Volume 37: Don’t Miss The Details: Before The Fall

DON’T MISS THE DETAILS: BEFORE THE FALL

As we get ready to move beyond the first three chapters of Genesis, I want us to slow down for a moment. There are some important details that are easy to read right past. Genesis 1–3 introduces truths that we are going to see again and again throughout the rest of the Bible.

Before we look at what God did after humanity sinned, let’s go back and notice a few things God established before the fall and what changed immediately afterward.

WHAT DID GOD ORIGINALLY CALL “MEAT”?

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed… and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat” (Genesis 1:29).

When most of us hear the word “meat,” we immediately think about beef, chicken, pork and even fish. But look carefully at what God actually calls “meat” in this verse. He is talking about seed-bearing plants and fruit-bearing trees.

This becomes even more interesting after the Flood when God tells Noah, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things” (Genesis 9:3).

Notice that phrase: “even as the green herb.” God is making the comparison Himself. In Genesis 1, humanity is given vegetation for food. In Genesis 9, God specifically extends that permission to living creatures.

WORK WAS NOT THE CURSE

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15).

Sometimes we joke about having to go to work because Adam sinned, but notice something: Adam had a job before Adam ever sinned.

God put him in the garden “to dress it and to keep it.” Responsibility, productivity and purpose were already part of God’s design for humanity.

What changed after Adam sinned was not the existence of work. God said, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake… Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee” (Genesis 3:17–18).

The curse affected the conditions of the work. Now there would be resistance, frustration, sweat and difficulty. So work itself was not the punishment. Work existed in a perfect world. Sin simply made the work harder.

MARRIAGE EXISTED BEFORE SIN

When Adam sees the woman God created, he says, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,” and Scripture continues, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:23–24).

Think about where we are in the Bible. There are no governments yet. There are no nations. There are no churches, courthouses or marriage licenses. Sin has not even entered the human story yet, and marriage is already there.

That is important because Jesus later goes directly back to Genesis when teaching about marriage in Matthew 19:4–6. Paul does the same thing and connects two people becoming one flesh with the relationship between Christ and His church in Ephesians 5:31–32.

Something God established in the second chapter of Genesis becomes important all the way into the New Testament.

NAKEDNESS EXISTED BEFORE SHAME

“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25).

Then they sinned, and suddenly “the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7).

Their bodies did not suddenly change. What changed was what was happening inside of them.

Before sin, they could be completely exposed without experiencing shame. After sin, their first reaction was to cover themselves.

“They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7).

Think about that. One of humanity’s first responses to sin was trying to cover what had happened.

Instead of running toward God, they started trying to fix their condition themselves.

That little detail is going to become very important because later in this same chapter, God is going to replace the covering they made with a covering that He provides.

EVE SAW BEFORE SHE TOOK

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes… she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat” (Genesis 3:6).

Pay attention to the order. Eve saw it before she took it.

She looked at something God had already forbidden and began evaluating it differently. She saw that it looked good for food. She saw that it was pleasant to the eyes. Desire grew, and eventually she acted on what she desired. This story was something bigger and deeper than an apple or any other physical fruit.

John later talks about “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). James describes the same kind of progression when desire conceives and “bringeth forth sin,” while “sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14–15).

She had started looking at what God prohibited as something desirable.

That is why spiritual warfare so often begins with what we believe. Before the serpent could influence their behavior, he first had to challenge their confidence in what God had said.

By the end of Genesis 3:7, everything has changed. Humanity has disobeyed God, innocence has been lost, shame has entered the picture, and Adam and Eve are standing there wearing a covering they made for themselves.

But the story is not over. While humanity’s first response to sin was to cover itself and hide, God’s response was to come looking for them.