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What Was Adam's Real Sin?

Few people know the Truth about what happened in the Garden of Eden. Contrary to modern thought, disobedience and rebellion were not the primary causes of the disaster that unleashed sin, death, and misery on the world. The actual insidious sin wraps itself around every human heart and pulls us down into the pit of death without ever reaching our conscious mind. Christian or non-Christian, it preys just below the surface like a shark stalking its victim. Then, swiftly, the silent killer strikes. What was Adam's real sin?

What is this shadowy figure whose wispy fingers massage every human heart into a deadly sleep? What is this deception that can turn even right and good decisions into sin? What is the one sin Christians rarely, if ever, confess?

The Garden Of Eden

Before exposing this malicious villain, we need to examine the historical events in the Garden of Eden.

God created a perfect world. There was no sin or its consequences: sickness, poverty, death and, greatest of all, separation from the loving Source of all love, joy and fulfillment. All was beautiful and peaceful. God then created Adam and Eve. They were to be the special objects of His love. More than that, they were created in the image of God so that they could love and relate to God as intelligent beings. In the Holy Trinity, God has a fulfilling, loving relationship that far exceeds even the wildest dreams of perfection that we have now. His caring heart wanted to draw mankind into that relationship, into that circle of unimaginable beauty and satisfaction.

With great delight, God placed Adam and Eve into a Garden designed to please them and become a joyous meeting place with their Divine Lover. He gave them work that was enjoyable yet challenging and fulfilling. God envisioned an entire planet of people engaged in harmonious, exciting activities while developing healthy, fulfilling relationships among themselves and with God Himself. It was to be an unfolding heaven on earth.

Set Up For Success

But God did not want robots that obeyed and functioned automatically because they had no choice. That would not be satisfying for anyone. These human beings were made in the image of God. They had the ability to think, to reason, to make choices. However, all of that would not have made any difference if only one option were available. When there is only one road, then no choice is possible. In order for Adam and Eve to be confirmed in their relationship with God, they had to be given another choice.

There was only one right choice, but in order for Adam and Eve to make it, there had to be more than one option. As a loving Father, God set Adam and Eve up for success. He gave them every advantage He could. His Word about what the right choice was and the consequences of making the wrong choice were clear. He placed them in the perfect environment. They were highly intelligent beings using 100 percent of their brains. They had an enjoyable, perfect relationship with each other and with God. Unlike us, they had no intense inborn desire to do their own thing. They could do anything they wanted, except for one thing…of all the possible choices, just one was wrong. God lined them up so that the choice of obedience would be the easy, natural option to take.

The only thing in the entire world that Adam and Eve were not allowed to do was eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There was no probation for eating from the Tree of Life. Only the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden. This was not a magical tree. Any tree would have done. The issue was obedience versus disobedience, not a unique tree. Would Adam and Eve respect God’s property rights in His world and obey His Word, or would they rebel and do their own thing?

Direct Contradiction

Into this perfect world slithered Satan in the form of a Serpent. He selected Eve as his target, although Adam was likely nearby and did not intervene. The first thing Satan did was question God’s Word. Then, he moved from questioning to contradiction. Listen to his words in Genesis 3, verse 4:

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [NIV]

What was God really withholding from Adam and Eve? They were already as “like” God as a created being could be since they were made in His image. Since everything in the Garden had been pronounced as “very good,” they already had the knowledge of good. What were they lacking? Only the knowledge of evil. If they obeyed, they would have known evil as God knows evil - as a fact. Instead, they choose to know evil and all its consequences by experience. Satan promised them Godhood and gave them devilhood. You can never give something that you are not.

What Was Adam's Real Sin?

Eve and then Adam both disobeyed. They both chose the way of rebellion. Eve was naive, but Adam, with complete understanding, decided to betray God. However, the disobedience and rebellion were only a result of a deception that would have hurled them into sin whether they disobeyed or not.

What was the real temptation that Eve fell for first, and then Adam? What monster disguised as Good Plan infiltrated their minds and turned them against God? How does this shadowy figure stalk our lives and bring us down even when we think we’re doing good? What was the sin that turned the most powerful and beautiful angel into a devious evil being with no redeemable qualities whatsoever?

The Dark Enemy Hidden In Our Souls

Pride is the answer, but only part of the answer. The real danger lies hidden below the calm waters. We recognize pride in others and sometimes in ourselves. As Christians desiring to live lives honouring God, we confess our sin when we recognize this villain. But what if it is so hidden that we never even realize it exists? What if when we think we are making the right choice, we are still making the wrong one?

Examine carefully what Satan said and what Eve did. Satan said, “…and you will be like God…when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”

What was Eve’s primary sin? She evaluated whether the Word of God was good or not. Follow this carefully. Eve judged the Word of God. In order to be a judge, you must have authority over what you judge. In evaluating God's Word, Eve made herself superior to God and His Word. Eve judged that God’s Word was invalid and Satan’s word was valid. What if Eve had done the opposite? What if she had judged God’s Word as valid and obeyed it while judging Satan’s word as invalid? Think about that carefully. She still would have committed the same fundamental sin. She would have reached her decision from a place of superiority over God and independence from Him. As long as she was sitting as a god over God, whatever decision she made would have come from a place of sin.

Adam did the same thing. Only, unlike Eve, Adam knew he was setting himself over God and declaring what was good and evil for himself. In his deliberate act of rebellion, he declared God’s Word to be evil and inferior to his own. He wanted to be the captain of his ship and master of his fate because he knew best. He knew losing Eve could not be the “best.” His wisdom was superior to God’s, at least in this situation.

The Second Adam

Adam and Eve failed. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, faced the same temptation as the first Adam. Adam faced temptation in a perfect environment with every advantage. Jesus Christ, as a genuine human being, faced temptation in a hostile environment with every disadvantage. But Jesus Christ succeeded. Why? Because He never yielded to the underlying temptation of evaluating the Word of God.

In John 5, verses 19-20, we read:

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”

Jesus never evaluated the Word of God. He always did what His loving Father told Him to do. Jesus had absolute confidence that God always knew what was best. He always obeyed. And what fantastic things He and the Father accomplished together!

Who Is God?

Let’s turn the spotlight on our own lives. Has this insidious sin been hiding in a dark corner of our hearts? Have we been making “good” decisions but from a position of superiority over the Word of God? If God’s Word says to forgive those who offend us, do we evaluate whether they deserve it or not? If God’s Word says to tithe, do we check our budget first? If God’s Word says not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, does that become a top priority? And when we make those and a million other decisions, do we do it because that is what God’s Word says or because we think it would be good? This drives a stake in our desire for independence and godhood.

Are there times when it is okay to question God’s Word? No; however, if we don’t like the Word of God, there’s nothing wrong with respectively talking to Him about it. Jesus intensely pleaded with the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. He wasn’t judging God’s Word but asking for another way. When the answer was “there is no other way,” He submitted. If you don’t understand how to obey God in a specific situation, don’t question or disobey, but pray for wisdom. Let God give you peace and show you how to implement His Word. The only time to pause in our obedience to God’s Word is when we are unsure if we correctly understand what God has said in His Word. Then, we are evaluating our understanding, not the goodness or truthfulness of God’s Word. God knows if we are legitimately trying to comprehend something or if it is simply an excuse.

Have you ever confessed to trying to be god? If we find ourselves judging the Word of God, we need to repent, obey and move forward.

As Christians, when we know the Word of God, we have no decision to make. Our course is charted, our sails are set, and our ship moves ahead through calm seas or rough waves, knowing our Captain will see us to a safe harbour.

For more information about Glenn Davis, see our About Glenn page or visit Glenn Davis Books.

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