“So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, . . .” (Genesis 3:6-7a)

In Genesis 3 we learn how sin and death entered into God’s perfect world. But we also learn some lessons about our own temptations and sin. We see our own selves in the thoughts, words and actions of Adam and Eve for their sin serves as a template or model of all sin. That is it contains all the basic elements of any sin.

John delineates this in his first Epistle (2:16) “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” The lust of the eyes: Eve saw the fruit was appealing and attractive. The lust of the flesh: She desired it to satisfy her appetite. And the pride of life: she thought she knew better than God. She did not trust what He had said about eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The devil convinced her that God was really not trustworthy, that He was holding back on her. He appealed to Eve’s pride. She desired to be like God, to know all things. And so did Adam. And so do we.

We see that after Adam and Eve sinned they could have confessed to God, but instead, they hid from Him. Then when God questioned them, neither admitted any personal responsibility for doing wrong. Adam blamed Eve and also God who gave her to him. Eve blamed the serpent who deceived her, as if deception could excuse personal responsibility. And we make excuses or blame someone else. All that God desires from us is a humble, sorrowful and honest admission that we were wrong so He may grant us His mercy. Is that so hard? As we look around our culture, we see that, apparently, it is.