Bible Study

“This is the glory of God’s nature. As a perfect Father, He will uphold His righteousness while pouring out His mercy in abundance.” – Daniel Kolenda

THE JUDGMENT OF ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN (Gen. 3:14–24)

The story is well known. So well known, in fact, that it’s easy to miss its force through sheer familiarity. But this account of original sin and God’s first judgment is no literary invention or Sunday school cliché. It is a compelling sketch of justice and mercy. Images of a new world, God’s lovely Garden, Adam and Eve, that ol’ crafty serpent, and the forbidden fruit actually lay out a powerful narrative that establishes three foundational truths on which God’s future judgments—including His work of salvation—will rest.

First, God respects human choices. The same free will that is our greatest dignity can potentially be our greatest downfall as it was in the Garden.

Second, God’s judgment on Adam and Eve declares that He is just. “Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments” (Ps. 119:137)! God is good and upright to the core. Justice and equity naturally, eternally, and incandescently permeate His entire being. So it is impossible for Him to overlook human sins. He simply cannot deny Himself. He must act consistently with His own just nature.

Thirdly, God’s judgment on Adam and Eve, however, also reveals His mercy. God is a good Father and will always work for His children’s ultimate good. Yes, He is committed to teaching righteousness to His children, and will use judgments to do that when necessary: “For when the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9). God’s love for His children means that He wants them to live and flourish in every way. His heart is inclined to bless, not curse them.

That is why God embedded a promise of deliverance in these first decrees of judgment. While throwing the serpent into the dust, the Lord said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15). Theologians have called this statement the “protoevangelium,” or “the first preaching of the Gospel.” God declared right in the midst of judgment that one day the seed of the woman would crush the head of the enemy, implying that humans would be liberated from the serpent’s grip.

What wonderful mercy! The same God who would never allow “the guilty to go unpunished,” is the same God who reveals Himself as, “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Ex. 34:6-7, NIV). This is the glory of God’s nature. As a perfect Father, He will uphold His righteousness while pouring out His mercy in abundance.

Many centuries had passed since the judgment on Adam and Eve. And many centuries remained before the great judgment at the cross. But sin in the earth had reached a dangerous boiling point. “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created’” (Gen. 6:5-6, niv).

The original creation had become too corrupt; it could not continue in its present state. God had to intervene. “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish” (Gen. 6:17). It seemed like absolute devastation. But in fact, this flood would act both as a comprehensive judgment and an act of extreme mercy! God could have just started over—creating a new world with new creatures. But instead, God found a man through whom He could redeem the human race and all of creation. “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord… Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God” (Gen. 6:8-9, niv). So his family, along with pairs of every kind of animal saved on the Ark, would represent a new beginning.

Out of the floodwaters of justice would arise a completely renewed creation. In fact, the floodwaters, in the end, saved creation from its own corruption. What a brilliant act of creative love working in tandem with perfect justice.