Foundation Text

Genesis 3:1-24

Hebrew Key Terms

• עָרוּם (arum) - "crafty, shrewd" - serpent's deceptive wisdom (wordplay with עֵירֹם eyrom "naked" in 2:25)
• תַּאֲוָה (ta'avah) - "desire" - Eve's threefold attraction to forbidden fruit (3:6)
• קוֹל (qol) - "sound, voice" - God walking in garden (3:8), seeking broken fellowship
• אֵיבָה (eyvah) - "enmity" - cosmic conflict between serpent's seed and woman's seed (3:15)

Context: Immediately follows creation account and placement in Eden. Serpent appears without introduction, suggesting prior fall (cf. Ezekiel 28:13-17; Revelation 12:9). Woman created as helper (Genesis 2:18-25); now both tempted and fall together.

Connections

• TO:
  • Genesis 1:26-28 - image intact before Fall
  • Genesis 2:15-17 - command not to eat from tree of knowledge
• FROM OT:
  • Genesis 5:1-3 - image transmitted despite Fall
  • Genesis 6:5 - wickedness of human heart
  • Isaiah 53:6 - all have gone astray
• FROM NT:
  • Romans 5:12-19 - Adam's sin brought death to all
  • Romans 1:21-25 - exchanged glory of God for images
  • 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 - in Adam all die

Connection Method(s): Typology (Providential, Backward-Looking), Contrast, Promise-Fulfillment — Adam's failure as image-bearer contrasts with Christ's perfect obedience as the Last Adam, while Genesis 3:15's protoevangelium promises the serpent-crushing seed fulfilled in Christ's victory over death and the devil.

Christological Connection: Where first Adam failed in garden-sanctuary, last Adam succeeds. Christ faces temptation in wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) and Gethsemane garden (Matthew 26:36-46), but unlike Adam, He obeys perfectly. Genesis 3:15's promise of serpent-crusher finds fulfillment in Christ, who through death destroys "the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:14). The trajectory shows escalation through reversal: Adam's disobedience → Christ's obedience; Adam's hiding from God → Christ's face-to-face fellowship with Father; Adam expelled from garden → Christ opens paradise to repentant thief (Luke 23:43). Romans 5:19: "as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous." Image damaged in Adam is fully restored in Christ, the perfect Image who enables our transformation "with intensifying glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Trajectory Table: 076 - Image of God (Priestly Vocation)