2. The Choice

Spend approximately one-third of your time on each section. Move on to the next section at the designated time even if you have not answered all the questions. You can focus on the questions you missed the next time you meet.

LOOK BACK

How have you experienced God this week?
What are you thankful for?
Is there anything which has been bothering you since we last met?
What have you put into practice since our last Discovery Bible reading?
Were you able to share the Discovery Bible passage or a God experience with anyone?

Pray together:

Thank God for the experiences, ask for God‘s help.
Pray that you may get to know new aspects of God and that your friendship with God would be strengthened and become deeper

LOOK UP

+ Context

This is the first recorded interaction of people with God.

Read the text out loud (you may want to take a break periodically to be successful with the next two steps)
Have one person retell the passage in their own words with the group’s help.
Was there anything missed or added from the retelling of the passage?
Now see if someone can tell the whole passage in their own words.

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,³but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.⁵“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.⁹But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

¹¹And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹²The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
    and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
    and you will eat dust
    all the days of your life.
¹⁵And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

¹⁶To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”

²⁰Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

²¹The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.²²And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”²³So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.²⁴After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

+ Additional Insights

Before we get into the tragedy of this chapter, let‘s take a look at an important point in the story. Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden. They immediately knew that it was God who was approaching. It did not seem to be extraordinary that God walked in the garden with them and that they spoke together. The relationship between humans and God must have been straightforward and wonderful.

How dramatically did that change when Adam and Eve suddenly had to choose between the snake and God. The snake advised them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But after eating from it, they had an even bigger problem. They knew that God would come to them in the garden that evening. What should they do? The man decided to blame the woman and the woman decided to blame the snake.

That was the beginning of individualism and egotism. They started to think of themselves as individuals instead of as a unit of man and woman. They stared to distance themselves from each other. That‘s why they made clothes from leaves. This just reflected what had already happened in their hearts. They drew a line between themselves, to protect themselves from each other and they both hid themselves from God too. Humans had only known goodness and lived in a wonderful relationship with God and with each other. By eating the forbidden fruit, they discovered evil and its consequences.

In due course humans were driven out of the garden and thus out of God‘s presence. The snake‘s advice was not completely wrong. They did not die immediately, but were severed from God, the source of life, and therefore became mortal.

Sadly, from that point onwards, not only humans, but the whole of creation fell under the influence of death, therefore some animals had to die to provide humans with clothes. Through that single action of human opposition towards God, all relationships were marred. The relationship to God was marred, the relationship between humans was marred and the relationship of humans towards nature and animals was marred.

What stands out to you in this passage?
What does this passage say about people?
What does this passage says about God and Jesus?

LOOK FORWARD

If this passage is from God, what difference would it make in your life? Is there:

A behaviour to change?
A promise to claim?
An example to follow?
A command to obey?
A command to obey?

+ Suggestion

Every night, write down an incident that illustrates the consequences of today‘s story.

Share with the group what you will put into practice for this week. Make sure it is a SMART goal (specific, measurable, achievalbe, realistic and timely). A template that you can use is:

By (specific time) I will (action) so that (result/application)

Who will you share this passage with this week?
Pray for each other.

OTHER LANGUAGES