Religion

Exegetical Preparation Study 3
The Nature of Sin
Read the following passages in context:
o Genesis 3:1-13
o Romans 3:10-20
Observe: For each of the passages, make three (3) observations on how the texts express
the nature of sin and human culpability.
Consult: Read the commentary selections below to learn more about each of these
passages. Also, read the discussions of these passages in your textbook, Exploring
Christian Theology, vol. 2, pp. 41-45.
Reflect: In two paragraphs, discuss the following question based on these passages: What
makes all humans guilty in their sin, and how is sin expressed through human attitudes
and behavior? Then, write two (2) paragraphs (in your own words) in answer to this
question.
Resources
From: Allen P. Ross, Genesis, in Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton: Victor Books,
1985), 32-33.
3:17. These verses provide both the record of the historical Fall of man and the archetypal
temptation. This passage is a perfect case study of temptation, for sin cannot be blamed on environment
or heredity.
Genesis 12 recorded what God said; now the serpent (the devil, Rev. 20:2) spoke. The word of the
Lord brought life and order; the word of the serpent brought chaos and death. Truth is older than
falsehood; Gods word came before Satans lies.
Genesis 3:1 is connected with 2:25 by a Hebrew wordplay: Adam and Eve were naked (rmmm);
and the serpent was more crafty (rm, shrewd) than all. Their nakedness represented the fact that
they were oblivious to evil, not knowing where the traps lay, whereas Satan did and would use his
craftiness to take advantage of their integrity. That quality of shrewdness or subtleness is not evil in itself
(indeed, one of the purposes of the Bible is to make believers so, according to Prov. 1:4, where rmh,
shrewdness, is trans. prudence). But it was used here for an evil purpose.
The tempter was a serpent (Satan in the form of a snake), thus suggesting that temptation comes in
disguise, quite unexpectedly, and that it often comes from a subordinate (someone over whom one
should have exercised dominion; cf. Gen. 1:28). Also there may well be a polemical element here, for the
serpent was worshiped by pagans. Their symbol of life was in fact the cause of death. Divinity is not
achieved (the promise of Satan here; 3:5) by following pagan beliefs and symbols. That is the way of death,
not of life.
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Eve either did not know Gods command very well or did not want to remember it. By contrast, Christ
gained victory over Satan by His precise knowledge of Gods Word (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). (See the chart
Satans Temptations of Eve and of Jesus, near Matt. 4:311.) Eve disparaged the privileges, added to
the prohibition, and weakened the penaltyall seen by contrasting her words (Gen. 3:3) with Gods
original commands (2:1617). After Satan heard this, he blatantly negated the penalty of death that God
had given (3:4). Satan is a liar from the beginning (John 8:44), and this is his lie: one can sin and get away
with it. But death is the penalty for sin (Gen. 2:17).
The tempter also cast doubt over Gods character, suggesting that God was jealous, holding them
back from their destiny (3:5). They would become like God when they ateand God knew that, according
to Satan. So Satan held out to them the promise of divinityknowing good and evil.
With this the work of Satan was finished. The woman was then left to her natural desires and physical
appetites. The word for desirable (nem, v. 6) is related to a word that appears later in the command,
You shall not covet (am, Ex. 20:17). Physical practicality (good for food), aesthetic beauty (pleasing
to the eye), and the potential for gaining wisdomto be in the knowthese draw a person over the
brink once the barrier of punishment is supposedly removed.
The results, of course, were anticlimactic. The promise of divine enlightenment did not come about.
They both ate and saw, but they were spoiled by so doing. They were ill at ease with one another (mistrust
and alienation) and they were ill at ease with God (fearful and hiding from Him). Satans promises never
come true. Wisdom is never attained by disobeying Gods Word. Instead the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7).
3:813. The remainder of this chapter falls into three sections: (a) the confrontation with the LORD in
which the two sinners, hearing Him, feared and hid among the trees (vv. 813); (b) the oracles of the
Lord in which new measures were given to the serpent, the woman, and the man (vv. 1419); and (c) the
clothing by the Lord as a provision for the new order (vv. 2024).
The effects of sin are punishment and provision. Whereas the man and the woman had life, they now
had death; whereas pleasure, now pain; whereas abundance, now a meager subsistence by toil; whereas
perfect fellowship, now alienation and conflict.
The motifs in chapter 3death, toil, sweat, thorns, the tree, the struggle, and the seedall were later
traced to Christ. He is the other Adam, who became the curse, who sweat great drops of blood in V 1, p
33 bitter agony, who wore a crown of thorns, who was hanged on a tree until He was dead, and who was
placed in the dust of death.
From: Victor P. Hamilton, Genesis, in Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids:
Baker, 1995), 13-14.
C. The fall (3:124). There are only four chapters in the Bible where Satan is not present, the first two
and the last two. The Bible begins and ends with him out of existence. But between Genesis 3 and
Revelation 20 he is a factor to be reckoned with. The Hebrew word for serpent may be connected either
with an adjective/noun meaning bronze (suggesting something that is shiny), or with a verb meaning
to practice divination. Two things are said about the serpent (3:17). First, a word about his character
he is crafty, subtle. This is a neutral word, and in the Old Testament may be either a commendable or a
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reprehensible trait. Second, there is a word about his originhe was made by God. This point is stressed
to make it plain that the serpent is not a divine being, not a co-equal with God.
The serpents first tack is to suggest to Eve that God is sinister, that in fact God is abusing her. This is
the force of his question in verse 1a. Would God let you see and touch these trees (i.e., raise the desire),
but not let you eat any of them? A God who would do something like that certainly does not love you.
Eve responds with a little hyperbole of her own (you must not touch it) in her defense of God.
The serpents second tack is to deny the truthfulness of Gods word (v. 4), and to suggest that
disobedience, far from bringing any disadvantages, will in fact bring an advantageyou will be like God
(v. 5).
No further conversation ensues between the two. Verse 6 tells us that the temptation appealed, in
order, to (1) Eves physical appetites, (2) what she could see, and (3) her imagination. Note the thrust in
this temptation. The serpent does not ask homage from Eve. Rather, he indirectly suggests that she shift
her commitment from doing Gods will to doing her own will.
God does not track down this wayward couple. He simply walks in the garden in the cool of the day
(3:813). Hearing his sound, they hide from him. This is as foolish as Jonah who thought he could actually
run from the presence of the Lord.
The Lord begins with a question just as the serpent hadWhere are you? This question does not
mean that God is ignorant of Adams whereabouts. Rather, it is Gods way of drawing Adam out of hiding.
Adam does two wrong things. First, he hides rather than face the truth (v. 10). His fear drives him
from God rather than to God. Second, he blames his spouse and God. Adam refuses to admit that even
complicity is a way of being involved in wrongdoing. Eve is not any better than her husband. She, too,
looks for a scapegoat (the serpent, v. 13b). What Adam and Eve have in common is their refusal to accept
personal responsibility for their actions.
From: Douglas J. Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey (Grand Rapids:
Baker, 2002), 74-77.
Concluding Indictment: All Are under Sin (3:920)
Paul accomplishes three purposes in this final paragraph in the first major section of the letter
(1:183:20): (1) he concludes his indictment of humanity with the chilling verdict that Jews and Gentiles
alike are all under sin (v. 9); (2) he illustrates his indictment from the Old Testament (vv. 1018); and (3)
he draws a conclusion from his indictment: the law cannot save (vv. 1920).
The translation of the second question in verse 9 is difficult. But the NIVAre p 75 we any
better?has it right (note, however, the NIV margin: Are we any worse?). The we is probably again
the Jews (see my comments on v. 5), and Paul strenuously denies that the Jews are any better off. But
how does this response square with his equally emphatic assertion in verses 12 that Jews indeed do
have an advantage? The answer lies in distinguishing the two different issues that Paul is dealing with. In
verses 12, Paul affirms that the Jews have undeniable and continuing salvation-historical advantages.
They were the recipients of Gods covenant and the law that was the heart of that covenant. In verse 9,
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however (as in ch. 2), the issue is not salvation history but salvation. And when it comes to being saved,
Jews are no better off than Gentiles. Both Jews and Gentiles alike are under sin. This concluding
indictment is a natural consequence of Pauls argument in 1:183:8. He has shown that Gentiles and
Jews have both been given revelation from God, but they have equally failed to respond appropriately
to that revelation. And that universal failure points to one inescapable conclusion: all human beings are
locked up under sins power. It is important to notice how Paul puts the problem. He does not simply
claim that people are sinners (though that, of course, is true). What he says is that people are under
sin. People are imprisoned under the power of sin. The point is vital if we are to appreciate the need
and power of the gospel. If people simply were sinners, then perhaps all they would need would be a
teacher to inform them about what is right. But people are under sin. They need a liberator. And Paul
will present Christ, through the power of Gods righteousness unleashed in the gospel, as just such a
liberator (3:2126, esp. v. 24).
Following a practice that the rabbis called pearl-stringing, Paul now adduces a series of Old
Testament passages to buttress the conclusion he has drawn in verse 9. Some interpreters think that
Paul might be quoting a preexisting document that had already gathered these passages together. At
first sight, these passages seem to be thrown together haphazardly, but a closer look uncovers some
logical arrangement. The opening line (v. 10b) introduces the key idea: there is no one righteous, not
even one. The final line, verse 18, then comes back to restate this theme in different language (the two
also are connected by a verbal similarity, there is no [ouk estin]). Verses 1112 develop the theme of
the opening line. They echo the there is no one language of verse 10b, restating the truth of universal
human sinfulness. The entire series in verses 10b12 is drawn from Psalm 14:13. Paul then uses
language from Psalm 5:9 (v. 13ab), Psalm 140:3b (v. 13c), and Psalm 10:7 (v. 14) to illustrate the
universal sway of sin with respect to human speech. Verses 1517 turn to sins of violence against other
people. Here Paul uses p 76 language from Isaiah 59:78a to illumine the propensity of people to harm
one another. A look back at the context from which these quotations are drawn reveals that many of
them refer to wicked people within Israel. This may be a subtle attempt on Pauls part to remind the
Jews once again that they cannot claim any special exemption from sin and judgment. They are in the
same situation as the wicked sinners who opposed Israel.
In verses 1920, Paul states the result of the human dilemma as a transition to his positive
presentation of the gospel in verses 3:214:25. He begins by drawing a conclusion from his Old
Testament quotations in verses 1018. I have noted that Paul usually uses the word law to refer to the
Mosaic legislation. However, since the Mosaic law was so basic to the Old Testament in the Jewish
perspective, the whole Old Testament could also be called simply the law. Paul clearly uses the word
in this sense at the beginning of verse 19. Whatever the law says refers back to the Old Testament
quotations in verses 1018 (drawn from the psalms and the prophets). This law is directed, Paul reminds
us, to those who are under the lawa reference to the Jews (see 2:12). But, since the Jews, Gods
own people, are indicted by their own law, it becomes clear that the whole world is accountable to
God. The language is legal: all people are guilty before the bar of Gods justice. Verse 20 draws the
conclusion: no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law.
The NIV conceals an issue of great debate among modern scholars. Observing the law translates a
Greek phrase that is rendered literally as works of the law (erga nomou). Paul uses the expression
eight times in his letters (Rom 3:20, 28; Gal 2:16 [three times]; 3:2, 5, 10). In the past, interpreters
usually took it to refer to anything done in obedience to the law of Moses. And, since Paul excludes
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these works from any part in justifying the sinner, it was thought legitimate to conclude that all works
were implicitly condemned as well. The Reformers therefore taught that nothing a person did could ever
suffice to put that person in relationship with God. The way of works was a dead end; only the way of
faith was left. But many modern scholars think that Paul might use the phrase to refer to Jewish works
in a particular sense. They argue that the emphasis is not so much on the works as on the law. What
Paul is talking about is not so much the performance of the law but the possession of the law. He is
saying, basically, that Jews cannot be justified before God through the Mosaic covenant. Implications
about works in general therefore are excluded. Making a decision between these two interpretations
turns on the evidence from the use of the phrase in Jewish sources and on the context in which Paul
uses the phrase. On both scores, I think that the traditional interpretation should be preferred. We have
no good reason to remove the emphasis on doing in the occurrences of the phrase in Jewish
literature. And the sequence of Pauls argument in Romans 34 suggests that he views the phrase
works of the law as a subset of the larger category works. For in chapter 4 he says much the same
thing about the works of Abraham as he does in chapter 3 about the works of the law of the Jews
after Moses. Thus, even though the Reformers did not always pay sufficient attention to the Jewish
context of Pauls argument, I think that their ultimate application of verse 20 is legitimate: p 77 no
work that a human being does can ever put him or her in relationship with God.
Broaching a theme that will become a key motif in the letter (see 4:15; 5:20; 6:14, 15; 7:16), Paul
concludes by reminding us of what the law does accomplish. It cannot overcome the problem of human
sin (v. 20a); rather, the law makes us conscious of sin. A more literal rendering would be knowledge
of sin. What Paul means by this is not simply that the law defines sin by telling us what we should not
do, for often in Scripture, knowledge carries the deeper nuance of familiarity, intimate
understanding. By revealing Gods and how powerful an enemy sin really is.

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