God because it doesn’t sound reasonable? We all do it! But God is the one who determines what is good and what is evil, not us! God is also the one who determines what is reasonable and what is not. And, incidentally, the man knew better. The apostle Paul says in the New Testament, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.” (1 Timothy 2:14) I don’t know why the man ate the fruit, but the word of God says that it was not because he was deceived. He knew they would die.

Well, I’m going to continue with this next week, the Lord willing.  At this point it sounds like all was lost. Sin and death came into the world through Adams sin. But, before I finish, I’m going to quote just one more thing from the New Testament. This is from 1 Corinthians 15, the “resurrection chapter”:

20But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. 22For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Cor. 15:20-22)

Amen!

Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now, and forever. Amen.

[Prayer]



END NOTES
1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Holman CSB ® and HCSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.