Women of the Bible
Eve: A Woman Who Helped Her Husband Sin

Genesis 1:26-4:2, 25; 5:1-2; 2 Co. 11:3; 1 Ti. 2:11-14

by Kathryn Capoccia

All Scripture references are taken from the New American Standard Bible 
© 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, used by permission.

The Bible begins with the words, “In the beginning God created.” For six consecutive, twenty-four-hour days God created all that exists in the universe, from the Earth to the moon and the stars and the galaxies, from the oceans to the mountains, and from plant life to living creatures (Gen. 1-2). On the sixth day of creation God created man, male and female, created in His own image, and God said that what He had created was “very good” (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7-24). God blessed the man and his wife and gave them a beautiful garden, Eden, in which to live, and gave them dominion over the Earth (Gen. 1:26-27, 2:15). God planted a tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and told the man, Adam, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). But the woman, Eve, was enticed to eat the forbidden fruit, and then her husband, and the decision that she and Adam made would plunge, not just mankind, but all of creation into death and futility.

WHO WAS EVE?

“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it’” (Gen. 1:27-28).

“In the day when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man [Adam] in the day when they were created” (Gen. 5:1-2).  

“It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18).

“The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and He brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall be one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Gen. 2:21-23).

Eve Was the First Woman:

A. She was a real person, not a myth:

	1. Scripture speaks of Eve and Adam as real people in history and not the fictional figures of myth (1 Ch. 
	1:1; Luk. 3:38; Rom. 5:14; 1 Co. 15:22, 45; 1 Ti. 2:13,14; Jud. 1:14).

	2. Scripture states that her home, Eden (“bliss” in Hebrew) was a real place in Mesopotamia (southern	Iraq), at the head of four rivers (the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates), two of which	remain today (Gen. 2:8; Isa. 51:3; Eze. 28:13; 31:9, 16, 18).

	3. Scripture is inerrant (Psa. 12:6; 119:140; Pro. 30:5a; Jn. 10:35), and infallible (2 Ti. 3:16-17), so it is a
	reliable source of truth about Adam and Eve. 

B. She was created at the beginning of the world: 

WHEN WAS THAT?

	1. On The 6th Day of Creation (Gen. 1:24-31):

            	The word, day, "yom", overwhelmingly means a 24-hour period of time, sunset to sunset. So, the 6th 
	day was the sixth, 24-hour, period during the seven days of Creation.

	2. This probably occurred only a few thousand years ago, not millions or billions of years ago:
a. Secular dating methods, which propose an Old Earth, rest on two things, the theory of naturalism (the belief that nature is all there is) and uniformitarianism (that all things remain as they always have). Both positions start with the assumption that there is no God. They use certain dating techniques like the radiometric dating of rocks and the rate of starlight traveling to the earth to argue for billions of years. However, radiometric dating, “require assumptions for extrapolating present-day processes back to the past,” and “radiometric dates often disagree with one another and with dates obtained from other uniformitarian dating methods.”
		b. Genealogical records from Genesis chapters five and eleven indicate that the earth is 			6,000 is years old.

		From Adam to the flood was about 1,656 years, and Abraham lived a few hundred years after the flood. 		Other time markers in Scripture include the number of years Jacob’s descendants spent in Egypt, the 		total number of years Israel was ruled by judges, then kings, and how long Israel was held captive by 		Assyrians and Babylonians until God re-established them under Ezra and Nehemiah. Adding these and 		other pieces, most of which even find confirmation from secular sources, brackets an age of the world 		of around 6,000 years.

		c. Church tradition up to the eighteenth century held that creation began 4,000-5,000 years 		before Christ; thus, the earth would be 6,000- 7,000 years old today.

C. She was created directly by God:
	1. She was the last being created by God during creation (Gen. 1:27; 2:21-22).
		a. She was man, “adam, mankind,” the pinnacle of creation, created on the latter part of 6th 		day of creation (Gen. 1:27-28).
		b. She was very, “up to an abundance, to a great degree, exceedingly,” good, “pleasant, 			agreeable, good” (Gen. 1:31). “Good” can also be translated as “beautiful.”  Eve was no 			doubt beautiful in face and form, spirit and soul, perhaps the most beautiful woman to ever		live (and probably Adam was the most handsome man ever created as well.)
c. She was the first woman, created after the man was formed out of dust, created from man’s living tissue. The word, woman, is from the Hebrew ishshah, literally, “man-ess” or, “an ideal woman;” the word is derived from the Hebrew for man, ish (Gen. 2:7, 21-22).

		Commentator Matthew Henry wrote, “She was dust double-refined, one remove further 			from the earth.” 

		d. She was fashioned, “to build,” by God. The slang definition of being “built” is, “Having a 
		specified physique;” God custom-made her to be physically attractive to Adam.

2. She was created female, distinct from the male (Gen. 1:27): she was female, “a female, woman;” female comes from a word meaning “soft.” 

	3. She was created sinless and innocent: she was created "good," without sin, knowing neither shame 	nor the need to conceal anything.

 	"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).
       	"The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame" (Gen. 2:25).
	
	4. She was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27).

	“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26).
	“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created 	them” (Gen. 1:27).

	HOW WAS SHE CREATED IN HIS IMAGE?

	 John MacArthur wrote, 

	“Man is a living being capable of embodying God’s communicable attributes. In his rational life, he was 	like God in that he could reason and had intellect, will and emotion. In the moral sense, he was like God 	because he was good and sinless.”

	“When we speak of God’s communicable attributes, we are referring primarily to His moral attributes 	such as love, goodness, and kindness.”

            	She was not made in God’s physical image because God is spirit, and until the incarnation no member 	of the Trinity had a permanent corporeal body.

D. She was created for Adam:
	1. She was created to be a companion for Adam.

	“The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but 	for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:20).
	“It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18).
	
		a. She was created after all other creatures were named (Gen. 2:18-25):

                 		WHY?

		 So that he would value her.

		b. She was created after God built an expectation in Adam of pairs (as he appraised all 			animals in naming them (Gen. 2:19)).
                		c. She was created after God let Adam experience loneliness (Gen. 2:20).
		d. She was created from living flesh taken from Adam’s side, an indication that she was to be 		his equal:

	Matthew Henry commented, “That the woman was made out of a rib out of the side of	Adam; not	made out of his head to rule him, nor out of his feet to be trampled by him, but	out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, near his heart to be	beloved.”

	2. She was created to be a suitable helper for Adam.
		a. She was suitable, “in front,” i.e., a corresponding person.
		b. She was of his kind, “species;” Eve was the only other human being in the universe.

	3. She was created to be a helper (ezer), “a help, aid” to Adam.

	“The word for ‘help’ in Genesis 2:20, ezer, is also used in passages such as Psalm 70:5 to describe		 God as our Help or Deliverer, so no inferiority is implied.”

		a. Adam was to do work, and Eve was to help him work.
		b. Adam was to lovingly lead, and Eve was to gladly follow his lead.
		c. Adam was to be the head of the family and Eve was to be submissive to his headship.

	Eve was to be Adam’s helpmate, inferior in rank but equal as an individual; they were working together 	under Adam’s direction.

	WHAT WAS SHE TO HELP ADAM TO DO? 

	“Rule over all the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all 		the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Gen. 1:26).
	“…rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on	the earth” (Gen. 1:28).
	“God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15).
		
	She was to co-rule over the creatures of the earth (Gen. 1:26, 28).
	She was to co-subdue the earth (Gen. 1:28).
	She was to co-cultivate and keep the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15).

Work, then, was to be Eve and Adam’s lifelong, pleasurable occupation.

 King Solomon wrote this about working:

	“Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in 	which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his 	reward under the sun” (Ecc. 5:18).
	“Every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God” (Ecc. 3:13).
	“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of 			them falls, the one will lift up his companion” (Ecc. 4:9-10). 

	The Apostle Paul worked, 

 	“We toil, working with our own hands” (1 Co. 4:12).
	“I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights” (2 Co. 11:27).
	“We [did] not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept 	working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you” (2 Th. 3:8).

	And he commanded that other Christians should work also,

	“For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, 	then he is not to eat, either” (2 Th. 3:10).
	“The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what 	is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need” (Eph. 4:28).

	God works:

	“But He answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working’” (Jn. 5:17).
	“He [Jesus] is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17).
	“I [Jesus] go to prepare a place for you” (Jn. 14:2).

	And Christians will work in the future:

	“Then those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them,	both bucklers and shields, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make	fires of them” (Eze. 39:9).
	”They [the martyred saints] came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4).

	She was to be fruitful and multiply:

	“Be fruitful and increase in number, and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28).

	God commanded Eve and Adam to have children and fill the earth with their number. God wanted the	earth to be populated. No one knows how large the habitable land of the earth was pre-Flood but the	current habitable land is 24.642 million square miles, or 43% of the total landmass. According to a	study by NBC News, the earth can support 9-10 billion people. In other words, if the earth were	comfortably filled there would be 9-10 billion people living on earth. Eve and Adam lived almost a	thousand years and had Cain and	Abel, Seth and other sons and daughters (Gen. 5:4). The children of	Eve and Adam also lived long lives, married and had many children of their own, and their children also	lived long lives, married and had many children, and so on (Gen. 5). The offspring of Eve and Adam	continued to multiply and fill the earth until the judgment of the Flood reduced the number of humans	to just eight: Noah, a descendant of Seth, and his family. And after the great Flood God again told a	“child” of Eve, Noah, be “fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 8:17; 9:1, 7). 

	As a side note, God’s plan was that all people would be related to Eve and Adam and linked together	through their “parents,” Eve and Adam. God purposed, before the foundation of the world, that the	second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, would step down from heaven and step into the line	of humanity, becoming a perfect man and the sin-bearer for mankind (Eph. 1:4; 1 Co. 15:22). As a 	sinless man He could die in the place of a sinful man, and as the infinite God He could make atonement 	for all who would place their trust in Him.
	
	“He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole	world” (1 Jn. 2:2).	
	“He made Him Who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of	God in Him” (2 Co. 5:21).

 Eve Was the First Wife and Mother:

“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Gen. 1:27-28).
"Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man" (Gen. 2:22).
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Gen. 2:24).

A. She was created to be Adam’s wife:

HOW OLD WAS SHE?

God created the world with an appearance of age (“plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them” (Gen. 1:11), and Eve was obviously created fully mature and able to be joined in a sexual union and to bear children, even though she was less than a day old when she and Adam were married. We are not told how old they appeared to be.

	1. She was man, adam; she and her husband were called by the same name (Gen. 1:27).

	2. She was his wife, (ishshah) “woman, wife, female.” The dictionary defines a wife as, “A woman joined 
	to a man in marriage,” and marriage as, “The legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife.”

	3. She was given in marriage to Adam by God when, “He brought her to the man.”
		a. Marriage is a God-ordained union between one woman and one man (Mat. 19:4-6).
		b. Marriage is a one-flesh union that God joins together:

		“So they are no longer two but one flesh. What God has joined together, let no man 			separate” (Mat. 19:4-6).

		c. Marriage is a lifelong union that can only be broken by infidelity, abandonment or death 		(Mat. 19:4-6, 9; 1 Co. 7:15, 39).
		d. Marriage is to be held in honor by all (Heb. 13:4).

	In our fallen world marriage is not a sacred union. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees when they asked him, 

	“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all? And He answered and said, ‘Have you not 	read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this 	reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one 	flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man 	separate”’” (Mat. 19:3-6).

	Beyond divorce, today we see man with man, and woman with woman in legal “marriages” contrary to 	the word of God. According to the book of Romans, such practices display man’s sinful nature (which 	resulted from Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s command not to eat the forbidden fruit), and his 	natural-man rebellion against God (Rom. 1:24-32).

	4.  She was his treasure:

	"The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called “woman,” for she 	was taken out of man.

		a. Adam saw that she was his glory, “praise, honor, glory.”

		“The woman is the glory of man” (1 Co. 11:7).

		b. Adam named her woman because she was part of him.

		“So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves 			his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes 		it” (Eph. 5:28-29).

	c. Adam named her, “an act of leadership or authority over that which was named.” 		d. Adam named her Eve, “life,” because she would become “the mother of all the living” 		(Gen. 3:20).

B. She was created to be a mother:

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it’” (Gen. 1:28).
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were naked and were not ashamed” (Gen. 2:23-25).

          	1. She and Adam were one flesh, “kindred;” a family of two.		
		a. She was joined, “cling, cleave to,” to Adam with emotional and spiritual bonds, stronger 		than any other familial tie (“For this this reason a man will leave his father and mother and 		be joined to his wife,” Gen. 2:24).
		b. She was bound to Adam with an intimate physical bond (Gen. 2:24): "Adam lay with 			his wife Eve," or “Adam knew his wife” (Gen. 4:1).
	                    They had an intimate, monogamous marital relationship, not a platonic friendship or 			partnership; it was a union of lovers and equals.
		c. She and Adam had no shame in their marital relationship (Gen. 2:25).

	2. She and Adam were fruitful and produced many offspring:
		 a. She bore Cain (Gen. 4:1).
		 b. She bore Abel (Gen. 4:2).
		 c. She bore other children who might have attacked Cain if not for his mark (inferred from 		 Gen. 4:13, 17).
		 d. She possibly bore Cain’s wife.
		 e. She bore Seth when she and Adam were 130 years old (Gen. 4:25; Gen. 5:3).
		 f. She bore other sons and daughters (Gen. 5:4).

 WHAT DID SHE DO?

 She Led Her Husband into Sin.

A. She was tempted to sin by the serpent:

WHAT IS TEMPTATION?
	
The dictionary describes temptation as, “The act of tempting [trying to get (someone) to do wrong], or the state of being tempted.” A further definition of temptation is, “a testing or trial.”

IS IT A SIN TO BE TEMPTED? No, Jesus was tempted but did not sin.

“For we do not have a high priest [Jesus] who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

But “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (Jas. 1:14-15).

WHO WAS THE SERPENT?

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?”’” (Gen. 3:1).

1. The serpent, “snake, viper” was one of God’s creatures of the field, “field, land, countryside, wild.” He did not travel on his belly at that time because that state became his after he was cursed.

2. The serpent’s nature:
a. The serpent was crafty, “crafty, shrewd.” The dictionary defines crafty as, “Skilled in or marked by underhandedness, deviousness, or deception.”
b. The serpent had craftiness, “cleverness, craftiness, trickery” (2 Co. 11:3).
c. The serpent was possessed by Satan, who took a good creature and used it for his own evil purposes (Eze. 28:12-15; Rev. 12:9, 20:2).
	WHO IS SATAN?

		Satan, “adversary,” is a real, fallen archangel, an evil spirit being created sinless by God 			before the created world (Job 38:7). He fell into sin because of pride (Isa. 14:12-14) 			sometime after the sixth day of creation (Gen. 1: 31) but before his temptation of Adam 			and Eve in Genesis chapter three (Gen. 3:1-5). 

“…the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Rev. 12:9). 
“You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, and the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets was in you. On the day you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you” (Eze. 28:12-14).
“How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! you have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High’” (Isa 14:12-14).

		WHY DID SATAN TEMPT EVE?

He wants to stop God’s will from being done (Act. 13:10).
He is God and mankind’s enemy (2 Th. 2:199-12; 1 Ti. 5:14; 1 Pe. 5:8; Mat. 13:19, 38).
He is evil (Mat. 13:19, 38; Jn. 17:15, Eph. 6:16; 1 Jn. 2:13, 14; 5:18-19).
He is a murderer (Jn. 8:44).
He is a destroyer (Rev. 9:11).

	3. The serpent’s deception:

“And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God [Elohim, Supreme Deity] said, “You (plural) shall not eat from any tree of the garden?”’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.”’ The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”’ (Gen. 3:1-5).
	
	“Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Co. 11:14).

Satan addressed them as a couple but focused upon Eve, the more vulnerable one (1 Tim. 2:13-14;	
2 Co. 11:3). 	
	Satan cast doubt upon God’s word (“Has God said…”).
	Satan cast doubt upon God’s justice.
	Satan cast doubt upon God’s character.

	John MacArthur noted,
	
	The serpent’s opening words in verse 1 set the tenor for all his dealings with humanity: “Has God indeed
	said…?” Skepticism is implicit in the inquiry. This is his classic modus operandi. He questions the Word of
	God, suggesting uncertainty about the meaning of God’s statements, raising doubt about the truthfulness of what	God has said, insinuating suspicion about the motives behind God’s secret purposes, or voicing apprehension about	the wisdom of God’s plan.

	And Martyn Lloyd-Jones expanded on this in his book, The Gospel in Genesis,

	“They [Adam and Eve] began to doubt the justice and the righteousness of God, the benevolence of God, the	goodness of God. They began to doubt—I do not hesitate to put it like this—the very morality of God. They listened	to the Devil when he told them that God was against them and that was why he had introduced the prohibition. They	believed that God was jealous and selfish and small and was keeping things from them in order to lord it over	them.”

	Satan promised that four positive things would happen if she/they ate the fruit:

	She would not die.
	Her eyes would be opened [in wisdom].
	She would be like God.
	She would know, “comprehend,” good, “a good thing, benefit, welfare,” and evil, “evil, distress, misery,
	 injury, calamity.”

	He lied and twisted the truth.

	“[Satan] does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks 
	from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn. 8:44).
.
	Satan used the same temptation with them that was the cause of his own fall, “You will be like God”	(Isa. 14:13-14; 1 Ti. 3:6-7); perhaps he had also used it successfully with the fallen angels so that they	followed him (Rev. 12:4).

	He wanted to kill Adam and Eve. 

	“He [Satan] was a murderer from the beginning” (Jn. 8:44).

	4. The serpent’s success: she was deceived. 

	“The serpent deceived Eve by his cunning” (2 Co. 11:3 NKJ).

Eve had never heard a lie before because God had not lied to her and, indeed, cannot lie (Tit. 1:2); and Adam had not lied to her, for that would have been sin. She did not know that Satan was a liar and her enemy and that she should have been on her guard against him.

	a. Eve did not know God’s word and therefore could be confused regarding His	commandment.
b. Eve allowed the serpent to focus her attention on what she did not have rather than what she did have.
c. Eve allowed the serpent to twist the truth and lie about God and the punishment for sin.
		d. Eve believed the serpent rather than go to God for clarification.

	"The serpent deceived me, and I ate" (Gen. 3:13).
		“Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning..." (2 Co. 11:3).
		 "The woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Ti. 2:14).

	Eve’s being deceived has effects unto all her female descendants who are restricted from holding	positions of spiritual leadership, such as pastors and elders:

	“But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was	Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman	being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Ti. 2:12-14).

B. She sinned:
 
WHAT IS SIN?

Sin is a crime against holy God. It is most often described three ways in the Bible: missing the mark of God’s perfect standard, falling short of the glory of God, and willful rebellion. There are sins that we commit and sins that result from our not doing something we should. So serious a crime is sin that it requires punishment; all sin carries the same penalty, everlasting death in the lake of fire (Rom. 3:23; Rev. 20:14).

A formal definition of sin is found in Biblical Doctrine: “Sin is any lack of conformity to God’s will in attitude, thought or action, whether committed actively or passively. The center of sin is autonomy, which is the replacing of God with self. Always closely associated with sin are its products—pride, selfishness, idolatry, and lack of peace (shalom).”

As R. C. Sproul explained,

“Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the One to whom we owe everything, to the One who has given us life itself.” 

He further expanded on this, 

“’Sin is cosmic treason.’ What I meant by that statement was that even the slightest sin that a creature commits against his Creator does violence to the Creator’s holiness, His glory, and His righteousness. Every sin, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is an act of rebellion against the sovereign God who reigns and rules over us and as such is an act of treason against the cosmic King.”

“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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate” (Gen. 3:6).

	1. She saw, “to see, consider,” the attractive, outward appearance of the tree.

	Matthew Henry commented, 

“She imagined more virtue in this tree than in any of the rest, that it was a tree not to be dreaded, but to be desired to make one wise, and therein excelling all the rest of the trees. This she saw, that is, perceived and understood it by what the devil had said to her.”

	We should rather, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding”
	(Pro. 3:5), and “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes	of the devil” (Eph. 6:11).

		a. The tree was good, “pleasant, agreeable, good,” for food, “something to eat.”
		b. The tree was a delight, “a desire,” to the eyes, “an eye.”

But “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” (1 Jn. 2:16).

c. The tree was desirable, “good for,” for making one wise, “be prudent.”

That the tree was desirable for wisdom was a lie from Satan; God said the fruit would make her know evil (she already knew good), not make her wise.

But “After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (Jas. 1:15).

	2. She took, “to take,” from its fruit, “fruit, produce.”

God had told Adam, "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17), but EVE said, "but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’” (Gen. 3:3).

a. She made a decision to touch the fruit.
b. She made her decision without consulting Adam or submitting to his headship.

“Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (Eph. 5:22).

c. She did not physically die when she touched the fruit, which may have emboldened her to continue to trust the serpent.

	3. She ate, “to eat, consume, devour.”
a. She disobeyed God’s one command to not eat of the fruit, and in doing so she rebelled against His Lordship.
b. She, perhaps, greedily consumed the fruit.
		c. She did not immediately physically die after she ate (but she died spiritually).

C. She tempted her husband to sin:

“She took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6). 	
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife…” (Gen. 3:17).

WHAT WAS SO BAD ABOUT EATING THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT?

In their work, Biblical Doctrine, John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue noted, 

Because God is the Creator of everything, all creatures are obligated to obey Him and to live according to His will. The falls of Satan and then Adam and Eve are tied to acting autonomously and disobediently seeking to be like God… In the cases of Adam and Eve, they were not satisfied in obeying God. They were created to love God with all their being and to interpret the world from His perspective. But they did not desire to love God through obedience. Acting autonomously, they stepped out on their own in an effort to be like God. That wicked presumption is repeated with every sin.

	1. She led her husband by example: “she took from its fruit and ate.”

	2. She gave, “to give, put, set,” the fruit to her husband, “man:”
	a. Eve was with Adam during her temptation, but he did not intervene or protect her.
		b. Eve usurped his leadership role.

	3. She persuaded her husband by using her voice, “sound, voice;” she coaxed Adam to eat (Gen. 3:14).

	4. Adam ate:  
		a. Adam was not deceived as Eve was:

                    		“And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into			transgression” (1 Ti. 2:14).

                 		b. Adam knowingly chose to disobey God and side with Eve.
		
		The ESV Bible Study Notes commented,

Adam’s sin was both an act of conscious rebellion against God and a failure to carry out his divinely ordained responsibility to guard or “keep” (Gen. 2:15) both the garden and the woman that God had created as a “helper fit for him (Gen. 2:18, 20). The disastrous consequences of Adam’s sin cannot be overemphasized, resulting in the fall of mankind, the beginning of every kind of sin, suffering, and pain, as well as physical and spiritual death for the human race.

	WHY DIDN’T THEY DIE?

They did die spiritually by becoming morally corrupt with sinful, depraved natures (“their eyes were opened”) and by being spiritually alienated from God; and they had begun physically aging and would ultimately physically die. But while their sin called for the punishment of eternal death in the lake of fire, God, for His own glory and because of the great love with which He loved them, had a plan to save them, a plan from before the foundation of the earth (Eph. 1:1-10): Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, would become man (while still retaining His deity), live a sinless life and die a substitutionary death on a cross, and thus erase the sin penalty of Adam and Eve and all the elect of mankind (Gal. 1:3-4; 1 Pe. 2:24).

	As R. C. Sproul explained,

	I would say that God’s decision to choose us [for redemption] was made prior to the fall of mankind but in light of
	the Fall. Let me say it again. He made the decision before the Fall, with the knowledge that the Fall will come and	with the knowledge of its consequences. In other words, God couldn’t possibly make it His choice to save persons	who were in no need of salvation. Only sinners are in need of salvation, so God must have considered us as being	sinners and fallen as we were considered in the divine mind for salvation. Ultimately, the decision to save us was	made in eternity, according to God’s divine knowledge of us.

And as the Apostle Paul wrote in the Book of Ephesians,

	“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before	Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the	purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In	Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of	His grace” (Eph. 1:4-8).

c. Adam’s disobedience plunged all mankind into death because he was the head of all humanity, our representative before God. When he fell, we all fell under condemnation; this is called his federal headship.

		“Through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men” (Rom. 5:18).
		“Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had				not sinned in the likeness of the violation committed by Adam, who is a type of Him			who was to come” (Rom. 5:14).

d. Adam caused all men to die by his act of disobedience, but Jesus Christ brought life to the elect by his sinless life	and vicarious death; these propitiated God’s wrath and brought forgiveness of sins and imputed righteousness to sinners.

	“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Co. 15:22).

	“But the free gift [of salvation] is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the	one [Adam] the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the	one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came from the	one who sinned; for on the one hand judgment arose from one transgression resulting in	condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting	in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through that one, much	more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in	life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:15-17).

She Faced the Consequences of Sin:

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings” (Gen. 3:7).

A. Guilt and shame:

	1. She and Adam’s eyes were opened, “to open:” 
a. They knew evil experientially; they had done an evil act and had become sinners. As John MacArthur commented, “They understand evil because it is now in them and they feel it.”
b. They knew that Satan had lied to them: they were less like God than ever.
c. Their natures were fallen. Theologians refer to the change that occurred within Eve and Adam when they sinned as "total depravity" or “complete depravity;” i.e., sin had corrupted every part of them and would affect every human being.

			The Westminster Confession states of their depravity,

	Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin, God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body.

		Adding to this Allen S. Nelson IV, of Grace Theological Bible Seminary, wrote,
	
	Total Depravity is the Biblical teaching that human beings since the Fall have inherited both the guilt and sin nature of Adam in such a way that absolutely everything about them is affected by sin. This does not mean that every person is as sinful as they could possibly be. It does mean, though, that every part of a person has been corrupted—the heart, mind, will affections, desires, critical thinking, everything (see, for example, Gen. 6:5, 8:2, Isaiah 59:3, Jeremiah 17:9, Psalm 53:1-3, Matthew 15:19, Romans 8:7-8, Ephesians 2:1, John 8:34, John 3:19).

	2. She and Adam knew they were naked, “exposed, bare, naked.” They were ashamed, “an expression	of regret for sin, or the protest of conscience against it.”

	3. She and Adam sewed fig leaves for loin coverings, “a girdle, loin covering, belt,” but they could not	cover their guilty consciences. The loin coverings may indicate that their awareness of their sinfulness	included evil sexual thoughts.

B. Estrangement from God:

“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. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself’” (Gen. 3:8-10).
“What fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Co. 6:14).

	1. She and Adam were afraid of God:
	a. They were afraid, “to be discouraged, dismayed, afraid, terrified,” of God. No longer did	they have the reverential awe of God that comes from fellowship with Him, but now they	were consumed with dread of Him because of their impending judgment.
b. They were naked (exposed) before God. They were guilty before God and under the conviction of their sin. 

		“It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).
 	“Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor” 	(Hab. 1:13).
		“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the		eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13).

	2.  She and Adam tried to hide, “to cover, conceal, hide,” from God.
a. They tried to conceal themselves among the trees of the garden. They tried to physically separate themselves from God because they were already spiritually separated from His fellowship.

The Psalmist asked, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your 
presence?” (Psa. 139:7). The answer was, nowhere. One cannot hide in heaven, or hell, in the sea, or in the darkness because God is everywhere: He is omnipresent. Adam and Eve could not hide from God no matter where they went or how they tried to conceal themselves.

b. They did not want to repent, and they shrank from exposure of their sin.
 
	“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his	deeds will not be exposed” (Jn. 3:20).

	3. She and Adam were enemies, “hated, hostile,” of God:	
		a. They had rebelled against God’s word:

“For rebellion is as reprehensible as the sin of divination” (Isa. 15:23). 

b. They had become idolators by leaning on themselves: 

“Insubordination is as reprehensible as false religion and idolatry” (Isa. 15:23). 
		“You shall have no gods before Me” (Exo. 20:3-5).
		
		c. They were God’s enemies:

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…”  (Rom. 5:10).
		“You hate all who do iniquity” (Psa. 5:5).
		”The certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us (Col. 2:14). 

C. Judgment from God:

“Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from 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 from the tree, and I ate.’ Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ and the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate’” (Gen. 3:11-13).
 
	1. God came to them, in the garden; God visibly manifested Himself to them in the garden in a	theophany, perhaps as the Angel of the LORD, or as the glory of God.

	WHAT IS A THEOPHANY?

	Here is a definition from Crossway Christian Publishers:
	
The word theophany is a combination of two Greek words, meaning God and appearance. A theophany is an	 appearance of God. More precisely, it is a visible display to human beings that expresses the presence and character of God. Examples include the thunderous display at the top of Mount Sinai (Ex. 19); the burning bush (Ex. 3); appearances to Abraham (Gen. 15:1; 17:1; 18:1), Isaac (Gen. 26:2), and Jacob (Gen. 28:13); the cloud of fire in the wilderness (Ex. 14:19; 40:34; Num. 9:15-23); Micaiah's vision (1 Kings 22:19-22); Isaiah's vision (Isa. 6); Ezekiel's vision (Ezek. 1); and John's vision of God on his throne (Rev. 4-5).

	WHO IS THE ANGEL OF THE LORD?

	Some theologians believe the Angel of the LORD is a pre-incarnate, temporary, physical manifestation	of the Lord Jesus Christ (Gen. 16:7, 21:7, 24:7,40; Exo. 23:23; Isa. 63:9; Mal. 3:1). 

	According to Biblical Doctrine, concerning the Angel of the LORD,

	He, “claims a divine nature, displays divine attributes, Scripture equates the ‘angel of the LORD’ with the	Lord (Yahweh), even with God, yet is separate from the Lord (Yahweh), the ‘angel of the LORD’ is the	chief protector of Israel, the ‘angel of the LORD’ possesses the name of ‘The LORD,’ the ‘angel of the	LORD’ receives	worship, and the ‘angel of the LORD’ forgives sin.”

	Here is theologian E. J. Young’s definition of the Angel of the LORD, as quoted by John MacArthur:
	
God is the infinite one. He is a spirit. In order to reveal Himself to man in an intimate way, He did appear during Old Testament times in human form. Such appearances were called theophanies and these theophanies found their culmination in the incarnation of the second person of the trinity. Pre-incarnate appearances of the Lord is what they were. In most loving and tender condescension, God appeared in the form of man so that He might speak to man as friend to friend.
	
a. God graciously appeared in the Garden after He had given them time to repent.
		b. God sought Man in the cool, “breath, wind, spirit,” of the day. As God would come to			Elijah in the sound of a gentle blowing to revive his spirit from depression (1 Ki. 19:12), so			God came to Adam and Eve in the blowing of the day that He might revive their spirits from		death. God is always seeking sinners to reconcile them to Himself (Luk. 19:10).
		c. God called, “to call, proclaim, summon to account” to the man. It is God Who calls men to		come to Him in faith and repentance (Act. 2:39; Rom. 9:22-24). Fallen men do not seek God		unless they are called (Psa. 14:2-3; Mar. 2:17; Rom. 8:30). 

		“Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing			that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4).

	2. God confronted them: God asked questions of Adam designed to expose their sin and show them	their need of confession and repentance.
	
	WHAT IS REPENTANCE?

	According to the Systematic Theology of the Bible by Wayne Grudem,

	“Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncement of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it	and walk in obedience to Christ. Repentance begins with sorrow; personal sorrow that is directed to a	Holy God. The sorrow is more than just being ‘sorry’.”

Pastor/teacher Tom Pennington outlined repentance in this way: “It involves the intellect, with a recognition that you have sinned (Mat. 5:3; Luk. 18:13-14), the emotions, with genuine sorrow for that sin (2 Co. 7:10), and the will, with a determination to turn from what you know to be sin in your life (Act. 8:22).”

	The Old Testament uses the Hebrew word teshuvah, “to return,” for repentance; in the New Testament	the Greek word for repentance is metanoeo, a compound word from the prefix meta, “movement” or 	“change,” and noeo, “to understand with the mind.” Both words indicate that true repentance is a	two-part activity that begins with a realization of sin and a determination to forsake that sin, and a	turning to God in submission. 

But repentance is also something that God works in us: Acts 5:31, 11:18 and Second Timothy 2:25 say that “God granted repentance;” and Romans 2:4 speaks of God’s kindness “leading you to repentance.” And Second Corinthians 7:9 says that sorrow “that is according to the will of God produces a repentance, without regret, which leads to salvation.”

 John MacArthur, in his sermon, “The Doctrine of Repentance,” quoting Second Timothy 2:25, said, “’Correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance.’ [Repentance], it’s not a work added to salvation, it’s a part of the saving work that God does in the heart.” 

The Westminster Shorter Catechism has this question and answer regarding repentance: “What is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.” Man repents because God has already worked in his mind, emotions and will to bring him to the place where he will confess and renounce his sins and humbly surrender his life to Him (Lam. 5:21; Phi. 2:13).

	God said to them,

	“Where are you? Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I	commanded you not to eat?” 
	“Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’” (Gen. 3:11, 13).

	Scripture reminds us that, 

	“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all	unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).
	“For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to	salvation” (2 Co. 7:10).

a. Adam reluctantly admitted his sin but blamed Eve and God for it:

“The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

b. Eve reluctantly admitted her sin but blamed the serpent for it:

“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

	3. God cursed the serpent:
		a. The curse on the beast:

“Then the LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all the cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life; and I will make enemies of you and the woman, and of your seed and her seed” (Gen. 3:14-15). 

		Cursed, “to curse,” more than any other beast: all creatures suffered in the Fall.

		“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it,		in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the			freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and		suffers the pains of childbirth together until now” (Rom. 8:20-22).

Cursed to travel on its belly and eat dust.

An article in Creation International commented on snakes eating dust:

Snakes do deliberately and purposely eat and lick dust. There is an organ in the roof of a snake’s mouth called “Jacobson’s organ.”  This helps the snake to smell in addition to its nose. Its darting forked tongue samples bits of dust by picking them up on the points of the fork, which it then presents to its matching pair of sensory organs inside its mouth. Once it has “smelt” them in this way, the tongue must be cleaned so the process can be repeated immediately. Therefore, serpents really do lick dust and eat it.

And cursed to be hated by Eve and all humanity; few humans love snakes.

b. The curse on Satan:

		“He [the seed of the woman] shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise	Him on the			heel” (Gen. 3:13-14).
		
	The word bruise means “to bruise, to injure by striking or pressing, without breaking the	skin.” Christ, the seed, “offspring,” would ultimately bruise Satan and destroy his power	and works.

John MacArthur explained:

This “first gospel” is prophetic of the struggle and its outcome between “your seed” (Satan and unbelievers, who are called the Devil’s children in Jn 8:44) and her seed (Christ, a descendant of Eve, and those in Him), which began in the garden… Satan could only “bruise” Christ’s heel (make him suffer), while Christ will bruise Satan’s head (destroy him with a fatal blow).

Herbert Lockyer, author of All the Women of the Bible, wrote, 

“Through Eve’s sin, death entered the world, but at the cross both sin and death were conquered, for by ‘dying, death He slew.’ When Jesus cried, ‘It is finished,’ He meant that the serpent’s head, representing power and authority, had been bruised.”

	4.  God cursed the woman:

	“To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth	children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you’” (Gen. 3:16).

	a. Multiplied pain, “toil,” in childbirth and pain, “a hurt and sorrow,” in bringing forth	children. Bearing children would now be difficult and painful.
		b. Her desire, “a longing,” will be for your husband, i.e., to rule over her husband. As she had
		been the leader in committing sin, now she would desire to continue in a leadership role.
c. Her husband would rule, “to rule, have dominion,” over her, i.e., he would desire to exercise a high hand with her, to dominate her. Cultural anthropology reveals that in godless societies men reduce women to little more than slaves.

	As Herbert Lockyer noted of the consequences of the Fall, 

	“It is only where the Bible exists and Christianity is practiced that she attains to such a	position as helper, or equal to man. In lands where [spiritual] darkness reigns, woman is the	slave, the chattel of man.”

                 		d. Adam’s curse would affect her as well since she was his helpmate in subduing and ruling		the earth and in filling the earth with humanity (Gen. 1:28).

	5. God cursed Adam:

	“Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the	tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; cursed is the ground because of	you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; 
	and you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, ‘till you return to	the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:17	19).
		a. Because you have listened—he failed to protect her and now he will suffer.
                       	b. Cursed is the ground because of you—thorns and thistles will impede his crops.
		c. By the sweat of your face you will eat bread—now work will be an irksome duty and			farming a chore that must be accomplished in order to eat.
		d. To dust you shall return: physical death will come to him, to Eve, and to all mankind.

She Received Grace and Mercy.

WHAT IS GRACE?

The common biblical definition of grace is God’s free and undeserved favor, or to put it another way, it is God giving us good that we don’t deserve.

John Piper said this about grace: 

Well, it appears that the word grace in [the Apostle] Paul’s use not only refers to God’s character trait or disposition or inclination to treat people better than we deserve, but the word grace also refers to the action or the power or the influence or the force of this disposition, which produces real, practical outcomes in people’s lives, like being sufficient for good deeds or enduring the thorn in the flesh or working harder that everybody else, which Paul says about his own apostolic work…. It is incredibly encouraging that God’s grace is both the inclination of the divine heart to treat us better than we deserve and is the extension of that inclination in practical help.”

“It is by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as the result of works so that no man may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24).
“Be gracious to me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of your compassion blot out my transgressions” (Psa. 51:1).

WHAT IS MERCY?

A commonly accepted definition of mercy is God’s withholding the punishment due to man, or, not giving us what we deserve. The dictionary defines it as, “Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one’s power: clemency.”

John MacArthur said this about mercy,

Mercy is exalted. Mercy is beneficial. Thirdly, mercy is godlike. Never are you more like God than when you’re merciful.  The Psalms emphasize this. I was just reading yesterday Psalm 36, which emphasizes the mercy of God. Listen to what Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, said in Luke 1:78: he said, ‘Because of the tender mercy of God comes the knowledge of salvation and forgiveness.’ And Zacharias understood that God was tender in His mercy and that’s why there is forgiveness and that’s why there is salvation. 

“The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works” (Psa. 145:8-9).

God had warned Eve and Adam about the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit, death (Gen. 2:17). She and Adam had already experienced spiritual death, or spiritual estrangement from God, and they knew that they deserved physical death as the just punishment for their sin (Gen. 3:8-14). However, God showed them mercy instead and regenerated, “regenerated, reformed, revitalized,” and renewed, “made new,” them (Tit. 3:5; they were supernaturally “born-again” in their spirits, minds and hearts (Jn. 3:3-8; 1PE 1:3). 
	
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24).
“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Tit. 3:5).

A. She received faith through God’s grace:

WHAT IS FAITH?

Faith is belief and trust in God. It is a gift of grace from God that is received (Eph. 2:9; 2 Pe 1:1) and comes by hearing the word of Christ (ROM 10:9). Hebrews chapter eleven, verse one, puts it this way,
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” 

In the book Systematic Theology, Louis Berkhof described Old Testament words for faith as, “a confident resting on a person or thing or testimony,” “a confident reliance,” and “to flee for refuge.” 

C. H. Spurgeon said, “Faith is the work of God’s grace in us.”

Sometime between their hiding from God and their being clothed with animal skins God gave Eve and Adam the gift of saving faith; this was not just faith about God but faith in God and in His saving work. As J. V. Fesko, of The Gospel Coalition noted, “Saving faith is faith that not only knows and comprehends the facts about the gospel of Jesus Christ but also trusts in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone for salvation.” And John MacArthur said, “Faith is the instrument that God uses to bring individuals into a saving relationship with Himself. That is not to say that faith is the basis of our salvation; rather, it is the channel by which God grants salvation.” And he went on to say, “Faith comes to the believer as a gift from God. It is not something that individuals are capable of mustering up on their own” In the book of Acts, in chapter sixteen, Lydia came to faith because “God opened her heart to respond to the things spoken” (Act. 16:14). Eve and Adam came to faith because God opened their hearts to believe the truth.

“It is by grace that you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
“And Abram believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). 

	1. Eve had faith in God:
		a. Eve believed in God:
			--She knew that God is truth and had always been truthful to her.

			“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).

			--She knew that she had “died” spiritually as God had said.
			--She saw the curse on the serpent be fulfilled (Gen. 3:14-15).

			“On your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life; and I will 
			make enemies of you and the woman, and of your seed and her seed” (Gen. 3:14			15). 

		b. Eve believed what God said about her future:

		“He [the seed of the woman] shall bruise you [Satan] on the head” (Gen. 3:13-14).	
		“In pain you will bring forth children” (Gen. 3:16).

		-- She believed that she would live and bear “the seed.” 
		--She believed that she would bear multiple “children” in the future.

	2. Eve submitted to God:
		a. She accepted her punishment without protest.

		“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him		 from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).
		“Submit therefore to God” (Jam. 4:7).	
		“Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts” (1 Pe. 3:15).

		b.  She accepted the name Eve, “mother of all living,” or “life.”

	“Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Gen.	3:20-21).

B. She received atonement from God:	

WHAT IS ATONEMENT?
The dictionary definition of atonement is, “amends or reparation made for an injury or wrong, expiation; reconciliation between God and human beings brought about by the life and death of Jesus.” A more complete explanation of atonement is found in Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Biblical Truth,

Because of sin, mankind is guilty of breaking God’s law, has incurred his righteous wrath, and is therefore alienated from him. Though God’s love motivates him to save and forgive, man’s sin cannot simply be overlooked. For God to reconcile guilty sinners to himself, sin must be punished, the broken law must be satisfied, and God’s wrath must be assuaged. All these objectives are met in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the law (MAT 3:15; ROM 5:18-1; GAL 4:4-5), paid sin’s penalty (1PE 2:24), and extinguished God’s wrath (HEB 2:17) on behalf of God’s elect.

And Louis Berkhof wrote, “He [God] was reconciled to those who were the objects of His judicial wrath. This means that His wrath was warded off by the sacrificial covering of their sin.”

	“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21).

1. God made coverings, garments, “tunics,” for them from the skins of animals and clothed, “to put on, wear, be clothed,” them. He “covered” their sin and shame by the blood of sinless, substitutionary animals instead of slaying them, and thus satisfied His wrath. In the same way, He would later command that innocent animals (lambs, goats and bulls) be killed to "cover" the Old Testament believer’s guilt until true atonement, through the shedding of the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, could be provided at Calvary (Heb. 10:3-10).
	
	“And almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood	there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).
	“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not	 perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).

2. Eve and Adam, like other Old Testament believers, looked forward to the coming of a Savior, a Redeemer, who would pay the true penalty for sin (death), cleanse their consciences of guilt (Heb. 9:9, 14), put away sin (Heb. 9:26) and destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8). 

	“He [the seed of the woman] shall bruise [the serpent] on the head (Gen. 3:13-14).

	John MacArthur wrote,
		
	“This is a guarantee that her race would not be hopelessly subordinated to the evil one’s dominion forever. In fact, whether Eve fully grasped it or not, this curse against the serpent hinted at an ultimate	remedy for her sin, giving Eve reason to hope that someday one of her descendants would inflict a crushing blow to the tempter’s head, utterly and finally destroying the diabolical being and all his influence—and, in effect, overturning all the wickedness Eve had helped to unleash. Make no mistake: this is precisely what these words meant. The curse against the serpent held a promise for Eve. Her “Seed” would crush the serpent’s head. Her own offspring would destroy the destroyer.”

	a. She anticipated the coming of her “seed” who would bruise, “to snap at, overwhelm,	bruise, break, cover,” Satan’s head and defeat him.
		b. She may have expected that Cain, “gotten one,“ was the coming Redeemer:

		“I have got a man LORD” (Gen. 4:1).

		c.  She may have hoped that godly Seth, “appointed one,” was the predicted Savior (Gen.			4:25).

		“And she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, ‘God has appointed me			another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him’” (Gen. 4:25).	

 C. She received deliverance:

“’Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out with his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— therefore the LORD God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:22-24).

	1. She knew evil, “evil, distress, misery, injury, calamity,” in herself; her fallen nature would wage war	with her renewed desire to do good, “a good thing, benefit, welfare” (Gen. 3:24; Rom. 7:15-25).
	
	2. She might have stretched out, “to send forth,” her hand to take of the fruit of the tree of life and live	in misery forever if she had not been prevented from doing so.

	3. She was banished from the Garden of Eden and access to its tree of eternal life:
		a. Eve and Adam were sent, “to send away,” out of the Garden.
		b. Eve and Adam were driven, “to drive out,” from the Garden.
c. Eve and Adam were blocked from returning to the Garden by cherubim and a flaming, “a blaze,” sword, “a cutting instrument, knife, sword.”
		
		As John MacArthur noted,

		“Taken in the broader context of Scripture, driving the man and his wife out of the garden was an act		of merciful grace to prevent them from being sustained forever by the tree of life.”

		WHO ARE THE CHERUBIM WHO GUARDED THE GARDEN?

They are, perhaps, the highest order of angelic beings, holy spirits who stand in the presence of God and around His throne (Rev. 4:6-8). They are represented in the weavings of the Tabernacle and the carvings over the mercy seat as well as in the veil of the Temple of Solomon, and in the two great carved angels standing over the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies (Exo. 25:18-22; 37:8; Eze. 1:4-28; 10:1-20; 28:14, 16). Ezekial describes them as having four faces and four wings (Eze. 1:4-28, 10:1-22). Satan is said to have been a cherub (Eze. 28:14).

	4. She eventually, physically died and was released to go to heaven. Scripture is silent about the	circumstances of her death or her age at death, but Adam was 930 years of age when he died—might	she also have lived that long before she passed on?

 WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM HER?

A. Doubt is Satan’s favorite tool:

Satan brings doubt about God’s Word, doubt about salvation through Christ, doubt about the nature of sin, doubt about the consequences of sin, doubt about one’s own salvation, doubt about heaven and hell, and doubt about everything that God has said in His written Word. Eve fell into sin as the result of Satan’s assault on God’s Word, planting doubt about the Word and the character of God Himself. In order to combat these attacks, Ephesians, chapter six, reminds Christians to put on the full armor of Christ that we may stand against the schemes of the devil. We are told to “Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6: 14-17). We have to know the truth by diligently studying God’s word, we must be obedient to that word, and we must trust in His word and in His promise of salvation by daily putting on the armor of God (Eph. 6:11-17). 

B. Sin is rebellion against the sovereignty of God:

It is “to miss the mark” (khata), “to rebel or to trespass” (pasha), “to transgress” (abar), “unrighteousness” (adikia), “wandering” (planao), “lawlessness” (anomia), “being disobedient” (apeitheo), “ungodliness” (asebeia), “ignorance” (agnoia), and “breaking God’s law” (parabasis). Sin deceives (Heb. 3:13; Eph. 4:22); it kills (Rom. 3:23; Heb. 9:27; Ecc. 3:19-20); it separates man from God (Isa. 59:2); it brings shame (Rom. 6:21); it brings guilt	 (1 Th. 1:5); it brings judgment (Heb. 9:27). As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:13, sin is utterly sinful. Because of Eve and Adam’s sin all humans are born with a sinful nature (Psa. 51:5; Eph. 2:3), are spiritually dead, and are sinful rebels against God (Psa. 14:3). Even those regenerated and redeemed by the blood of Christ can rebel against their Savior, as  John MacArthur wrote: “All sin comes when the victim falls to Satan’s lies and promises of pleasure, rejecting the better choice of obedience and blessing.” And as Eve demonstrated, sin begins in the mind, focusing on wrong things. If Christians are to avoid sin we must:

         	1. Say "no" to sinful thoughts, not dwell on them.
         	2. Be content with our situation.
          	3. Trust in the character and providence of God.
	4. Focus on God’s promises:

"The LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless" (Psa. 84:11).
“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Th. 5:18).
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8:28).

C. God requires obedience from man:

Eve and Adam received a command from God to obey Him and not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; we are also called to obey God’s word. Jesus said in the “Great Commission” of Matthew, chapter twenty-eight, that we are to make disciples and to teach them to obey all the LORD’s commands (Mat. 28:20). Jesus Himself said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (Jn. 14:15). 

And obedience is not a burden:

“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mat. 11:30). 
“And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 Jn. 5:3).

But we know that obedience does not earn salvation because, “it is by grace you have been saved…not as the result of works (Eph. 2:8-9) and “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness” (Tit. 3:5). 
Salvation is obtained by faith alone, in Christ alone, as we respond to the call of God to be reconciled to Him. However, once we are saved our new heart and mind and nature want to glorify God and please Him in all things.
As believers we want to obey God:

“I have the desire to do what is right” (Rom. 7:18).
“If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word” (Jn. 14:23).
“My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (Jn. 10:27). 

Obedience is accomplished through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit:

“And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him” (Act. 5:32).

Obedience to God’s word is a proof of a saving relationship to God:

 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments” (1 Jn. 5:3).
“And having been perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him” (Heb. 5:9).
“[May grace and peace be multiplied to the elect] “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood” (1 Pe. 1:2).

Habitual disobedience to God is a sign that we have no saving relationship to God, and are under God’s wrath:

“For just as you once were disobedient to God…” (Rom. 11:30). 
“The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn. 3:36).
“See that no one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6).

D. Temptation is not sin, but yielding to it is:

Jesus was tempted at the beginning of His ministry, throughout His ministry, and even up to the very end of it, but He never gave in to the temptation; He never sinned when He was tempted.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin" (Heb. 4:15).

Again, the dictionary defines temptation as, “The act of tempting [trying to get (someone) to do wrong], or the state of being tempted.” Scripture tells us that our temptations come from three sources, the world, the devil and the flesh (1 Jn. 2:15-17; Eph. 2:2-3). The “world” would be the evil world system that opposes God spiritually (1 Jn. 519; 1 Co. 1:21; 2 Co. 4:4; Jas. 4:4; 2 Pe 1:4);  the “devil” would be the usurper ruler of this world and mastermind behind all wickedness and evil (1 Jn. 5:19; Jn. 12:31); the “flesh” would be mankind’s sinful desires of body and mind (“the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life,” 1 Jn. 2:16). 

Temptations are not from God:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone” (Jas. 1:13).

Even though we are subject to temptations we have the power to say “no:” “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Ti. 1:7). We can resist temptations by these means:

Praying (Mat. 26:41; Psa. 141:4; Luk. 11:4).
Memorizing and meditating on God’s word (Jos. 1:8).
Fleeing (2 Ti. 2:22; 1 Co. 6:18-20).
Resisting (Jas. 4:7).
Making no provision for the flesh (Rom. 13:14).
Obeying God (Jn. 14:15).

And as believers, Christians can rest in God’s promise that, “No temptation has overcome you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Co. 10:13).

Matthew Henry penned this word of encouragement,

“Satan may tempt, but he cannot force; may persuade us to cast ourselves down, but he cannot cast us down, MATT 4:6.”

 E. Sin brings death:

Sin brings death. God said to Eve and to Adam, “When you eat from it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] you will certainly die;” and in the book of Romans, in chapter six and verse twenty-three, we are reminded that, “The wages of sin is death.” 
				
Because of Eve and Adam’s Fall, everyone sins:

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
“Just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned…” (Rom. 5:12).
“They have all turned aide, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psa. 14:3).
“If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn. 1:8).

Everyone without Christ as Savior is under God’s sentence of death for sinning:

“God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day. If a man will not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts” (Psa. 7:11-13).
“These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Th. 1:9).
“The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Nah. 1:2).
“He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (Jn. 3:36).
“The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Pe. 2:9).
[At the end of the age] “the Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mat. 13:42).

God the Father, in love, sent Jesus, His Son, to be the Savior for mankind:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, the whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (Jn. 3:16-17).
“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” 	 (1 Ti. 1:15).
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Act. 4:12).

Jesus died on the cross and paid the sin penalty for everyone who believes and trusts in Him:

“He Himself bore our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Pe. 2:24).
“He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 Jn. 2:2).
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Co. 5:21).
”In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us” (Eph. 1:7-8).
“Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him” (Rom. 5:9).

God commands everyone to repent of their sins, seek His forgiveness, and receive salvation through Christ: 

“’I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,’ declares the Lord GOD. ‘Therefore, repent and live!’” (Eze. 18:32).
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the good news” (Mar. 1:15).
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).
“Truly, truly, I [Jesus] say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (Jn. 5:24).

God is patient toward sinners, not desiring any to perish (2 Pe. 3:9). However, three Scriptures from the Book of Hebrews have sobering warnings for those who know what God commands but refuse to repent: Hebrews 4:7, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts;” and Hebrews 10:26-27, “If we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.” And finally, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).

© Copyright Kathryn Capoccia 2025.  This file may be freely copied, printed out, and distributed as long as copyright and source statements remain intact, and that it is not sold.