If God is in control and knew it would happen, is it His fault that we sin?

We kept going in Foundations with the story that explains why everything is the way it is — Genesis 3, the day the world broke.

It started with a question. The serpent came to the woman and asked, “Did God actually say…?” He did not attack God’s command head-on; he just put a crack in it and got her wondering whether God was holding out on her. Then came the lie — “You will not surely die” — and the fruit looked good, and she ate, and gave some to Adam, and he ate too.

So we stopped and asked the hard one: if God is in control and knew this would happen, is the sin His fault? James 1 answers plainly. God tempts no one. Temptation grows out of our own desire; desire gives birth to sin, and sin, fully grown, brings death. The choice was theirs — and it is ours too.

Watch what sin does next. Their eyes are opened, they feel exposed, and they sew fig leaves together and hide in the trees. When God comes walking, Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent — nobody will just own it. That is still the oldest move we have: cover up, then point somewhere else.

And it costs everything. Fellowship becomes alienation, innocence becomes guilt, harmony becomes conflict, life becomes death, home becomes exile. The good world God made is now under a curse.

But that is not where the chapter ends. Even as God hands down the curse, He turns to the serpent and makes a promise: one of the woman’s offspring will crush your head. In the same breath as the curse, God promised a Rescuer. That is the first time the gospel appears in the Bible — and its name turns out to be Jesus.

So carry this home: Adam and Eve hid and blamed. Where do you do the same — and what would it look like to stop hiding from the One who already came to find you?

Photos by Daniel Seßler, Merve Bayat and Chris Barbalis on Unsplash.