PARADISE LOST

The Origin and Consequence of Sin

Part 6

A DIVINE CONFRONTATION

Adam not admitting his sin led to God’s response in verse 11.

3:11 And God said to Adam, Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?

God’s questioning of Adam does not mean that He was surprised or unaware of the events that had occurred.

The purpose for the Lord God’s question to Adam is to elicit a confession from him that he sinned and is in need of forgiveness.

God had not suggested or merely recommended that Adam not eat of the forbidden tree, he had given a firm order, a divine command that was to be obeyed.

Seeking to make an excuse for his sin and shift the blame Adam responded to God in verse 12.

3:12 And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate.

Notice Adam’s accusation against God. He implied that God was at least partly to blame because He created the woman and gave her to him.

Adam also put the blame on the woman for giving him the fruit to eat. Only after he had blamed God and the woman did Adam say, “I ate.”

Yahweh now turns to the woman in verse 13 to elicit a confession and repentance of her sin.

3:13 And Yahweh God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me and I ate.’

This question to the woman is not rhetorical. It begins with the Hebrew interrogative mah (what), which is often used to introduce exclamations or indignation and wonder: “Woman, what in the world have you done!?”

The woman here is directly accusing the serpent of being the cause of her (and mankind’s by application) disobedience from where we get the popular phrase: “The devil made me do it!”

Eve’s confession, the serpent deceived me and I ate, was true, but the facts did not acquit her from guilt. The serpent had deceived her. But she had willfully and selfishly yielded to his deception and disobeyed a clear commandment of God.

Shifting blame is not a learned trait, but rather one that the sinful human nature is born with.

David said in Psalm 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. And in Psalm 58:3 Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.

3:14-15 God’s curse upon the serpent and the promise of a Redeemer. 

So the Lord said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; and He shall crush your head, and you shall bruise His heel.

The curse is twofold: first, the serpent will now travel upon its belly—apparently before this judgment the creature stood erect. Secondly, the beast will eat “dust.”

Both curses are symbols of humiliation and defeat. Because the Satan possessed serpent was cunning above all, he is cursed above all.

The curse God pronounced against the serpent included a prophecy that the woman’s Seed would crush the serpent’s head.

“Seed” could not be a reference to Eve’s offspring in general, because the expression translated “He shall bruise your head” clearly refers to a specific individual. We know from the rest of Scripture—and the fulfillment of the promise itself—that this can only be a reference to Christ, the incarnate Son of God.

Galatians 3:16, 19 & 29 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ… What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come....If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Christ was the promised Seed of the woman. And although the serpent would bruise His heel (causing suffering and pain), He would crush the serpent’s head (signifying a fatal blow).

Satan’s destruction gives all believers reason to hope. His downfall not only signifies God’s final triumph over all the devil’s works, but in particular, it represents the full reversal of Adam’s fall.

Consider four things revealed about Christ in Genesis 3:15.

1. He would be the Seed of the woman. This seems to be a subtle reference to Christ’s virgin birth.

2. There would be enmity between Him and the serpent. This signifies the continuous conflict between Satan and Christ. Satan, the destroyer of men’s souls, opposes Christ the Savior of men’s souls.

3. The Seed of the woman would suffer. Satan would bruise His heel. This speaks of Christ’s suffering on the cross.

 Isaiah 53:5 He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

4. The Savior would triumph. He would end the enmity forever by crushing the serpent’s head. Satan did his best to destroy Christ, but in the end it left only a bruise that would heal.

Christ rose from the dead in triumph, gaining redemption for a multitude of Adam’s fallen race, while destroying the works of the devil. And in that act, he sealed Satan’s final defeat, crushing the serpent’s head as promised.