Genesis 3:12-13. 12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
From this point forward mankind will not just be the image of God, we will be the fallen image of God. We will be sinners. Adam and Eve taking and eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge will cause sin to enter into the world and into our very nature. From now on every person born will be born a sinner.
Romans 5:12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.
All sinned. As our representative head, Adam’s sin was the sin of all humanity. When he sinned we all sinned, and we all became sinners. The disease of selfishness has taken over the heart of every person so that we are all “desperately wicked” as the prophet Jeremiah said. Or as the Apostle Paul says, “There is none righteous, no not one,” and “Therefore you are inexcusable O man.” The Bible is clear; we are not born Christians. We aren’t even born neutral, tabula rasa. That little baby is not a blank slate waiting to taught how to hate and rebel. No, she is born to hate, he is born a rebel. Look at how Paul describes the position of every person from birth:
Ephesians 2:1-3. 1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Dead. Worldly. Devilish. Disobedient. Fleshly. A child of wrath. This is everyone’s state of being. Are you a Christian? Well then that was all of grace, not of yourself. There is no boasting in being a Christian, there is only boasting in Christ. The fact that you have been gloriously and graciously saved should never produce pride, only humility. You did not work your way out of this condition, you were rescued out of it.
Ephesians 2:4-5. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
As soon as Adam and Eve realized what they had done, they tried to cover up their shame with fig leaf aprons. In one sense, this was an appropriate response to this new feeling of guilt. Their feelings of guilt were real because they really were guilty. There is no false guilt in Genesis 3. They rebelled against God and they knew it, so, yes, they should feel guilty. They should feel shame and grief over their sin.
But there is a difference between what Paul calls worldly grief over sin and godly grief over sin. Worldly grief hides from God in fear, fails to be totally honest, blame shifts, and makes excuses from embarrassment. Godly grief feels genuine contrition because of the pain and sorrow our sin has caused to others. The relationship with God and others has been damaged and that should cause sorrow and true repentance. Clearly Adam expressed worldly grief over his sin, not godly grief – The woman you gave me…
Christ in you desires and empowers godly grief over our sin. A grief that takes ownership for what we’ve done. No hiding. No blaming. No excuses. A grief that can see how our choice hurt the soul of another and damaged the relationship. A godly grief that is made possible by knowing that you are forgiven and free from condemnation by your union with Christ.
Questions: Do you tend to express worldly grief or godly grief over your sin? How does the gospel allow us to take responsibility for sin rather than hide, blame, or cover up with excuses?
To Live is Christ 