People turn away from God

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

In Genesis 3:1–15, Adam and Eve disobey God and hide. God speaks to them and announces a promise that leads us towards His Rescuer.

Preparing your own heart and understanding

Begin with God’s goodness

Read Genesis 2:15–17 before Genesis 3:1–15. God had placed the man in a good garden, given him work and generously provided food. The prohibition concerning one tree came within that generosity. It was not an arbitrary trap. The man and woman were creatures who owed trust and obedience to their good Creator.

The serpent’s question distorts what God said and invites suspicion of His goodness. His denial contradicts God’s warning. Eve sees the fruit as desirable, takes and eats it, and gives some to Adam, who also eats. The account holds both people responsible. Do not turn it into a story in which women cause men’s sin, or children learn to blame someone else for their own choices.

Disobedience is more than a mistake

Sin is turning from God and His good rule. An accidental spill, a limited skill or a child’s difficulty settling is not the same thing as the deliberate rejection described here. For the children, a plain explanation is enough: “God told them not to eat from that tree. They ate from it.” Do not make the fruit itself evil or suggest that eating fruit is wrong. Scripture does not identify the kind of fruit, so we do not call it an apple.

After disobeying, the people cover themselves and hide. Their fellowship with God is broken. Read on through the rest of Genesis 3 for your own understanding of the consequences: pain, frustration, death and exclusion from the garden. Our short telling does not describe each consequence, but it must not reduce the fall to a small mishap that the people can fix by trying harder. Romans 5:12–19 helps us understand the reach of Adam’s sin and our need for Christ.

God comes and speaks

God’s question to Adam brings him into the open; it does not mean God has lost him. The questions in the account reveal what the people have done. Adam blames the woman and, indirectly, God; Eve points to the serpent’s deception. God’s judgement is just. He does not excuse their actions because someone else was involved.

Keep the classroom telling calm. There is no need to stage a frightening voice, invite children to hide from God or make them act the serpent’s deception. The children can hear what happened without being cast as the sinners or the tempter in a game. Likewise, do not ask for personal stories of wrongdoing or ask children to accuse one another. The account itself gives everything needed to explain the truth.

A promise that opens the way ahead

In Genesis 3:15 God announces conflict between the serpent and the woman, and between their offspring. The head-and-heel language includes suffering and a decisive defeat for the serpent. This is an early promise whose significance becomes clearer as Scripture unfolds. The New Testament identifies the ancient serpent with the devil and shows the Son of God overcoming his work (Revelation 12:9; 1 John 3:8). We read the promise in that larger biblical light, without pretending Adam and Eve were given every later detail.

Jesus came to save sinners. He obeyed His Father, died for sins and rose again. Our rescue is His work, not the achievement of children who can repeat the right answer or complete a good picture. The short New Testament quotation used at the end of the lesson and on the take-home page names this hope clearly. Explain “sinners” as people who turn away from God; it includes adults as well as children.

God’s mercy does not make His word optional. We can ask Him to forgive us and help us obey Him because He is good. Distinguish obedience to God from unquestioning obedience to every adult. Nothing in this lesson requires a child to keep a harmful secret or comply with unsafe behaviour. Shared safeguarding and your church’s care arrangements continue to apply.

Helping the children follow the account

The three pictures carry a simple sequence: God spoke; the people disobeyed; God promised rescue. Show them slowly and repeat those connections while children look or place them. The first picture imagines a leafy garden with good food growing. It does not identify the tree or the kind of fruit God forbade. The two people pictures are imagined illustrations of the account, not evidence of the people’s appearance. Their leaf coverings belong after their disobedience. God is not pictured.

Children do not need to explain the whole doctrine of the fall. Look for a first distinction between God’s command and the people’s choice, and let them hear the promise again. Offer a point, a gesture or a supplied phrase when speaking is difficult. An older child may be ready to tell the sequence in their own words. Do not infer a child’s standing before God from either response.

Getting ready to lead

Use the whole teaching pictures on pages 1–3 of Printable Resources. Page 4 is the colouring backup, page 5 supports the paper activity, and page 6 is the optional take-home sheet, also supplied as a separate PDF. The church session is complete without work at home.

Prepare only the option you choose. The Lesson gives separate quantities, setup and child steps for colouring, paper making and play. Read those directions before choosing materials; use large pieces suited to the youngest children and prepare adult cuts beforehand. No child needs to complete all three alternatives.

A child may point to the hiding picture or recall that God had said not to eat from one tree. Help distinguish God’s command from the people’s choice, then return to His promise. Keep questions about the account.

Ask, “Did God leave them with no hope?” Help with “He promised a Rescuer. Jesus came to save sinners.” Allow time for a response, supply words when needed and welcome a familiar language. A child may watch, point or work beside you. These observations help you teach; they do not establish faith, forgiveness or God’s favour.

The Focus summarises the teaching; the take-home Bible verse is a separate, attributed quotation. Keep both connected to the passage. Familiar play remains available for children who finish, and the activity period includes cleanup. Follow the church’s arrangements for care and supervised collection.

Read the teaching aloud once, look through the pictures and pray for patient attention to the children. The quiet and no-print choices are full ways to participate, not lesser work.

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.