Grace

The story of human beings might well have ended with the first sin. But the Bible tells a different story. Adam and Eve weren’t simply banished from paradise. They also received God’s promise that he would solve the problem of sin. This is called the promise of God’s grace.

Sure, the outside (soto) world is tough. It’s hard. It’s full of problems. But because of God’s promise, there is hope. It’s true: this world doesn’t compare to paradise, where you could have fellowship with God face to face. But if you seek God even now, you will find him. We can know God. This is the world we live in.

But how do you think God’s promise to solve the problem of sin can be fulfilled?

Grace

Opening Questions

Think of the worst person you know. What do you think they deserve?
What comes to mind when you hear the word “grace” (in Japanese, megumi)? [Note that to most Japanese (especially non-Christians but also Christians) the word megumi has connotations of “bounty” or “blessings”, often attributed to “nature”.]

Last time we read the story of the fall of the first man and woman into sin. We learned that the Bible understands sin in terms of relationship to God and his words or commands. We also saw that sin is not so much discrete actions as it is a condition of the heart that does not accept God’s authority to “know” (decide) good and evil, but wants to make such determinations itself. According to the Bible, this is now the human default, and it is the root cause of human evil.

It would have been just/right for God to punish sin with immediate death. The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But although Adam and Eve were now destined to die, and cast out of the uchi fellowship of paradise—a kind of spiritual death—they remained alive, sustained (of course) by God. We saw a hint of God’s undeserved favour to the man and woman last time when God barred their access to the tree of life, so that they might not always live in a condition of rebellion against God, under his judgment. Today, we’re going to see some more hints of God’s undeserved favor to his creatures as the story unfolds.

The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
The man called his wife’s name Eve¹, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
Genesis 3:14-21

What hints of God’s undeserved favour to the man and woman can you find here?
What questions remain about the relationship between God’s justice and his mercy?

The word “grace” is used in the Bible with a range of meanings. But one of the most important meanings is “unmerited favor”.

When God gives his “self-introduction” later in the Bible, he describes himself in this way:

The Lord, the Lord², a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love³ and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love† for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.
Exodus 34:6-7

Is there anything surprising to you about God’s self-introduction?

Concluding questions:

How do you feel about the idea of God forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin?
How do you feel about the idea that God might forgive your sin?

By giving Adam and Eve hope of life, by clothing their nakedness in sacrificial garments, and by the promise of a descendent of Eve who would crush the serpent’s head, God committed to a future solution to the problem of sin, according to his grace. Next time, we’ll see how this promise has been fulfilled in history.

Footnotes

[1] Eve sounds like the Hebrew for life-giver.

[2] The Lord (in small caps) translates a Hebrew name that means “I am”.

[3] This is the term that is translated megumi (grace) in the Japanese Bible. “Gracious” in the English Bible (ESV) is rendered nasakebukai (compassionate) in Japanese.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.