Bible Gateway Plus Study #3: The Fall (Genesis 3:1-24)

A step-by-step Bible study for use with your Bible Gateway Plus membership
Welcome to our Bible study guide for Genesis 3:1-24! This study guide is designed to function as a
simple tutorial for studying a Bible passage, and for using Bible Gateway's tools to do so.

This Bible study is based on our Big Picture Bible Reading Checklist, which highlights 100 key Bible
passages that together tell the grand story of Gods plan for us today. Todays study looks at the third
reading on that Checklist. If you didnt receive your Checklist or the previous Bible studies in this series,
contact support@biblegateway.com to request them. The Checklist is helpful but not required to do this
Bible study.

Before You Begin

In the first Bible study in this series, we explained the resources youll want to gather before starting
your study. If you havent read through any of the previous Bible studies, or if you are new to Bible
Gateway Plus, we encourage you to start with the first Bible study in this series (on Genesis 1-2), as it
has many tutorial notes which explain how to best use Bible Gateway Plus in conjunction with these
Bible studies.

Heres what youll need to do this Bible study:

45-60 minutes of distraction-free time, in a comfortable location.

A Bible. This guide assumes you are reading on BibleGateway.com and are logged into your
Bible Gateway Plus account; this is highly recommended and will make it easier to use this
guide. It will also be helpful if youre familiar with some of Bible Gateways advanced study
features, particularly the parallel (side-by-side) Bible viewing feature. (Click here to learn how to
read multiple Bibles side-by-side on Bible Gateway.) You can use any Bible version(s) that you
want, but this study is written with the English Standard Version (ESV) in mind.
Access to Bible reference works. This guide assumes that youre using the Bible Gateway Plus
study library for this purpose. Well continue to draw on the study resources weve used in past
Bible studies, but will add the Expositors Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition) to the mix.
Weve provided quick links below to these resources. If youre new to Bible Gateway Plus or
arent sure how to use it, click here for a short tutorial that shows you how to access Bible
references in Bible Gateway Plus.
A way to take notes. Remember, writing down your thoughts and answers to the reflection
questions will greatly help you process what you read. Bible Gateway has an online note-taking
tool for this purpose (click here to learn how to use it), or you can take notes the old-fashioned
way on paperwhatever works best for you.

Step One: A Prayer for Understanding

It's always a good idea to begin your study encounter with a prayer to God. If you're not sure what to
pray, try this:

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 Dear God, thank you for the opportunity to read and study your Word today. As I read today
about the first appearance of sin and evil in your Creation, please grant me a focused mind and
an open heart to understand what you want me to learn. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Step Two: Read the Bible Passage

Start by looking up todays Bible passage, Genesis 3:1-24, in the Bible.

Click here to read Genesis 3:1-24 on Bible Gateway.

As we noted in the previous Bible study, its often very useful to read the same passage in more than
one Bible version. Choose a second Bible version in which to read Genesis 3:1-24, and then consider the
two questions below. (If youre not sure which Bibles to use, try the ESV and NIV. Click here to read
Genesis 3:1-24 in both the ESV and NIV side-by-side.)

Consider these questions as you read these two different translations of Genesis 3:

1. How do these two Bibles differ in their translation of this passage?

2. Do you find one Bible easier to read and understand than the other? Why?

Once youre finished with this exercise, close the second Bible and return to just one Bible version. You
can choose whichever Bible you like; for the purposes of the study questions below, we assume youre
using the ESV. Click here to read Genesis 3:1-24 in the ESV.

Step Three: The Basic Questions

Now take a few minutes to answer the following general questions about what you just read. We highly
recommend writing these answers downyou can use Bible Gateway's note-taking tool for this
purpose, or jot them down in a physical journal or notebook.

1. How would I summarize this passage in just a few sentences?

2. What is God doing in this passage? What do God's words and actions in this passage tell me
about who God is?
3. Who are the human characters in this story? Can I relate to any of them? How?

Now that you've done an initial read of this passage and have recorded your initial reactions to it, it's
time to explore it in more detail!

Step Four: Digging Deeper

Walk through each of the questions/exercises below. Not all of these questions can be answered by just
reading the passagemost require you to access the study Bibles and other resources available to you
in your Bible Gateway Plus study library. Anytime a particular study resource is useful for answering a
question, we list the specific commentary and provide a link to it.

1. We visited Genesis in the first Bible study in this series, but it cant hurt to review a basic
overview of the book of Genesiswho wrote it and what themes you can expect to encounter
while reading it. The MacArthur Study Bible's summary of Genesis provides a good overview of
the entire book of Genesis. (Click here to read it.) And once youve read that, take a look at the

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NIV Student Bibles guided tour of just Genesis 3, which will show you the big picture of this
important Bible passage. (Click here to read it.)

2. What is the talking serpent mentioned in the opening verses of this passage? Do you think it
was an actual snake? What does it mean that the serpent was "crafty"? For a look at the ways
that Christians through the ages have understood the serpent and its role in this story, see the
NIV First-Century Bible's note on Genesis 3:1. (Click here to read it.) For an additional nuanced
take on the serpent, see the Expositor's Bible Commentarys note on this verse. (Click here to
read it.)

3. In verse 3, the woman quotes Godbut she's subtly changed what God actually said.
(Compare her version to what God originally said in Genesis 2:16-17.) What is the difference
and why do you think she might have made this change? The NIV Study Bible (click here to read)
and the NKJV Study Bible (click here to read) offer two different ways to understand this.

4. What would it mean to "be like God, knowing good and evil"? Why would the man and
woman be tempted by that... and would that knowledge be a good or bad thing? See the
Expositor's Bible Commentary note on Genesis 3:2-7. (Click here to read it.)

5. What is the significance in verse 7 of the man and woman realizing that they were naked?
Why would this be a result of their action? See the MacArthur Study Bible's note on Genesis 3:7.
(Click here to read it.)

6. What do Genesis 3:8 and the next few verses tell us about the humans' relationship with God
before they ate the forbidden fruit? What has now changed in that relationship? See the
Expositor's Bible Commentary note on Genesis 3:8. (Click here to read it.)

7. God's response to Eve's confession is to place the three guilty partiesthe serpent, the man,
and the womanunder curses. We're familiar with curses in the context of fairy tales, but what
does the Bible mean when it refers to a curse? Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary has a
detailed breakdown of the word "curse" as it appears in this chapter. (Click here to read it.)

8. In verse 15, God pronounces an ongoing "enmity" between the serpent and the woman (and
their offspring). Who are those respective offspring? For a detailed exploration of this somewhat
challenging verse, see the Expositor's Bible Commentary note on verses 14-15. (Click here to
read it.) For the traditional Christian understanding of this verse's meaning, see the NIV Study
Bible's note. (Click here to read it.)

9. Do the curses on the man and woman described in verses 16-19 still persist in our world
today? Beyond the immediate results of these curses, in what ways did they change the
fundamental relationships that humans enjoy with each other, and with God's creation? See the
NIV Quest Study Bible (click here to read) and Expositor's Bible Commentary (click here to read)
for insight into the consequences of these pronouncements.

10. In verse 22, what do you think it means that man has become "like" God? Do you think this
is what the man and woman hoped would happen when they ate the forbidden fruit? See the
NIV Quest Study Bible's note on verse 22. (Click here to read it.)

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Now that you've considered the above questions, it's time to go back and take a look at any specific
verses or sections that you highlighted as interesting (or confusing), and which the above questions
didn't address. To do so, use the same approach we've used with the above questions. Once you've
identified the verse you want to study, use the study resources above (or different resources of your
choice) to help you explore them further.

Step Five: Personal Application Questions

What you read in the Bible should shape your understanding of who God is today, and what your
relationship to him should be. Think through the following questions:

1. Look back at your early answers in Step Three above. Has your understanding of this passage
changed since you first read it? How?
2. What does this Bible passage teach you about Godwho he is, and what he desires?
3. What about this Bible passage speaks to you today? What idea or lesson will you take with you
as you go about your everyday routine?

Step Six: Closing Prayer

It's always a good idea to conclude your Bible encounter with a prayer. If you're not sure what to pray,
try this:

Dear God, thank you for making your Word available to me to read and study. Thank you for the
love and grace you show us even though weve disobeyed you. Please help me to carry this
passage with me as I go through my daily routine, and open my ears and heart to hear the
message you want me to take from today's reading. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

The Next Step

In our next Bible study well return to the New Testament to read about an angels messages in Luke
1:1-80.