self-rule

The Lie That Leads To Death

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24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. – Romans 1:24-25 ESV

This whole section of Romans 1 is concerned with the truth versus the lie. In these verses, Paul states that man has “exchanged the truth of God for a lie,” or literally, “the lie”. To understand this passage, we need to define what Paul meant by these two terms. What is the truth of God, and what is it that unrighteous man has suppressed (vs 18)?

Through His creation, God has revealed His eternal power and divine nature to man, so they are without excuse. Nature virtually screams the truth regarding the existence of God. The very fact that men have ended up worshiping the creation rather than the Creator reveals that man recognizes the existence of a powerful source outside of himself, but has chosen to exchange “worshiping the glorious, ever-living God” to worship “idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1:23 NLT). The truth to which Paul refers in this opening chapter is the reality of God’s existence.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. – Romans 1:19 ESV

Because man has rejected the truth regarding God’s existence, it is virtually impossible for him to accept the need for a Savior sent from God for his salvation. Ignorance of or disbelief in God’s existence ultimately leads to a refusal to accept any kind of divine standard for moral conduct; morality becomes highly subjective and relativistic. Each man ends up doing what is right in his own eyes. As a result, they begin to believe “the lie,” either rejecting that God exists at all or replacing the truth about God with something or someone else.

Rather than honoring God as the sovereign Lord of the universe and giving Him thanks for all that He has done for them, they turn their attention elsewhere, relying on their own wisdom to explain their existence and to determine their conduct.

As a result of their rejection of Him, God gives them up. That sounds like such a harsh statement, and comes across as some form of divine abandonment. The Greek word is paradidōmi, and it means “to give into the hands (of another)” or “to give over into (one’s) power or use.” In a way, this simply means that God releases them to pursue and believe “the lie.” He allows men to rely on their own wisdom and darkened hearts. In this sense, His wrath is less active than passive. He doesn’t abandon them; He allows them to reap what they sow.

Paul had this idea in mind when he wrote to the believers in Galatia.

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. – Galatians 6:7-8 NLT

Three times in this section of Romans 1, Paul uses the phrase “God gave them up.” In these two verses, he describes God giving man up to impurity. Rejecting the truth regarding God’s existence ultimately leads to a false conclusion that man is the final arbiter of his fate. It is the wisdom of man, divorced from God, that leads to things like genocide, infanticide, abortion, and virtually all forms of sexual sin and perversion. Highly intelligent people can commit and justify extremely immoral acts. Humanism, as a philosophy of life, is destructive. It can be defined as “a variety of ethical theory and practice that emphasizes reason, scientific inquiry, and human fulfillment in the natural world and often rejects the importance of belief in God” (Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition).

Man ends up worshiping and idolizing man. But in the end, all men are inherently selfish and self-centered. Even our best attempts at living altruistic lives end up being self-serving. When you make man the center of your world, it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep from making that world revolve around yourself and your individual wants and desires. You end up doing what is right in your own eyes and find yourself serving the creature rather than the creator. Not only do you dishonor God, but you eventually dishonor your own body, doing things that God never intended or approved and selfishly fulfilling the lusts of your heart. God releases you to reap what you sow and allows you to experience the negative outcomes of your own myopic and narcissistic lifestyle choices.

We see the reality of these verses all around us. We are surrounded by highly educated and intelligent people living godless lives who have made themselves the sole focus of their worship and attention. Mankind has made a habit of rejecting the one true God and coming up with their own version of the truth. They exchange the truth about God’s existence and sovereignty for the lie that He is irrelevant or replaceable, and the lie always leads to destruction.

Paul will outline some serious consequences of living according to the lie. When reading the following verses, it is tempting to focus on a particular sin, but Paul has a much broader view of man’s belief in the lie. He will describe those who reject the truth of God and accept the lie in far-from-flattering terms.

Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. – Romans 1:29-31 NLT

His words should sound familiar because they describe the world we live in. Paul says, “Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done” (Romans 1:28 NLT). And they reaped what they sowed. 

A life lived without God is not a pretty picture because buying into the lie comes with serious consequences. Any man who is left to himself and allowed by God to pursue his own way will ultimately live a life marked by godlessness, unrighteousness, and, in the end, death.

Father, Paul was right, the world is filled with people who have believed “the lie.” They can see the evidence of Your existence all around them but they have become blind to the truth. Their hearts are hardened and their minds have been deceived by the enemy’s constant barrage of blatant lies and half-truths. He has convinced them to worship anything other than You and, as a result, they have left to fend for and care for themselves. Thinking themselves to be wise, they have become fools. And yet, in Your love and mercy, You continue to call the lost back to Yourself. As You have done for centuries, You extend grace and mercy to the rebellious and disobedient, offering them the opportunity to accept the free gift of salvation and spiritual restoration made possible through Your Son’s death on the cross. You allow them to pursue their false gods and, yet, You never completely abandon them. The gift is always available. As Paul told the believers in Rome,“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NLT). Thank You for this reminder of Your goodness, grace, patience, kindness, and love. Give me a heart to love the lost like You do and never let me forget that, at one point, I too “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25 ESV). Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

The God-Less Life

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6 Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. 7 And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, 8 that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.” 9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, 10 and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

11 Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. 12 And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.” 13 And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?” – 1 Samuel 22:6-13  ESV

These verses provide a stark contrast between Saul and David. While David was in a cave surrounded by misfits and malcontents, Saul was sitting under the shade of a tree surrounded by his servants and soldiers. The contrast doesn’t stop there. David provided protection for his family by sending them to the king of Moab for refuge. Yet Saul was busy accusing his own son of treason and of conspiring with David to kill him. David was surrounded by men who were willing to die for him. Saul was surrounded by men who feared him and some had even abandoned him to follow after David. But the greatest contrast between these two men was their relationships with God.

David received a prophetic word from God that told him to leave the Cave of Adullam and return to Judah. But Saul had received no word from God. In fact, he had no relationship with God at all. God had removed His Spirit from him, leaving Saul completely on his own and by all accounts, God-less. The result was a growing paranoia. He truly believed everyone was against him. He thought his own children had betrayed him. He viewed his servants suspiciously and feared their disloyalty. No one could be trusted, and his paranoia led to a heavy dose of self-pity. He felt all alone and accused his servants of being compassionless traitors.

“Has that son of Jesse promised every one of you fields and vineyards? Has he promised to make you all generals and captains in his army? Is that why you have conspired against me?” – 1 Samuel 22:7-8 NLT

“You’re not even sorry for me.” – 1 Samuel 22:8 NLT

Saul even accused Ahimelech the priest of treason, seeing his actions to help David as a personal attack against him.

“Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me?” – 1 Samuel 22:13 NLT

Without God in his life, Saul was susceptible to all kinds of irrational and unrighteous thinking. His capacity to mentally process the circumstances of his life was greatly hindered by his lack of God’s presence. He had become a fool, lacking reason and the capacity for rational thought. He wasn’t even able to process the fact that all of this was the outcome of the prophet’s warning that God was removing His hand from Saul’s life and giving his kingdom to another. Saul was in a state of denial and suffering from delusion, believing that he could somehow prevent the inevitable and stay the sovereign hand of God. But his unwillingness to accept the will of God would simply cause him to sin against God, committing greater and greater transgressions, all in a hopeless attempt at self-preservation.

Standing among Saul’s servants that day was Doeg the Edomite. This keeper of the flocks of Saul had hurried back from Nob eager to share his incriminating news about David. In an attempt to win favor with his employer, Doeg disclosed all that he had witnessed. When Saul heard this report, he immediately sent for Ahimelech, his family, and all the priests who served alongside him at Nob. If Ahimelech had been scared when David showed up in Nob (1 Samuel 21:1), he must have been petrified at the news of a summons from the king, and any fears he had would have been justified.

Saul was a man possessed, both figuratively and literally. He was constantly beset by a “harmful spirit,” the result of God’s removal of the Holy Spirit from his life. Without the influence of God’s Spirit, Saul’s reasoning was impaired. He became self-absorbed and suspicious of everyone and everything. Over time, he would become man-obsessed, unable to think of anything other than the destruction of David. Essentially, he would no longer perform his role as the king of Israel; his entire life would be focused on David’s death. His kingship, the very thing he was trying to protect, would get lost in his obsessive-compulsive quest to kill off the competition. Sadly, Saul would be unable to enjoy the benefits of being king because he lived in constant fear of being replaced as king.

One of the sad realities of godlessness is that it always results in joylessness, discontentment, fear, jealousy, and anger. The apostle Paul outlines the characteristics or “deeds” of a godless or flesh-based life in his letter to the Galatians.

…sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. – Galatians 5:20-21 NLT

Saul was miserable, not because he was losing his kingdom, but because he had lost his relationship with God. His unhappiness, paranoia, self-pity, and misguided attempts at self-preservation were driven by his lack of a relationship with God. His decision-making was totally flesh-based, driven by his own sinful nature and devoid of any divine wisdom. He had lost his capacity to see things from God’s perspective; everything had become all about him. He was no longer concerned about the good of Israel or the honor of God’s name. His only thoughts were for himself.

The life of the godless is not a pretty picture. The truly sad thing is that even those who have a relationship with Christ can end up living godless lives, refusing to seek His will, listen to His Word, or heed His direction. Rather than living God-centered, God-directed lives, they become self-absorbed and susceptible to the flawed input of their own sinful natures and the lies of the Enemy. While the Spirit of God never leaves them, they quench and grieve the Spirit through disobedience and willful, unrepentant sin. Rather than enjoying the fruit of the Spirit and the joys of sanctification, they become obsessed with self-preservation and paranoid about protecting their own earthly “kingdom.”

Jesus gave an insightful contrast between Satan’s objective and His own.

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” – John 10:10 NLT

Satan had deceived Saul, convincing him that joy could be found in pursuing and eliminating David. Saul had grown used to being king and enjoyed all the trappings of power, possessions, and prominence that came with the position. He viewed David as a threat to his preferred lifestyle and was willing to do anything to kill the Lord’s anointed. Yet, he was nothing more than a hapless pawn in the hand of Satan. There would be no joy in his future. He would never experience a rich and satisfying life. The Enemy had convinced Saul that standing against the will of God was not only possible but preferable. Despite the words of God’s prophet, Saul believed he could retain his crown and continue his control over the nation of Israel. But even with Satan’s assistance, Saul would find his will was no match for that of God.

The lesson from Saul’s life is timeless and provides a powerful reminder of how easy it is to fall prey to the Enemy’s tactics. He is still out to steal, kill, and destroy, and the primary focus of his efforts is the people of God. Just hours before His death, Jesus warned Peter,  “Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail” (Luke 22:31-32 NLT).

Peter provided a stern warning about the destructive nature of Satan’s actions.

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. – 1 Peter 5:8 NLT

Paul also warned against the Enemy’s relentless assault on God’s children.

Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.  – Ephesians 6:11-12 NLT

Satan is constantly attempting to deceive the children of God, tempting them to believe that their way is preferable to God’s way. But our way is the way of the flesh, and it eventually robs us of joy, kills our capacity to love, and destroys any hope of having a rich and satisfying life. Satan offers what he cannot give. Jesus promises what He died to make possible. The Godless life is a paranoid, self-pitying, joyless life. But the godly life brings joy amid sorrow, peace in the middle of the storm, hope when all looks hopeless, contentment in the face of loss, and strength despite our own weakness. 

Saul would never experience a rich and satisfying life by listening to the lies of the Enemy. His relentless pursuit of David would rob him of peace, joy, contentment, satisfaction, and any hope of ever experiencing the favor of God again. His life would be filled with misery and sorrow but so would David’s. Yet, because of his relationship with God, David would be able to say, “He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.  Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me” (Psalm 23:3-4 NLT).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

God’s Sovereignty Versus Man’s Autonomy

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1And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:1-3 ESV

All the way back in the garden of Eden, an epic battle took place when Satan, in the guise of a wily serpent, tempted Eve to eat the fruit of the one tree that God had declared to be off limits.

“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the 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

God placed a prohibition on consuming the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that carried the penalty of death for its violation. But when Eve encountered the cleverly-disguised enemy of God in the garden, he raised doubts about God’s commands.

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” – Genesis 3:1 ESV

He began by purposely twisting the words of God, in an attempt to confuse his prey. And Eve attempted to correct his seeming misstatement but ended up misrepresenting what God had said regarding the tree.

“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

Satan, sensing Eve’s obvious confusion, used this opportunity to question God’s motivation for giving the command in the first place. He raised doubts about God’s intentions, in the hopes of casting aspersions about God’s integrity.

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” – Genesis 3:4-5 ESV

At that moment, Eve was faced with a decision. The serpent was offering her the chance to be her own god. By eating the forbidden fruit, she would gain insight and knowledge that would allow her to be autonomous and self-determining. She could decide what was best for herself. She would become the captain of her own ship and the master of her own fate. The capacity to know good and evil meant that she would be able to determine her own actions and outcomes. She could create her own laws, deciding for herself what was acceptable and unacceptable. The only rules she would have to live by were the ones she created.

As the woman considered her options, she was persuaded by the rhetoric of the serpent and the tantalizing allure of the forbidden fruit – and she gave in to her base desires. She ate the fruit and shared it with her husband. And at that fateful moment, a battle began that has continued for millennia. The man and woman whom God had created decided that they were better off being their own gods. They chose autonomy over God’s sovereignty, and it wasn’t long before they became self-obsessed with self-rule. With their decision to disobey the law of God, the first couple ushered in the age of self-determination, and within a relatively short period of time, their descendants displayed the dark destination that lay at the end of that path.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. – Genesis 6:5 ESV

That sad state of affairs resulted in God destroying every human being who lived on the planet, except for one man and his family. In the midst of all that darkness and sin, one man is singled out.

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. – Genesis 6:8 ESV

While every other human being on the planet had taken the path of self-rule, Noah had determined to remain under God’s rule. He is described as “a righteous man, blameless in his generation” (Genesis 6:9 ESV). He wasn’t sinless or perfect, but he exhibited a desire to live according to God’s will rather than his own. 

Noah walked with God. – Genesis 6:9 ESV

This is the same statement made about another man who happens to be a predecessor of Noah.

Enoch walked with God… – Genesis 5:22 ESV

Both men “walked” with God. The Hebrew word is הָלַךְ (hālaḵ) and, in this context, it carries the idea of living life or conducting one’s life in keeping with God’s will. While everyone else around them was doing what was right in their own eyes, Enoch and Noah were swimming against the tide and walking in lock-step with God.

Noah had followed in the footsteps of his godly ancestor, and his faithfulness to God resulted in his salvation by God. When the flood came upon the earth, Noah and his family were spared death and given a new opportunity to “be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it” (Genesis 9:7 ESV). And they did. But the results were no less disappointing than before.

From Noah and his three sons would come a new, but not improved, mankind. Their descendants would begin to multiply but rather than keep God’s command to fill the earth, they chose to remain at a place called Babel and erect a monument to their own significance.

“Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” – Genesis 11:4 NLT

Rather than obey God, they chose to follow their own desires and satisfy their own sense of self-importance. But God put an end to their arrogant display of autonomy by confusing their languages. No longer able to communicate or cooperate, the people disbanded and spread out all over the face of the world, and some ended up in a place called Ur, including a man named Terah. And this one man would have a son who would play a major role in the future of mankind.

Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. – Genesis 11:27-28 ESV

This foreign-speaking, idol-worshiping pagan from the land of Mesopotamia, would become the father of the patriarch of God’s chosen people. Abram would be God’s choice for another reboot of the system. The last time, God chose a man named Noah who was righteous and walked with Him. This time, God chose a pagan who worshiped false gods and who had no concept of what it meant to walk with the one true God. This man would be the future hope of the world. This man would receive a personal invitation and a powerful promise from God that would dramatically alter the moral landscape of humanity.

“Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” – Genesis 12:1-3 NLT

With the invitation extended and the promise stated Abram had a choice to make. He could remain where he was and live out his life in Ur, or he could obey this newly revealed deity and move his family all the way to a land he had never seen or heard of. And Genesis 12 reveals that “Abram went, as the Lord had told him” (Genesis 12:4 ESV). He did as God commanded. In other words, he walked with God. He followed in the footsteps of Enoch and Noah, living his life in keeping with the will of God.

The book of Hebrews includes Abram’s name in the great “Hall of Faith,” where the lives of various Old Testament saints are memorialized for their faithful adherence to God’s revealed will. Abram is described as an obedient servant of God who trusted in the faithfulness of God to keep His promises.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. – Hebrews 11:8-9 ESV

And from this one man came the nation of Israel. God had promised to produce a great nation from this one man, despite the fact that Abram was 75 years old when God called him in Ur. And to make matters worse, this man’s elderly wife was barren. But God fulfilled His promise to Abram. His grandson, Jacob, would eventually lead his small clan of 70 people into the land of Egypt to escape a famine in the land of Canaan. And over the next four centuries, with God’s help, that small group would grow into a mighty nation.

All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. – Exodus 1:5-7 ESV

It was that very same group that Moses led out of the land of Egypt and who now stood at the base of Mount Sinai. There, from their vantage point in the valley, they could see the dense storm cloud hovering over the mountaintop. The peals of thunder and bright flashes of lightning left them awestruck and fearful as God made His powerful presence known. And as Moses and Aaron made their way to the top of the mountain, the people had no way of knowing what was about to happen next.

But their future was about to be radically and unalterably changed. From that lofty spot on the top of the mountain, Moses would receive the law of God, a written compendium of all God’s commands that the people of Israel would be required to keep. No longer would Moses have to sit in the seat of judgment and seek the counsel of God. From this point forward, there would be a written code of conduct that determined how the people were to “walk with God.”

God’s sovereignty was going to trump human autonomy. When it came to how they were to conduct their lives, the descendants of Abraham would have a clear and uncompromising canon of divine regulations to guide them. No one would be free to do what was right in their own eyes. God was going to make His will known and put it in writing. And it should come as no surprise that the first command He gave addressed the ongoing problem of human autonomy and the desire for self-rule.

“You shall have no other gods before me.” – Exodus 20:3 ESV

The Israelites were forbidden to worship any God but Yahweh, and that prohibition included self-worship. Unlike Adam and Eve, the Israelites were to refrain from making their own rules or living by their own set of standards. There was no place for autonomy when God was clearly declaring His sovereignty. He alone was God and He alone could determine the code of conduct that would regulate the lives of His people.

From this moment forward, the people of Israel would be set apart and separated from the rest of the nations on earth by a unique set of laws that would regulate every area of their lives. Nothing was left out. Their entire way of life was going to be regulated by God, for their good and His glory. And it all began with their acknowledgment of His sovereignty and their disavowal of their autonomy.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Costly Choice

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16 To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
    in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
    but he shall rule over you.”

17 And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
    and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3:16-19 ESV

God cursed the serpent and, by extension, Satan, the one who had been behind the entire forbidden fruit incident. But now, He turns His attention to the two VIPs of His creation. Adam and Eve had been formed by the very hand of God and given the exclusive privilege of bearing His image. Not only that, they had been given the distinctive responsibility to act as God’s vice-regents, ruling over and caring for all that He had made. They were to have been stewards over the vast and diverse earthly domain God had created.

Eve had succumbed to the serpent’s temptation and eaten the fruit of the one tree God had decreed as off-limits. And it wasn’t so much the act of fruit consumption that got Eve in trouble. It was the motivation behind the act. When Eve heard the serpent promise that eating the fruit would not lead to death, she had believed him.

The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. – Genesis 3:6 NLT

Eve was out to satiate a hunger that had nothing to do with food. She wanted to “be like God, knowing both good and evil” (Genesis 3:5 NLT). Eve’s brief exchange with the serpent had left her with a seemingly insatiable desire for sovereignty and autonomy. Eve didn’t suffer from a vitamin D deficiency. She wasn’t born with a forbidden fruit fetish. No, she had an authority problem. She wanted to be in control. And it seems that her mate shared her predisposition for independence and self-rule because he quickly joined her in eating the fruit. And, according to the book of James, they had no one to blame but themselves.

And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. – James 1:13-15 NLT

This raises a somewhat disconcerting question. Why did God place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden in the first place? It seems that, in so doing, God provided a form of “temptation” for Adam and Eve. It seems only logical that had the tree not been there in the first place, Eve would not have been tempted to eat of its fruit. But this is an overly simplistic deduction. According to the Westminister Confession of Faith, God had preordained the potential for sin because He had also preordained the solution to the problem it would cause.

Our first parents, begin seduced by the subtlety and temptations 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. – Westminster Confession of Faith, 6:1

By placing the tree in the garden, God established a test, but not a temptation. Notice what the text states about the tree and its fruit.

…the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes… – Genesis 3:6 ESV

There was nothing inherently wrong with the quality of the fruit. It was not poisonous or potentially deadly. In fact, after Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they remained fully alive. Satan had been partially correct when he stated, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4 ESV). The tree and its fruit were not the problems. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not, in and of itself, evil. It was as holy and pure as any other tree that God had placed in the garden. But God had set it apart and declared it off-limits to Adam and Eve. He deemed one tree as forbidden. And that one tree would become a test of Adam and Eve’s obedience. Would they obey God’s command and refrain from eating the fruit of that one tree? God knew the answer to that question because He had already come up with the solution to the problem it would cause. As was revealed in God’s curse of the serpent, He had already pre-ordained the coming of the offspring who would eventually bruise the serpent’s head.

God had created the universe and all that it contained, and He had declared it all to be “very good.” Then He had placed Adam and Eve in that perfectly holy and sinless environment. Hermann Bavinck provides us with a somewhat head-scratching analysis of the situation in which Adam and Eve found themselves.

“The possibility of sinning is from God. The idea of sin was first conceived in his mind. God eternally conceived sin as his absolute polar opposite and thus, in that sense, included it in his decree, or else it would never have been able to arise and exist in reality. It was not Satan, nor Adam and Eve, who first conceived of the idea of sin; God himself as it were made it visible to their eyes. By means of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the probationary command, he clearly showed human beings the two roads they could take. And before the fall he even permitted an evil power from without to insinuate itself into Paradise, using the snake as its medium, and to discuss with Eve the meaning of the probationary command. There is therefore no doubt that God willed the possibility of sin.” – Hermann Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics

Notice his emphasis that God “willed the possibility of sin.”  God did not force Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. They made that decision on their own. God had provided them with more than enough food options to fulfill their daily nutritional requirements. But they wanted the one thing they were told they could not have. They made a choice. In choosing the forbidden fruit they were really choosing to doubt and disobey God. Their decision revealed their unwillingness to trust God and submit to His will for their lives.

God had created Adam and Eve with the capacity for reason and self-determination. They were not automatons, operating by pure animal instinct. Created in God’s image, they bore an intelligence unequaled by any other living creature. They could speak, discern, process information, and make rational decisions. In other words, they had the ability to choose what they would do. Built into the kingdom mandate God had given Adam and Eve was the possibility that they might decide to disobey it. He had commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. But they could have chosen to disobey that command. The rest of the creative order procreated according to instinct. The other living creatures lacked the God-given capacity to think for themselves.
They did as God had designed them to do. But Adam and Eve had been equipped with the God-ordained capacity to obey or disobey.

And because they had chosen to exercise their option to disobey, they were doomed to suffer the consequences. The painful lesson Adam and Eve learned that fateful day was that, as finite creatures, they were completely dependent upon God for their very existence. They owed Him their lives and they were reliant upon Him for all their needs. And yet, they had chosen autonomy over dependency – a decision that would cost them dearly.

God communicated His displeasure with Eve by explaining the “fruit” of her sin.

“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,
    and in pain you will give birth.
And you will desire to control your husband,
    but he will rule over you.” – Genesis 3:16 NLT

From this point forward, the woman would find obedience to God’s command to be fruitful and multiply marked by pain and suffering. And the complementary and co-equal relationship God had given her and Adam would be replaced by a competitive and sometimes combative spirit. With the introduction of sin, the “one flesh” nature of the husband and wife relationship would be difficult to maintain. Selfishness would replace the symbiosis God had originally planned for marriage.

But God saved His harshest words and strongest punishment for Adam. Because Adam had chosen to listen to his wife and eat of the fruit that God had forbidden, he would find his role as steward of God’s creation to become a burden rather than a blessing.

“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
    whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,
the ground is cursed because of you.
    All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.” – Genesis 3:17 NLT

God had always intended for Adam to labor. Work was always intended to be a blessing, not a curse.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. – Genesis 2:15 ESV

But because Adam chose to disobey God, he would find His God-ordained mandate to be burdensome and back-breaking. God actually cursed the ground, causing it to sprout thorns and thistles. Planting would become difficult. Harvesting would be hit or miss. The ground would still provide the food man needed, but it would not release its bounty easily. God warned Adam:

“By the sweat of your brow
    will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
    from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
    and to dust you will return.” – Genesis 3:19 NLT

For the first time since God placed Adam in the garden, He reveals the invading presence of death. He had warned Adam that eating the fruit of the forbidden tree would result in death. But the fruit would not be the source of Adam’s demise. His body would now suffer the consequences of living in a fallen world where the ravages of time and toil would take their toll. Man, whom God had formed from the dust of the ground would return to from whence he came. The breath of life would be removed and his body would be returned to its original state.

This section of the creation narrative paints a bleak and sobering picture. And with it, Moses provides the backdrop for all that will follow. The rest of the book will detail the subsequent and far-reaching ramifications of that one fateful decision. Sin had entered the world and its influence would be felt for generations to come.

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