Genesis 3
Yesterday we had two chapters in Genesis. Tomorrow we’ll have another two. Today, the Fall, we have only one chapter. Why? Is it because chapter 3 is so much longer than the other four chapters? No, not the case. Then why? I think that it’s because the STS authors want us to think more about chapter 3, the Fall. To start, finish the following sentence: “If I had been Adam or Eve, I’d have __________ .” First, answer the question. Then ask yourself what strikes you most? What hits you in this chapter?
For me, it was verse 8b: … and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. They tried to hide themselves from God. How crazy is that?! But I do that. I don’t want my bads revealed! If I had cheated on my taxes I wouldn’t want anyone else to know. But God does know! He knows all! The problem is that we don’t like confession. Period. Full stop. We don’t like to think about how fundamentally flawed we are. But, unfortunately, there is no forgiveness without confession. That makes confession the greatest of graces God has ever given us. Gives me a new perspective on confession…! And you? Where does confession stand in your life?
Blessings!
Sorry this is a day late, but as Fred pointed out, Genesis 3 is worth some extra attention…
As a kid I often thought the story of the Fall was a bit odd. I could not fathom how one poor dietary choice would doom the entire human race — indeed all of creation — to ongoing disaster. I could recognize that eating the Forbidden Fruit was an act of disobedience, but it seemed to me to be a minor act, not really the Big Deal that the Fall evidently was (is). Clearly, I was missing something, and I don’t think I was alone.
So what is really going on in the serpent’s temptation of Eve? What is really at the core of the serpent’s questions and statements? Ultimately, it is all about trust, or, rather, distrust of God. Is God good, or not? Does He really intend to do what is best for you, or not? Having created you in His image, does He want you to be like Him, or is He selfishly holding out on you? It is this distrust of God, and the corresponding decision to exalt Self, that is at the core of the Fall. We simply cannot enjoy a proper relationship with God while simultaneously distrusting Him, thinking Him to be less than good or anything other than Who He declares Himself to be. In one way or another all sin is an expression of distrust in God.
All of that helps explain another thing that I could not quite understand as a kid. I couldn’t quite see why faith would be the key ingredient for salvation. Why would subscribing to a few tenets of doctrine be a ticket to heaven? Surely intellectual acceptance of a few ideas could not be worth so much. In that I was right, but clearly I was missing something.
And that something was a proper understanding of “faith”, which is not just having good doctrine in one’s head. Faith is a matter of trust. It is agreeing with God — agreeing with Him about Who He is; agreeing with Him about who I am; agreeing with Him about who you are; agreeing with Him about what is good and right and true (and what is not). It is agreeing with God enough to surrender all my “rights”, to surrender control, and to trust Him in all things.
Faith undoes the Fall.