What’s wrong with the world? God tells us in Genesis 3.
The oldest lie: where did it all go wrong?
Genesis 3:1-13
The Fall
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
This transcript has been automatically generated
Genesis 3:1-13.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die! For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, Where are you?
And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree, and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done?
The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
I wonder what you would consider to be the greatest problem of our world. I mean, the world has certainly got problems, that’s for sure, but what is the greatest? I guess some would take an environmental tack. The greatest problem is the warming globe. Some would take a political direction.
The greatest problem is the warring nations. Some might take a financial, social, others educational. Many, I suspect, would say religion. Certainly the teaching of Islam has to be a problem of increasing concern in the United Kingdom. The Prophet’s teaching is punctuated with calls to violence and multiple people are encouraged by it to take up arms.
But then others would say it’s a kind of naive progressive liberalism now in retreat, inspired by Lenin and co., who imagined the world as one with all its inhabitants sitting around the campfire singing Kumbaya? Or is it Vlad? Or is it Donald? Or is it Kim? Or is it she?
Or is it Kemi or Keir or Nigel? Well, Genesis 3 makes it a lot more personal. If you are here for the first time, this is, I think, the 6th in a series of talks in the opening chapters of Genesis. We are right back at Key Stage 1. And we have looked at the Creator and we have looked at humanity as the pinnacle of God’s creation.
And we looked at rest, a relationship with God for which we were made. And we have looked at the perfect garden paradise that God prepared for humanity. And we have looked at Adam and Eve. And it is all very good.
And now it is about to get a whole lot worse. So, what I want us to do is to analyse the text and then return to this key question, what is the greatest problem of the world? We have in verses 1 through 5 the temptation that leads to sin. In verse 6, we have the sin itself, rebellion at the heart of sin. And then verses 7 through 13, the fallout that comes from sin, shame and blame.
Temptation. So in verse 1, we find the first threat in the garden. Up to now, everything’s been rosy, good, good, good, good, very good. The word Eden means paradise or delightful place, and there’s been delightful harmony in the perfect garden paradise. But it’s about to get a whole lot worse.
Verse 1, now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman— quite why the serpent is the crafty one we aren’t told. The serpent is a representation of the devil through the rest of the Bible. The serpent is described as a beast of the field. He is external to man.
So it’s not right to psychologize this text, suggesting that the serpent is simply our hidden dark side within. The serpent is a created creature. He is inferior to God, so it’s not right to suggest 2 rival powers, God and evil, battling it out. You get that kind of dualism in some forms of Christian teaching. Instead, the serpent is ultimately a supernatural being and a created being, one who seeks the destruction of humanity and the overthrow of God.
Quite where the evil actually comes from, we are never told. The French theologian Henri Blocher says there are 3 great mysteries that we never get given the answer to: the origin of God, and then he describes the origin of evil as the opaque mystery, a mystery of darkness, and then the issue of God’s sovereignty and human will.
But there is no doubt the serpent’s aim is destructive. It’s rebellion against God. And his tactic is subtle and sinister. You may have noticed the kind of 3-step deception. First, he questions the character of God, hinting that God is not good.
And he does so subtly by changing God’s Word. Notice the difference between verse 16 of chapter 2, just up the column there at the top, the Lord God commanded the man, saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden.
And then verse 1 of chapter 3, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
In other words, God’s a spoilsport? God’s looking to wreck your life? God is a killjoy? Go on, live a little. Now, I grew up in the ’60s and the ’70s at a time when comedians were just beginning to mock the God of the Bible.
And whether it was Monty Python or Peter Cook and Dudley Moore or Spitting Images, The Life of Brian, you know, the constant refrain is God has basically invented His order, moral order, in order to restrict. He is a killjoy.
But then the serpent questions whether God can or will actually deliver on his threat of judgement. So, verse 4, the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. In other words, there is going to be no consequence to rebellion against God. God is so retentive, so kind of up himself, what on earth is he worried about if we eat of the fruit. You won’t really die.
Judgement is such a Victorian idea. It’s vindictive. God is the God of love. It will be okay. He will accept you in the end.
You will not surely die. Can’t believe in final accountability. Reparation maybe, not punishment. Restoration, not retribution. I know we demand justice.
We shout, it’s unfair. But God can just let it slide. You will not surely die.
And then verse 6 is— sorry, verse 5 is the oldest lie, the 3rd oldest lie in the book, the 3rd oldest lie in the book. So, verse 5, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, you will be like God, knowing good and evil. This is a temptation to assume the position of God, to break free from the shackles. It is, if you like, the humanist dream. We can assume the position of God.
We can make the rules. Humanity, what’s to stop us? If only we break free from God, we can achieve our true potential, manifest our true self, further our dreams, build the New Jerusalem. In a sense, it’s what our culture or establishment leaders have championed and trampled for the last 100 years, but there’s nothing new about it. God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened.
You’ll be like God, knowing good from evil. And literally, these are the 3 oldest lies in the book. God is a spoilsport.
Judgement isn’t real. We can truly be free if only we break free from God. In a sense, it shows just how naive 20th-century man has been, how childish. Satan’s work in the late 20th century was like taking sweets from a baby.
And I think we can consider multiple examples from the film industry, the music industry, politics, philosophy, everyday life of these lies repeated and celebrated. I want to break free, free as a bird. The Truman Show, do you remember? Some of you will remember The Truman Show. Truman, a real-life character, but surrounded by actors, all being directed by Christof in the great sky above.
And it’s only when he breaks out that he finds true freedom.
But these 3 lies, whilst being unique and historical in their setting and standing behind the original fall of humanity, are also universal and personal, and they stand behind every sin of every man and woman who has ever lived.
So, how many times have I met a bloke over on business, who’s had too much to drink the night before, oh, God is such a spoilsport. I can just explore this avenue or that avenue.
How many times have I heard that phrase, do you know, I thought I’d get away with it. I’ll be able to bluff God on the last day. I’ll be alright.
How many times have we seen a presentation of the truly free man or woman Having broken off the shackles. Toad of Toad Hall, poop poop. Gollum, my precious. Dreyfus Malfoy, Slytherin.
So it was Immanuel Kant who wrote the essay that has governed so much of liberal idealism, What Is Enlightenment, 1784. Man must emerge from his self-imposed immaturity come out of the phase of non-age with its lack of courage, lack of resolve to use his own understanding and grow up, be enlightened. It’s interesting, that idea taken to its conclusion of breaking free from God buys the 3rd oldest lie in the book.
And personally, partially, when I am speaking to individuals about ongoing temptation and sin, when I am dealing with myself on this issue, it is very helpful to know this. Lie 1, God is a spoilsport. That is the approach. Lie 2, there won’t be any consequences. Go on, do it.
Lie 3, Break free and you will truly live.
Well then, the temptation that leads to sin gives way to the rebellion at the heart of sin that we find in verse 6. And the case can be made, and I think it can be made very well and convincingly, that verse 6 sits right at the centre of all the material we find in chapters 2 and 3. I have put that for us on the back of the handout that you were given. You can see it there in the box.
Now, what I’ve suggested is by no means complete. It’s a little crude. You can develop the suggestion in a more sophisticated way, and others have done that. But you can see that the material in chapters 2:4 through to chapter 5:1 is bracketed by that phrase, these are the generations.
And then chapter 2 and 3, we have the ideal home, the ideal marriage, temptation, rebellion, discovery, ruined marriage, ruined home, and then chapter 4 attempts to get back into the garden and recreate paradise.
And so, by putting verse 6 right at the heart of all of this material, the author is saying to us, God is saying to us, this is, if you like, The point at which it all goes wrong. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
So it is rebellion that is right at the heart of the matter. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents God’s authority to rule. That much is clear from the 3rd temptation. The very fact that eating of it will enable men and women to become like God tells us that to take of the fruit is to seek to overthrow the position of God in my life.
I sometimes wonder how the scene unfolded.
I don’t imagine it happened suddenly.
Did she stand on the edge of the clearing in which the tree formed the central feature?
Did she look at it longingly for a week, a month, a year?
Did she brood on those internal desires and allow them to take root? Did she spend time drawing closer to the tree? Did she even go up and sort of smell the fruit occasionally?
I think the text suggests that, if you look at it. When the woman saw that the tree was good, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it was to be desired. She saw, she delighted, she desires. This itself is a lesson in sin. Stop looking.
Stop treasuring. Human desire is not neutral.
There is such a thing as bad desire.
But the act itself is sudden and it’s almost violent, isn’t it? She took of its fruit and she ate.
And then verse 6 is remarkable. At the end, she also gave some to her husband. Oh, he was there, who was with her. He was there all along.
And he had been given responsibility to guard the garden and look after it. The woman wasn’t actually there when the command was originally given not to eat of the fruit, which is why she misquotes it and adds to the Word of God. But he was there.
He was responsible to lead in the relationship and he failed.
So, verse 6 is sin. This is what sin is. What is sin? Sin is not some minor peccadillo, naughty but nice, one too many sherbets at the office party or a chocolate too many in Lent.
Sin is not misplaced love. It’s not that there are multiple counterfeit gods out there and I’m essentially a kind of lover and I love the wrong one. It’s not misplaced love. That’s not the essence of sin. Sin results in misplaced love, but that’s not the essence of it.
Sin is not simply the heinous crimes that only those in the top security cells of Belmarsh have committed.
Fundamentally, sin, it is rebellion against God. It’s the fruit of, God is a spoilsport, I’m a free agent, I want to overthrow his rule and there will be no consequences. Sin is rebellion, a deliberate determination to tear down the rule of God. All the more offensive because of its context. Chapter 1, good, good, good.
Chapter 2, physical, spiritual, moral provision. Chapter 2, the woman. And God has provided absolutely everything. And now, shaking a fist at the Creator, she took, she ate. I can do without you.
And once again, yes, this is a unique act of historical significance. The author has told us, these are the generations of the heavens and the earth. If you want to understand the world and not be a naive child, you need to realise that sin is at the heart of everything that went wrong. So, it’s unique, it’s historical, but it’s also personal, individual, and universal. We think God is a spoilsport.
We think there will be no consequence. We think we’d do better without him. We think we can do it my way.
Some of us do it vigorously, actively, openly, and willfully.
Some of us do it quietly, subversively, shyly.
2 students, A college quad with a grass centre and a sign saying, stay off the grass, and one student strides onto the grass in the middle of the day in front of all the college porters, shaking his fist at the authorities. Another one creeps down in the middle of the night and tiptoes across the grass. Both rebels. 2 brokers. One sticks 2 fingers up at the regulators and heads off into the emerging markets, or I think they’re called the unexplored explored markets now and just makes hay with no regard to what the law is and to the regulator.
And the other one quietly bumps up the commission on the contract, hoping the underwriter won’t notice. I’m told it happens all the time. They’re both rebels.
2 cyclists. One rides his/her Lime bike like a fruit fly on Dexys. Ignores the lights, crosses the road, seeks to run over a few pedestrians while she’s doing it. And the other one, well, is much more circumspect and sedate, and— but there is a set of lights near their home that’s gone up really quite recently, and he’s always crossed the road quite happily at that place, and so when the lights are red, he goes across quite as he used to. They’re both rebels.
It’s just that we’re not dealing with students and cyclists and brokers. We’re dealing with all of humanity.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband who was with her. And he ate.
Temptation, rebellion, and fallout. The fallout that comes from sin: shame and blame. The shame is there both in verse 7 and in verses 8 through 10. Verse 7, then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. This is a fascinating verse.
It speaks of vulnerability— they knew they were naked— and fragility— they sewed fig leaves.
And the contrast between verse 25 of chapter 2, the man and his wife were both naked and knew no shame, could not be clearer. Now that the safety of God’s good law has gone, the man and the woman both find themselves open to to shame, damage, fear.
Within the loving, good law of God, there is protection within those boundaries. They knew no shame. Once I overthrow God, I am vulnerable.
And the protection is oh so fragile. Just a fig leaf.
So, once we have torn down the loving rule of God, there is no such thing as safe sex. We see that everywhere.
But then the shame that begins internally with self and socially with others in verse 7 gives way to the shame of verse 8, which then transmutes into fear.
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said, where are you? The you there is singular.
And Adam said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. So, God comes looking, Adam goes hiding. And we like to think that God is kind of all remote and we are desperately searching after Him. You have to change the entire storey of the Bible to get that way of thinking. It is God who has made Himself plain, who has exposed Himself, and it is men and women who erect excuses, paper-thin arguments to hide from the truth of God because we love our rebellious state, and we fear the certainty of judgement.
Were our way of seeing things to be true, we would have to reverse the entire storyline of the Bible. It was the parable of the lost shepherd and the sheep who comes looking, the parable of the lost woman and the coin that goes searching, the parable of the lost father and the son who came seeking.
Now, my unbelieving colleague, has put up a thin veneer of unbelief out of fear of discovery by God because she knows she’s guilty. And God can see straight through it.
Shame is followed by blame.
God said, who told you, singular, Adam, that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, The woman gave you— whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate.
Neither accepts responsibility, neither says sorry. That’s so striking, isn’t it? Both are brazen, neither accepts liability. It’s Bart Simpson. I didn’t do it.
And so, we began by asking, what’s wrong with the world? Religion, politics, environment, political leaders, nations, liberal progressivism, whatever, whatever, whatever. And many of you will have heard of the series of letters written to The Times Was it back in the 1960s, 1970s, asking the question, answering the question, what’s wrong with the world? And people gave all of these kind of answers. And then one day a letter came in from G.K. Chesterton, the famous writer.
Dear sir, I am. Yours faithfully.
Wes is very good at handing me things he thinks I should read before I speak here on a Tuesday. Wes should always be listened to. So, I listened to Dominic Sambrook being interviewed on trigonometry. By 2 individuals who I’m afraid I’d never heard of. But anyway, there we are.
Dominic Sandbrook on world history: Anyone who thinks at all seriously about history or literature will know that people are capable of remarkable things and also terrible things. How close we are to the precipice, how close to the beast within. Yes, but that’s not the issue.
The issue is not that some people in history step over the brink, The issue is that all of humanity are rebels against God.
And so, in summary, these catastrophic steps, the pathway to calamity. God is a spoilsport. There will be no consequence.
Go on, live a little. Look, delight, desire, take, eat.
Shame, vulnerability, fragility, cover-up, blame. It’s not my fault, God, it’s her fault. It’s not my fault, God, It’s the serpent’s fault. It’s not my fault, God, it’s your fault, the woman you gave me.
And I’m sorry I can’t give you much more good news at this stage. There’s a little bit next week, but this is just chapter 3 of the entire Bible. What’s wrong with the world? And when we come to the rest of the Bible, we find it is really one long storey of God searching for lost rebels.
The Son of Man, Jesus, came to seek and save the lost. There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who turns around, that you may know that the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, has authority on the earth to forgive sins. The answer is in Jesus and His forgiveness, if only we will face up to reality and fess up.
What’s wrong with the world? I am. Let’s pray together.
The prophet Isaiah, woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.
Our Father, we acknowledge our own, not simply fragility and frailty, but rank rebellion.
We confess that we have imagined you to be out to spoil our fun. We confess that we have imagined you to be a pushover, no consequence.
We confess, our Father, that we think far too much of ourselves. We think we can be like God.
And we confess that at our very heart, so often, we want to be away with God and away from God. We confess our sin. Father, we come out into the open before you. We thank you for the Lord Jesus, his sinless, perfect life, and his sin-bearing sacrificial death.
And we praise you that there is forgiveness in his blood and in his death.
In Jesus’ name, amen.