When Sin Entered In-1

WHEN SIN ENTERED IN-I—Genesis 3:1-24

Attention:

“Sin is any personal lack of conformity to the moral character of God, or the law of God. Then sin is a disposition of the heart, it is a bent.”....“It is...any violation of the character or law of God, the moral character or the law of God.”.... “it’s ignoring God’s law, it’s violating God’s law.”

Rom. 14:23 tells us that “...whatever is not from faith is sin.” so that anything that you do that isn’t is not a direct act of faith in God is sin.”

“You study the Bible & you’re going to find out what God commands us to do & not to do, you’re going to find out the essential elements of God’s nature. And whenever we violate those, we sin.”.... “....there is no external cause of sin....It’s just choice.”— John MacArthur

Need:

Genesis 3 explains human difficulties/problems, the seemingly endless frustrations we face thruout our lives.

“All the problems of the universe have their origin in the events of this historic account....physical problems, spiritual problems, moral problems, social problems, economic problems, political problems, all the problems in the universe have their origin in the events of this historic account.”—John MacArthur

Genesis chapter 3 precisely documented the original appearance of sin.

The original appearance of sin is precisely documented in God’s word.

*What is significant about the entrance of sin?

*How is the entrance of sin to be regarded or how is it significant?

21 considerations regarding the entrance of sin.

Section I

:1-8

Sin’s APPEARANCE

1— Sin entered in with ...

CUNNING(:1a)

Explanation:(:1)

:1—“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?””

There was a creation of God which was “cunning.” This does not necessarily imply that there would have been degrees of cunning among the animals(“beast of the field”)/creation(Wenham per Hengstenberg). This particular animal/beast?(a “serpent”) was “more cunning than any” of the animals. YaHoVeH God had “made” these animals(Gen. 1:24-25).

There is no hint of demonic possession here. The animal itself is cursed, not the demonic entity who abuses it. “The serpent” appears to simply be a particular animal of God’s creation. There is no hint that this animal is itself Satan. *However, there is no question that Rev. 12:9 & 20:2 directly identifies “the serpent” in the Garden with Satan himself.

Rev. 12:9—“So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil & Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, & his angels were cast out with him.”

Rev. 20:2—“He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil & Satan, & bound him for a thousand years;”

Satan is indeed compared to & called a serpent thruout Scripture. This insight would highlight Satan’s self-seeking, treacherous & destructively cunning nature.

There is also the fact that “the serpent” is given attention, voice & responses which are nowhere else afforded any being other than mankind & angelic beings. The physical serpent is nowhere else problematic except when variously attached to or identified with Satan.

“This...this particular animal knows about God. This particular animal has a personality. This particular animal speaks with intelligence. This particular animal has a devious, malevolent, evil mind.”... “But this is a crafty, subtle, malevolent, evil, wicked individual animal because it is being used by a superhuman intelligence to lead Eve & Adam into a choice for evil...a choice that this personality already made. And listen carefully, this personality inside that animal knew the effect of the choice Adam & Eve were going to make, Adam & Eve had no clue.”...“Snakes don’t have moral thoughts, reptiles don’t have moral thoughts, they can’t make moral judgments.”—John MacArthur

Mwre(“Cunning”)itself is a neutral word—neither positive nor negative except determined by the context. Used here negatively presupposing a self-advancement/preferment that will overstep others & thus take a propriety to achieve its ends. What we might call ‘survival of the fittest’ or a built-in naturalistic bent toward self-advancement/preferment/protection.

This “serpent” could speak & spoke directly to the “woman.” There seems to be no surprise/oddity(at least as presented), to the woman(her innocence & experience) that an animal should be able to speak.

“Serpent”—vxn naw-khawsh’—Serpent, snake. Strong—A snake (from its hiss):-- Serpent. From—vxn naw-khash’— properly, To hiss, i.e. Whisper a (magic) spell; generally, to Prognosticate:-- X certainly, divine, enchanter,(use) X enchantment, learn by experience, X indeed, diligently observe.

“Cunning/Subtile/Crafty”—Mwre aw-room’—Subtle, shrewd, crafty, sly, sensible. Strong—Cunning (usually in a bad sense):-- Crafty, prudent, subtil.

Used 1X in Genesis. Used 2X in Job negatively. Frequently in Proverbs in a commendable sense contrasted with the fool &/or simpleton.

English:

Cunning—Having or showing skill in achieving one’s ends by deceit or evasion.