The Bible says we are as corrupted from the image God made us in. How did this happen? Genesis tells the story. Soon after being made ‘in the image of God’, the first humans (Adam and Eve) faced a test. The Bible shows a serpent talking to them. This serpent is understood to be Satan, God’s enemy. Satan often speaks through someone. Here he spoke through a snake:
temptation in the Garden
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The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
Genesis 3:1–7
The Choice
Their choice was to ‘be like God’. Before this, they had always trusted God. Now they saw they could trust themselves instead. They wanted to decide on their own.
When they chose this, they changed. They felt shame and tried to hide. When God asked, Adam blamed Eve (and God who made her). Eve blamed the serpent. No one took responsibility.
consequences of that Choice
What happened that day has continued in us because we have inherited that same independent nature. Some people wrongly say the Bible blames us for Adam’s choice. The Bible only blames Adam, but we live with the results of his decision. We have this independent nature now. We might not want to be gods of the whole world, but we want to be “gods” in our own lives, apart from God.
This explains a lot about human life: we lock our doors, we need police, and we set computer passwords—because otherwise we will steal from each other. Societies are corrupted and often collapse over time. All kinds of government and economy systems, though some work better than others, eventually break down. There is something is wrong in us that makes us miss the way things should be.
Sin – to Miss
The idea of ‘miss’ shows our problem. The Bible uses a word for ‘miss’ that also means “sin.” It gives an example:
Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
Judges 20:16
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These soldiers could hit a target perfectly. In Hebrew, the word for ‘miss’ here is יַחֲטִֽא, which is also translated ‘sin’ elsewhere in the Old Testament.
A soldier who misses fails his goal. In the same way, God made us in His image to hit the target in how we live—how we relate to God and treat others. To ‘sin’ is to miss that purpose God gave us.
This picture of missing the target is not happy or bright. Some people react strongly against the Bible’s teaching on sin. One student said, “I don’t believe because I do not like what this is saying.” But ‘liking’ something has nothing to do with truth. I don’t like taxes, wars, or earthquakes—no one does—but that does not make them untrue. We can’t ignore them. All the laws, police, locks, and security we build show that something is wrong. We should consider this teaching on our sin with an open mind.
God Declares His Help
We have a problem. We are corrupted from the image we were first made in. So now we miss the target in our actions. But God did not leave us helpless. He had a plan to rescue us—and that plan is the meaning of Gospel, which literally means ‘good news.’ God did not wait until Abraham to announce this news; He first announced it in that same conversation with Adam and Eve. We look at this first Good News announcement next.