Genesis 3:11 - Meaning and Application

Here we see the offenders found guilty by their own confession, yet still trying to excuse and soften their fault. They could not honestly deny what they had done, so they admitted it while trying to lessen its weight. Notice how this happened.

I. Their confession was drawn out of them. God questioned the man: “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11). In other words, “How did you come to know your nakedness as shame? Have you eaten from the forbidden tree?” God knew their sin already, yet he still required an honest confession. He did not ask because he needed information, but because they needed humility. In this questioning, God also reminded Adam of the command he had received: “I told you not to eat it. I am your Maker, your Master, and your benefactor. I commanded you the opposite.”

Sin looks clearest and most serious when we compare it with God’s command. That is why God set the command before Adam, and why we should also see ourselves in it. The question to the woman was, “What is this that you have done?” (Genesis 3:13). It was as if God were saying, “Will you admit your fault and see how evil it was?” Anyone who has eaten forbidden fruit, and especially anyone who has led others into sin, should seriously think about what they have done. By eating forbidden fruit, we have offended a great and gracious God, broken a just and righteous law, violated a holy covenant, and harmed our own souls by losing God’s favor and bringing ourselves under his wrath and curse. By leading others into it, we do the devil’s work, become guilty of other people’s sins, and help bring ruin on them. What have we done?

II. Their confession was weakened by excuses. It was useless to claim innocence. Their faces showed their guilt, so they became their own accusers: “I did eat,” said the man, and “I did too,” said the woman. When God judges, he will prove himself right. Yet these do not sound like true repentant confessions, because instead of making their sin look worse and taking the shame on themselves, they push the blame onto others.

Adam put all the blame on his wife. “She gave me the fruit, and she urged me to eat it, so I did it, just to please her.” That was a weak excuse. He should have guided her, not followed her. It was not hard to see which one he should obey, his God or his wife. We should never be persuaded into sin by what will not help us when we stand before God. We should never let what supports us in the act fail us in the judgment. So let us never give in to pressure and act against our conscience, and never offend God in order to please even our closest friend.

But Adam’s excuse was worse than that. He did not only blame his wife, he spoke in a way that seemed to blame God too: “It was the woman you gave me, the woman you gave to be with me as my companion, guide, and acquaintance. She gave me the fruit, so I ate.” In effect, he hinted that God was somehow involved in his sin, because God gave him the woman and she gave him the fruit. It was as if the fruit came to him almost straight from God’s own hand. There is a strange tendency in tempted people to say that they were tempted by God, as if misusing God’s gifts could excuse breaking God’s laws. God gives us wealth, honor, and relationships so that we may gladly serve him while enjoying them. If we use those gifts as an excuse to sin, we must not blame Providence for placing us in such a situation. We must blame ourselves for twisting God’s kind purposes.

Eve blamed the serpent. “The serpent deceived me.” Sin is like a child no one wants to claim, which shows how shameful it is. People are often willing to enjoy the pleasure and gain of sin, but not the blame and shame of it. “The serpent,” she says, that crafty creature God made, and which he allowed into paradise, “deceived me,” or led me astray, for our sins are our errors.

From this we learn two things. First, Satan’s temptations are always deceptions. His arguments are lies, and his attractions are tricks. When he speaks kindly, do not trust him. Sin deceives us, and by deceiving us, it cheats us. It is through sin’s deceitfulness that the heart becomes hard (Romans 7:11; Hebrews 3:13). Second, even if Satan’s craftiness pulled us into sin, that does not excuse us. He is the tempter, but we are the sinners. In fact, it is our own evil desires that drag us away and trap us (James 1:14). So let it not lessen our sorrow and humility that we were deceived into sin. Rather, let it increase our shame that we allowed ourselves to be fooled by a known liar and sworn enemy.

This is all the prisoners have to say in their own defense, why sentence should not be given and judgment carried out according to the law. And all of it amounts to almost nothing, and in some ways is worse than nothing.