The Origin and Consequence of Sin

 Part 3

THE TEMPTATION

It is important to make a clear distinction between temptation and sin. To be subject to temptation is not sin. Our Lord (in His human nature) was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

A temptation only becomes sin when the sinful suggestion or thought is taken on board and acted upon in thought or deed.

James 1:13-15 says, God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

Sin in the mind goes to work in the emotions. That incites the will, which yields the act.

Genesis 3:6 says, 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 of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Self-fulfillment had become Eve’s goal, and for the first time ever, her own self-interest and self-satisfaction were what drove her to disobey God’s command.

Sin had already been conceived in Eve’s heart and it gave birth to sin; and when sin was accomplished, it brought forth death.

Matthew 5:28 Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

The woman was drawn to the forbidden fruit by three things:

1. It was good for food (lust of the flesh).

Eve was seduced by her physical appetite.

2. It was a delight to the eyes (the lust of sight).

This seduction appealed to Eve’s emotional appetite.

3. It was desirable to make one wise (the lust of pride).

This was an appeal to Eve’s intellectual appetite.

At the very beginning of His public ministry, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where after fasting forty days He was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11).

Jesus did not yield to any of the devil’s temptations and defeated Satan at every turn. Our Lord’s weapon was the same for each temptation: “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17).

Eve, instead of believing and obeying what God had said, questioned, doubted, then modified and finally rejected God’s Word.

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all the things in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

If there is anything we learn from man’s encounter with Satan it is the consequences of not being grounded in God’s Word.

THE TRANSGRESSION

Ultimately, predictably, the doubt and covetousness in Eve’s head gave way to evil behavior. When sin penetrates the mind, emotions, and will, it will always be manifest in sinful actions.

Genesis 3:6 says, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Adam appears to have been a full participant in the act. The extreme brevity of the concluding phrase indicates a swiftness of action, as if she immediately turned to her husband and he ate the fruit.

Further support for Adam’s presence is found in the fact that, when speaking to the woman in verses 1-5, the serpent repeatedly uses the plural as if he is addressing them both.

Adam submissively followed his wife. He went into sin with his eyes wide open. In fact the apostle Paul in 1 Tim. 2:14 says that Eve, not Adam was deceived.

Paul goes on to say that “the woman was deceived, and sin was the result,” which seems to place the main blame on her, accounting for her being cursed and made subject to man.

It is ironic that the one whom God had given to Adam to be his helper became the instrument of disaster and death to him.

But Adam’s guilt was greater, not less, than Eve’s. His sin was deliberate, wicked, and inexcusable. In fact, it was not by Eve’s sin, but by Adam’s that “sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Romans 5:12).

As the representative head of the human race, Adam bore the ultimate responsibility for the fall, and his sin was imputed to all his offspring.

The death which comes from sin involves more than just the separation of the soul from the body (physical death); it also involves spiritual or eternal death.

As the sin of the first Adam was the ground of our condemnation resulting in death, so the righteousness of the last Adam is the ground of our justification (to all who by grace believe on Christ for forgiveness and righteousness) resulting in life.

Through the disobedience of the first Adam paradise was lost, through the obedience of the last Adam paradise is gained for those who turn from their sin and put their full trust in Him for forgiveness of sin and for righteousness.