When Adam ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, unlike Eve, he did so
with a full understanding of what he was doing: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14).
Eve was deceived when Satan, in the guise of a serpent (Revelation 12:7-9) approached her and they had a conversation. The details of this exchange form the foundation of the Fall, and hence our addiction.
“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”?
“And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”’
“Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die, 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.’
“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.” Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Genesis 3:1-7).
In this biblical account of the Fall, the already-fallen angel Satan had inhabited one of the “beasts of the field” God had created. He approached Eve in the form of a serpent with a deliberate misquote of God’s command when he said to Eve: “…Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of EVERY TREE of the garden’”?
Eve’s answer corrected Satan’s misquote with a similar one, Yes, we can eat of all the trees in the garden, Eve answered, except one in the middle of the garden, and God told us:, “You shall not eat it, NOR SHALL YOU TOUCH IT, lest you die.”
God, of course, said nothing about “touching” the fruit. However, her response communicated to Satan that she already was considering God’s leadership to be unreasonable. She was ripe and ready for his hook.
And he set that hook: ‘You will not surely die, 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 (DECIDING IT FOR YOURSELF)!’
Picture a young wife, carefully watching her weight, with a weakness for late-night snacks. One night she discovers in the fridge one such snack that not only was beautifully presented and absolutely delicious, but it would somehow make her able to independently make her own decisions without depending on God to do so! So, “…she took of its fruit and ate.”
We are over half way through this posting, and we have set the table for mankind’s Fall into addiction. The next eleven words changed history forever: ”She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate”
Remember the first verse we examined in this posting told us that at the Fall Eve was deceived, “tricked,” by Satan, but Adam was not deceived. He knew that Eve had deliberately rebelled against God’s command. However, he DID NOT intervene in any way. Remember, Eve is Adam’s “helper” whom God had given him to assist him in his ruling task, If Adam had said, “Eve, put that fruit down! WE ARE NOT DISOBEYING GOD and eating this fruit,” man would not have fallen, even though Eve had already eaten of the forbidden fruit.
Instead, Adam totally surrendered his family leadership by docilely replying to Eve, “Yes, Dear; whatever you say, Dear.” Satan continues to deceive men in the same way today! Rather than receiving and valuing our wives’ input, and then making final decisions ourselves, we often take the “path of least resistance” just as Adam did: “Yes, Dear. Whatever you say, Dear”
Yes, the Fall in Adam is the source of the sin of all mankind; not necessarily just the sins of the flesh, but the sin of living by DECIDING FOR OURSELVES what is right and what is wrong; what I should and shouldn’t do in every decision I make. If I am a Christian and I want to “please God,” I will attempt to conform those decisions to my understanding of the Scripture; i.e., “I choose to obey God!” My addiction to deciding for myself is on full display, and I am not even aware that this is sin!.
So, if it is sin to live by trying to obey God’s law in the Bible, “How shall we then live?” I can’t wait until next week to reveal to you what I believe!
