THE 1310 Lecture 6

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Topic: Origins and Nature of Sin

Genesis 3

play on words: arom (naked) vs arum (serpent)
Serpent approaches the Woman, not Adam
- sows seed of doubt in God and Adam
  - God told Adam about the tree, who presumably told the Woman after she was created
  - Serpent essentially saying, "God (and Adam) are holding you back"
    - technically true; they don't yet perceive God in his fullness
    - desire for this fullness awakened in Woman, who thinks she has to grasp at it to take for herself
- Woman responds, adding "don't even touch it"
Adam was there the whole time and gets caught up in the whole mess
- Has to be with Woman, even in her disobedience

alienation from each other (hence fig leaves) and from God (disobedience)
hence, they hide
- God knows where they are, but calls out to them, inviting them to come out of hiding
- Goodness now serves as a reminder of the evil they've done, so they indirectly despise God's goodness now.
Adam's response: "it's her fault, and yours too, God; you put her here with me!"
Eve blames the serpent (who didn't have a leg to stand on, haha)
God doesn't even ask Serpent, just curses it:
- enmity between Woman and serpent, offspring (hence stare-down in The Passion)
- protoevangelion - the first good news that God will redeem us

	self	relationship
serpent	crawl on belly	lower than other animals, enmity with woman
woman	painful labor	longing for Adam
Adam	death	all of creation (ground/earth) now no longer fertile

Note on death: feels unnatural; the core existential problem of Man

All relationships are ruptured between God, Adam, Woman, and Creation

ultimately restored by salvation through Jesus, who conquers death!

God makes clothes, which means an animal had to die
Banishment from Eden, so as to not eat from Tree of Life
- Mercy: God doesn't want Man to live in fallen state forever
- Common theme in OT: sin leads to exile; land plays central role

Union with God in original created state
gifts at beginning lost as result of original sin
we inherit fundamental deprivation of true communion
- we can't inherit what are parents don't have