Adam And Eve, The First People
Biblical Studies
At Odds With God
Adult Bible Study And Sermon Resource
Eve envies God's wisdom. Adam doesn't take God's word of
warning as real. Basically, these people's problem is that they
always want to be first, even before God. If you don't think this
is a problem, then that's a problem. It's called "Original Sin."
(Please read Genesis, Chapter 3)
Adam And Eve
Adam was first. There is a certain comfort in being second or
third, next or last, in the middle or part of a crowd: One can
hide or ask for help or consider alternatives or grow impatient
or slink away unnoticed. But Adam enjoyed no such luxuries. Adam
was first and if anything was going to get done, such as tilling
the ground, Adam had to do it.
Adam's problem was that he got used to being first. After a
while, Adam would allow nothing to be first before him. He'd get
up before the sun arose. "I'm up already," he'd shout to the
startled birds. He was the first to explore paradise and try out
things first such as smelling a new flower or wading through a
secluded pond.
One day, Eve came along.
Eve was, of course, second. Adam reminded her of this often.
"I'm first," he'd sniff and stride off towards some elysian goal.
"Follow me," he'd say, "Follow me," butting into Eve's afternoon
stroll. Eve had her pride, too. She would sigh and go off another
direction completely.
Today she'd come to a stop leaning on a sign Adam had put up
next to a berry bush that was ready to be picked. The sign said,
"First dibs." Eve sat alone wondering what good she was if Adam
didn't need her to do anything but follow him around.
After all, she was made to be with Adam: A "helper as his
partner," God had put it. Of course, "Helper" didn't mean an
assistant or servant. It meant someone who was, "equal, different
and suitable."
She felt equal. She certainly felt different than Adam. But as
for suitable, Adam didn't share much of himself except his back
as he rushed off to be first at something or other.
Eve sighed a short shallow sigh. A curious blackbird jumped
over to her and cocked his head sideways to cast a yellow eye up
to her. Uncharacteristically pouty, she gave it a dainty kick
into a thicket. The blackbird scolded her in that
throaty way blackbirds have. It flew off over paradise toward the
east.
Eve's eyes followed the blackbird and her gaze settled on
something at which Adam had not yet had a chance to be first: THE
TREE.
It was a lovely tree. God had named it the tree "of the
knowledge of good and evil." The only reason Adam had not been
first to eat of its fruit is that God himself had gotten first
dibs on it. "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
This prohibition from God only called Adam's attention all the
more to the tree. Who did God think he was anyway? Adam so wanted
to be first at everything. Now God had put this beautiful tree
here in the middle of the garden and Adam couldn't even be
second. (As if that really counted ...)
Eve could see Adam over by a stream. She suspected he was
again fussing about this constraint on his freedom. He'd mumble
and skip a stone, pace back and forth along the bank and toss in
a bigger rock with a "plunk," sit down and twiddle with his toes.
Eve felt sorry for Adam. She did want to help him, that was
her calling in life; to help him as an equal, in a suitable way,
perhaps some way that was different. She thought about how she
could help him and was so absorbed in this that when the serpent
coiled up next to her it was such a surprise that she let out a
little shriek. "Oh," she said. "Don't sneak up on me like that."
The crafty serpent didn't say he was sorry. He had too much on
his crafty little serpent mind. He knew how Eve could help Adam
in a very different way. The serpent asked, "Did God say, 'You
shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
Eve thought a moment. No, that wasn't the prohibition. God
wasn't so strict as to prohibit eating from any tree, just the
one. Life wasn't so prohibitive after all. Why did the serpent
misquote God?
13
"No," Eve replied. "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in
the garden." She went on to explain the one constraint God had
put on Adam and herself; the one that frustrated Adam's "me
first" compulsion. "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree
that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or
you shall die."
But, thinking back on God's exact words, Eve realized she too
had just now misquoted him. God didn't say that they couldn't
even touch the fruit; Eve had made that up. "Maybe," she thought
to herself, "maybe I am a little perturbed myself with this one
silly restriction. After all, we are God's image. What's the
deal? Doesn't God trust us? Who does he think he is?"
Then the serpent said an amazing thing with the next sentence
he spoke. Years later, long years of fear and pain later, Eve
would look back on this moment and wonder why, when the serpent
spoke, the world did not crack and shatter and fall about her and
the serpent like sharp stones.
The serpent told Eve that God was a liar.
He put it this way: "You will not die; for God knows that when
you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God
knowing good and evil."
Eve gasped. The warm breeze made her shiver. Her mind raced,
"What a thing to say about God! Who does this serpent think he
is, God almighty? Oh, what a thing for him to say."
But as Eve looked at the beautiful tree that delighted her
eyes, and saw the good fruit hanging on the branches, the tree
seemed to hold the answers to her worries -- it would make her
wise and she would think like God and know just what to do for
Adam and for herself.
Before she knew it, her mouth was full of fruit. She noted she
was not dead. She took more bites and she mumbled through the
delicious fruit, "Who does he think he is, anyway?"
Questions About The Story
Questions For You
(This story is fictional, based on the scripture quotations
found in it. However, the basic conflict between God's will and
the will of humanity is not fictional. The following questions
based on this conflict may help you see that your conflict with
God is real because: You're real and God is real.)
1. Why is having to be first a problem for Adam?
2. Is being first a problem for you? Name two ways it is a
problem.
3. Who is really "first" in your life?
4. When Eve asks, "Who does he think he is, anyway?" is she
asking about God, Adam or the serpent? Could she ask this of
herself?
5. Why does everyone but the serpent ask this question in the
story? Does he know who God thinks he is?
6. Do you ever question God's authority in your life? How?
7. Do you ask God who he is, too? What does he answer?
8. Do you ever ask God who you are? What do you hear?
9. "Original sin" is not being content with being the image
of God, but wanting instead to be God. How does this "wanting to
be first" hurt people today? Creation? Ourselves? Our church? Our
nation? Our economy?
10. How is Eve's being helpful really being harmful?
11. When you carefully examine Eve's motives, who is she
really helping?
12. Read Genesis 3 again. What do you think is the root of
original sin?
13. How do Adam and Eve react to God when he confronts them
with their sin? (Genesis 3:8-13) Why is this reaction another
aspect of "pride," "me first-ness," or "original sin?"
14. If we are still in sin, how do we know God loves us?
15
Reflection By A Famous Christian On:
Original Sin
"I know, of course, what bad consciences do when they begin to
make themselves aprons from fig leaves to try and hide
themselves. (Genesis 3:7) Since they misinterpret God's Word and
follow their own fancy, it is easy also to judge their heart by
the scriptures, which teach us that the wicked have no rest: 'His
heart is like a wave of the sea, which cannot rest.' " (Isaiah
57:20)
-- Martin Luther -- Luther's Works, Vol. 37, page 29, Fortress
Press 1961. Edited by Robert H. Fischer.
A Prayer Starter
Lord, give me a simple faith to trust the simple Word of God.
Help me to hear his love clearly in Christ and to share it simply
through the gentle guidance of the Holy Spirit. Help me to know
when I am hiding from the truth, from God and from myself. Help
me to put God first, the truth first, and myself first only in
service to others to the glory of God.
Suggestions For Practicing Your Prayer
1. What words of Christ give me the most comfort? Read or
recite them outloud now.
2. How can the Holy Spirit guide me in this comfort today?
3. How can I share this comfort with someone today?
4. What other ways can I resist the urge to always put my will
first? (Practice saying, "After you," to people you meet. For
example, let them go first through doorways, into buses,
elevators and grocery market check-out lines.)
A Suggested Order Of Worship
For
Adam And Eve,
The First People
(Note: You may want to break into small groups for discussion of
the story and then join together again for the closing worship.
If so, select discussion leaders to help people reflect on the
questions in the book. Or, you may want to stay together and
reflect silently as the questions are read.)
Opening: Greeting and introduction of "The Conflict Of The Will:
Our Envy Of Our All-Knowing God."
Hymns: "He Leadeth Me" or "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise"
Read: Introduction to Chapter One, page 11
Meditation: Adam And Eve, The First People
Discussion: Break into discussion groups and follow "Questions
About The Story/Questions For You" or read aloud for group silent
reflection. When finished, quietly return to worship setting.
Read: "Reflections By A Famous Christian"
Read: "Prayer Starter"
Invitation: Invite people to add their own prayers
Read: "Suggestions For Practicing Your Prayer"
The Lord's Prayer
The Apostles' Creed
Hymns: "How Great Thou Art" or "Now Thank We All Our God"
Benediction And Dismissal: "Go in peace and serve the Lord."
warning as real. Basically, these people's problem is that they
always want to be first, even before God. If you don't think this
is a problem, then that's a problem. It's called "Original Sin."
(Please read Genesis, Chapter 3)
Adam And Eve
Adam was first. There is a certain comfort in being second or
third, next or last, in the middle or part of a crowd: One can
hide or ask for help or consider alternatives or grow impatient
or slink away unnoticed. But Adam enjoyed no such luxuries. Adam
was first and if anything was going to get done, such as tilling
the ground, Adam had to do it.
Adam's problem was that he got used to being first. After a
while, Adam would allow nothing to be first before him. He'd get
up before the sun arose. "I'm up already," he'd shout to the
startled birds. He was the first to explore paradise and try out
things first such as smelling a new flower or wading through a
secluded pond.
One day, Eve came along.
Eve was, of course, second. Adam reminded her of this often.
"I'm first," he'd sniff and stride off towards some elysian goal.
"Follow me," he'd say, "Follow me," butting into Eve's afternoon
stroll. Eve had her pride, too. She would sigh and go off another
direction completely.
Today she'd come to a stop leaning on a sign Adam had put up
next to a berry bush that was ready to be picked. The sign said,
"First dibs." Eve sat alone wondering what good she was if Adam
didn't need her to do anything but follow him around.
After all, she was made to be with Adam: A "helper as his
partner," God had put it. Of course, "Helper" didn't mean an
assistant or servant. It meant someone who was, "equal, different
and suitable."
She felt equal. She certainly felt different than Adam. But as
for suitable, Adam didn't share much of himself except his back
as he rushed off to be first at something or other.
Eve sighed a short shallow sigh. A curious blackbird jumped
over to her and cocked his head sideways to cast a yellow eye up
to her. Uncharacteristically pouty, she gave it a dainty kick
into a thicket. The blackbird scolded her in that
throaty way blackbirds have. It flew off over paradise toward the
east.
Eve's eyes followed the blackbird and her gaze settled on
something at which Adam had not yet had a chance to be first: THE
TREE.
It was a lovely tree. God had named it the tree "of the
knowledge of good and evil." The only reason Adam had not been
first to eat of its fruit is that God himself had gotten first
dibs on it. "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."
This prohibition from God only called Adam's attention all the
more to the tree. Who did God think he was anyway? Adam so wanted
to be first at everything. Now God had put this beautiful tree
here in the middle of the garden and Adam couldn't even be
second. (As if that really counted ...)
Eve could see Adam over by a stream. She suspected he was
again fussing about this constraint on his freedom. He'd mumble
and skip a stone, pace back and forth along the bank and toss in
a bigger rock with a "plunk," sit down and twiddle with his toes.
Eve felt sorry for Adam. She did want to help him, that was
her calling in life; to help him as an equal, in a suitable way,
perhaps some way that was different. She thought about how she
could help him and was so absorbed in this that when the serpent
coiled up next to her it was such a surprise that she let out a
little shriek. "Oh," she said. "Don't sneak up on me like that."
The crafty serpent didn't say he was sorry. He had too much on
his crafty little serpent mind. He knew how Eve could help Adam
in a very different way. The serpent asked, "Did God say, 'You
shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
Eve thought a moment. No, that wasn't the prohibition. God
wasn't so strict as to prohibit eating from any tree, just the
one. Life wasn't so prohibitive after all. Why did the serpent
misquote God?
13
"No," Eve replied. "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in
the garden." She went on to explain the one constraint God had
put on Adam and herself; the one that frustrated Adam's "me
first" compulsion. "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree
that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or
you shall die."
But, thinking back on God's exact words, Eve realized she too
had just now misquoted him. God didn't say that they couldn't
even touch the fruit; Eve had made that up. "Maybe," she thought
to herself, "maybe I am a little perturbed myself with this one
silly restriction. After all, we are God's image. What's the
deal? Doesn't God trust us? Who does he think he is?"
Then the serpent said an amazing thing with the next sentence
he spoke. Years later, long years of fear and pain later, Eve
would look back on this moment and wonder why, when the serpent
spoke, the world did not crack and shatter and fall about her and
the serpent like sharp stones.
The serpent told Eve that God was a liar.
He put it this way: "You will not die; for God knows that when
you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God
knowing good and evil."
Eve gasped. The warm breeze made her shiver. Her mind raced,
"What a thing to say about God! Who does this serpent think he
is, God almighty? Oh, what a thing for him to say."
But as Eve looked at the beautiful tree that delighted her
eyes, and saw the good fruit hanging on the branches, the tree
seemed to hold the answers to her worries -- it would make her
wise and she would think like God and know just what to do for
Adam and for herself.
Before she knew it, her mouth was full of fruit. She noted she
was not dead. She took more bites and she mumbled through the
delicious fruit, "Who does he think he is, anyway?"
Questions About The Story
Questions For You
(This story is fictional, based on the scripture quotations
found in it. However, the basic conflict between God's will and
the will of humanity is not fictional. The following questions
based on this conflict may help you see that your conflict with
God is real because: You're real and God is real.)
1. Why is having to be first a problem for Adam?
2. Is being first a problem for you? Name two ways it is a
problem.
3. Who is really "first" in your life?
4. When Eve asks, "Who does he think he is, anyway?" is she
asking about God, Adam or the serpent? Could she ask this of
herself?
5. Why does everyone but the serpent ask this question in the
story? Does he know who God thinks he is?
6. Do you ever question God's authority in your life? How?
7. Do you ask God who he is, too? What does he answer?
8. Do you ever ask God who you are? What do you hear?
9. "Original sin" is not being content with being the image
of God, but wanting instead to be God. How does this "wanting to
be first" hurt people today? Creation? Ourselves? Our church? Our
nation? Our economy?
10. How is Eve's being helpful really being harmful?
11. When you carefully examine Eve's motives, who is she
really helping?
12. Read Genesis 3 again. What do you think is the root of
original sin?
13. How do Adam and Eve react to God when he confronts them
with their sin? (Genesis 3:8-13) Why is this reaction another
aspect of "pride," "me first-ness," or "original sin?"
14. If we are still in sin, how do we know God loves us?
15
Reflection By A Famous Christian On:
Original Sin
"I know, of course, what bad consciences do when they begin to
make themselves aprons from fig leaves to try and hide
themselves. (Genesis 3:7) Since they misinterpret God's Word and
follow their own fancy, it is easy also to judge their heart by
the scriptures, which teach us that the wicked have no rest: 'His
heart is like a wave of the sea, which cannot rest.' " (Isaiah
57:20)
-- Martin Luther -- Luther's Works, Vol. 37, page 29, Fortress
Press 1961. Edited by Robert H. Fischer.
A Prayer Starter
Lord, give me a simple faith to trust the simple Word of God.
Help me to hear his love clearly in Christ and to share it simply
through the gentle guidance of the Holy Spirit. Help me to know
when I am hiding from the truth, from God and from myself. Help
me to put God first, the truth first, and myself first only in
service to others to the glory of God.
Suggestions For Practicing Your Prayer
1. What words of Christ give me the most comfort? Read or
recite them outloud now.
2. How can the Holy Spirit guide me in this comfort today?
3. How can I share this comfort with someone today?
4. What other ways can I resist the urge to always put my will
first? (Practice saying, "After you," to people you meet. For
example, let them go first through doorways, into buses,
elevators and grocery market check-out lines.)
A Suggested Order Of Worship
For
Adam And Eve,
The First People
(Note: You may want to break into small groups for discussion of
the story and then join together again for the closing worship.
If so, select discussion leaders to help people reflect on the
questions in the book. Or, you may want to stay together and
reflect silently as the questions are read.)
Opening: Greeting and introduction of "The Conflict Of The Will:
Our Envy Of Our All-Knowing God."
Hymns: "He Leadeth Me" or "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise"
Read: Introduction to Chapter One, page 11
Meditation: Adam And Eve, The First People
Discussion: Break into discussion groups and follow "Questions
About The Story/Questions For You" or read aloud for group silent
reflection. When finished, quietly return to worship setting.
Read: "Reflections By A Famous Christian"
Read: "Prayer Starter"
Invitation: Invite people to add their own prayers
Read: "Suggestions For Practicing Your Prayer"
The Lord's Prayer
The Apostles' Creed
Hymns: "How Great Thou Art" or "Now Thank We All Our God"
Benediction And Dismissal: "Go in peace and serve the Lord."
