The Problem: Sin Enters the World

“I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10)

The Bible tells us that everything God created was very good. That includes the man, Adam. He was a perfect man, free of defect, without blemish in thought or actions. He was good mentally and physically (Genesis 1:26–31). God told Adam that he could eat fruit from any tree in the garden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16–17). God and man enjoyed a good relationship, but Adam was alone. And so, God fashioned a woman out of one of Adam’s ribs, and then presented her to him; “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25).

One day the woman was in conversation with a serpent who twisted God’s words and deceived her. The serpent told the woman it was okay to eat the fruit of the prohibited tree. He said to her, “You surely will not die!” So, she ate some of the fruit and gave some to Adam who also ate. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:1–7). This was the beginning of the problem human beings have been dealing with for thousands of years. The problem is sin.

What is sin? The apostle John wrote, “Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). And James said, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). In the case of the first man, and woman, the right thing to do was to obey God’s instruction, which they failed to do. Men and women have been breaking God’s laws ever since that time.

The disobedience of Adam and the woman he named Eve initiated the death penalty for themselves, and for every person born since that moment (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Every problem we suffer is the result of sin. Every sickness and disease, every evil thought and action is due to sin. Every war, famine, and earthquake; every bad thing under the sun can be traced back to the original sin. As God had said, death would be the result of disobedience of His command (compare with Deuteronomy 30:15–20).