In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and it was good. And in Genesis 2, He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and gave them dominion over the beasts and birds, and commanded them not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And in Genesis 3, the serpent appears.
We know that Adam and Eve don’t get a happy ending in the Garden of Eden. Their sin causes them to be driven away and mankind separated from God. But, luckily for Adam and Eve, us, and the whole world, the Bible doesn’t end there.
Sin is self-inflicted. It’s a choice we make of our own free will. Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit, fully aware that it was forbidden. We choose adultery, or envy, or gluttony—and all sin leads to the same end: death. Ephesians 2:1-3: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” And in Romans 8:6-8: “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” If we choose to live according to our flesh and the world, we live in opposition to God. If we listen to Satan, in whatever form he takes, we live in opposition to God. Adam tried to push his sin onto Eve, and Eve tried to push hers onto the serpent, but they both knew they were responsible for themselves. In the same way, we’re responsible for our actions. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if we were tempted, or seduced, or tricked; the blame for our sin lies with us. And it’s the reason we’re separated from God.
But like Genesis, that isn’t where the story ends. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:4-9). Despite our sins, despite our earned death, God resurrects us and seats us beside Him. The power of salvation is enough to literally overcome death, and God is merciful enough to bless us with it. There’s nothing we can do to earn salvation; it’s a gift, and one we ought to be sharing with the rest of the world.
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