Introduction
When Eve, and afterward Adam through her, obeyed the serpent in the garden of Eden, they did more than commit an act of disobedience: they took on an image. All obedience produces two effects. The first is obvious: to obey is to submit to an authority. The second is less obvious, but just as real: whoever obeys ends up resembling the one obeyed, taking on that one’s image. That is why, when Eve and Adam obeyed the serpent, they took on the image of the serpent.
It is important to understand that this image is not only physical or a matter of outward appearance. It is, above all, a spiritual image: a way of thinking, feeling, and acting that stands opposed to the heavenly image God had designed for man and woman. Genesis 3 allows us to identify, step by step, the traits of that “image of the earth” that Adam and Eve took on that day — an image that many, without realizing it, still wear.
The purpose of this chapter is not simply to study what happened to Adam and Eve thousands of years ago. The purpose is for every reader to do a personal exercise: to identify the image of the earth each one has carried, whether inherited from their homeland or from the family line to which they belong, in order to put it off. For as long as that image of the earth is not removed, the heavenly image cannot be manifested. The apostle Paul states this clearly in his letter to the Ephesians: “put off… the old man… and… put on the new man, which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). The order the apostle presents is decisive: one must first put off the old man, removing the image of the earth, and only then put on the new man. That order cannot be reversed. Many, within a life of religion, have wanted to adopt behaviors, appearances, and ways of conducting themselves — which in reality are nothing more than mannerisms — believing that by doing so they are putting on the new man, without having first gone through the process of putting off the old nature.
In what follows, tracing the account in Genesis 3, we will identify one by one the images of the earth that Adam and Eve took on, so that each reader may examine their own life in light of them.
The First Image: Cunning
Genesis 3:1 opens by describing the serpent as “more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). This is the first image that Eve, and then Adam, took on by obeying the serpent: cunning.
Cunning is not a fruit of the Spirit. A man of God, a woman of God, cannot operate out of cunning. What is cunning? In general terms, it is the desire to take advantage of any situation: to see an opportunity to obtain something, to gain something, to benefit from something. When someone spots an opportunity and seeks to exploit it for personal gain, that person is walking in cunning, and by doing so is walking in the image of the earth, not the heavenly image. This is a serious warning for the believer: we cannot live or walk in cunning, because cunning does not come from God — it is the image of the earth.
The Second Image: Gossip and Rumor
The second image appears in the very question the serpent poses to the woman: “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). That way of approaching — bringing news, or in this case a question meant to plant doubt — corresponds to a spirit of gossip.
We must be very careful when we are led by a spirit of gossip, because that is exactly what it is: a spirit. Statements like “did you hear what happened to the neighbor?” or “did you hear what happened to so-and-so?” are manifestations of this image of the earth. Gossip always comes bearing something novel, presented with the purpose of drawing the person in, opening them up, so that through that opening the spiritual force seeking to take control of them and their household can enter.
In the spiritual realm there are families of demons — that is, spirits that operate in groups and combine with one another. Gossip is part of one of those families, because gossip carries rumor along with it. The believer cannot walk guided by rumors — “so-and-so told me they saw such-and-such person in such-and-such place” — because rumor walks hand in hand with gossip, and both are part of the image of the earth that must be put off.
Within this same image is also the intent to steer a person along a particular path: not daring to say directly what one wants to say, but going around by way of hints, leading the other person with roundabout talk until they themselves arrive at the conclusion one wanted to lead them to. Double-meaning jokes and words with a hidden, subliminal meaning behind them — saying one thing while concealing another — belong to this same spiritual family, and the believer must examine whether, by laughing along with them or taking part in them, they are becoming a participant in the same image of the earth.
These first two images — cunning and gossip — are often part of the culture of the nation we belonged to, or of the family line into which each of us was born.
The Third Image: Willfulness and Rebellion
Genesis 3:6 relates: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food… and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6). When the text says that Eve “saw” that the tree was good for food, it describes a third image of the earth: willfulness.
Willfulness is defined simply: it is seeing things differently from how God sees them. When a man, or a woman, sees things in a way different from how God sees them, that is called willfulness. A willful man, a willful woman, cannot grow in faith, because to grow in faith one must walk in obedience to the Lord. It is important to clarify that willfulness is not always a conscious, deliberate act in which a person decides to see things differently from how God sees them; many times God has spoken clearly, yet the person walks according to their own judgment, without realizing that this already amounts to willfulness. For this reason, many walk in willfulness without knowing it.
There is an important difference between willfulness and rebellion, though the two walk very close together. Rebellion occurs when the willful person incites others to see things as he sees them, contaminating other people with the same distorted vision he is walking in. This is precisely what Satan did. The prophet Ezekiel relates that Lucifer entered into rebellion (Ezekiel 28). Between willfulness and rebellion there is a very small step, a very narrow line.
Scripture offers a clear example of this process in the life of Absalom, who lived for years in willfulness and later fell into open rebellion against his father, King David, going so far as to draw others into his same attitude. For this reason, we must be very careful with statements such as “I don’t quite agree with what I’m being told” or “I don’t agree with the instruction, the teaching, or the correction I received, but I have my own judgment too.” That kind of attitude places a person on the threshold of willfulness, and from there the natural next step is rebellion. There is a vision to which every believer must submit and yield, and failing to recognize that is already a warning sign.
From a Spirit of Rebellion to a Spirit of Divination
This teaching connects directly with what the prophet Samuel declared to King Saul: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:23). This passage helps us understand that there are, indeed, families of demons that operate in combination: a person who falls into willfulness enters into rebellion, and from rebellion passes, almost immediately, into divination.
What does this mean in practice? That a person taken over by a spirit of divination begins to say “God showed me,” “God told me,” and draws other people — even entire families — after them on the basis of dreams and visions. Scripture warns of the existence of lying dreams and lying visions: it is possible for a person to genuinely have a dream or a vision, yet for that revelation to be contaminated. For this reason, neither a dream nor a vision can, by itself, guide a person — much less a group of people. Everything must be weighed and discerned within the body of Christ, among the spiritual authorities God has established and anointed for that purpose, because God does not contradict Himself: Jesus the Christ raised up a church, a body, to which the Holy Spirit gave gifts and ministries for its edification.
This is one of the reasons why there is so much confusion and chaos within the body of Christ today: the people of God are not reading or studying the Word, but merely hearing it, and so whoever rises up with a message or an idea manages to draw followers, while others remain ignorant of the truth, no longer knowing whom to believe. One example of this kind of confusion is imposing dress codes or color codes for consecration gatherings, presented as though they came from God when in reality they have no such basis. It is a different matter to establish a practical means of identification — for instance, wearing a shirt of a certain color to be recognized during a trip or activity where there is a risk of becoming separated — but that cannot be confused with imposing a dress code for a service dedicated to the Lord.
The Fourth Image: Eyes That Were Opened
Genesis 3:7 relates that after eating the fruit, “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). This opening of the eyes is another image of the earth that many have carried and walked in.
When “the eyes of both of them were opened,” things took on a different outlook: Adam and Eve began to see reality from a completely different perspective than before. It is worth noting that this contamination does not enter only through the eyes: in the account of Genesis 3 it can be seen that it first entered through the ears — what Eve heard from the serpent — then through the eyes — she saw that the tree was good for food and pleasant to look at — and finally through the mouth, when she ate of the fruit. These are the three doorways through which the contamination of the image of the earth can enter: the ear, the eye, and the mouth.
Genesis 3:6 adds that the tree was “desirable to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6), which introduces the theme of covetousness: the desire to attain a greater power than one legitimately holds, whether economic power, power over a person, over a family, in the workplace, or even a spiritual gift. There are people who covet a spiritual gift and want the Holy Spirit to grant it to them out of covetousness, when the purpose of every gift — including the gift of healing — is the edification of the church and the body of Christ, not personal exaltation or dominance over others. In the same way, there are those who desire a position or a spiritual mantle that God has not granted them, and they build an entire strategy to try to obtain it; when this happens, that person is operating under the image of Satan.
This opening of the eyes has yet another manifestation: the tendency to constantly notice and point out injustices in one’s surroundings — in what other people do, in the actions of the government, the police, or any other authority. When a person’s constant emphasis is on highlighting the injustice of the circumstances around them, that too is part of this image of the earth described in Genesis 3:7.
The Fifth Image: Nakedness and a Mindset of Lack
The same verse continues: “and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). This part of the text has to do with a sense of deficiency, a mindset of lack: “that can’t be done,” “that might be possible in another country, but here it really isn’t possible,” “things here are too expensive, that really can’t be done.” When this tendency is present in someone’s way of thinking, it too is a manifestation of the image of the earth.
The Sixth Image: Temporary Solutions
Genesis 3:7 concludes: “and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Genesis 3:7). This action represents the pursuit of temporary solutions rather than permanent ones.
The man of God, the woman of God, are not called to build temporary solutions, because doing so would be like patching an old garment with a piece of new cloth: in the end the patch tears and ends up ruining the garment. When someone seeks to “resolve” a situation in a merely provisional way, in the meantime, they should understand that they are walking in the image of the earth. The Lord leads His people to seek real solutions, not imaginative or impulsive ones. That is why, further on in the account, it is the Lord Himself who removes those fig-leaf coverings, because a temporary solution does not resolve the underlying problem; on the contrary, when a temporary solution is chosen, the situation tends to become even more complicated.
The Seventh Image: Hiding Behind an Image
Genesis 3:8 relates: “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8). Hiding is another image of the earth, characteristic of the fallen nature: hiding so that no one finds out what one did, so that no one knows what is going on, out of fear of what image others will form, of what will be said about the family or the household.
This tendency to hide is not limited to hiding sin itself; it often extends to the practice of building an image and hiding behind it. Some people construct a particular image for themselves, and that is the image they present outwardly, while remaining hidden behind it. They reach for particular words, sometimes repetitive ones, to sustain that facade, so that onlookers conclude there is a presence of God in them. This does not mean that every expression of praise or every spiritual manifestation is suspect — the believer has discernment from God for that purpose — but it is necessary to recognize that there are people who learn to repeat certain expressions, even speaking in tongues, imitating others, for the sole purpose of projecting an image of spirituality without any genuine reality behind it.
Often, those most prone to this image are leaders whose personal life remains completely hidden from the flock, because they do not want the flock to know their natural, everyday reality: they have created an image they cannot always sustain, and that image weakens or shifts once they are among family or friends, away from the ministry setting. When someone observes that a pastor, a leader, or a member of the flock behaves differently at a family gathering than they do when the congregation is gathered, that is a sign that a constructed image exists. What is right is for a person to conduct themselves the same way at home, with their family, at work, in the church, among the brethren, in the community, and wherever else they may be — including, for example, an unexpected encounter at the supermarket — because the presence of God does not depend on outward symbols such as a pulpit, a protocol, or oil, but rather God is present everywhere, and if the believer moves according to that reality, the presence of God is established wherever they go, and their conduct remains the same in the supermarket, in the hospital, or at home. When there are shifts in personality and attitude depending on the setting a person is in, that reveals unfinished work that needs attention.
The Eighth Image: Outside the Place Where God Placed Us
Genesis 3:9 relates the question God directs to the man: “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). This question reveals another image of the earth, and it helps us understand what the life of faith, and the work to which the Lord has called every believer, truly consists of: the image of the earth steps outside the place where God has placed it. Adam was not in the place where God had put him.
Belonging to a church or a ministry is not, by itself, a guarantee that a person is in the place God wants them to be. There may be no evident sin, nothing scandalous, and yet the person may still not be in the place God has determined for them. At times, God wants a believer in a specific position, and that believer is a few steps behind or a few steps ahead of the exact position they were meant to occupy. Someone might argue that they are preaching the gospel and are therefore fulfilling their calling; however, preaching the gospel is not the same as being in the specific place — including the country or the city — where the Lord determined that person should be. In the same way, it is possible not to be at the level of faith, the level of revelation, or doing what God would want one to be doing at a given moment.
Consistently receiving teaching and training — as happens, for instance, with those receiving instruction several times a week — is not, in itself, proof of being in the right place. If, despite receiving that teaching, a believer has no desire, not even to pray for the community in which they live, if they only seek to be filled themselves without feeling any need to intercede for those around them, that is a sign that something is happening. God has anointed His people to carry out services and ministries precisely in the place where each one is, and the question “Where are you?” continues to echo as a call to examine whether each believer truly occupies the place God has assigned them.
Conclusion
The account in Genesis 3 is not simply the story of the fall of Adam and Eve; it is a mirror in which every believer can examine their own life. Cunning, gossip and rumor, willfulness that leads to rebellion and rebellion that leads to divination, covetousness and the habit of pointing out injustices, a mindset of lack, the pursuit of temporary solutions, the habit of hiding behind a constructed image, and finding oneself outside the place where God has placed each one — all of these are manifestations of one and the same root: the image of the earth, often inherited from the nation or the family line to which we belong.
No spiritual discipline — not fasting, not vigils, not hours spent on one’s knees in prayer — can produce true growth as long as that image of the earth is not identified and removed. The order the apostle Paul established remains the way forward: first put off the old man, then put on the new, created according to God in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24). The believer no longer belongs to an earthly family, a nation, or a genealogy according to the flesh, but is a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, and as such is called to leave behind the image that earth and that ancestry passed down, in order to be found, fully, in the place where God has set them.
Review Questions
1. What does it mean that Adam and Eve “took on the image” of the serpent by obeying it, and why is it necessary to first put off the old man before putting on the new, according to Ephesians 4:22-24?
2. Of the eight images of the earth identified in this chapter (cunning, gossip and rumor, willfulness and rebellion, opened eyes through covetousness and injustice, a mindset of lack, temporary solutions, hiding behind an image, and being outside the place God assigned), which do you recognize most clearly in your own life or in your family’s history, and what concrete steps can you take to remove it?
3. What is the difference between willfulness and rebellion, and why does the chapter warn that the step from one to the other — and from there to divination — is so small and so dangerous?
4. Why does building and maintaining a spiritual image before others, while living a different reality in private, amount to a form of hiding from the presence of God, and what should characterize a believer’s consistency in every area of life?
5. What does the question God asks Adam, “Where are you?”, mean for you, and how can you examine whether you are in the place, the level of faith, and the specific calling God has determined for you?
Leave a comment