The Fall: Genesis 3

 The Fall: Genesis 3

Introduction

Welcome readers to The Daily Manna! Here we read God's word as our daily manna. Allowing it to nourish and transform us into the image of Christ. 

Today's topic is the very first book of the Torah and the old testament: Genesis. Genesis was written by Moses along with the first other 4 books of the Bible. This book is the story of our creation and beginning. 

A Brief recap of Genesis 1–2: God created everything good; Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony with Him.

Today we will be diving into Genesis 3. This reveals how sin entered the world and broke that perfect relationship between God and man through temptation and disobedience. 

I do want to remind you that these posts are meant to be a helping companion not a substitute for reading your Bible. This works best if you read the section before reading any further. 

Summary of Genesis 3

Verses 1–5: The serpent deceives Eve, twisting God’s words and planting doubt.

Verses 6–7: Eve eats the forbidden fruit, then Adam also eats — their eyes are opened, and they realize they are naked.

Verses 8–13: God confronts them; they hide in shame and blame each other.

Verses 14–19: God pronounces judgment on the serpent, woman, and man.

Verses 20–24: God covers them with garments and drives them out of Eden — mercy even in discipline.

Key Themes and Meaning

Temptation and Deception: 

The very first sentence of this chapter says that the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals that the Lord God made. The serpent chose to go to Eve possibly because she, unlike Adam, did not receive direct orders from God not to eat from the tree of knowledge. Satan (the serpent) goes up to her and puts a thought in her head by asking “did God really say, “you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”” This twisted God's word and gives an opening to put temptation into Eve's mind. 

She told him that they could eat from any of the trees in the garden but God said “you must not to eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden or touch it because you could die” 

To this Satan said to the woman “you will not certainly die”. He then told her “for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Notice how the serpent uses a partial truth so that it sounds believable however there is underlying deception. Because though they ate from the tree they didn't die immediately and their eyes were open to The knowledge of good and evil. Thus sin entered the picture and from there opened up the world to death. 

This allowed temptation to enter the woman. She saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food (gluttony), and pleasing to the eye (lust) , And also desirable for the gaining of wisdom (pride of life). And then she took some and ate it and then also gave some to her husband. Then both of them opened their eyes and realized they were naked. 

Both the man and woman send through listening to another created being rather than to God the Creator. Thus the trap was set and the results was sin. Sin means to miss the mark. God cannot live where there is sin. This is the whole reason Jesus came.

Free Will

 God didn’t force obedience. The tree was placed in the garden because one cannot truly love or be loved without choice. If there was no choice we would be no better than robots following commands. He allowed choice. However with choice comes consequence. 

Sin and Shame:

 Sin brought separation from God, but also revealed humanity’s need for redemption. It says that then both their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked. They sown fig leaves together to make coverings for themselves. From here they heard the sound of God walking in the garden and they hid from him. This was out of shame. 

God calls out to them “where are you?”. Adam answers “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid” This means he knew he had sinned and he was ashamed. 

God asked “who told you that you were naked, have you eaten from the tree I told you not to eat from?” meaning did you not listen to my orders? He did not say this because he didn't know. God knows all. He asked this so that Adam had a chance to confess his sin. 

Instead of confessing sin he tried to protect himself by saying “the woman you put here with me she gave me some of the fruit from the tree and I ate it”. See how he blames Eve and God? 

God then turns to Eve, giving her a chance to confess her sins “What is this you have done?” he questions. 

She also refuses to confess her wrongdoings and instead decides to protect herself. “The serpent deceived me, and I ate”. 

And notice how the Lord does not question the serpent. Instead he curses him. 

Notice how the sin led them away from focusing on God and they started focusing on themselves. That is why so often humans think of themselves as their own God. Life was never meant to be that way. When we stop focusing on God we fall.  

God’s Mercy:

Even though they disobeyed and there were consequences to them disobeying, such as: 

putting hatred between the woman and the offspring of Satan (which is any one of this world who doesn't accept Christ)

making child bearing/birthing painful for the woman. 

And wanting the woman to desire to lead her husband but he will rule her. 

And then for the man cursing the ground and making hard labor. 

God also says “for dust you are band dust you will return” which means death has now entered the picture. 

Notice how with the man and the woman he never cursed them. However he does curse the serpent. Though there were consequences to their actions, this was a mercy for Adam and Eve. 

Even after they sinned, we see in verse 21 that the Lord God made garments of skin for them, to cover them. This means that an animal sacrifice had to have been made to atone for their sin. This was a symbol of grace. It is also foreshadowing we see of needing a savior which is Jesus Christ who covers our sins.

After covering Adam and Eve, God says in Genesis 3:22 “the man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever” This was out of mercy and to protect Adam and Eve. For if they sin and ate from the tree and lived forever they would be no worse than the demons in hell. Which means to live forever without God. With this God banished them from the garden of Eden. He drove them out and placed a cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the tree of life. This was Mercy and protection for man out of love. 

Promise of Hope (Genesis 3:15): The first prophecy of Jesus — “He will crush your head.” God says after he curses the serpent.

Reflection for Today

How do we see temptation in our own lives?

Do we recognize God’s mercy even when we’ve fallen short?

How does this chapter remind us of our need for Christ’s redemption?

Closing 

The story of the fall is not simply one of failure. It’s also the beginning of God’s plan of redemption. Even in judgment, we see His mercy. Though Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden, they were never cast out of God’s love. From the very moment sin entered the world, God was already preparing a way back to Himself through Jesus Christ, the promised Savior who would crush the serpent’s head once and for all.

As we walk through our own moments of temptation and weakness, may we remember: God’s mercy always meets us where we fall. His grace always covers what our sin uncovers.

“Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” – Romans 5:20

Lord, help us to recognize the subtle ways the enemy tries to deceive us. Thank You for Your mercy, covering our sin through Jesus Christ. May we walk in Your truth each day. Amen.