Eve's 5 Mistakes
Eve's 5 Mistakes
Eve's 5 Mistakes
In the garden there were two special trees (tree of life and tree of
knowledge of good and evil), one tree prepared Adam and Eve for the
other. If they did not eat of one, they would get to eat of the other. The
lesson that free will needed to learn was that obedience to God's laws
results in eternal life. Adam and Eve failed to learn that lesson and Genesis
3 is the story of that failure. I call it Eve's five mistakes.
And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of
the garden'?"
- Genesis 3:1b
Verse 1b begins with not just a question but a subtle questioning of God's
authority and goodness. Has God really said this? Is He really serious about
this command? The inference is that He has denied you something that
could be good for you.
The method is the same today. The temptation to doubt that God really
means what He says and the suggestion that what God forbids is actually
good and pleasant for you. (God is spoiling my fun!)
God said, "You may freely eat…"Eve said, "We may eat…" God gave them
full rights, abundance, she said that they had access. Eve said that you
could not touch. God did not restrict touching. To examine and understand
what was forbidden was okay. It was to partake that was forbidden.
Eve discusses the matter with Satan thus considering his proposal. This
makes him bolder. When you do not put down someone's evil idea or
action, they get more ambitious and double their attempt to win you over.
Now Satan does not question the law, he actually accuses God of jealousy
and dishonesty:
Liar – It is not that you will die, it is that you will be like God.
Jealous – He lied to you because He does not want you to be like Him.
He makes the way of the curse the way of the blessing. Good àEvil /
EvilàGood. God said that if they would refrain from the tree of good and
evil, they would eat of the tree of life. Satan tells them the opposite. Yes
they would know good and evil but it would not make them like God.
For all that is 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.
- I John 2:16
Jesus faced the same threefold temptations in the desert:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the
Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate
nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. 3 And the
devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 And
Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'"
5 And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time. 6 And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it
has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore if You
worship before me, it shall all be Yours." 8 Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'You
shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'"
9 And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and
said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; 10 for it is
written,
'He will command His angels concerning You to guard You,'
11 and,
'On their hands they will bear You up,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.'"
12 And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your
God to the test.'"
- Luke 4:1-12
Eve was attacked at all three levels at once and she considered and
pondered these things. What should she have done?
Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with
those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
- II Timothy 2:22
Psychologists tell us that we have two basic reactions to danger and that is
to fight or fly away. Depending on the circumstances and our assessment
of the situation we choose one or the other. Sometimes the temptation is
too great for our strength, sometimes we may be misunderstood. It is
better to run away than risk being seduced.
Here is where her will came into being. She chose to believe Satan
regarding the situation rather than God. She liked his explanation of how
things were more than what God said about how things are.
There was nothing in Eve that pushed her to sin, no weakness of flesh (like
us) that led her to sin. She sinned because she chose to disregard God's
word. Although her sin was more serious (she had received "much") it was
not any different than our own today. We sin when we challenge God with
our disobedience.
Summary
Note that the five mistakes of Eve are a preview of the stages that each of
us go through when we fall into temptation:
When we want to sin and still remain Christians we simply change what
God's Word really says. "Christian" homosexuals have their own
theologians and commentaries and churches. If we want to continue our
bad habits we simply "block out" the parts in the Bible that deal with them.
When we do not rebuke sin right away, what we end up doing is trying it
on for size. Do not go for a test-drive if you are not going to buy the car
because you are going to desire it if you try it out. That is the salesmen's
basic approach to get you hooked). Do not "play" with sin in your heart
because pretty soon you will be acting it out.
4. Consent
If we do not initially refuse to sin, we will eventually give in to it. There are
only two ways to go: you do or you do not, and if you do not say NO then
with time you will eventually say YES.
The trick is to decide ahead of time that you will say no, then when you are
faced with temptation you will not weaken yourself by considering the
pros and cons, you will just say no!
5. Start a club
It is no fun to sin alone and so the next step is always to find a sympathetic
partner who will let you sin in peace or who will join you. Romans
1:32mentions this phenomena. Paul even says that the eventual state is
that sinners, who know they are doing wrong, encourage others to do
wrong and applaud them in their sins. This helps justify their position. Sin
is the original problem and the method has always and will always be the
same.