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11 And He (God) said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" 12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." ~ Genesis 3:11-13
Today, we return to our study of Genesis 3 where we have heard the voice of deception in v.1-6, and we are in the midst of hearing the voice of love in v.7-13, and we will hear the voice of judgement in v.14-19, and then, the voice of grace in v.20-24. As a result of Eve parleying with the devil, sin has been introduced to all mankind. This sin not only has destroyed man's relationship with God, but, it even has marred the relationship between the man and his wife. And, even though it was Eve who sinned first, God held Adam responsible for the Fall of man.
In v.11 of today's passage we read, "And He (God) said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?'"
In this one verse, God responded to Adam's deception with two more questions. God could have destroyed sinful Adam and Eve immediately for listening to and heeding the voice of deception, but He came seeking them out. This was evidence of God's extended grace to Adam and his wife. It was also a sign of God's grace that the couple could still hear and respond to God’s voice even though sin had so polluted their hearts.
God's first question to Adam was a bit strange because nakedness is not a condition that we need to be made aware of! The question behind this question was, "Why are you ashamed of your nakedness?" This question was meant to show Adam that no one had to point out his shame because his guilt is what caused his shame. Our feelings of shame are actually God’s way, through the means of our conscience, of speaking to us about our guilt. This is a gift from God that makes us ready for His grace, because without guilt we’d never see our need for the grace God.
There was no commentary from God after he asked Adam His first question. He followed it immediately with a second question, and with it God got right to the real issue. And through this question, God was urging confession from Adam, not condemnation from God. With those back-to-back questions God was trying to show Adam that his shame was due to his sin, that his nakedness was a result of rebelling against God Himself. God desired to see Adam own his own guilt. God was graciously inviting Adam to give an honest assessment of what had happened in the Garden that day.
The amazing thing was that God knew the answer to His questions before asking Adam. He didn't need for Adam to make confession, Adam needed to make confession if he were to continue to enjoy fellowship with God. Confession is sinful people's flimsy attempt to throw ourselves upon the grace of God. And, God's grace is only accessed by those who sincerely make their confession. Our confession is ironically a proclamation of our trust in God’s goodness. Confession is admitting that what we did was bad, and acknowledging that God's grace is greater than our sin.
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "Then the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.'"
With this answer, Adam appeared to be very logical. He rationalized, "You gave me the woman and she gave me the fruit! God, you are the One that said it's not good I should be alone, so you gave me the woman, and look at what happened!" Adam's response was logical but it was not theological. To fallen Adam it made sense, but it wasn't the truth. The truth was, Adam knowingly sinned. Eve was deceived by the serpent, yet Adam would take the blame ultimately because of it. Adam was guilty of not only violently rebelling against God, he also was guilty of blame-shifting.
It is self-consciousness which is man's basic, fundamental problem. It is our awareness of ourselves that produces guilt. Our awareness of self makes us ashamed, embarrassed, and guilty. Then, in order to evade this sense of guilt, we do what Adam did, we blame others. Behind both of Adam's and Eve's excuses is the unspoken suggestion, very clear in this account, that it is really God's fault. Adam believed that if God had never given him the woman he would never have fallen into sin.
In v.13 of today's passage we read, "And the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'"
Ultimately the pointed finger of Adam and Eve ended up pointed at God. This is what depravity does to us, it robs us of honesty and deflects the blame. Sin leads us to believe that we are all simply helpless victims of circumstance. This is what lies behind our urge to blame each other and pin the blame for our actions or attitudes upon some outward circumstance. Our natural proclivity is to blame others when things go wrong.
Adam tried to evade responsibility for his autonomous sinful actions by shifting blame to the woman and to God. But God is not responsible for what Adam did. Many speculate why God would allow the serpent to do what he did. This narrative doesn’t address that question, but it does state clearly that man, not God, was responsible for what happened in the Garden that day.
We are either confessing or hiding our sins. Keeping silent about our sin zaps us of our spirituality. Confessing our sin refreshes and recharges us in the Lord. Walking in the light leads to life. Hiding in the darkness leads to despair and death. Forgiveness is always free, although it cost the Lord Jesus His life. And, this does not mean that confession is always easy. Sometimes it is hard. Incredibly hard. It is painful to admit our sins and entrust ourselves to God’s care. We don’t know what would’ve happened if Adam had come clean and confessed his sin that day. But, what we do know for certain is that the God of the Bible is faithful to forgive and to cleanse those who are honest before Him.
