Genesis & The Story of Creation: See That It Was Good

Genesis 3:14-24

Trish Haq

October 15, 2023

With a friend, your family or in your small group, discuss the following questions:

1. Reflect back on the opening 2 Chapters of Genesis together, and take some time to remember the goodness of God’s creation. In what ways have you experienced the reality of this goodness over the past week?
   

  2. Now, take some time to read through Genesis 3 together, which describes humanity’s fall into sin, and the resulting consequences.                 What do you notice? What verses do you find challenging?

  3. “There’s good news, and there’s bad news…” Both can be found in the passage we’re studying this week. Reflect back on your own week.        What bad news did you deal with? What good news can you share? What points of pain and suffering did you feel this past week, that         give evidence of the reality that our world is broken? What hope did you experience this week that helps you to see God’s goodness               and grace still at work in the world?

  4. Read Genesis 3:14-15. The crafty serpent is now cursed for what it has done. What is verse 15 getting at in describing the enmity                        between the serpent and the woman, and between their offspring? (hint: this is not about women and snakes disliking each other).

  5.  Verse 15 says “He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel”. This prophecy is the first proclamation of the Gospel found in                       scripture. What do you understand it to mean, and what hope does this offer to humanity?

  6.  Read Genesis 3:16. The Hebrew word for pain here points towards grief and brokenheartedness, not physical pain. In what ways does             this impact your understanding of verse 16? Next consider the second half of the verse. Here, God is describing the broken reality of the         world, not prescribing the way he designed humans to treat each other. How does remembering this impact the interpretation of this           verse? In what ways has verse 16 been misunderstood at times?

  7.  In verse 17, it says that “the ground is cursed”. Notice that throughout this passage, God never says that the humans are cursed. The              serpent is cursed, and the ground is cursed. And these two realities will make life more painful and difficult for humanity. But they                    themselves are not cursed. What hope and comfort does this offer to us today?

  8. Before the fall, God gave the man and the woman their first commissioning – to rule and to reign as His image bearers to the world. He        commissioned them to create life (be fruitful and multiply), and to rule over and cultivate the earth (fill the earth and subdue it). Has            this changed because of the fall, and if so, in what ways? In what ways is this first commission still intact after the fall? What hope and          goodness can we see in this?

  9.  When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they recognized their nakedness (their vulnerability), and so they           tried to cover up and hide. But God called them out of hiding, and in verse 21, He covered them. Reflect on the ways that you cover up          and hide. (or, if that is too personal, what are some general ways that humans tend to cover up and hide?) What vulnerabilities and              struggles leave us exposed and in need of covering? In what ways are we ill equipped to deal with the harsh realities of our lives? In              what ways are our coverings insufficient? What is the good news evident in God’s act of covering the man and woman? And how can          we open ourselves up to experience God’s covering today?

 10.  God ultimately banished Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden, to prevent them from continuing to eat from the Tree of Life. At first             glance, this may seem like a punishment, a harsh consequence for their rebellion. But, what grace and goodness is embedded in                  God’s decision here?