Session Three: Living with Consequences of Sin

I. The effects of sin. Genesis 3:7-8 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and

they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made

A. Genesis 3: 7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that

they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin

1. Their eyes were opened to see their nakedness.

a. They had always been naked (Gen 2: 25) but they had never noticed.

b. Before sin, their eyes had been on one another and on God. Now they,

themselves, became the focus of their attention. Self-awareness was

born. In fact, they were so self-absorbed that all they could see was their

own nakedness!

2. When they looked at themselves with their newly-opened eyes, they no

longer believed that they were “good”.

a. They evaluated themselves, just as Eve had evaluated the forbidden fruit,

with their natural senses instead of receiving God’s evaluation by faith.

b. Their natural evaluation was not in agreement with the word of God.

B. Genesis 3: 7. Shame.

1. Genesis 2: 25 (And the man and his wife were both naked and were not

ashamed.) was no longer possible and they could not live with the shame.

2. Their first impulse was to try to cover their own nakedness. Selfcenteredness

5. Adam and Eve used fig leaves. We use other kinds of “cover-ups” to hide our

heart condition from people around us.

C. Genesis 3: 8.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

Their fear of punishment cast out their love of God and their delight in His

presence. Because of their sin they no longer wanted to be in the presence

of God but instead hid themselves from Him.

2. They hid from God because they were unwilling to repent. However, Psalm

69: 5 points out the folly of trying to hide from God. Oh God, it is You who

knows my folly, and my wrongs are not hidden from You.

3. Psalm 139: 1-16. again points out the impossibility of trying to hide from

God. It also illustrates the fact that Adam and Eve no longer believed that

God loved them. Before they sinned they did not question God’s love for

them. David the psalmist was born in sin like we are and he states in this

psalm that such knowledge of God’s loving care is too high and wonderful

for him to comprehend. Sin removed man from the position of trust and

security with God.

4. Psalm 139: 23-24 show us what would have been the right response from

Adam and Eve. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my

anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in

5. Notice that the mighty man and woman God had created were reduced by

sin into quivering, fearful people trying to protect themselves from the eyes

of the God who created and loved them, crouching behind trees and bushes,

dressed in fig leaves. How far they have fallen from the picture we saw of

them in Genesis 2!

II. The consequences of sin for the woman. Genesis 3:16. To the woman He said, “I

will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet

she would suffer. This verse is full of hidden innuendoes of meaning which were

more obvious in the original Hebrew but must be dug out in our English translations.

Hebrew is a much more precise language than English and has a larger vocabulary.

Perhaps that is one reason why God had the Old Testament written in Hebrew. In

fact, the same thing can be said of the New Testament Greek language.

A. The first consequence of sin for the woman: Pain in childbirth

1. Part of her role as a helper was the bearing of children. This was part of her

fundamental calling as a woman.

2. Because of sin, the blessing of God to be the bearer of new life became a

source of pain.

a. God’s judgment fell on what was uniquely hers as a woman and made it

painful.

b. “Pain” = burdensome, painful toil; hard, wearisome work. Same word is

used in V. 17 to describe the consequences of sin for the man: “through

painful toil you will eat...”

3. God did not remove the blessing of bearing children

a. “You will bear” = in the Hebrew, a command.

b. She is not released from the original command of God to be fruitful and

desire is an evil, lusting kind of desire that lurks about looking for

opportunities to gain control. It is a lustful desire to possess and control.

a. The word can mean lustful sexual attraction. In this sense, though the

union of Adam and Eve will result in pregnancy and, therefore, painful

labor, yet she still will have strong, lustful sexual desires. This is not the

healthy, giving expression of love between a husband and wife that God

ordained for marriage, but is a lustful, self-centered sexuality that seeks

only for its own satisfaction and pleasure.

b. Another many-faceted word in Genesis 3:16 is the Hebrew word most of

our English versions translate “Husband” = Hebrew “ish” = man, any

man, husband, all men, etc.

b. Because she desires the physical pleasure of men, she will tend to use

her femininity to lure men into sin with her. The seduction that was birthed

with the first sin now grows in her heart.

c. Because she is envious of the man’s place but is, nevertheless, still the

weaker vessel, she will tend to use her femininity to manipulate men into

doing her bidding. Her calling to Godly inspiration has become perverted

almost beyond recognition.

d. Rebellion and discontent become a part of her character because of the

desire for the man’s place which is now a part of her.

(1) Instead of being able to see the blessedness of being a woman, she

will tend to be dissatisfied with a woman’s role and believe it to be

inferior to that of a man.

(2) Instead of being a helper to her husband as she was created to be,

she will tend to compete with her husband for dominance and be

jealous and envious of the accomplishments of men.

C. “...and he shall rule over you.”

1. “Rule”= not the same word used in Gen. 1: 26, 28. In those verses God was

d. Eve’s desire for the man’s place will never be fulfilled because God has

decreed that the man will rule over her. God has given her up to a desire

to have her way with her husband and to the misery of competition which

she cannot win because he holds the trump card of male domination.

e. Before sin, Adam’s bigger, stronger body had only a positive significance:

it enabled him to do the physical labor God had created him for. But now

that sin has entered the world, Adam’s strength has a very negative

significance to Eve. He can control her because he is bigger and stronger.

(1) Fear of men enters her heart and life

(2) This is the basis for the New Testament scriptures that refer to women

as the “weaker vessel”. They only mean that women are less

physically strong than men.

(3) In order to feel safe, she learns to use her femininity to control and

manipulate. She cannot control directly but she will do what she can!

D. The nature of Eve described in Genesis 3:16 has not been destroyed in the flesh

of women today.

1. Our bodies still suffer through childbirth. Animals do not suffer painful labor,

only women.

2. We still have to exercise self-control over sexual desires.

3. We still have to restrain the rebellion that would rise up in us to try to usurp

the place of men in our world.

4. We still have to suffer the domination of men and deal with our own

resentment of it and tendency to try to compete with it or manipulate and

control it.

5. We are still tempted to use our femininity to dominate and manipulate men or

simply to get our own way.

E. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus, those of us who accept Him as savior

have experienced a new birth wherein we were given a new spirit that no longer

desires to walk according to the desires of the flesh. We have also been given

the in-dwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to resist the flesh and all its

temptations and to live a life that is pleasing to God. In other words, the option

and the potential for walking with God as Eve did before the fall has been

restored to us. God’s original vision and plan for women can be manifested in

our lives here and now.

1. One day Jesus will “deliver up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He

has abolished all rule and all authority and power.” At that time there will be

no division between male and female, Jew and Greek, slave and free