Genesis 3:1-24
The Fall of Man
1 Now 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’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but 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.”
6 When 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. 7 Then 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.
8 Then 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So 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.
15 And 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.”
16 To 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.”
17 To 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.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By 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.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And 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.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After 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.
John 15:1-17
Jesus on LOVE
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
When we read about Eve and Adam them eating the forbidden fruit, we learn about obedience...Love is much about obedience...Until I read Adam and Eve and them eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, I really had not given much of the importance of obedience to love and the connection between obedience and love...I thought about love that was more about a caring, a positive, emotional, chemistry type feeling and desire...But this feeling and desire seems to be trumped by the the request that God's wants us to follow His commands, and not our feelings and desires...And we see this in the Garden of Eden, where Eve and Adam are lead by a feeling and desire to eat something they think will be pleasing...And then when I read Jesus telling His Disciples, and after reading Adam and Eve story, I better see the connection between love and obedience...
So when Jesus teaches us about love and loving each other and says, “As the Father has LOVED Me, so have I LOVED you...Now remain in My LOVE...If you keep My commands, you will remain in My LOVE, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His LOVE...I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete...My command is this: Love each other as I have LOVED you...Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends...You are My friends if you do what I command...I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know His Master’s business...Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you...You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you...This is My command: Love each other...
Jesus makes is clear that if we do truly love Him, we will be obeying His commands and being obedient in fulfilling them and doing them each day (albeit that will be hard)...But if we follow His commands then others in the world will see that we love Him and we will help others see what God is like...This is what Jesus did as He was out in His ministry doing each day, obeying God and being obedient to Him, showing each and everyone what God is like...Our obedience to God flows out of the love we have for the Father and Son, and something we want to do out of love...Love takes obedience and discipline...Being obedient to God is something we will do and try to do to show our behavior is one that follows the Father and His Son out of our love for Them...Others will see this and then they will know more about what our Father is like...All this is shown out of obedience and love for God and His Son...