The first book of the Bible assumes (rather than explains) the existence of a crafty snake that can talk. The last book of the Bible refers to an “ancient serpent” who isn’t just a tame garden snake. He is a dragon who rebelled with his fellow demons against God, the archangel Michael, and other good angels. This serpent-dragon goes by diabolos (“the devil”) or “Satan,” which means Accuser. He is, according to his title, diabolical.
We notice that the fallen angel directed his temptation toward the woman. Later, the reader finds out that Adam was present for the conversation. Was he silent? Was he eavesdropping? Whatever he did, he did not put up a fight. Satan asks Eve a question about what God prohibited in Genesis 2. His question assumes that God is stingy by not allowing the fruit of any tree in Eden to Adam and Eve.
The woman knows the location of the Tree of Life in the garden’s center and remembers that she and her husband must avoid eating its fruit. But she adds a restriction: they must not touch the fruit. She also knows the consequence and punishment of this sin is death. In the first part of the conversation with the Enemy, Eve comes out ahead. But not for long.
Satan claims to know a secret that God knows but has kept from His creatures. If they eat, they will not die, but instead become like God with their eyes fully open. (We don’t believe Adam and Eve were blind before they sinned. Why? Because, in the next verse, Eve sees that the fruit is pleasing to the eye.) Satan’s second temptation of Eve is an assertion (not a question) that implies that God is also a liar. Satan claims eating the fruit won’t be as bad as God says. Rather, eating is the way to be like God.
Eve concludes three things about the fruit. It is (a) good for food (b) pleasing to the eye, and (c) desirable for gaining wisdom. Eve took some, ate it, and gave some to her husband Adam, “who was with her” and thereby failed to do his job of protecting the garden. The eyes of Adam and Eve are opened, they realize they are naked, and they make fig-leaf coverings. Before they can blink their new eyes, Eve and Adam “hear the sound of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” and hide.
While Satan asked Eve a question, God asked Adam a question: “Where are you?” Remember God doesn’t ask questions to learn information. God asks questions to teach us the truth. Adam explains: I heard you, I was afraid, I was naked, I hid. Adam’s answer is, “Me, me, me.” God asked Adam two more questions. Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten the forbidden fruit? Instead of saying, “Yes,” Adam blames Eve (and indirectly, God) for his sin: “The woman you put here with me gave me fruit…and I ate it.” In other words, Adam says, “Lord, wasn’t Eve your idea?”
(Jesus’ command to let your yes be yes might have helped Adam in this moment.)
God turns to Eve, who says, “The devil made me do it.” Husband and wife both point their fingers at someone else before they admit their failure. God turns to Satan and curses him “above all wild animals.” To show that this creature is not a normal snake, the punishment is to “crawl on his belly” and “eat dust” forever. Belly-crawling is what all normal snakes do, so perhaps that punishment is more symbolic. “Returning to dust” means death, so eating dust forever may symbolize the devil’s eternal death. Unlike Adam and Eve, God doesn’t cover Satan’s shame.
God pledges to put enmity between Satan and Eve, as well as their children. Because Eve is the mother of the living, the entire human race is at odds with the devil and all his friends. Paul later writes, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but the spiritual forces of evil.” Eve’s kids and Satan’s kids are not (and cannot be) on the same side of the spiritual war. You should never be friends with a demon.
Oddly, the Hebrew word for the “offspring” of Eve is “the seed” of Eve, which is typically used about men. Seed in Greek is “sperma,” so you can understand why it’s strange to read the Greek translation of Genesis and find that Eve’s “spermatos” will defeat the devil. If interpreted as one particular child, God promises Eve’s Descendant will crush the Serpent’s head as the Serpent stings the heel of the Seed.
God then turns to Eve for her punishment: childbearing and labor will be severe and painful. The rest of Genesis shows us wives who struggle to conceive. Some will even die in childbirth. God also tells Eve: “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Scholars have debated that verse, but it seems to me, at a minimum, that no relationship is safe from the consequences of sin. The married couple sinned and now Sin invades every marriage.
Adam’s punishment has to do with the land, the Adamah, from which he was taken. Eve’s labor at birth will be painful; Adam’s labor on the ground will be painful. Eve’s babies will produce anguish in her; Adam’s fields will produce “thorns and thistles” for him. He will have to settle for “plants of the field” rather than the trees of Eden. Adam will have sweaty work until the day he dies and returns to the dust.
Many Christians don’t know Adam’s wife is not called Eve until after the Fall. I wonder if her name is a prophecy. The Woman’s name is Eve because she will become “the mother of all the living.” Is Adam’s choice an act of hope? Her name is based on God promise that - despite the pain - she will still become a mother, the mother.
God makes the first sacrifice to cover the shame of the First Sin. An animal gave its body for the sake of Adam and God used its skin to replace the fig leaves with sturdier clothes. Instead of the leaves reminding them of the fruit and their sin, the animal skins remind them of the original sacrifice God made to cover them.
Adam and Eve did become “like God” but not in the way Satan implied. God knows about the difference between good and evil, but Adam knows evil personally. What God knows without sinning, Eve and Adam know with regret. While tragic, God’s banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden is an act of mercy. The Lord prevents Adam from “reaching out his hand” and also taking from the Tree of Life to “live forever.” In that case, Adam would know evil and live forever, which is a decent definition of hell.
The story of the Fall begins and ends with angels. The first angel was fallen, a liar who appeared as a snake to deceive Eve and Adam and lead them into rebellion. God placed other angels called Cherubim to guard the way to the Tree of Life. In other words, angels now do what Adam failed to do: “work and take care of” the Garden of Eden. Adam should’ve prevented the fallen angel from entering the garden. Now good angels will prevent man from entering the garden. Paradise is now vacant.
Now let’s talk about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.
The first book of the New Testament tells a story about a crafty snake named Herod who is a liar and a murderer. He pretends to pay homage to Christ and sends the Magi to find the Child’s location. Mary’s husband Joseph receives a visit from an angel who warns him of the danger and he silently obeys. He successfully protects the Seed of Eve from Herod’s soldiers. Whereas Satan tricked Eve and Adam failed to guard the Garden, Herod was tricked and Joseph protected his family. The Holy Family is saved from destruction by a protective dad on earth and a loving Father in heaven.
Satan’s conversation with Eve leads to condemnation for mankind, while Gabriel’s conversation with Mary leads to redemption for mankind. When Eve spoke to the demon Lucifer, she said, “Let it be unto me according to thy word.” When Mary spoke to the angel Gabriel, she said, “Let it be unto me according to thy word.” Satan asked a question to cause distrust in Eve’s heart. Mary had trust in her heart when she asked Gabriel a question about God’s plan. Satan’s question assumes God is stingy; Mary’s question assumes God is generous.
The fruit of Mary’s womb, her Son Jesus, will one day hang from a tree called a cross. This Tree of New Life is in the center of a Garden and gives life to all who eat the fruit. God prohibits Adam and Eve from eating the first fruit; God wants everyone to eat the Second Fruit. The old fruit is forbidden because Adam and Eve couldn’t handle the knowledge of good and evil in their immaturity. The new fruit is necessary because Jesus wants us to be perfect like His Father, “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). The only way mankind can become like God is if we partake in the God-man. The gift and consequence of the fruit of the new creation is eternal life.
There are (at least) two times in the Bible that “eyes are opened” because of eating. The first is Adam and Eve’s eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Another is Cleopas’ eating of the bread at Emmaus. (If Emmaus means “hot spring,” it’s amazing that the disciples say their hearts were burning within them!) On the road, Jesus walked with Cleopas and his companion in the heat of the day, but the Lord hid His true identity. Like God in Eden, Jesus asks them questions to teach them. When they partake in the Lord’s Table, they realize Jesus is the Bread of Life. Their eyes are opened for good.
Recall Eve’s three temptations: good food, pleasurable sights, and the prideful desire to gain wisdom and become godlike. Jesus is tempted in the same way by Satan in the wilderness. The devil wants Christ to turn a stone into bread, which is good for food. The devil takes Jesus to the top of the Temple and wants Him to test God as an act of pride. The devil takes Jesus to a mountain and tempts Him with kingdoms that are pleasing to the eye. Jesus withstands all of Eve’s temptations. The Old Adam never spoke up or quoted God’s word. The New Adam beats the Devil by speaking up and refuting Satan’s temptations with quotes from God’s Word. Christ’s eyes are open but He never knows evil in the way Adam did. Christ was tempted but without sin.
Jesus is known for asking questions. As a young boy, He taught the rabbis by asking questions. As a teacher, He confounded the apostles with His riddles and parables. Why? Because He speaks with the authority of God. He knows the right questions to ask, not because He lacks information, but because He is the best Teacher.
Like God, He blesses and curses. He blesses His followers who are poor in spirit, meek, and mourning. He also curses a fig tree, the same tree that caused the downfall of the first Adam. Jesus Christ crushed the accursed Serpent by blessing those who cursed Him. He was hung on a tree so that He could become a curse for us. The Son of Mary is the Son of Eve promised by God after the Fall.
In a secondary way, Mary is also the seed of Eve. Eve was a virgin when she conceived the first sin and Mary was a virgin when she conceived her Firstborn Son. Eve was called “the woman” and Jesus called Mary “woman” (John 2). Both women fight Satan; Eve loses and Mary wins. The beloved disciple, the caretaker of Mary, has a vision of a battle between the Mother of the Messiah and a dragon (John 19; Revelation 12). In the old creation, the mother of the living lost the spiritual battle. In the New Creation, God’s Mother reigned victorious over Satan with a crown of twelve stars on her head.
Isaiah made two prophecies about Mary. One was about the virgin birth and the other was about the pain of that birth. The first prophecy reads: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.” This virgin is Mary and her Son is Jesus, who is God-with-us.
This second one reads: “Before she was in labor she gave birth, before her pain came upon her she was delivered of a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?” (Isaiah 66:22) If Mary fulfills Isaiah 7, why would she not fulfill Isaiah 66? If she had a supernatural conception, why would she not have a supernatural birth? Suppose Mary is the New and Greater Eve. If Eve had pain because of sin, why wouldn’t Mary be able to give birth before pain because of her Son?
Adam’s punishment for sin is hard work until the day he dies. The New Adam submits to Death because of the Sin of the First Adam. By resting on Holy Saturday, Jesus offers God’s people Sabbath rest (Heb 4). By the Second Adam’s Death, He gives life to all of Adam’s children. Adam is the head of the human race; Jesus is the head of the New Humanity. Jesus was crowned with thorns on the New Tree of Life so that we could rest in His peace. Everything Adam destroyed, Jesus rebuilt.
If Adam is the father of mankind and Eve is the mother, then who is Jesus? He is our older brother because he shares our nature (Hebrews 2:11). He is also like the loving father of the parable of the prodigal son. What does this mean for Mary? She is our sister in the faith and our mother because Jesus decided to come into the world through her. Without Jesus, there would be no church. Without His mother, He would not have been born. Jesus’ last act of handing Mary over to John is the same as giving every Christian His biological mother as our spiritual mother.
In the first creation, God sacrificed an animal for Adam’s sake. In the new creation, God becomes Adam’s son to make an atoning sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. Jesus gave His body and God accepted His Son’s offering to bring an end to animal sacrifice. We have sturdier clothes, white garments, the clothing of Christ. Instead of animal sacrifices reminding us of the death of a lamb, we have Christ’s sacrifice to remind us of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
The New Adam was not exiled from Eden or the promised land. Jesus was banished into the realm of the dead. But the God-man went to the grave as act of mercy. After the Lord Jesus “reached out his hands” on the New Tree of the Cross, He went down to take the keys of Death and Hades. The New Adam knew no sin but became a sin offering so that we would become the righteousness of God and live forever, which is a decent definition of heaven.
Christ’s story is shot through with angels. An angel announced His conception in Nazareth. Angels appeared to the shepherds in Bethlehem at His birth. An angel pretended to be a star to guide the Magi. The angels attended to Him after His temptation. The angels could have come down at the crucifixion but Jesus did not invite them. They were witnesses of His resurrection on Easter Sunday and helped the disciples on Ascension Thursday. Angels not only guard Eden, they guard the church! Just like cherubim were stationed by God, countless angels are sent by God as ministering spirits to serve those who will inherit salvation (Heb 1).
The fall of Eve and her husband Adam is undone by the death and the resurrection of New Adam, who came into the world through His mother Mary, the New Eve.