Where Does Sin Come From?

{A Trip Back to the Garden}

This semester in life group we made a list of questions about God, life, the bible, etc. and we're just working our way through them, seeking truth from His word.

You need to know that absolutely none of us are bible scholars. We are all at different places in our walk with Jesus. Some are curious, some brand new Christians, some grew up in church, some did not. We’re just a group of fun, different, messy women trying to understand and love God in a deeper way.

Here were the questions we covered this week:
-Where does sin come from?
-Why are we inherently sinful?
-Did God make us this way?
-Why didn't He just make us good without the possibility of being sinful?

We dove right in to Genesis 1-3 to read with our own eyes. We noticed right away in Chapter 1 it says over and over after God created something that “it was good”. Our LORD, the Maker, makes things good from the beginning.

So if He doesn’t make us sinful then where in the world does sin come from?

And we see it in Genesis 3. We see it begins with Eve’s lack of trust, lack of faith in the Father. She doubts God’s very word. The enemy convinces her to doubt God, that His consequences aren’t that bad, He can’t really mean you’ll die, He’s holding out on you.

Do you see it:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely 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.” (Genesis 3:1-5)

So she gives way to the doubt, and believes the enemy that God is holding out on her (ingratitude, lack of faith). She trusts her own desires, she puts her wisdom above God’s (pride) and indulges. Surely if I want it, if it looks good, if it feels good, than I should be able to eat it. God doesn’t know what’s best for me, I do. I choose my way over His (selfishness).

Do you see it:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (3:6)

And as result, the fellowship, the peace, the intimacy they had with the Father was broken. They feel guilt, shame, fear, and regret. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” (3:7-9)

But God loved them so much He wouldn’t let them hide. He knew where they were, He knew all along. When left to mankind’s choice, we will always choose our way over God’s. We will always choose what feels good, what looks good, what we think is right over God.

A loving Father has to give us this choice, the choice to choose Him.

Which is where our questions “why not just make us without the desire to sin?” comes into play.

The desire to sin comes from the freedom to choose.
God doesn’t makes us sin, we choose it.
If He doesn’t allow us choice, then it isn’t love.

Which is real love . . .
Loving because you want to OR loving because you’re forced to?

God wants us to love Him, he doesn’t force us to love Him.

We looked up at each other and said “so what now? If we will always choose sin, how do we ever have a shot at seeing God?"

That’s when we discovered this little verse tucked away in chapter 3. After they confess their sin (though God already knew) and God reveals the consequences for their sin (death, strife, enmity, etc), He also reveals HOPE.

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (3:15)

Her offspring will bruise the enemy’s head.

This offspring is Jesus Christ! This is the first glimpse of Jesus in the Old Testament, it’s foreshadowing Christ’s death that will conquer sin once and for all!

So we see God gives us abundance.
God gives us choice.
God gives us consequence.
God gives us HOPE.
God gives us Christ.

He knew and knows we will choose sin. Christ was a part of the plan all along.

In our sin, in our choice against God, He loves us enough to provide a way to be reconciled.

We walked away realizing you can't understand John 3:16 without understanding Genesis 3:15.

The reason we need a Savior, is because of our sin.

Thank You Jesus.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24)

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)