Original Sin

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     We will take a deep dive into the original sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The proper understanding of where sin originates and why will be of immense help to your complete understanding of the Word of God. 

     The typical understanding most people have goes something like this…the devil tricked Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and things have been going wrong ever since.

     The truth? If I tell you now, you may not read the rest of this post, which would be a mistake.

     You will find the account of what took place in Genesis 3:1-7,  shown below. (KJV)

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     1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

     2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

     3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

     4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

     5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
     6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

     7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

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     The Genesis account does not give us all the details. If we go to the Book of Jubilees we can find a more detailed account. I have Jubilees 3:15-25 below.

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  1. And in the first week of the first jubilee, [1-7 A.M.] Adam and his wife were in the garden of Eden for seven years tilling and keeping it, and we gave him work and we instructed him to do everything that is suitable for tillage.
  2. And he tilled (the garden), and was naked and knew it not, and was not ashamed, and he protected the garden from the birds and beasts and cattle, and gathered its fruit, and eat, and put aside the residue for himself and for his wife [and put aside that which was being kept].
  3. And after the completion of the seven years, which he had completed there, seven years exactly, [8 A.M.] and in the second month, on the seventeenth day (of the month), the serpent came and approached the woman, and the serpent said to the woman, ‘Hath God commanded you, saying, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’
  4. And she said to it, ‘Of all the fruit of the trees of the garden God hath said unto us, Eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said unto us, Ye shall not eat thereof, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’
  5. And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that on the day ye shall eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and ye will be as gods, and ye will know good and evil.
  6. And the woman saw the tree that it was agreeable and pleasant to the eye and that its fruit was good for food, and she took thereof and did eat.
  7. And when she had first covered her shame with figleaves, she gave thereof to Adam and he did eat, and his eyes were opened, and he saw that he was naked.
  8. And he took figleaves and sewed (them) together, and made an apron for himself, and, covered his shame.
  9. And God cursed the serpent, and was wroth with it forever. . .
  10. And He was wroth with the woman, because she harkened to the voice of the serpent, and did eat; and He said unto her: ‘I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy pains: in sorrow, thou shalt bring forth children, and thy return shall be unto thy husband, and he will rule over thee.’
  11. And to Adam also he said, ‘ Because thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat thereof, cursed be the ground for thy sake: thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat of thy face, till thou returnest to the earth from whence thou wast taken; for earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return.’
  12. And He made for them coats of skin, and clothed them, and sent them forth from the Garden of Eden.

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Adam and Eve were both aware of what God had said about not eating the fruit of this tree. (therefore we have two witnesses to His word) The devil, Satan, in the form of a serpent, sowed a seed of doubt in Eve’s heart about the consequence of disobeying God. Then Satan tempted Eve with what he knew she really wanted, what she lusted after, to be like God. Once the eyes of her understanding were opened and she knew both good and evil, she told Adam what had happened and gave him the fruit also. Adam, because he lusted after the same thing as Eve, cast the Word of God aside and ate the fruit also.

     Eating the forbidden fruit was the manifestation of sin, but the true sin of Adam and Eve was unbelief. The unbelief of an evil heart that refuses the Word of God in order to fulfill the lusts of the heart.

     I will give you a couple of practical examples and then we will search the scriptures to see if what I have written above is true.

     If you and I were to sit down at the table and I set a bottle of arsenic in front of you and said “I know you have been told that eating this will kill you, but I’m here to tell you that if you eat it you will be like the gods”.  Would you eat the arsenic? 

     Or, if I had someone bring in a live rattlesnake and milk all the venom from the snake into a glass and then said “I know you have been told that drinking rattlesnake venom will kill you, but I’m here to tell you that you won’t die, but if you drink it you will be like the gods”. Would you drink it? Hopefully, you would say no to both offers.

     So why did Adam and Eve choose to eat the forbidden fruit? The only possible answer is that they did not believe they would die. They did not believe in the Word of God. That is called unbelief. 

     Look again at the sequence of events and you will see this playing out daily in your own life. First, the devil confronted Eve with the Word of God and said the Word of God was not true, planting doubt in her mind. Then he tempted her to disobey the Word of God by promising her something he knew she wanted. Then Eve ‘harkened to the serpent’. Eve chose the word of the serpent over the Word of God because she wanted what disobedience promised. Next Eve takes the fruit to her husband and tells him to see for himself what the serpent said was true…she did not die, her eyes we open, and she knew good and evil. Adam then ‘harkened unto the woman’. Adam chose to believe what Eve said because of the empirical evidence. He could see with his own eyes she did not die and she knew the difference between good and evil. Therefore he did not believe the Word of God and chose to disobey it because he wanted the benefit of disobedience.

     Unbelief can only reside in an evil heart. If a person’s heart is perfect toward God, that person can be tempted but will not sin. I will give you two examples from a man with a perfect heart, Jesus.

 

     Luke 4:1-13 KJV1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.1 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

 

     In the passages above we see the unsuccessful efforts of Satan to cause Jesus to sin. Jesus did not sin because Jesus believed the Word of God.

     Next, we will see that Satan was unsuccessful in tempting Jesus to sin because there was no evil in Jesus’ heart. There must be some form of lust in the human heart for Satan to appeal to in order for him to be successful in tempting someone to sin. Jesus, the night before his crucifixion states clearly that Satan cannot find anything in Jesus’ heart to work with.

 

    John 14:30 KJV Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 

 

     In contrast, the reoccurring theme throughout the bible is mankind not believing the Word of God. It started with Adam and Eve.  That evil heart of unbelief is the condition of the entire human race, yes, even in believers. If you think I am wrong, let’s see what Jesus has to say about it.

 

    John 14:12-13 KJV12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. 

 

     Luke 7:19-23 KJV 19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 20 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 21 And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. 22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. 23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

 

     Mark 16:15-18 KJV 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

 

     Let me ask you church, why are the largest building complexes in every major city in the U.S.A. the hospitals? Why are the hospitals filled to 90% capacity? Let’s see what Jesus says the answer to that question is…

 

     Matt 17:14-21 KJV 14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, 15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

 

     Yes, church, and everyone else, unbelief has been the problem from the very beginning.  Jesus, Himself testifies to this in His description of the human race above: O faithless and perverse generation.

     The devil has spread countless lies throughout the church.  The lie that has left the church powerless is…miracles ended when the apostles died.  That is a lie from hell. Every believer can and should heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. Believe it. Rid yourself of all doubt. Believe the Word of God and accept nothing less. Here is the Word of God spoken by the Word of God Himself.

 

      Matt 21:21-22 KJV Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.  And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive

 

     Believe it. If any doubt creeps into your mind, say this out loud.  It is written, all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive.  

     Eve was tempted by the devil and the devil was successful in getting her to disobey the Word of God. He was successful because Eve, after being in the Garden of Eden for seven years and walking and talking with God for seven years, had allowed the idea of being like God to enter her heart.

 

     Prov 4:23 KJV Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

 

     Unbelief was the original sin of Adam and Eve and has continued to be the reason all mankind sins. Satan is only successful in tempting people to sin when our heart lusts after things and those things become more important to us than believing and obeying the Word of God.

 

    Jer 17:9 KJV The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

 

     Unbelief was the reason the children of Israel wandered in the desert for forty years. That entire generation perished without receiving the promise of God because of an evil heart of unbelief.

 

     Heb 3:7-12 KJV 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)2 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

 

     It is my hope that by being aware the sin of unbelief is the original sin, and therefore serves as a foundation for sin, you will better understand the scriptures as you read them.

     The solution for sin? Look no further the Jesus’ first sermon:

 

     Mark 1:15 KJV And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

 

     John 1:29 KJV The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

 

     2Cor 5:21 KJV For he hath made him(Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

 

     1Pet 3:18 KJV For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

 

     Now that we can have peace with God by His grace through faith in Jesus’ teaching, sacrificial death, and resurrection from the dead let us put away all unbelief. Let us believe and obey the Word of God.

     Elect of God, let these verses help you in purging fear, doubt, and unbelief. Like the man with the lunatic child cried “Lord I believe, help me my unbelief.”

 

      Job 11:13-15 KJV 13 If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; 14 If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. 15 For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear.

    And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive