Foundations -- Temptation Enters -- Genesis 3:1-19
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· 4 viewsAdult bible class notes from Lesson 3 of the Gospel Advocate Foundations book 2020 Fall.
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Introduction
Introduction
In the introduction of the Foundations book, in this weeks lesson, the author raises some important issues again that could spend multiple classes on.
He begins by perhaps writing about similar questions that come to mind when you read Genesis 3.
First, “What would have happened if Adam and Eve had NOT sinned? Would they have continued forever in the bliss of Eden?”
“The Bible makes no attempt to answer speculative questions.” is the answer given. Personally, I am content with this. But I think the answer is “Yes.” As long as they remained sinless and faithful, they would have stayed as God’s creation was intended before the corruption.
What about another question I hear people ask: “How long were they in the garden for?”
How long, then? For several reasons, it seems likely that only a short time passed.
God created the man and woman with perfect bodies before the Fall. Some argue that this perfect state would have allowed conception to occur quickly and without hindrance, yet Eve’s conception and birth of her first child, Cain, is not described until after the Fall (Genesis 4:1). One may speculate that, had much time elapsed between Creation and the Fall, the woman would have conceived children before falling victim to Satan’s devices. (Answers in Genesis)
Seems possible.
But these questions are unimportant in the grand scheme. While they are fun to speculate about, we should focus on what DID happen and what we ARE told.
What are we told?
Man and Woman DID Sin. Evil entered the world.
Why? Temptation. That’s why.
They weren’t predestined to? No. That would negate the idea of temptation to begin with and just be… well.. for lack of a better word — Programming. Predestination is an important doctrinal point that I personally reject completely. And I will talk briefly about here as we discuss its relevance to the situation.
You see, Temptation implies choice.
Here is an important verse to consider in all of this — and we may refer back to this several times...
James 1:12-18
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
If God set things in motion and there was no other option, then choice is negated, and it is not temptation but rather force. Like strings of a marionette puppet we would just be doing what we have been pulled or pushed to do. We are living out a narrative not of choice but of destiny.
But if this is the case, then there is no guilt. Why? Because we cannot freely choose to break God’s law. We are doing what we have been designed and forced to do. As the author says “People who cannot choose are not guilty for doing what they cannot help but doing.”
Similarly, there is only innocence because there is no responsibility. You cannot be guilty if you are not responsible for your actions.
But God does hold them accountable does he not? Thus, they had a CHOICE, and temptation got the best of them. They were guilty of giving into their desires. They were not free from influence.
They had the influence of God who set the rules and encouraged them to keep them.
They had the influence of the Serpent, who plucked at their heart and set the desire for more deep within them.
The Second important question that needs to be thought about, is after we assign guilt, is it passed down?
The answer is “No.” But this does not mean the effects of sin are not passed down...
Just as if your father was a serial killer, this would affect the way people treated you, even if it is only small. Sin’s affects are passed down to all of God’s people, and the earth as a whole.
But just because we live in a “fallen world” we might say, doesn’t mean that we aren’t born innocent, and free from the sin’s of the father. We are. We just have to live in the consequences of the past.
Consider a family who made terrible financial choices. Choices that affect the very world that this child lives in. The children are directly affected by the parents choices. And so it has been with the curse that has been upon man since Eden.
We no longer have access to Eden, the rivers that flowed, the blessings of God’s presence there, the fruit of the tree of life!
On top of that comes a great curse upon us.
Men have to toil in their labor to provide food and care for themselves and their families.
Genesis 3:17-19
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
Women have a subservient role to play now in the marriage relationship and pain in childbirth.
Genesis 3:16
16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
And death comes to them all! Genesis 3:19
“Till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
So all of this is passed down. To say that nothing is would be incorrect. But is guilt? No. Sin is a choice, a choice to rebel against the will of God. A child cannot make the decision to do so. They are innocent until they are not. And loss of innocence comes from a willful disregard for God and His law to desire something more...
James 1:14-15
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
That desire. That is what drives us to have more. Let’s talk about where that came from...
The Serpent
The Serpent
Who is the serpent?
The serpent was a created thing, just like the rest of them. But he appears to be more. He is a tool used by Satan himself to cause chaos in the Garden.
Could he be Satan in disguise? Yes, Paul does say in 2 Corinthians 11:14-15
14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
And so Paul says Satan could disguise himself in order to deceive people.
Now, even though the text does not say it is Satan himself here, does the Bible say that?
Let’s examine some texts:
First, John 8:44 — Jesus speaks to those who accuse him falsely saying:
44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Two things:
First, he is the Father of Lies — this is what the Serpent does, so what does that say about his nature here? Satan is obviously at play.
Second, Jesus says “He was a murderer from the beginning...” This also leads credence to what the serpent does. Because of his lies, he gets these two innocent people killed. They would not have died had they not listened to the lie that he spat.
Next, let’s get back to the book of Revelation and it’s description of Satan.
Revelation 12:9, 15; 20:2
9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
“Serpent of Old”
“Deceives the world”
“Spewing water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman...”
This is what he is, and what he does!
There are other writings outside the scriptures that corroborate this idea as well that do not “PROVE” it because they are uninspired — but they show evidence to how early Jews believed.
The wisdom of Solomon says regarding this incident Wisdom of Solomon 2:23-24
23 for God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity,
24 but through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it.
The Temptation
The Temptation
What was the temptation?
The temptation to rebel against God had to have some kind of reward right?
Think about temptation from James 1, it says “enticed” and drawn away by our “desires”...
What then did these people desire? It comes from the lie the Serpent said.
But first, let’s tear some barriers down… Let’s make the inhibitions low. Let’s cast doubt!
Doubt sown.
Gen 3:1-2
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
“By framing the question this way, the serpent’s tactic was to cast doubt in the mind of Eve about the character of God.”
He begins by exaggerating the command “Eat from ANY Tree?”
God had generously given them trees to eat. But here he brings the command into question AND feigns ignorance.
Next comes the outright lie.
Gen 3:4-5
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
In other words, he declared that God is not good. He is not gracious. That he did not have Adam and Eve’s best interests at heart. The serpent depicted God as:
Selfish
Jealous
and Deceptive
Satan claimed that God’s real motive in the prohibition was to keep the people he had created from being “all that they could be” (by knowing good and evil) and being “like God.” (POWER)
The Serpent insinuated to the woman that God wanted to keep her from her rightful place of being God-like, immortal (undying) and knowledgeable.
She would see that everything God then had provided her with instead seemed like a ruse instead of a blessing. God, in this way could not be “good” could He?
So instead, she saw the power in the food. She desired it, it enticed her with power, and
Gen 3:6
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Note “Desireable” — this is the key word.
###IF TIME
Who’s to blame? Adam or Eve?
God’s sacrifice of animals to cover their sin...
Expulsion from the Garden.
Silver linings in the blessings now-a-days...
Hard work is rewarding?
Is there a blessing in childbirth?