Genesis - 8
The Entrance of Sin into the World
Can you imagine a world with no hospitals, no old people’s homes, no graveyards or funeral processions; a world with no prisons, no rioting, no policemen, and a world with no locks on doors, in fact no keys needed anywhere? Can you picture a society where there is no murder, no rape, no robbery or violence; where there is no drug-dealing, no drunkenness, no lying or cheating. In fact no corruption of any kind. Can you try to imagine such a world? It’s hard isn’t it? You would say, “A world like that would be on another planet. It certainly is not like that where I live!” You are right. Such a world is far removed from the one we know. And yet a world like that was just what God intended. His original purpose was for a place without evil of any kind where people loved Him and obeyed Him and loved one another. It would be heaven on earth.
When God created the world and the first human beings, everything was perfect. So what was the dreadful thing that happened to this world and to the people in it that caused the evil and corruption that we see around us and inside us? The answer is found in the opening chapters of the first book of the Bible - Genesis, the Book of Beginnings. We discover in Genesis chapter 3 that it was the disobedience of man that brought about his fall. It was the entrance of sin into God’s perfect world and into the nature of mankind, where it had not previously existed, that brought about the situation in which we find ourselves today.
Let us be clear on this: sin is not some small slip-up, some silly mistake or some regrettable error. It is far more serious than that. It is nothing less than human nature defying God, the Creator of the universe. It is shaking our fists in the face of God and deciding that we know what is right. Sin is man wanting to be in control of everything and not tolerating any interference from God. Sin is saying in effect, “I come first” with no room for God or for others.
When God created the first man and women they were innocent, without a trace of sin in them. He placed them in the Garden of Eden and they had an unspoilt fellowship with their Maker. The continuance of that fellowship would depend on their giving loving obedience to Him as we discover in Genesis chapter 2.
God had provided a beautiful environment for Adam and Eve. He did not abandon them to a wilderness or desert and we read in verse 9 that, “The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasant to the eyes and good for food.” God catered for their visual pleasure, just as you and I find pleasure in looking at flowers and beautiful trees with their colourful leaves and blossoms and their varieties of fruit. God also catered for Adam’s sense of taste or appetite for the trees were “good for food.” In verse 10 we see that a river flowed out of the garden to water it, and it would also provide refreshment for the man and his wife. To complete Adam’s happiness, we learn from verse 15 that he was put in the garden to care for it. God gave him satisfying work to do as a gardener looking after everything growing in Eden.
Beyond all this, verse 9 also tells us that God provided something more wonderful than we can imagine. We are told that in the middle of the garden was “the tree of life.” Chapter 3 and verse 24 tells us that taking of the fruit of this tree would enable the man and woman to live for ever. So much was being given freely and generously to Adam by God. How could there be any complaint against his Maker?
To test his willing submission to God, for Adam was given the freedom to choose, God placed on him one simple requirement. Also in the middle of the garden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There was nothing harsh or oppressive about his requirement as we discover from the account in Genesis chapter 2 verses 16 and 17:
“And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat of any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die’”.
God was putting Adam on probation. He was requiring of him submission to his will, that is obedience. Was that single requirement unreasonable or harsh? After all, Adam had the complete freedom of the garden, with everything in it for his enjoyment. All that God required was obedience concerning the one fruit, just one out of hundreds. The willingness of Adam and Eve to obey God was soon put to the test and tragically they seemed to have considered God’s requirement to be unreasonable.
The tree that tested their obedience was called by God “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” As created Adam had no knowledge of evil, he had known only what it was to be good. However, when he disobeyed God’s command and ate of the fruit of the tree, at once both Adam and the woman knew what evil was and their consciences were awakened. God had clearly warned Adam that if he ate of the fruit, on that day he would surely die, or as the Hebrew language expresses it, “dying he would die.” This is a slightly unusual expression indicating that death, both spiritual and physical would result. From that moment of disobedience Adam’s spiritual link with God died. He became spiritually dead to God, just as when you unplug an electrical appliance it is disconnected from the source of power. At that moment Adam and Eve began to die physically. No longer would they live forever as God had intended. Their bodies would gradually age and eventually die.
So we have discovered that man was created originally by God as a righteous being, to live eternally in absolute harmony with his Creator whom he knew and had fellowship with in the garden day by day.
But Romans chapter 5 verse 12, in the New Testament, tells us that, “Sin entered into the world by one man (Adam) and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…” Neither death nor sin was in the world before Adam disobeyed God. It was plainly not God’s intention for us to experience sickness, disease, ageing and finally death. It was certainly not God’s purpose that we would live in a world ruined by selfishness and disregard for his moral laws.
This, then, is how sin entered the world. It came in through Adam failing a simple and reasonable test of his willingness to freely obey God. Despite the kindness and mercy of God in providing everything that would make for a happy and fulfilled existence, Adam chose to go his own way and in so doing brought the greatest injury and sorrow to all mankind. This is why we have a world like ours today.
We have all inherited the disobedient nature of Adam and in consequence we are all sinners. To change the world, people need to be changed from within. The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is changing people and is reversing the consequences of sin. In Romans chapter 6 verse 23 we read: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 5 verse 8 tells us: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” On the cross of Calvary Jesus Christ was punished for our sins to deliver us from death and reconcile us to our Creator God.
You do not have to continue in your own selfish and rebellious ways and one day face the righteous judgement of God. If you call on the Lord, confessing that you are a sinner in need of his salvation, then He will hear you. God sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save sinners, and to make them into a people who love God and seek to honour and obey Him. The Christian believer can say with the apostle Peter: “But in keeping with God’s promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”
(2 Peter 3: 13)