GENESIS 3

Opening question

How do people explain what is wrong with the world? How do those explanations shape what they think will fix it?

Read Genesis 3:1-24

  1. What is the lie the serpent tells about God? What does he want the woman to believe about God’s motives?

  2. What do these verses teach us about how sin and temptation work?

  3. John Mark Comer describes the Genesis 3 lie as a pattern behind other temptations:

    “The deception (or really temptation) is and has always been twofold: (1) to seize autonomy from God and (2) to redefine good and evil based on the voice in our heads and the inclination of our hearts, rather than trust in the loving word of God.”

    Where do you see this same pattern in other areas of sin? Think of some everyday examples.

  4. When God comes looking for Adam and Eve, how do they react? What do you notice about the way they explain what happened?

  5. Look at verses 16–24. What will life be like now? Where do you recognise this in the world today?

  6. In verse 21, God clothes Adam and Eve. What does this act tell us about God and his care for them, even after their rebellion?

  7. How does God’s curse on the serpent for-shadow a solution to sin one day

    Read Hebrews 2:14–15

  8. How does Jesus’ victory through his death help us understand the hope first introduced in Genesis 3? What does this tell us about God’s response to evil?


    Apply

  9. Where are you tempted to believe that God is holding out on you rather than trusting God? How does Jesus’ forgiveness help you respond with confession rather than hiding or blame?

  10. Where does the brokenness of the world weigh most heavily on you at the moment? How could the hope of Jesus’ victory shape the way you face it this week?

    Pray (split into guys and girls)

Confess the ways we have doubted God’s goodness and chosen our own way. Bring him the suffering we see and experience. Thank him for Jesus’ forgiveness and the hope that evil, suffering and death will not have the final word.