The First Sin; A Failure of Leadership

The second chapter of Genesis closes with the beautiful scene of Adam and Eve in the garden in perfect fellowship with each other and with God. The third chapter of Genesis reveals the anatomy of sin; a failure of leadership.

         The serpent is the first false prophet in the Bible with words similar to God’s but without faith. He addresses Eve with Adam standing beside her, silent. Adam had named the serpent and it was to follow him, not the other way around. Adam should have been asking the serpent questions, not the serpent asking Eve questions. And the nature of the questions attacked the very word of God.

The blatant lie in Genesis 3:4, “You will not surely die…” was an attack on the authority of God’s word. Satan put forth a new word for Adam and Eve to follow rather than God’s word. And it was a lie that led to death. They followed and introduced this deadly leadership to the rest of mankind. We have suffered ever since. Satan has not changed his attack strategy, but certainly has intensified it in these last days.

Once the lie was swallowed, hook, line, and sinker, several new and powerful leaders appeared. Eve’s appetite was suddenly focused on the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She began following her appetite for food, and Adam followed her. She suddenly was pleasured by the beauty of the tree and she began following the pleasing appearance of it, and Adam silently followed right behind her. All of a sudden, a new source for wisdom came into focus with a stronger desire for it than for the fear of the Lord. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…” Proverbs 1:7, but Eve had already stopped chewing on God’s word and had swallowed the lie, as Adam followed along.

When the truth of God’s word is exchanged for a lie, creation is seen without a Creator and leads man by his appetites, his eyes, his fears, and his desire to lead but without any accountability. As Adam followed along silently, he too was being led astray from the leadership he had learned from God. Rather than follow God’s word, he followed his wife in total agreement with her in their new-found friend, the serpent and his appealing offer. According to Romans 5:12, “…sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” It was Adam that introduced sin into the world by failing to lead according to God’s word.

The same false leaders with their powerful influences are in the world today. People are still following their appetites, pleasures, entertainments, the crowds, fears, and the desire for power without accountability, rather than the word of God. These false leaders are still attacking the truth of God’s word to lead people away from God and to death. The deception of the lie keeps men in the dark loving their evil deeds, which enslave them, rather than hearing God’s word and walking by faith.

Today, take an inventory of the powerful influences in your life in the light of God’s word. Choose to spend time with God in his word. Memorize and meditate upon as much of Psalm 23 as you can. Notice all that God provides for the one who follows him in his word. The Lord provides because he is the provider of everything that is good and right and holy. Follow him in his word today.