Let’s get back to the garden.
God has since made the universe and saw that it was good. Now He has made Adam, and the first warning has been passed;
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:16-17 esv
Side note – I hear a lot of people calling this the Tree of Knowledge but the very distinction of it being of good and evil is imperative to the actual importance of the tree. Because God did not make Adam and Eve dumb. Adam named all the animals prior to the eating of the fruit, and we aren’t out here calling things flap flap thing one and two, or moo chaw big and small.
Side rant done, back to…
God shared that with Adam, then proceeds to make Eve.
Tah dah – man has his help mate.
So, while out and about within the garden the serpent slides on up to Eve, “Hey girl – I know that God has forbade you from participating in something that He didn’t explain to you, because He knows it’s for your own good. What was it?” We are quoting his intentions. His precise luring,
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?”
Genesis 3:1 esv
Eve makes no pause and immediately informs the serpent. “Oh yeah. We have been given such an instruction.” Her exact declaration;
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.”
Genesis 3:2-3 esv
But Eve adds onto the original instruction given to Adam. Initially, “Do not eat” became “Do not eat or touch the fruit.”
But we don’t know where Eve got this idea from. If Adam had told her this to implore the importance of avoiding it, or if she added it on to protect herself. But we can declare that she understood the threat of death that came from the fruit.
Her fear was in the fruit, not the Lord.
Her self-interpretation of the warning led her astray. Because the moment the serpent poked a hole in it, she was willing to wander. Her foundation wasn’t in the reverence of God, because the moment she was told “don’t worry – you won’t die” her real concern was exposed.
She didn’t fear God, she feared death.
Now, Eve hearing what she believes to be a reasonable argument for eating the fruit – that one she won’t die, but two will be made wise in the knowledge of good and evil – like gods. She even took a moment of contemplation; in verse six she lists the reasons why it’s okay to eat the fruit. Pleasant to look at, good for food, would make one wise – checking all of these boxes, but none of these reasons was “What did God command?”
That wasn’t a reason nor even a thought when Eve was in her debate about giving into her temptation to have what her heart was yearning for.
There is accountability that needs to be taken on our part when it comes to the participation we have in sin because the things we need to note here is that the serpent was suggestive, beguiling, he was manipulative and encouraged her to sin.
But he himself did not eat the fruit.
Eve listening to the temptation wasn’t wrong, but it was her acting upon that temptation that was wrong.
The serpent did not bite the fruit and baby bird it to Eve. The serpent did not hear her state we can’t eat it or touch it and then shove it down her throat. He did not take her hands, pick the fruit, and puppeteer her into eating the apple.
It was Eve’s decision.
It is our decision.
There’s also this fascinating part of the story where, we don’t know where Eve is when this interaction with the serpent occurs. We aren’t told if she is in the midst of the garden or on the outskirts. She may have been avoiding that tree. But if she was already in the midst of the garden, Eve was found circling her temptation, but if she was on the outskirts of the garden, it means she went to her temptation.
It reminds me of the verse in 1 Peter 5:8 esv
Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Both Adam and Eve had the possibility of preventative measures. If they were willing to add onto the instruction, then perhaps the following actions could have taken place.
Why didn’t they fence it off?
Why didn’t they cut it down?
Why didn’t they pick the fruit and burn it?
It was in the midst of the garden – therefore there was more garden to be picking fruit from.
And we must include Adam in this because in verse 6 tells us,
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.
Genesis 3:6 esv
The decision was made by Adam and Eve to eat the fruit.
But the blame was passed from Adam to Eve to the serpent. The responsibility and the accountability of their actions were placed on Adam and Eve – because they were the ones who committed the act.
It seems to me that there is a lot of passing the buck in Christianity now. That we don’t own our own sins, that we don’t recognize the participation we have within our own actions. We want to blame a generational curse, or self declared spiritual warfare. (Spiritual warfare is incredibly real, but when it is used to pardon actions or make excuse of your own poor decisions – then it’s not spiritual warfare.)
The only curse we suffer from, is the curse of sin.
So, it would appear that the idea of “it wasn’t my fault” has stemmed from the garden as well.
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