The Ultimate Sin

My Journal - Agatha Nolen

“Adam and Eve”-Peter Paul Rubens, 1629, courtesy Museo Nacional de Prado

A new Bible Study has led me to start at the beginning, with Genesis. In addition to telling us about the “beginning” and “creation”, the early chapters also tell us about the character of God as told by Moses.

Creation is “very good” but then we learn of The Fall in Chapter 3. Adam was warned not to eat from one tree in the Garden of Eden, or that he would “certainly die”. And Adam passed along that information to Eve when she was formed from his rib.

When God was walking in the Garden, He knew something was really wrong: Adam and Eve were nowhere to be found, in fact dressed and hiding in fear. God is all-knowing and knew immediately that he had been disobeyed.

But why doesn’t God immediately strike them down as He had promised?

Instead, God gives Adam and Eve the ultimate test: will they tell the truth or try to lie their way out of their predicament?

God first asks man if he has eaten from the tree because God’s command was first directly to the man. But Adam is honest and acknowledges that he has eaten from it.

Next, God asks Eve, “What is this you have done?” and she also answers honestly: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

We can speculate that God spared Adam and Eve from death because they told the truth. Although they attempted to deflect the blame, they did admit their sin.

We see this repeated in Psalm 101:7 (ESV): “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.”

Is lying the ultimate sin that God cannot forgive?

Blessings, my friend,
Agatha