Genesis 2:15-18 - The Enduring Command

Alan Salwei
Apr 17, 2023
2 min read

God's expectations have been clear since day one: Obey Him and live.

Read / Listen

Read Genesis 2:4-9, 15-18

Listen to passage & devotional:

Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 40

Q. Why did Christ have to go

all the way to death?

A. Because God’s justice

and truth demand it:

only the death of God’s Son

could pay for our sin.

Summary

When Adam was placed into the Garden of Eden to work the land, God commanded him to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of all the fruit of the trees in the garden, only the fruit of this one tree was forbidden.

This was a choice God did not have to give Adam. God could have hidden the tree of the knowledge of good and evil away from Adam, or created Adam without an ability to choose. Yet God did neither of these. Instead, God gave this command and Adam was given a choice between obedience and rebellion.

The cost of rebellion was steep, for Adam and all whom he represented, disobedience meant that he would surely die. This consequence would not be an immediate physical death for Adam, but that death would become a certainty.

Dig Deeper

In Genesis 3 we find the account of the fall, where Adam and Eve as the first humans “fell” from grace through the first act of human disobedience. Despite God’s clear command that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was off-limits and the warning of the consequences of rebellion, they chose to partake of it.

With this act of disobedience death began its reign in mankind. The only remedy for the fallen state of mankind is the supervening grace of God. This is why Jesus was born into this world and suffered death, to intervene in the fate of a fallen humanity.

With this first act of rebellion came the certainty of death. God’s justice and truth require payment for our debt of sin. And nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God.

Because of Jesus, the fall is more than the origin story of the misery of mankind and how we came to be in a state of rebellion against God. The fall is part of God’s larger plan of redemption. God certainly didn't want Adam to fail, yet He knew that Adam and Eve would disobey in the garden. This is why a means of grace was already part of God's plan of redemption.

Jesus is God’s intervention for a fallen humanity. Only the Son of God could pay our debt of sin. Thank God that Jesus intervenes in humanity’s state of misery, rescuing us from the consequences of our rebellion of sin.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our covenant God, the creator of all that is who has called us to a life of righteousness.
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God that through Christ you've earned everlasting life, and pray for wisdom to fulfill your purpose of ensuring God's creation reflects His holiness.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: