Genesis 3:17 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the sentence passed on Adam, and it begins by naming his sin: “Because you listened to your wife” (Genesis 3:17). Adam tried to excuse himself by blaming Eve, saying, “She gave it to me.” But God does not accept that excuse. Eve could tempt him, but she could not force him, so her guilt did not remove his own.

This is how people’s weak excuses will work in God’s judgment. They will not only be rejected, they will be turned back on them as the basis of their sentence. “Out of your own mouth I will judge you.” Adam’s guilt is especially noted here because he gave in to another voice instead of obeying God.

God marks his displeasure against Adam in three ways. First, his dwelling place is cursed: “Cursed is the ground for your sake.” The earth itself, which should have been a pleasant home, is now marked by thorns and thistles. The ground here stands for the whole visible world, which became less useful and less pleasant for human life because of sin. God had given the earth to people as a good home, but sin changed that gift into something harder and less kind.

This curse does not mean Adam is cursed in the same direct way as the serpent (Genesis 3:14). The ground is cursed because of him, not him himself. There is mercy mixed into the judgment, because God still keeps Adam alive and still gives him a place on earth. The earth is no longer the garden it was, but it is still his home.

This curse on the ground also teaches Adam to look beyond the world for happiness. If everything below is ruined by sin, then true peace must be sought above. The earth can no longer be trusted to give lasting satisfaction.

Second, Adam’s work and enjoyment are made bitter. His labor will now be toil, and he will eat “in the sweat of your face” (Genesis 3:19). Before sin, work in the garden was pleasant and free from heavy burden. After sin, labor becomes tiring and painful, both to body and mind.

This shows two things. One, work is still our duty. We are bound to labor, and laziness is a bold rejection of God’s sentence. Two, the weariness that comes with labor is part of our just punishment, and we should bear it patiently. We should not make our burden heavier by sinful worry and restless striving.

His food is also changed. He must now eat “the herb of the field” instead of the rich plenty of Eden. Since he made himself like the beasts that perish, he is brought down to the same common food they eat. He is no longer fed with the special delights of the garden.

The manner of eating is changed too. He must eat in sorrow and in sweat. Adam could not eat without remembering the forbidden fruit, and the guilt and shame it brought. Human life is now filled with many troubles that take away much of its joy.

Some people cannot eat with pleasure because of sickness or sadness, and all people have reason to eat with sorrow because of sin. Even the happiest life in this world has grief mixed into it. Diseases, disasters, and death entered the world with sin and still trouble it. In all of this, God’s justice should be recognized.

Yet mercy is also mixed into this part of the sentence. Adam will sweat, but his labor will keep him from starving. He will have sorrow, but he will still eat bread that strengthens him. He is not sentenced to eat dust like the serpent, only the food of the field.

Third, Adam’s life is made short. Since his days will be full of trouble, it is a mercy that they are not longer. Still, because death is naturally frightening, even when life is hard, the sentence ends with death: “You will return to the ground out of which you were taken.” His body, which came from the dust, will go back to it.

This points back to the beginning of his body, which was formed from dust. God had only to withdraw the gift of immortality and the support that kept him alive, and Adam would return to dust.

These words point to the present corruption and ruin of Adam’s mind. “Dust you are” means that his precious soul was now, as it were, lost and buried in the dust of the body and the slime of the flesh. It had been made spiritual and heavenly, but it had become fleshly and earthly. His sentence is then read plainly: “To dust you shall return.” His body would be left by his soul, become a mass of dust, be laid in the grave, and mix again with the earth, which is our dust (Psalm 104:29).

This shows how small and weak human beings are. We are like dust, light as dust, and without lasting strength or solid weight. Our strength is not the strength of stone, and the one who made us remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:14). Man is the chief part of the dust of the world (Proverbs 8:26), but he is still dust. He is also a dying creature, moving steadily toward the grave. Dust can be lifted for a little while in a cloud, and it may seem important while the wind holds it up, but once that force is gone, it falls back to the ground. That is how man is, even a great man is only a large amount of dust, and he must return to his earth.

This also teaches that sin brought death into the world. If Adam had not sinned, he would not have died (Romans 5:12). God had given Adam a spark of immortality, something that could have been strengthened into endless life if he had kept doing good, but he foolishly put it out by willful sin. Now death is the pay of sin, and sin is the sting of death.

We should not leave this sentence on our first parents, because we are so closely bound up with it and still feel its effects today, until we have considered two things. First, the sad results of sin in Adam’s soul and in all his sinful descendants are fitly pictured by this sentence, and perhaps more was meant in it than we first notice. Though only bodily misery is named, it serves as a pattern of spiritual misery, the curse that entered the soul. The pains of childbirth picture the terrors and sharp pains of a guilty conscience, awakened to a sense of sin. From the beginning of lust, these sorrows grow, and sooner or later they will come on the sinner like labor pains that cannot be avoided.

The woman’s reduced place of submission also pictures the loss of spiritual freedom and freedom of will that comes from sin. The rule of sin in the soul is compared to a husband in Romans 7:1-5, and the sinner’s desire is toward it because he loves his slavery, and it rules over him. The curse of barrenness on the earth, together with thorns and briars, is a fitting picture of a corrupt soul’s barrenness in what is good and its fruitfulness in evil. It is covered with thorns, and nettles fill its surface, so it is close to being cursed (Hebrews 6:8). The hard labor and sweat also show how difficult service to God and true religion become through the weakness of the flesh, and how hard it now is to enter the kingdom of heaven. But praise God, it is not impossible.

The food made bitter by toil also points to the soul’s lack of the comfort of God’s favor, which is life itself and the bread of life. And the soul, like the body, tends back toward the dust of this world. It has a downward pull, an earthy stain (John 3:31). Second, we can also see how wonderfully the satisfaction our Lord Jesus made by his death and suffering answers this sentence on our first parents. Did sorrowful labor come in with sin? We read of Christ’s soul in travail (Isaiah 53:11), and the pains of death he suffered are called the pains of a woman in labor (Acts 2:24). Did subjection come in with sin? Christ was made under the law (Galatians 4:4).

Did the curse come in with sin? Christ was made a curse for us and died a cursed death (Galatians 3:13). Did thorns come in with sin? He was crowned with thorns for us. Did sweat come in with sin? He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood for us. Did sorrow come in with sin? He was a man of sorrows, and in his agony his soul was deeply grieved. Did death come in with sin? He became obedient to death. So the remedy is as broad as the wound. Praise God for Jesus Christ!