TLDR: A guide for having a family discipleship time on Genesis 3 based on the ACT Bible Study Method.
Act 2: People Disobey
Scene 1: Adam and Eve Disobey
Genesis 3:1–24
Analyze the Passage
Step 1: Introduce the Passage
Genesis was written by Moses sometime between 1445–1405 BC to help the Israelites leaving Egypt understand their history with God. It’s one of the five books of the Law that Moses wrote, which we also call the Torah, or the Pentateuch, which means “five books.”
Today’s true story is the first one in the Bible that a happy one. It’s the story of how people messed up God’s perfect creation and the reason for everything else that follows in the Bible. This story is the first one of Act 2: People Disobey.
Step 2: Read the Passage
Step 3: Summarize the Passage
The serpent told Eve half truths and lies to confuse her about who God is and who she is (vv. 1–5).
Because Eve was confused, doubted God’s goodness, and believed she deserved more, she disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and so did Adam who was with her. When they recognized they were unclothed, they made coverings for themselves (vv. 6–7).
When God came into the garden, Adam and Eve hid themselves and God drew out of them what had happened (vv. 9–13).
God then disciplined each person involved in this act of disobedience. The serpent first (vv. 14–15), then Eve (v. 16), and finally Adam (vv. 17–19).
Then, Adam named Eve, God made Adam and Eve clothes from animal skins, and God removed Adam and Eve from the garden (vv. 20–24).
Step 4: Interrogate the Passage
Questions you and your family ask might include:
- Was the serpent Satan or controlled by him?
- Could animals normally talk?
- Did God say Adam and Eve couldn’t touch the tree?
- Why didn’t Adam do anything to help and protect Eve?
- Why did Adam and Eve hide from God?
- What does it mean to be cursed?
- Did the serpent have legs before?
- What does it mean that an offspring would strike the serpent’s head and it would strike his heel?
- Why did God make Adam and Eve clothes from an animal?
- Why did God ban Adam and Eve from the garden?
Step 5: Wonder about the Passage
Wonder statements you and your family make might include:
- I wonder what it was like to hear a serpent talk.
- I wonder how long it took for Adam and Eve to recognize they made a huge mistake.
- I wonder if God had always come to spend time with Adam and Eve in the garden.
- I wonder what it was like for Adam and Eve to leave the garden.
- I wonder what the angels guarding the tree looked like.
Connect the Passage to Christ
Step 6: Find the World in Front of Text
This story shows us the opposite of how things are supposed to go. In it, we see the world broken and not working as it should.
First, we see the serpent confusing Eve and causing her to think more highly of herself than she should have. Instead of trusting God, she came to believe she knew better than God and that she deserved more from him. We can guess that Adam, who was with Eve, felt the same. This is pride, and it’s the opposite of how God intends for people to live. We are to live with humility instead.
Second, we see Adam and Eve go from obedience in Genesis 2 to disobedience here. We don’t know how much time passed, but the brief telling of Genesis 2 and that Adam and Eve had no children likely means it wasn’t too much time. God had given Adam and Eve one clear instruction about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he was clear in his warning. But it didn’t take much for Adam and Eve—even if they were perfet—to disobey. This shows us how hard it is to obey God in our lives. But this is the world God made and what he expects of us.
Step 7: Find the World of Jesus of the Text
In this story, we see two amazing pictures of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
First, he is the “offspring” God promised would come and crush the head of the serpent (v. 15). This is talking about the cross, when Satan thought he beat Jesus, but he only wounded him (“strike his heel”). In reality, the cross is when Satan, sin, and death were defeated.
Second, while Adam and Eve tried to cover their sin and shame themselves, using leaves, God covered them in a different way. He used animal skin, meaning an animal had to die—the first recorded death in the Bible. God took an animal’s life to provide a way to cover Adam and Eve’s sin and shame in a better way. This is what God did by providing Jesus to lay down his life on the cross, so that if we believe in him, our sin is covered and forgiven and are shame is removed forevermore.
We also see two marks of living like Jesus in this story.
The first is the humility of Jesus. He demonstrated amazing humility in leaving his rightful place in heaven to come to earth, so that he could live the perfect life we have not lived, lay down his life to be our sacrifice for sin, and rise again from the dead, showing sin and death are defeated. Jesus put his Father’s will first while on earth, and loved us and cared for us more than his own life.
The second is the obedience of Jesus. He obeyed God fully—in big ways and small ways. He shows us what it looks like to obey even when it’s hard. Satan tried to trick Jesus and get him to disobey, but Jesus didn’t fall for it. He shows us that obedience is possible—in his power and with his help.
Translate It to Your Context
Step 8: Connect the World of Jesus of the Text to Your World
How can you be especially humble this week? Remember, humility is not thinking poorly of yourself; it is thinking more highly of God and others. It is putting God first, others second, and yourself third. What are ways that you can display humility with your friends, family, and others to show them Jesus?
How can you obey God this week, in big ways and small ways, so that people might see Jesus in you? Think about all the places you will be this week and what you will do. How can you obey God and people he has placed in authority with joy?
NEXT: Act 2: People Disobey; Scene 2: Cain’s Sinful Family (Genesis 4:1–26)
Learn more about this family discipleship method here.
brian dembowczyk 