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圣 经 探 险 者 第 四 课 罪进入世界 |
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Lesson
4 Reading: Genesis
3 "The Lord
God planted a garden eastward in Eden"(Genesis
2:8-15) “耶和华神在东方的伊甸立了一个园子”（创世纪2：8-15） We are told of two
particular trees that were placed in the midst of this garden. They were
"the tree of life" and "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (v
9). "Thou shalt not eat of it" (Genesis 2:16-17)“你们不可吃它”（创世纪2：16-17）
Not only was this law
given to them, but the penalty for disobedience was also clearly stated:
"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die". What
would such a penalty mean to Adam? Although he had been created "very
good" like all the other creatures that were made, his life was one of
probation. His destiny was to be determined by his obedience or
disobedience to his Maker. Why was the penalty of
death to be given for disobedience to this simple command? Let us look at
the situation from God’s viewpoint. It was God who
established the law that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). All that He had created was
"very good" but sin would disrupt this glorious harmony between God
and His creation. What is Sin? “什么是罪” "Sin is the
transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). A better rendering of this
is: "Sin is lawlessness". We need to appreciate how God views sin.
When we sin we are in effect saying to God, "I will not do what You ask,
but I will do what I want to do." In sinning we remove God from the
central position of our faith and love, and enthrone sin (the desire to
serve our own lusts and passions; James 1:14-15; 1 John 2:15-17) in the place that is
rightfully God’s. Thus God was right in
sentencing sinners to death. The alternative was for God to abdicate His
supreme position and allow sin to rule for ever in men’s lives. "Ye shall
not surely die" (Genesis
3:1-7) Adam and Eve were now
put to the test. We read of this in the discussion between the serpent and
Eve. 我们从蛇与夏娃的对话中了解到亚当和夏娃现在被试探。 "the
serpent" The serpent was one of the
creatures that God had made (cp. 2 Corinthians
11:2-3). The
Hebrew for serpent is "nahawsh", from a root meaning "to perceive or
observe", and is translated "diligently observe" (1 Kings 20:33), and "learn by
experience" (Genesis 30:27). We must note that the
serpent, like all animals, had the capacity to reason to satisfy its
sensual desires. However it could not reason on a moral
plane. Animals do not have this capacity as they are amoral
creatures. God gave the serpent the power of speech. In doing so the
serpent expressed the animal mind, which is unenlightened and unable to
comprehend divine moral principles. "subtil" = "shrewd, crafty" (cp Job 5:12; 15:5). The word is also used in a
good sense as "prudent" (Proverbs
12:16,23;
14:8,15). Christ mentioned this
quality of the serpent when speaking to his disciples (Matthew 10:16). God gave the serpent the
ability to speak and so it commenced the following discussion with the
woman. The serpent had observed and heard what God had spoken, and
therefore questioned Eve. Eve replied, expressing the prohibition that God
had placed upon eating from the tree of knowledge. She not only spoke of
the restriction but also of the penalty for disobedience: "Ye shall not
eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die" (v3). Eve understood this
quite clearly. "Ye shall
not surely die" Thus the first lie was told. The serpent was
not reasoning on a moral plane as to whether it was right or wrong to eat
the fruit - it could not do this, as it was an animal. Its sensual
reasoning saw an advantage in eating the fruit. It would make the man and
the woman equal to the angels. Thus it said, "Ye shall be as gods
(Hebrew "elohim" = "mighty ones"), knowing good and evil".
The woman was beguiled
by the serpent’s reasoning (Genesis 3:13). By putting from her mind the
commandment of God, she now looked at the tree and its fruit in a
different way:
Thus were aroused in
her the three unlawful lusts of which John speaks in 1 John 2:15-17:
John points out that
these lusts are "not of the Father, but of the world". Because the woman
submitted to this reasoning of the serpent she introduced sin into the
world. Having eaten of the fruit she then enticed her husband to eat. The
effects were immediate. They had their eyes opened and they knew that they
were naked. The immediate effects of sin were fear and shame. Thus Adam
described his newfound state, "I was afraid, because I was naked; and I
hid myself" (v10). Nakedness throughout the
Bible thus became representative of shame as a result of sin (Revelation
16:15-16). Then followed
God’s interrogation of Adam. Adam firstly
endeavored to blame God for giving him the woman, and then Eve who gave
him the fruit to eat. Then Eve was questioned and she blamed the serpent:
"The serpent beguiled me and I did eat" (v13). Paul in his writings
refers to this incident on two occasions (2 Corinthians
11:2-3;
1 Timothy 2:14). It is always helpful to have
passages of the Bible explained by other inspired writers in the Bible.
"I will put
enmity between thee and the woman" (Genesis
3:14-15)
"I will put enmity" God instituted this enmity between His ways and the ways of sin (Romans 8:7; James 4:4). "between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed" The
serpent was the father of that sinful way of thinking that dominates those
who give themselves over to following their lusts. Thus both John the
Baptist and Jesus speak of those religious leaders in their day as "a
generation of vipers" etc. because they walked in the ways of sin and
wickedness (Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33; cp John 8:44). "Her seed", that is
the seed of the woman, points to the Lord Jesus Christ
who, though born of a woman, was the Son of God (Luke 1:33-35). He always did the will of
his Father, never submitting to the will of the flesh: "Not my will,
but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42; John 5:30). In his death he finally
"condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3), destroying that sin
principle which had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). "it shall
bruise thy head" Both Rotherham and RSV have "he",
thus pointing forward to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord rendered a fatal
strike to the thinking of sin when in death he "destroyed that which
had the power of death" in his own nature (Hebrews 2:14). "thou shalt
bruise his heel" In the mortal combat that
was fought against "sin" by the Lord Jesus Christ, he was victorious and
destroyed the sin power, but in doing so he was wounded "in the heel" in
that he died. The bruise however was only of a temporary nature for God
raised him from the dead, never to die again (Acts 2:24). Jesus
Christ Explains this Incident
Jesus states that
through the serpent’s lie it became both the father
of lies and a murderer (John 8:44). He uses the word "devil" to
define the spirit that motivated the serpent. This word "devil" (Greek
"diabolos") is also translated "slanderers" (1 Timothy 3:7), "false accusers"
(2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 2:3). The word "diabolos" is used
to personify that natural sinful way of thinking which is opposed to
God’s way. A simple example of
this is seen in the following quotation that speaks of the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ in his overcoming of sin. "He (Christ) also
himself likewise took part of the same ("flesh and blood" nature that
is common to all mankind); that through death he might destroy that
which has the power of death (sin has this power; Romans 6:23; 5:12), that is, the devil;
(Greek, diabolos)", (Hebrews 2:14). Thus Jesus, who shared the
same sin-prone nature as all men, was tempted in all points as we are
(Hebrews 4:15), yet he overcame these
temptations in his life and finally destroyed them in his death upon the
cross. The word "devil" is used to describe that sin-power as it is seen
manifest in individual, religious and political forms in opposition to
God’s ways. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return"
(Genesis
3:19) As we know, man was
made from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7), and now God sentenced him to
return to the dust. Because of sin man was sentenced to mortality or a
dying state. All mankind has inherited this mortality that came by sin
(Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians
15:21). God
was right in sentencing sinful man to death, yet in His mercy He then set
forth a plan of redemption for sin-stricken man. This was typically shown
in the provision of a covering of skins to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. The Effect
of Adam’s Sin upon Himself and all
Mankind The apostle Paul very
clearly sets out the effects of Adam’s sin when
he states: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned" (Romans 5:12). Adam, through his sin,
not only brought forth the sentence of mortality or death upon himself,
but that mortality has passed through to all his descendants. Added to
this, through his sin he established within himself that evil power termed
"deceitful lusts" (Ephesians 4:22), which has been passed on to
all his descendants. These deceitful lusts which are not of God (1 John 2:15-16) have inevitably led all his
descendants (except the Lord Jesus Christ) to sin against God.
This bias to sin which
is such a power within every one of us has been described in the following
manner:
This strong desire to
fulfil sinful lusts is part of our nature, and had its roots in the first
sin of Adam. It has been pased through to all his descendants and has led
all to sin, thereby justifying God’s sentence
of mortality upon mankind. This sinful influence in our nature can rightly
be termed a "diabolical power" for in the New Testament the Greek word
"diabolos", often rendered "devil", has been used to personify or indicate
these "deceitful lusts" within us. In His mercy God
provided in His Son one who, though bearing the same sin-prone nature in
common with us all, overcame these temptations and always did the will of
God. Through his perfect obedience which culminated in his death upon the
cross Jesus destroyed that sin-power in himself, and for all those who
believe and obey him (Hebrews 2:14; 4:15; Acts 2:24; Romans 6:8-11). The Bible
Definition of Death The Bible is very
specific in defining the state of the dead. Following are some of those
statements regarding death:
"The Lord
God made coats of skins, and clothed them" (Genesis
3:21) Adam and Eve had made
themselves a covering of fig leaves to hide their nakedness. However human
inventiveness cannot cover sin against God. God Himself must provide a
covering for sin. It is a fundamental principle that man must first
acknowledge the righteousness of God in sentencing sinners to death
before he can receive of His mercy and have his sins forgiven. God
determined that "shedding of blood" would be the basis upon which
forgiveness of sins would be offered to man (Hebrews 9:22). Therefore God clothed
them with skins and in this typical method He provided a covering for
their sin. It necessitated the death of an animal so that the skin could
be used for a covering. This animal pointed forward to the sacrificial
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was "the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29; Revelation 13:8). By baptism into Christ a
person identifies with the death of Christ (Romans 6:3-8), and "puts on Christ".
He has his sins covered or forgiven through him (Galatians 3:27; Colossians
3:9-10). "Lest he
put forth his hand, and take of the tree of life, and eat, and live for
ever" (Genesis
3:22) Adam had been
sentenced to mortality. He was now a dying creature. All mankind has
inherited this mortality which came by sin (Romans 5:12). The tree of life was there
in the garden and Adam could have been tempted to grasp at immortality by
partaking of it. Adam and Eve were therefore expelled from the Garden of
Eden, and God placed Cherubim there "to keep the way of the tree of
life" (v24). This "way of the
tree of life" has been kept or preserved ever since. Those who are
obedient to God’s commands will be granted
immortality at Christ’s return - they will "have
the right to the tree of life" (Revelation 2:7; 22:14). Immortality is
God’s gift only to those who acknowledge their
sinfulness and seek forgiveness for their sins through baptism into the
Lord Jesus Christ. Those who faithfully do this and continue to follow the
example of Christ will be rewarded with immortality at his return to the
earth (1 Corinthians
15:22-23,
50-55). | |
Adam was given the enjoyable
task "to dress and keep" the garden. However God placed a
restriction on Adam and Eve saying: "Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it". God had well catered for their every need and
there was an abundance of food, so this law did not restrict the
satisfaction of their needs. Why did God give this law? Adam and Eve were
created to render glory to their Creator. It is under trial that faith
and love are tested. They had a "free will" - would they render
faithful and loving obedience to their Maker or would they disobey His
command? 
God now addressed the serpent. There is no
doubt from the language used in verse 14 that God was speaking to
one of His animal creation. 