Adam's Mistake

And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;" Gen 3:17

Here is all we who are husbands need to be a bit careful! It would be very easy for us to use this passage as an excuse to tell our wives we should never listen to them! However, that would not only be a mistake, it would also be using an incorrect interpretation of the passage.

This verse tells us about the specific 'curse' that the male of the species received from God as a result of his disobedience. The disobedience itself involved two actions. One was when Adam "listened" to his wife's suggestion. Two was when he followed the suggestion and ate the fruit. What does this tell us about sin and Adam's sin in particular?

One of the important teachings we can gather here is that sin begins before the physical action takes place. Here it was a suggestion planted in the mind of Adam that he chose to listen to. It was not simply hearing the voice of his wife that was sinful, it was entertaining the thought of actually taking the fruit. That is the difference between temptation and sin. Once a thought of sin becomes more than passing, the danger of sin is present. Adam's mistake was that he did not recognize and resist the thought of sin at this point. If we can recognize and then resist at the point of the thought of sin, we have a better chance of not committing the sin.

Of course, the question arises, "How can we recognize and then resist sin?" The answer is, only with the help of the Lord. We can only get that kind of help if we know the Lord as our Savior, and if we call upon Him for help in the time of temptation. Adam knew the Lord God intimately, yet he did not turn to God when temptation hit. That was his mistake, but it need not be ours.

Your Joyfully Loquacious Expositor,
LEE