What Is Sin?Sample

“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.’”… [The woman] took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:3-6)

Where does sin come from?

When God created the earth, it was perfect. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were sinless. They lived in perfect harmony with God, with one another and with all creation. But already in the third chapter of the Bible, we read how sin and destruction entered God’s creation.

Satan, the opponent of God, made Eve doubt God’s goodness by telling lies about Him. He made her discontented with her position as a human, and told her that by disobeying God she would become like God herself: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”.

Unfortunately, Eve believed Satan instead of God, and she ate of the fruit God had forbidden. Adam joined her in her rebellion, and immediately afterwards they realized that everything had changed – not as Satan had promised them, but as their Creator had warned them. Their relationship with God was damaged, they were sent out of the garden of Eden, and life would become hard for them. All of creation was cursed because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.

Did you know that sin was not part of creation from the beginning?