Genesis 3:17, commentary and pictures

Because Adam listened to his wife's voice and ate from the tree God had commanded him not to eat, the ground was cursed for his sake and he would eat from it in sorrow all the days of his life, in thorns and thistles and eating bread in the sweat of his face until he returned to dust. Eve was beguiled by the serpent and brought the fruit to him, but Adam was not deceived as she was, and from love and unwillingness to be separated he deliberately chose to share her fate and follow his own way against God's known will. He had no excuse, for every want was supplied and only one tree was prohibited as a test of obedience, yet that seemingly small transgression opened the floodgates of woe, bringing sin and death, loss of Eden, and sorrow and suffering ever since. The pleasant labor of Eden was replaced by anxiety, weariness and hard struggle from stubborn soil, but work itself was not the curse, for the life of toil and care was appointed in love as discipline for man's good to check indulgence, develop character, and aid recovery from the fall. Even in judgment mercy appears, for before the sorrow and toil were announced God gave the promise of a Deliverer, and Christ passed over the same ground where Adam fell and overcame, so that what was lost by yielding can be regained through Him and earth and humanity restored to Eden perfection.

Sentence Spoken to Adam

Because he listened to his wife's voice and ate from the tree that had been forbidden by direct command, the ground was cursed on his account and he was sentenced to eat from it in sorrow all the days of his life. The judgment placed him under unfavorable conditions outside Eden as one who had disobeyed, with perpetual toil and anxiety replacing the happy labor he had known, and with disappointment, grief, and pain ending in death and return to dust. His word of accusation, that the woman gave him of the tree and he ate, had no power to save him from the result of disobedience, and he was held guilty for hearkening to her voice instead of the express command.

The sentence brings thorns and thistles, eating the herb or plants of the field, and eating bread in the sweat of the face until return to the ground, for out of it he was taken and dust he is and to dust he will return. The ground's hardship was to bring forth thorns and thistles to him, and its cultivation would require sorrowful eating throughout life. Yet even while all nature must feel the effects of sin and the floodgates of woe were opened upon the world, a ray of hope was not withheld.

To eat of it in sorrow means to become acquainted with evil all the days of life. Good had been freely given and evil withheld, for it was not willed that the sinless pair should know evil, but by eating they chose it and must now continue to eat of it, having the knowledge of evil all their life. What had been given as good without sin's curse and unto everlasting joy was thus exchanged for an experimental acquaintance with sin and its results, with estrangement from God and separation of earth from heaven.

The opened eyes promised by disobedience brought only sight of shame and ruin. The garments of heavenly light that had protected them were gone, nakedness was known as the fruit of transgression, and they hid from God in expectation of His condemnation.

He had no excuse, for all his wants were generously supplied and only one tree was prohibited under clear command, and his word must therefore be treated as sacred and his requirements implicitly obeyed. The fruit itself had no peculiar harmful or injurious quality in itself; it was used merely as a test of obedience to requirements and law, with everything needed for food otherwise freely provided and no life to be taken and no death in Eden. To transgress that one prohibition was to fall from a high estate, to lose the beautiful Eden given, to bring sin into the world and death by sin, and to open the floodgates of woe.

Because of the transgression they were driven from Eden and shut out, with cherubim and a flaming sword set to guard the way to the tree of life. The disloyal, disobedient pair were not to gain access to it, for fallen man was not to approach and eat its fruit which perpetuates immortality and thus become an immortal sinner and immortalize transgression.

Disobedience That Caused It

Adam listened to his wife's voice instead of God's express command and ate from the tree God had directly forbidden, while Eve had first been beguiled by the serpent to disbelieve God's warning of death, ate and imagined a pleasurable exaltation, and brought the fruit to him. Eve, though surrounded by fruit of every variety freely given to make her happy, desired the forbidden fruit above all the rest in intemperance, believing Satan's lie that eating would give higher perceptions of good and evil and make them like angels. Unlike Eve, Adam was not deceived by the serpent, yet listening to Eve's recital of the serpent's words his constancy and integrity wavered until doubt arose whether God meant exactly what He said. His love for Eve was strong, and he was sad, troubled, afraid and astonished, with a struggle in his mind, because he knew the serpent was the foe they had been warned against and felt sure Eve must now die and they must be separated. In utter discouragement and unwillingness to be separated he resolved to share her fate, permitted himself to be seduced by her experience standing against Jehovah's positive command, seized the fruit and quickly, deliberately and inexcusably ate in rash presumptuous transgression.

Eve had been cautioned with daily counsel not to separate from her husband because she would be in less danger from temptation with him, yet absorbed in her pleasing task she unconsciously wandered from his side. Alone she felt apprehension of danger yet dismissed her fears, deciding she had sufficient wisdom and strength to discern evil and withstand it. She gazed with mingled curiosity and admiration on the forbidden tree and its very beautiful fruit while questioning why God had withheld it, and lingered wonderingly instead of fleeing. Then Satan, working unperceived through the serpent as his medium, then one of the wisest and most beautiful creatures with wings and dazzling brightness like burnished gold, addressed her thoughts about God's command with subtle praise of her loveliness in a musical voice.

The act was man following his own way in harmony with Satan's temptation and in opposition to God's known will in a vain attempt to elevate and bless himself, gaining an experimental knowledge of disobedience and of good and evil. That disregard of God's prohibition broke allegiance to God, made Adam a law to himself, and caused him to lose fidelity and loyalty with discord and unhappiness and separation made between him and God. By it he opened the floodgates of evil and suffering to the whole human family, and the curse gave Satan, who before had no control of any part of the Lord's vineyard, his opening to begin sowing seeds of evil in the earth until the whole earth was corrupt before God. Rebellion thus left the world disloyal to God and seared and marred by the curse of transgression, as Satan carried on his work with intense vigor corrupting men by his inventions and false representations of God.

Though the eating appeared small, it opened the floodgates of woe upon the world, for through listening to Satan's misrepresentation of God sin thus entered the world and death by sin. Adam and Eve fell, lost Eden and were expelled from it in retribution for disobedience, and the holy pair's fall left the human race fallen. The sentence proves God does not overlook violation of one command and His mercy does not excuse the sinner or lessen guilt while sin is continued, but only covers guilt after sin is repented of and forsaken, with justice and mercy going hand in hand. His example warns later people not to repeat his disobedience, yet they continue to violate God's law with increasing sin, disappointment, sorrow and suffering ever since, so that all nature must feel the effects of sin, yet God did not leave Adam without a ray of hope.

Satan's attack came on the point of appetite, telling Eve there was nothing bad in the tree and its fruit would give increased knowledge, and Adam's eating was the first surrender to appetite and intemperance in desire. She ate in disobedience to God's prohibition and he ate through Eve's influence, beginning the course of disobedience and intemperance in which appetite controls reason, mankind is beguiled to disregard God's prohibitions, violates the laws of health and runs to excess, and disease follows as effect follows cause. That indulged appetite and passion in violating the express law brought sin into the world with unutterable woe and Adam being driven from Eden, leaving the race in a lowered physical, mental and moral condition and beginning woe, suffering, decay, disease and death. Man was first made complete in every faculty of mind and body in perfect soundness and health, but indulgence lessened vital force, brought excess, violence and debauchery, weakened the energies, caused decay to appear by the third generation and to increase more rapidly after the flood, with luxurious living, wine, surfeiting, drunkenness, licentiousness and intemperance corrupting the blood, inflaming the passions, and transmitting disease, evil inclinations, enfeebled intellects and polluted morals from father to son. Breaking nature's laws is breaking God's law, and because fallen man persists in breaking God's law the accumulated misery leaves the world groaning under suffering and anguish, so that in preparing for Paradise restored man must bring perverted appetite under strict control, because indulgence weakens power to resist evil and enables Satan to fasten evil habits upon man and ensnare him. Adam's failure and fall thus brought disgrace through yielding to appetite, which Christ's victory after fasting forty days and nights in the wilderness redeemed.

Curse Upon the Earth

Because Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree God had commanded him not to eat, the ground was cursed for his sake, and sorrow in gaining food from it would mark all the days of his life. By that disobedience he forfeited the dominion over creation entrusted to him, and the groaning and lamentation of the earth followed that loss until Christ receives the dominion and reigns as king over all the earth. Sin defiled and degraded the earth and its inhabitants and marred nature, so that marred nature can no longer perfectly reveal God's character but gives only an imperfect testimony about its Creator. The curse did not at once erase richness and beauty, for the earth remained abundant and fruitful though signs of decay were already evident compared with its condition before the curse.

The curse is seen in briers, thistles, thorns, tares and weeds, which testify to condemnation and demand patient toil and continual warfare in cultivation. After sin Adam and Eve could no longer live in Eden but had to dwell on the cursed earth, whose formerly mild and even climate became subject to extremes of heat and cold. Adam saw the sorrowful consequences in the natural world in falling leaves, drooping flowers, and trees losing their leaves and decaying, which grieved him as the dissolution of the beautiful nature God had made for humanity. Even a fallen decaying leaf before the Flood gave evidence of the curse and of the decay of nature and caused great sorrow to those who feared God. The longer the earth lies under the curse the more barren the soil becomes and the harder it is to cultivate and make productive, requiring double labor, while vermin, harmful insects and reptiles torment people and destroy crops.

At first the curse was felt only lightly and did not remove beauty or abundance, for the earth still held plentiful gold and silver, and its trees were exceptionally large, strong, beautiful and durable. The people then living were also of great stature and strength, so that preparing timber took much more labor than in later, weaker generations. Cain murmured against God because of this curse on Adam and the ground, and resented the curse pronounced upon them, yet his own murder compounded it into a double curse resting upon the earth. The ground feels that curse more and more heavily as time goes on, greatly increased at the Flood, and the curse has rested heavier and heavier as disobedience continued.

The heavy curse resting upon the earth is felt by the whole human race in misery and suffering, and the curse is also felt by animals. The Lord's curse for transgression is upon the earth, upon man, upon beasts and cattle, and upon fish in the sea, and as transgression becomes almost universal the curse is permitted to become as broad and as deep as the transgression. Beasts have degenerated in size and length of years and languish with disease such as cancers, tumors, parasites and consumption, and animals are made to suffer more than they otherwise would by the wrong habits of man, including intemperance in labor and in eating and drinking and indulgence of depraved appetites for things most injurious to health. Death in both humans and animals came as a consequence of sin, for had humanity remained innocent the earth would not have been stained with blood and killing animals for food would not have become a human custom. Disease in cattle makes meat eating dangerous, for disease is communicated through meat without being discerned, the diseased flesh of dead carcasses sold in marketplaces brings disease among men as the sure result, and in a short time the milk of the cow and anything that comes from the animal creation will not be safe to use, so there will soon be no safety in the possession of flocks or herds.

The garden of Eden was preserved free from that curse, for God withdrew it from the earth before the Flood and will return it more gloriously adorned as a specimen of His perfect creation. The land God later promised to Israel was marred by the curse yet like a second Eden, but not as pure as Eden had been, and God sought to reform Israel's diet and bring the people as near as possible to His original purpose of providing simple fruits, grains and vegetables as human food.

Through disobedience man gave Satan opportunity to sow seeds of evil in the human heart, so the ground that in the beginning produced only good began to produce tares whose growth calls for continual warfare. Because Adam and Eve listened to the sophistry of Satan and ate of the forbidden tree, God expelled them from the Garden given them to cultivate and pronounced His curse upon the earth, and that curse gave Satan, who before had no control of any part of the Lord's vineyard, his opening to begin sowing seeds of evil in the earth, a work that grew until the whole earth was corrupt before God. After the fall Satan claimed to be the prince of the power of the air and to have control of everything in nature. God could have prevented him but permitted him to sow tares all around and to work out his principles of evil, while at the same time protecting from Satan's wrath those who desire to work out the principles of heaven.

Toil Sorrow and Death

Because Adam disobeyed, the ground was cursed for his sake and he would eat from it in sorrow all his life, becoming acquainted with evil all his days whereas good had been freely given and evil withheld. Before disobedience labor in Eden was happy pleasure and the earth supplied abundantly, but afterward happy labor was replaced by anxiety, weariness, pain and perpetual toil against hardship to gain daily bread from stubborn soil. The fall changed Adam from a sovereign in Eden into a slave on an earth groaning under the curse, the covering glory departed, and poverty, sickness and suffering became the portion of his descendants.

Human life became subject to disappointment, grief, pain, sickness, suffering and finally death and return to dust, while Adam forfeited the entrusted dominion over creation and the earth groans and laments in consequence until Christ receives that dominion and restores it. Since the fall and expulsion from Eden away from God's visible presence, humanity has lived amid sickness, pain, sorrow, tears and death.

Labor itself was not given as a curse, for useful employment in tilling the soil and caring for what God had planted was ordained before sin as schooling, blessing, pleasure and the highest pleasures of holy existence in mental and physical activity under God as instructor. The curse fell upon the earth and brought difficulties and hardship attending work, but the decree to earn bread by the sweat of the brow was not given as a curse, and after sin labor through faith and hope was still to be a blessing and not degrading or mere servitude, for God never meant man to have nothing to do or to be idle. Labor becomes to human beings what they make it, so they are to be masters of labor and not slaves of labor, while deeper sin further changes God's order by laying heavy toil on one class and the curse of idleness on those who hold God's money with the false idea that money increases moral worth, and constant drudgery relieved only by drink and excitement makes men little better than brutes.

The life of toil and care was appointed in love for man's sake and good as training needed to lift him from ruin and degradation, to relieve sorrow and remorse, to check indulgence of appetite and passion and self-indulgence, and to develop self-control, industry, purity and firmness. By toil Satan's temptations are made ineffectual and the tide of evil is stayed, judicious labor is indispensable to happiness and prosperity, and labor remains a source of happiness and development, a safeguard against temptation, and part of God's great plan for recovery from the fall, so that though fallen the world is not all sorrow and misery.

The earth can yield its strength and hidden blessings only with God's blessing, for without it the earth can do nothing, and its treasures are gathered by those with courage, will, perseverance, faithful tillage and cooperation with Him in obedience to His requirements and directions including giving the land its sabbath, when diseased land lacking vigor is restored to health and beauty to His praise. The curse is multiplied by increasing sin, by ignorance doing its baleful work, by slothful lazy habits and neglect that refuse to till the soil, and by selfish covetous management in human wisdom without God, bringing dearth and sickness in testimony to disobedience. The soil has grown more barren and harder to cultivate requiring double labor as the earth lies longer under the curse, and for this reason God raises up men with inventive skill to build implements and labor-saving machines to lighten work on land groaning under the curse, though He is not in all inventions, for Satan controls minds to hurry men to new inventions that lead them to forget God.

The curse is felt in the body through pain, infirmity and suffering, and since the fall from a perfect holy state disease, suffering and death have rapidly increased through disregard of God's commands and violation of natural and physical law and wrong habits, bringing decline in physical strength, longevity, beauty and moral power, and not by God's design or special providence or appointed lot. Worry, care and anguish and crowded city life huddled in terraces and tenements are not what God made man for but what sin brought in marring His purpose, for at creation man was perfectly happy and Eden was an emblem of heaven where men and women rejoiced in beauty, fragrance, fruit and birdsong. Obedience to God's law in every respect would save men from intemperance, licentiousness and disease of every type, since no one can violate natural law without suffering its penalty, and people need knowledge of how to live in harmony with the natural laws governing their bodies.

Adam's eating through indulgence of appetite brought the fall and the beginning of woe, suffering, decay, disease and death for the race, with guilt, misery, despair and sorrow upon the world reaching beyond the first pair. Man was first made complete in every faculty in perfect soundness and health, but indulgence lessened vital force, decay appeared by the third generation from Adam and increased more rapidly after the Flood, and luxurious living, wine, surfeiting, drunkenness, licentiousness and intemperance corrupt the blood, inflame the passions, and transmit disease, evil inclinations, enfeebled intellects and polluted morals from father to son. Each generation repeating the fall and passing on bodily and moral weakness adds to the decline, leaving the present world full of deformity, decrepitude, disease and imbecility, feeble in mental, moral and physical power and groaning under suffering and anguish, as people followed carnal desires and changed God's order in a succession of falls each greater than the last.

Mercy and Purpose in Judgment

Even in judgment love appears, for the ground was cursed for man's sake and the thorn and the thistle with the difficulties and trials that make life one of toil and care were appointed for his good as part of the training needed in God's plan to lift him from the ruin and degradation caused by sin. The life of toil and care laid on man for eating the forbidden fruit was a discipline made necessary by his sin, to place a check on indulgence of appetite and passion and to develop habits of self-control for his recovery. Though fallen, the world is not all sorrow and misery, and nature still carries messages of hope and comfort. The dealing in this curse upon the earth and upon the human race shows justice and mercy toward the fallen race and leaves hope of redemption, to be gratefully accepted with loyalty to God, while murmuring against it is rebellion that questions divine justice and authority and runs in the same self-exalting channel that led to Satan's fall.

The earth was left seared and marred, and the curse is discerned in briars, thorns, thistles and tares which reveal condemnation and are visible traces of the work of Satan and the law of condemnation. Yet God did not destroy every opening bud and blooming flower or take away their grateful fragrance, but left delicate color and perfume in beautiful scented flowers as an unmistakable expression of His love for fallen man, showing His mercy was not wholly withdrawn from the earth. Even in this blighted state nature still reveals the handiwork of the Creator and, by its remaining beauty and its wonderful adaptation to human need and happiness, shows that God still loves mankind. Words of hope came before Adam heard of sorrow and toil, for before the consequences were announced God gave the promise of a Deliverer. All that was lost by yielding to Satan can be regained through Christ, the Son of God given to redeem the race from the destroyer and restore man to the image of God.

The curse did not erase every sign of love, for the beauty and fragrance of flowers show mercy was not wholly withdrawn, and though the earth bears sin's curse it still reveals goodness and love. Its remaining beauty still speaks of its Creator when rightly understood, and nature once bright with knowledge and instruction, though marred and defiled by sin, still preserves lessons that rightly understood speak of Him. Nature now reveals both goodness and the evil brought by sin, with its blight seen in decay and death in drooping flowers, falling leaves, and even the air bearing signs that living things must die, continually warning people of sin's results. Its beauty remains greater than human art, with flowers upon the thistles and roses covering the thorns, with fragrance, renewal, and adaptation to human need still giving hope and comfort.

The sufferings in eating from the cursed ground all the days of life taught Adam the necessity of strict adherence to God's law. Adam lived for nearly a thousand years among men as a witness to the results of sin and faithfully sought to stem the tide of evil. He was commanded to instruct his posterity in the way of the Lord, and he carefully treasured what God had revealed to him and repeated it to succeeding generations, to his children and children's children to the ninth generation, describing man's holy and happy estate in Paradise, repeating the history of his fall, telling them of the sufferings by which God had taught him obedience, and explaining the merciful provisions for their salvation. Yet few gave heed to his words, and he was often met with bitter reproaches for the sin that had brought such woe upon his posterity.

In great mercy God made all nature a witness to the character and results of rebellion against God. While Adam remained loyal to heaven all nature was in subjection to him as ruler over the earth and all living creatures, but when he rebelled against the divine law the inferior creatures rebelled against his rule. This was appointed to show men the sacredness of His law and to lead them by their own experience to see the danger of setting it aside even in the slightest degree. Through disobedience man gave Satan opportunity to sow seeds of evil in the human heart, so the ground that in the beginning produced only good began to produce tares whose growth calls for continual warfare, and God at man's fall commenced to work in man to defeat Satan's plans. The curse made man's appointed work of cultivating the earth much harder because he transgressed against his own present and eternal good, yet cultivation of the soil is a school where man learns spiritual lessons, seeing reflected as in a mirror God's work upon the human soul.

Law Obedience and Warning

The eating of the forbidden fruit was transgression of God's prohibition, and the curse on the ground with sorrowful eating all the days of life was its retribution. The account records the command and the penalty to show that even one violation has serious consequences, that sin brings death, that God's retributive justice never fails, and that His creatures must render strict regard to His commandments. The floodgates of woe opened upon the world seem out of proportion to an apparently small act, yet the holy pair fell, lost Eden, and were expelled, and the severity proves God does not lightly pass over violation of one command. Mercy does not excuse the sinner or lessen guilt while sin is continued, but covers guilt only after sin is repented of and forsaken, for justice and mercy go hand in hand. The debt required God to give His Son from heaven to die to save the fallen race and make it possible through Christ's merits and blood to keep the law, and that sacrifice exalts the law and evidences its sacred, unchangeable character. Adam learned by bitter experience that breaking the commandments was easier than resisting the spread of moral wretchedness that followed, and therefore taught his descendants to turn from transgression to obedience and faith in the coming Saviour.

God's word must be treated as sacred and His requirements implicitly obeyed, for the lesson of the sentence stands for all mankind. Adam had no excuse, because all his wants were generously supplied and only one tree was prohibited with a clear command, yet he listened to Satan's misrepresentation, hearkened to his wife's voice, and ate, and through Satan sin thus entered the world and death by sin. The law given in Eden carried reward for obedience and penalty for disobedience, and by transgression sin was introduced into the fair world God had created, bringing the curse, after which men and women became more and still more bold in disobeying. By disobedience Adam and Eve lost their right to their Eden home, which disproves once in grace always in grace, and the condition of the fallen race testifies to the awful result of transgressing God's law. Those who love and obey receive blessings and promises, while choosing the same disobedience now forfeits the right to Eden restored, and those who transgress the same law will lose heaven unless they obey and believe.

The same experiment is made today whenever men refuse full confidence in a thus saith the Lord and follow human inventions, policy, and tradition in harmony with Satan's temptation and against God's known will, in a vain attempt to elevate and bless themselves. Man thereby gains an experimental knowledge of disobedience and of good and evil, loses fidelity and loyalty to God, and opens the floodgates of evil and suffering to the whole family, regarding deviation from His holy and just and good law as of little account. As Adam and Eve, free to eat of every other tree, lost beautiful Eden by eating of the one forbidden tree, so men have not learned that God means what He says, from the Flood that saved only Noah and his sons to Sodom destroyed by fire and Nineveh first spared on repentance then destroyed when sin reached to heaven, even to a world now fast becoming as before the Flood. Adam's sin is repeated in changing the Sabbath to the first day of the week and in discarding the Sabbath, and in failing to bring perverted appetite under strict control, since indulgence of depraved appetite weakens power to resist evil and enables Satan to fasten evil habits upon man and ensnare him. Transgression of the Sabbath law placed in the bosom of the decalogue is as guilty as stealing or murder or adultery, and cannot be excused by God's mercy, by Christ's death, by the world's example of breaking the fourth commandment, or by talk of liberality and not being particular in little matters. Adam failed to bear the slight test and terrible retribution followed, and his case stands as a beacon of warning not to move on a liberal plan or become careless, because such a course leads to wide deviation from Christ's example, the only true pattern, and to growing defects of character.

The fall stands as a warning example against violating the express law of Jehovah through indulged appetite and passion, which brought sin into the world with unutterable woe, expulsion from Eden, misery and despair upon the race, and a lowered physical, mental, and moral condition. God's warnings are certain to be fulfilled, and every transgressor will sooner or later face punishment, yet men instead of taking warning continue the fall with a succession of falls while still mourning the sin Adam brought in. After the fall men thought they could choose to obey or disobey, and every violation repeats Adam's transgression and leads others in the same sin. Mothers are to keep the lesson of obedience before children, and Adam's own teaching called descendants to turn from transgression to obedience and faith. Those who love and obey receive blessings and promises, while dire results follow disobedience of God's requirements.

The law of God could not be changed or altered to meet man in his fallen condition, to pardon Adam and let him retain his home in Eden. The penalty of transgression remained death, so the Son of God stepped in as substitute and surety, pledged His own life as that penalty, and gave Himself as a sacrifice, that man might have another trial and be placed with all his posterity upon probation. This provision does not abolish God's law and does not give unconditional pardon, for the Father does not show benevolence at the expense of justice and does not set aside the principles of righteousness. To pardon without penalty would exalt the sinner in impenitence and sin and would encourage transgression instead of abating it. The law remains changeless in character and binding upon every human being, and eternal destiny is decided by obedience or disobedience to it.

The verse belongs to the authentic early history of the world, the origin of the earth, the creation of man and his fall, and the introduction of sin, together with the fall of the covering cherub. This true history keeps the mind from being left to fables and conjectures, bewildered by false theories, subjected to superstition and falsehood, and enfeebled by entertaining error, so there is no need to hamper the mind with human conjectures and unreliable theories. The fall of man is one of the great facts presented by the inspired writers and a pillar of the Christian faith, alongside creation, the atonement, and the perpetuity of the law of God. To reject or explain it away is practically to reject biblical truth. The fall stands connected with the relation of the Son of God to the Father and His position in heaven and with the mediatorship of Christ between man and his Creator.

Redemption and Restoration

Along with the curse came the promise of hope and pardon through Christ the Redeemer, and the gospel was first preached to Adam by Christ himself. Adam and Eve felt sincere sorrow and grief over their guilt, repented, believed the precious promise, and were saved from utter ruin. The penalty was so serious that the Son of God left heaven and gave himself to save humanity from it, stepping in to pledge His own life as the penalty so that man might have another trial. The sentence of death was not carried out in full at once, because Christ began the work of redeeming humanity and became a refuge from the wrath that justice would bring upon sinners, so that through faith fallen people can find safety and life and through Christ alone have access to God. This provision does not abolish God's law and does not give unconditional pardon, for the Father does not show benevolence at the expense of justice, and to pardon without penalty would exalt the sinner in impenitence and encourage transgression instead of abating it.

Christ entered the world in human nature, faced the very ground on which Adam fell, and overcame Satan's temptations, redeeming Adam's failure and fall. Adam's disobedience through indulged appetite brought misery and despair upon the human race and loss of divine favor, happiness, and Eden, while Christ's obedient victory in the wilderness after fasting forty days and nights redeemed that disgrace. Though tempted in a hundredfold severer manner and under far more trying circumstances than Adam, even when hungry He did not depart from His Father's will but withstood Satan. By that victory He placed the human family on vantage ground with God, making it possible for them to overcome in their own behalf through the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour, and making redemption and the regaining of lost Eden possible. The verse thus opens the temperance lesson that appetite defeated in Adam can be overcome in Christ.

Words of hope came before Adam heard of sorrow and toil, for before the consequences were announced God gave the promise of a Deliverer. All that was lost by yielding to Satan can be regained through Christ, the Son of God given to redeem the race from the destroyer and restore man to the image of God and to the perfection for which he was created. Adam had forfeited the dominion over creation entrusted to him, and the earth's present groaning and lamentation follow from that loss, but Christ will receive this dominion and reign as king over all the earth. At His return creation's groaning will cease and the earth will again be declared very good, redeemed from the curse through the Son of God's triumph and the way of salvation opened for fallen humanity, with humanity and the earth restored to Eden's perfection and glory.

Adam and Eve's eating appeared small yet opened the floodgates of woe to the world, and the holy pair fell, lost Eden, and were expelled in retribution, proving God does not overlook violation of one command. Their disobedience cost them their right to the tree of life, but Christ died so that through His blood obedience to God's law could restore that right and bring the promised blessing. The debt of transgression required God to give His Son from heaven to die to save the fallen race and make it possible for fallen man to keep God's law through Christ's merits and blood, for Jesus imparts His own righteousness and His obedience to every requirement of that transgressed law to those who obey God's law and believe on Him as Saviour. That valuable sacrifice exalts the law and evidences its sacred character, so mercy only covers guilt after sin is repented of and forsaken while justice and mercy go hand in hand. Therefore transgression of the Sabbath law placed in the bosom of the decalogue is as guilty as stealing or murder or adultery, and cannot be excused by God's mercy, by Christ's death, or by the world's example, and as Adam and Eve lost Eden for transgressing the law, those who transgress the same law will lose heaven. The advantage given through Christ is known by searching the Scriptures and standing in right relation to God, not repeating the transgression but obeying all God's requirements, overcoming as Christ overcame by perfect obedience, and bending footsteps heavenward toward the Eden home while pointing others there.

Such violation is the greatest loss and deepest injury that can be conceived, and the example and result should lead every soul to avoid sin and abhor sin as hateful. In view of the sufferings sin is sure to inflict, it is better to suffer loss of all things than to depart from the least of God's commandments. Choosing that same disobedience now forfeits the right to the Eden restored, for Adam and Eve lost their right to their Eden home by hearkening and eating. Since God means what He says and if men walk contrary to God He will walk contrary to them, the only safe course is to render obedience to all His requirements at whatever cost, because all are founded in infinite love and wisdom. A promise contrary to Scripture must be retracted without delay in humility and repentance, for it is far better to take it back in the fear of God than to keep it and dishonor the Maker, since there is heaven to gain and an open path to perdition to shun. That fall began a succession of falls continuing since Adam, and to keep disobeying now is to perpetuate that disobedience and set a bad example causing children to follow in it, while as responsible moral agents people are proved whether they will be obedient.

Human disobedience brought a blight upon nature, and after sin Adam and Eve lost the heavenly light that had enabled them to understand God clearly through His created works. Trusting in God brings peace and comfort while following one's own way brings thorns and thistles. Working the soil is a necessary condition of human life after sin, and labor itself is honorable and health-giving, for a life of useful labor is necessary for the physical, mental, and moral well-being of man, so no person rich or poor can glorify God by indolence. Time and physical strength are capital accountable to God for tithes and offerings and for the good of others. Because of sin the land was cursed, becoming diseased and lacking vigor so that food comes in sorrow, with loss of fertility as a consequence of sin. The curse can be countered when people obey God's requirements and directions for tilling the soil and cooperate with Him, for then the diseased land is restored to health to a prosperous and beautiful condition that is a praise and glory to His name, but if in selfishness and covetousness people claim the land as their own, manage it in their own wisdom without God, and refuse to give it its sabbath, the land loses its vigor and dearth and sickness testify to disobedience.