Grow Guide | September 19
God Is - We Are
Genesis 3:1-13, 22-24
Connecting Questions
What was one of the hardest rules for you to follow at home when you were a child? What made it so hard to follow?
What is the difference between knowing about something and actually knowing something because you’ve lived it? Do you have an example from your own life?
Context
This week we continue our series “God Is--We Are” by exploring the famous story of the Garden of Eden found in Genesis chapters 2 and 3. This is such a familiar story that it is easy to gloss over it and think we already know what it says. It may be helpful to keep in mind that the people who wrote/told this story were living in a world where they had just been conquered by the Babylonian Empire and had lived over 70 years in captivity in that country.
The big question in the minds of the Jewish people was, “why is there so much suffering and pain in the world when God created everything and called it good?” That is a fair question and one that we continue to ask today. It is also helpful to remember that this story is less about specific details of “who and where,” and more about the big theological/philosophical questions of “why and what now.”
Look at the Book
If you have time, it would be helpful to read through Genesis 2 to provide context for this week’s reading in chapter 3. Yawheh Elohim has created humanity--represented by the ish (male) and isha (female)--and placed them in the Garden of Delight (that’s what Eden means). They lived in equality, naked and unashamed. God called it very good.
Read Genesis 3:1-7.
What did the serpent ask the woman?
Compare God’s instructions to the human in Genesis 2:16-17 with the woman’s response in Genesis 3:2-3. How did she change the instructions? Why do you suppose this happened?
The forbidden tree was called “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” What happened when they ate the fruit of that tree (Genesis 3:7)? What might it mean to have their “eyes opened?”
Read Genesis 3:8-13. How did the man and the woman respond when God asked them what had happened?
Read Genesis 3:22-24.
In what way were the humans now like God?
What would happen if the humans ate from the tree of life? Why might this be a bad thing?
What was the relationship between the humans and Eden at the end of the story? What was the relationship between the humans and the ground at the end of the story?
Taking It Home
When the humans in the story actually disobeyed God, they experienced what it feels like to betray someone. Suddenly they knew, first hand, that people are not trustworthy. They experienced evil and they became afraid of each other. They were filled with shame and they blamed each other for the problem. In what ways do you see the cycle of fear, shame and blame at play in our society today?
This story seeks to understand why there is pain, suffering, violence, and hatred in the world. In what ways has this reading of the story helped you understand that question for yourself?
How do you see God’s love and grace at work in this difficult story? (by the way, the rest of the Bible is the story of how God seeks to restore humanity to Eden, in spite of humanity’s propensity to eat from the tree again and again).
