The Introduction of Sin. Sin occurred first in the spirit realm before its introduction on earth. For unknown ages full harmony with God prevailed in the universe. Disruption came through a spirit creature referred to simply as the Resister, Adversary (Heb., Sa·tanʹ; Gr., Sa·ta·nasʹ; Job 1:6; Ro 16:20), the principal False Accuser or Slanderer (Gr., Di·aʹbo·los) of God. (Heb 2:14; Re 12:9) Hence, the apostle John says: “He who carries on sin originates with the Devil, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning.”​—1Jo 3:8.

By “the beginning” John clearly means the beginning of Satan’s career of opposition, even as “beginning” is used to refer to the start of the discipleship of Christians at 1 John 2:7; 3:11. John’s words show that, once having introduced sin, Satan continued his sinful course. Hence, any person that “makes sin his business or practice” reveals himself to be a ‘child’ of the Adversary, spiritual offspring reflecting the qualities of his “father.”​—The Expositor’s Greek Testament, edited by W. R. Nicoll, 1967, Vol. V, p. 185; Joh 8:44; 1Jo 3:10-12.

Since cultivation of wrong desire to the point of fertility precedes the ‘birth of sin’ (Jas 1:14, 15), the spirit creature who turned opposer had already begun to deviate from righteousness, had experienced disaffection toward God, prior to the actual manifestation of sin.

The woman was the first human sinner. Her temptation by God’s Adversary, who employed a serpent as a medium of communication (see PERFECTION [The first sinner and the king of Tyre]), was not through an open appeal to immorality of a sensual nature. Rather, it paraded as an appeal to the desire for supposed intellectual elevation and freedom. After first getting Eve to restate God’s law, which she evidently had received through her husband, the Tempter then made an assault on God’s truthfulness and goodness. He asserted that eating fruit from the prescribed tree would result, not in death, but in enlightenment and godlike ability to determine for oneself whether a thing was good or bad. This statement reveals that the Tempter was by now thoroughly alienated in heart from his Creator, his words constituting open contradiction plus veiled slander of God. He did not accuse God of unknowing error but of deliberate misrepresentation of matters, saying, “For God knows . . .” The gravity of sin, the detestable nature of such disaffection, is seen in the means to which this spirit son stooped to achieve his ends, becoming a deceitful liar and an ambition-driven murderer, since he obviously knew the fatal consequences of what he now suggested to his human listener.​—Ge 3:1-5; Joh 8:44.