After the first sin man no longer has to love and serve God, but can do so with the option of going against Him. The implications of the sins of Adam and Eve and Cain ultimately define their importance. Without the first sin humanity could never truly show God obedience and love, but would instead be automatons of his will. Before they eat of the tree of knowledge, they have no choice of whether to disobey God or not, save eating from the tree. God, by not allowing them to eat from the tree, also does not allow them the knowledge to know any better than to eat it. The first sin also makes the second sin possible. Man would never have been tending flocks and working to get food from the earth had Eve and Adam not eaten from the forbidden fruit. Jealousy was also a trait man would not have without the ability to tell good from bad. Cain's sin is also more than just an act of jealousy. By God giving Cain such harsh punishment, the readers of the bible are treated to just how seriously the bible goes against murder. Had the first murder not been chronicled and dealt with, murder may not have had the baneful reputation the Christian and Jewish religions have given it. Neither sin is unimportant for these reasons, but the first sin is more important. This makes the love of God genuine as opposed to Adam and Eve being robots of God before the fall of humankind.
The motives for the first sin all rely on Eve listening to the serpent. The serpent piques her curiosity in the tree by saying the tree will make her and Adam like God. After the serpent has given her a reason to want to eat from the tree, Eve makes up other reasons it would be okay to eat from it. "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it," (Genesis 3:6) the reader can clearly see here that Eve makes up other excuses for wanting to gain wisdom from the tre...