The Origin of Sin, Part 1: Where Sin Began

When asked where sin began, most of us would say in the Garden of Eden. That answer would be partially correct, but not a complete answer. We all know Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I looked up the word "beginning" in three different books.

The Dictionary of Biblical Languages (DBL)

The New Strong's Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Driver and Briggs Hebrew Lexicon

Driver and Briggs compared other languages so that I won't bore everyone with that, but what I found is amazing. We all already know that the beginning is the most essential part of anything. But what is easy to overlook is that we don't see the whole meaning. Strong's # H7225 defines the beginning as " the first, in place, time, order or rank (specifically, a firstfruit)If we read John 1:1, we can compare Jesus, the First Fruit of God, who is an offering as a free gift to the world in John 3:16. Paul calls Jesus the firstfruits of those who have died in Christ (1 Cor 15:20). So it's pretty easy to see that Jesus is in Genesis 1:1. The word beginning is a transliteration of the word bə·rê·šîṯ and it's root word is ro'sh (Strong #H7218), meaning "the head". To summarize, the Bible is telling us that Christ has always been and will always be. He has always been with the Father, and without Him (Jesus) nothing was created. To see the flow of the entire Bible we need to understand the Tree of Life in Genesis 3:24. Adam and Eve were forbidden by God to eat of that tree. They would have remained in a fallen state forever if they had eaten of the tree. So when God expelled them from the garden, it wasn't a punishment; it was Him protecting us. The same tree we see in Genesis (beginning) is also in Revelation 22:2. All who put their trust in God will be able to eat of the tree.

So we see who has always been and will always be the head of all things, let's look at the origin of sin. We'll start in the New Testament and work back through the Old Testament. In John 8:44, Jesus tells the Pharisees “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

A father is someone who imparts life. Satan is more than happy to deceive us with a false sense of living life, but in this case, it was a choice of the Pharisees to follow satan. Jesus was telling them the truth of who He is, and they called Him a bastard. (Fatherless). In verse 54 He tells them it is His Father who honors Him. That applies to all of us. We must understand that God the Father and God the Son honor one another. He has given us His Holy Spirit to bring honor to Him, but because the Pharisees refused to listen to His word, they were easily deceived by the father of lies, deceit, and murder. I pray we all hear His word!

My next post will complete the origin of sin.

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