창세기 Chapter 3

Translation: ESV

1

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"

Key Message

Temptation begins by distorting God's word to make God appear as an oppressive being rather than a generous one, thus planting distrust.

▸The word 'crafty (arum)' is a Hebrew wordplay that sounds similar to 'naked (arummim)' in 2:25, suggesting the transition from Eden's pure openness to cunning disguise.

The word 'crafty (arum)' is a Hebrew wordplay that sounds similar to 'naked (arummim)' in 2:25, suggesting the transition from Eden's pure openness to cunning disguise. The serpent distorts God's word as 'you shall not eat of any tree,' presenting God as stingy and oppressive. The actual divine command was 'you may eat of every tree, but one is excepted,' but the serpent presents this as a total prohibition, planting distrust toward God in the woman's heart. Temptation often begins with doubt about and distortion of God.

Related Verses

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
2

And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,"

Key Message

Subjecting God's word to negotiation before a creature's doubt is itself the beginning of temptation; once one enters the arena of debate, the danger has already begun.

▸The woman's very choice to respond to the serpent's question is already the first button of the problem.

3

"but 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.'"

Key Message

Both exaggerating and weakening God's word is a distortion of it; temptation often proceeds through subtle modifications of the word.

▸Two subtle changes appear in the woman's response.

4

But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die."

Key Message

The core of Satan's temptation is to deny God's word as false and to make one doubt God's faithfulness.

▸The serpent directly denies God's warning.

5

"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Key Message

The archetype of all sin is the desire of a creature to usurp the position of the Creator — the attempt to determine the standard of good and evil for oneself apart from God.

▸The core of the serpent's temptation is revealed: 'you will be like God (kiheyotem elohim).

6

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Key Message

Sin proceeds through a triple structure of desires (body, eyes, pride), and silence and passivity also constitute complicity in sin.

▸Three desires are mentioned in sequence: good for food (bodily desire), a delight to the eyes (desire of the eyes), desired to make one wise (desire of pride).

7

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Key Message

The knowledge obtained as the result of sin brings not freedom but shame; human attempts at self-covering cannot replace God's gracious clothing of us.

▸Their eyes were opened, as the serpent promised.

8

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Key Message

Sin turns the presence of God — once the source of joy — into an object of fear and flight, causing humanity to hide from God.

▸'In the cool of the day (leruach hayyom)' refers to the cool evening hours of the day, and the fact that God walks in the garden at this time implies that there was a regular time of meeting when God and humans fellowshipped together every evening.

9

But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"

Key Message

God comes and calls for the hiding human first; the restoration of the relationship broken by sin always begins with God's preemptive grace.

▸'Where are you (ayekkah)?' is one of the most gracious questions in the entire Bible.

10

And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."

Key Message

Sin changes the perception of God from joy to fear, and leads humans before God into avoidance and excuse rather than direct confession.

▸Adam's answer describes his state with surprising accuracy: he heard God's sound, knew he was naked, was afraid, and hid.

11

He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

Key Message

The awareness and shame of sin are the result of disobeying God's word; God already knows, yet graciously gives us the opportunity to stand before the truth ourselves.

▸God's second question moves further than the first 'where are you?' to aim directly at the essence of sin.

12

The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate."

Key Message

Sin destroys relationship through blame-shifting; true restoration begins not with blaming others but with confronting one's own responsibility.

▸Adam's answer contains a double structure of blame-shifting: to the woman ('she gave me'), and implicitly to God ('the woman whom you gave to be with me').

13

Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

Key Message

Even when one has been deceived, responsibility for one's choice remains with oneself; true repentance begins not with blaming external factors but with acknowledging one's own actions.

▸The woman also shifts blame to the serpent in the same pattern.

14

The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life."

Key Message

The forces of evil are under God's judgment; God's sovereignty is manifest in righteous judgment against the one who deceived humanity.

▸The judgment on the serpent is declared first and most clearly.

15

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

Key Message

Hidden within the judgment of the fall is already a promise of redemption; the crushing of the serpent's head through the offspring of the woman is the Protoevangelium of messianic victory.

▸This verse, called the 'Protoevangelium' (first gospel) in Christian tradition, compresses the entire history of redemption into a single sentence.

16

To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you."

Key Message

The pain of childbirth and the power imbalance in relationship are not God's original design but the result of the fall; the gospel moves toward the restoration of these distorted relationships.

▸The judgment on the woman appears in two domains: the pain of childbirth and power imbalance in relationship.

17

And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;"

Key Message

Human sin affects not only humanity but the whole of creation; the price of sin appears as toil and pain throughout life.

▸The judgment on Adam is recorded most extensively and in the greatest detail.

18

"thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field."

Key Message

As a result of sin, the created world has come to resist human toil; Christ, who wore the crown of thorns — a product of the cursed earth — personally bore this very curse.

▸The curse on the ground declared in verse 17 appears in the specific form of thorns and thistles.

19

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Key Message

Human finitude and death are not the design of creation but the result of sin; the gospel of resurrection challenges the final declaration of sin — the return to dust.

▸'You are dust, and to dust you shall return' coldly declares the finitude of human existence.

20

The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Key Message

To confess faith directed toward life even in the midst of judgment is faith itself; the name Eve is a declaration of hope in the midst of despair.

▸In the midst of the declaration of judgment, Adam's act of giving his wife the name 'Eve (Havvah, mother of life)' is an expression of faith directed toward life despite the judgment.

21

And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Key Message

Even after declaring judgment, God is the gracious one who personally makes clothing for sinners and puts it on them; human self-salvation is insufficient, and only God's grace fully covers shame.

▸Immediately after declaring judgment, God personally makes clothes for Adam and Eve and clothes them.

22

Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever —"

Key Message

Eternal life in sin is prevented by God's mercy; the return to Eden is a theological necessity that must await the completion of redemption.

▸God acknowledges that the human has come to know good and evil.

23

therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

Key Message

The expulsion from Eden is a judgment of leaving the fullness of God's presence, but God continues to be with humans outside it and allows them to continue their calling.

▸The divine decision of verse 22 is executed in verse 23.

24

He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Key Message

The way to Eden has been closed but not erased; the completion of redemption through Christ is the event of reopening the closed door of Eden.

▸The cherubim (keruvim) and the flaming sword that turned every way are the divine boundary preventing access to Eden.