• Date: September 8, 2024
• Bible Readings: Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17; 3:1-8
• The Point: God loves us, even when we do the wrong thing.
• Free Resource: NL Planning Tool (Year 3, 2024-2025)
• Bonus Resources: The first lesson for each of our products!
• Unit Theme (September 8—October 20): Promises Made, Promises Broken

The Narrative Lectionary starts the year with the story of the creation and fall of humans in Genesis 2 and 3. An important first step as we study any Bible passage is to pay attention to details. In this case, did the crafty serpent actually lie?

Welcome to a new year—at least for the Narrative Lectionary and many schools in the Northern Hemisphere!

If you are not familiar with who we are as a company, you might be wondering “What is Spirit & Truth Publishing?” Spirit & Truth Publishing is a small, independent business that publishes easy-to-use, theologically sound, and inclusive faith formation resources. Among the resources we create is a set of ten products that follow the Narrative Lectionary.

I describe the Narrative Lectionary (henceforth designated NL) more in a dedicated page creatively called “What Is the Narrative Lectionary?” But at its most basic level, the NL is a calendar of Bible passages intended to be used in worship and education to teach people the broad scope of Scripture from creation through the early church over approximately nine months.

Origins of Evil

The story in Genesis 3 is often seen as the story about how evil, sin, and brokenness came into God’s good creation. This chapter is a continuation of the second creation story in chapter 2, and the seed of the narrative problem is dropped in Genesis 2:16-17:

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Just by reading that you know what’s going to happen—narrative foreshadowing.

Questions, Questions, Questions

Pretty much every passage of Scripture presents us with the interpretive question: What does this mean? Some have relatively simple explanations, others need research, and still others leave even the best scholars making educated guesses.

This creation story is, on the surface, easy to follow. You can even have kids act it out while you read it without much simplification. The problems come when we try to understand the “whats” and “whys” of it all.

• What is the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” supposed to be?
• Why is it bad?
• If it’s dangerous for the first people, why did God plant it in the first place?

Scholars have been debating these for years, and their interpretations further their theological traditions. (A bit unfair to state that scholars do what is basically eisegeses (reading an outside interpretation into the text rather than gaining the interpretation out from the text), but that’s a whole different conversation.)

I am not qualified to join into that debate, so I won’t.

The First Question

In Genesis—as far as I can see—the first question ever is from the crafty serpent. And in the following conversation, the serpent tempts the first humans into disobeying God. We generally think of the serpent (or the devil, who the serpent is usually interpreted to be) as a liar. But is that true? In fact, the serpent demonstrates the best—or worst—way to lie: by telling the truth.

Serpent: “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

It is a question, so it’s hard to determine the “truth” of it, but it is a contextually relevant question. (Of course, why would the serpent even bother to ask?)

Woman: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.”

If we are looking only at the text here, this is the first untruth. God did not say anything about touching the fruit. But, God’s command was given to the man before the woman was created, so perhaps the message changed in the transmission.

Serpent: “You will not die…”

It is true (from a certain point of view) that the woman and man didn’t die when they ate it, in terms of dropping dead like it was poisonous. God was warning them that they would lose their intimate connection with God, and therefore immortality.

Serpent: “…for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened…”

The woman and man’s eyes were indeed opened when they eat the fruit. But what they saw (or started caring about) was that they were naked and ashamed.

Serpent: “…and you will be like God [or gods], knowing good and evil.”

I really have no idea what this means, but the truth of this is confirmed by God in verse 22: “Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has becomes like one of us, knowing good and evil.’”

So, from the direct meaning of the text, the serpent did not lie. Even the “you will not die” statement is true. To see the truth in God’s warning, we must expand the meaning beyond how we would normally understand it.

What the serpent did was to frame the truth in a way that caused the woman (and man) to doubt God’s word. It did not make them do it; the responsibility is all theirs.

Faith Formation Connection

The purpose of this blog, which is written by a faith formation publisher, is to aid faith formation leaders in their ministries, whatever they are: preaching, teaching, leading worship or a small group, or anything else. So, what is the faith formation connection here?

• Be age appropriate. My reflection above, and any conclusions from it, are not developmentally appropriate for younger participants. Save the deeper ponderings of lies, truth, and deception for adults, or even youth.
• Don’t lie. It’s important to try to understand the text as best as you can. Even if you can’t use that directly in your ministry, make sure what you do teach is as accurate to the text as possible. For example, don’t say that the serpent lied. Point to all the other bad things it did. And please don’t call the forbidden fruit an apple! That came much later when someone connected a word play (the Latin for “bad apple” is “malum malum”) to this story.
• Engage the senses. To engage your participants, don’t just talk to them! This is a great story to act out or move to it. Smell, touch, and taste fruit, hear the serpent’s hiss, see images of trees, snakes, and fruit!

Most of all, have fun! Sure, Scripture deals with serious topics, but we also want to connect a sense of wonder and joy with the Bible.

In God’s unending love,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

Free Resource

During the main Narrative Lectionary year (this year: September 8 to June 8), we provide a free resource download from one of our products to help you in your faith formation ministry. This week, download our FREE NL Planning Tool (Year 3, 2024-2025) that helps preachers, teachers, worship leaders, and more to plan ahead, and plan together!

Order Faith Formation Resources

It’s not too late to order for the 2024-2025 program year! Narrative Lectionary, Revised Common Lectionary, Classic Sunday School, and more. Products are available for immediate download. If you don’t have much time for children’s Christian education, then check out our Kids Mini Lessons for the NL and RCL.

Are you still looking for shorter resources to launch the program year, family/intergenerational events, or Sunday school? Check out our Learning Together series, a set of five-lesson units on a variety of topics. You can read outside reviews on both our newest Do Justice and Created to Care units! Our faith formation resources are easy to use, theologically sound, and inclusive.

Introducing our newest Learning Together unit: Created to Care! Wonder at God’s creation and learn about what we can do to protect and heal it in these five lessons, intended for children and intergenerational groups, family or churchwide events, or Vacation Bible School. This curriculum is published in collaboration with BibleWorm, a weekly Narrative Lectionary podcast, to accompany their summer series on Creation Care.

At Spirit & Truth Publishing, we might just have exactly what you are looking for:

• Resources for the Narrative Lectionary (2024-2025): Products for all ages (with NEW mini lessons, if you only have a short time for elementary faith formation).
• Classic Sunday School Curriculum: Key Bible stories for PK-2nd and 3rd-6th, also great for your Christian elementary school!
• Learning Together: Five-lesson, topical units for VBS, Sunday school, children, and intergenerational classes.
• Cross+Generational Confirmation
• Resources for the Revised Common Lectionary (2024-2025): Intergenerational classroom, mini lessons for children.
• Worship and Liturgy Education

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