Conscience, the knowledge of
good and evil, was not in operation in mankind before the fall. Adam was
created in the state of innocence, and in that state he was ignorance of evil.
But the minute he and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil, conscience came into operation in their lives. Their eyes were opened and
they became not only conscious of good but also of wrong and evil doing.
Satan’s word, no matter how gloriously painted, always turns out to be a
mirage. Adam and Eve discovered that. But alas it was too late. Weren’t they
told that they would have opened eyes and be like God, knowing good and evil
when they ate of that forbidden fruit? Yes, their eyes were opened, and like
God they knew what’s good and evil. But their conscience became alive and afflicted
them and that conscience became a witness to their disobedience. The naked
truth, they realized, was an experience of guilt and shame that brought along
fear. In fact this is the first time man experienced fear. Instead of being
open with God and confess their disobedience, their fear drove them into
hiding. So they hid from God. The would-be-glorious future with God died the
day they took the bait of Satan. Gratefully we have our Lord Jesus to thank. He
would come and provide the way back to a glorious future. Calvary was necessary
so that we can experience Easter.
However, the day Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit was a sad day. They
used to walk and talk with God in the garden. They knew God intimately and in a
deeply personal way. Now with guilt alive, they shied away from God and went into
hiding. They reaction to sin reveals what we too would often do, i.e. to alienate
ourselves from God when we sin. But what God did for Adam, He too will do for
us. He will come seeking to help us despite our failure. In much the same way, God
won’t abandon us. He still cares. It is a motivation to us that when we have
failed God we should not run away from Him. We should repent instead and draw
nigh to Him, seeking His forgiveness.
In this passage, notice that God dealt with each person individually and directly. He
dealt with Adam first, then Eve and then the serpent. It tells us that God gives
equal opportunity to all, and each one must account
for his or her contribution individually. God first addressed Adam. That is because he represented
the head of the human race. Thus as the head, he was the most culpable for the failure.
We also learn from how each responded to the wrong. Their responses were evasive. God’s question to
Adam was “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded
you not to eat?” A straight forward like “Yes, I did and I am sorry Lord,” would
have sufficed. But he played the blame game. He pushed it to Eve, saying “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from
the tree, and I ate.” It’s as good as saying, “God, it’s your
fault, you gave me that woman.” He was insinuating that had God not given him
the woman, he would not have sinned. How insulting! The buck should have
stopped there but it didn’t. So God then confronted Eve, she played the same
blame game too. She pushed the blame to the serpent. She said “…the serpent
deceived me and I ate.” It’s like saying, “The devil made me do it.” Really? God
needs us to own up when we have failed. Don’t blame our genes or environment. He
has made us capable of making responsible decision. When
we don’t take responsibility, we are saying that we are not in control of our
own life, someone or something else does. God expects us to exercise our
given capability and respond rightly. These verses also tell us that every offence against God invariably will bring consequences. The result
of sin has a far reaching effect. It has a wide reaching scope. We are accountable
for our action, so let’s be circumspect with life and be careful how we walk!
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