Temptation – a quick no is better than a slow yes

We read of the first sin in Genesis 3. The core of the temptation the woman faced is in v5:

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

                                                                                  (Gen. 3:5 ESV)

There are two aspects to this. The first is the temptation to be like God. Just think: instead of ruling under God in God’s world, you could be god yourself! You could be the boss, not the creature. It is at the heart of what sin is. It is not being content with our position as God’s creatures and wanting to be our own boss instead.

The second aspect is “knowing good and evil”. What does this mean? It means that we want to decide what is good and evil rather than God deciding this. It all comes down to trusting God’s motives. Is God’s definition of good the correct one? Maybe there are things God calls evil and says we shouldn’t do, but they are really good things? Perhaps God is being mean to us, stopping us from having fun?

Once the serpent leaves, the woman thinks about it some more.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Gen. 3:6 ESV) 

She looks at the forbidden tree. And she thinks about it, considering it, and the longer she thinks about it, the more attractive it seems. V6 reveals what tempted her. The tree was a delight to the eyes – it was attractive. The tree was good for food – it looked tasty and enjoyable. It was to be desired to make one wise. She sought wisdom in a forbidden place. We’re told in Proverbs that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The woman chose to start somewhere else, with what she thought was best. She took the fruit and ate it. And she passed some to her husband, who also ate.

We are not told what type of fruit it actually was. In popular culture, many think that it was an apple, but there is no indication of that here.

It is easy to be critical of the woman here, but at least she discussed the issue and argued with the serpent. The man simply took it. We’re not told of any argument; he followed his wife’s lead and took what God told him not to.

This is speaking of a specific sin, but it is so similar to how we sin today, every one of us. ‘Sin’ is, by definition, disobeying the commands God gives us. So, this sin is when the man and woman, who knew what God’s commands were, decided to break them anyway. Yet sin is more than an action, it is a matter of the heart, of what we want. Genesis 3 tells us that wanting to be like God is at the core of it. We all prefer to do what we want instead of what God wants. We’d like to decide for ourselves. It is called ‘coveting’ to want something you do not have. They want more wisdom, more power, more knowledge, more control, which they have not been given. And this desire for what they do not have is what leads to their fall.

We all know what temptation is like, even if it takes different forms for each of us. Lust is when we see someone we are attracted to and start to dwell on this in our minds. It is when we are tempted to click to sites we should not. We are promised joy and satisfaction, but it never ends up that way. Too often, it ends up in shame, in sadness, in addiction, and never in true satisfaction.

Or perhaps we are tempted to cheat or to lie. We inflate our abilities on our CV when applying for a job so an employer might like us more. We fill out our tax returns in a way that is not quite right to keep more money for ourselves. It is bending the truth for our advantage in some way. Yet it harms us. It often harms others. And we are not better for it, but damaged and worse.

Sin promises a payoff; it is attractive, compelling, and seems so reasonable at the time it is offered to us. Yet it leads consistently to disaster.

How do we resist temptation? Let’s start with some practical advice from this passage. Know your Bible. You cannot know what is wrong and breaks God’s laws if you don’t know what God wants in the first place!

When tempted, don’t keep thinking about it like Eve did. Pray immediately. Walk away. Close the computer. Call a friend. We will all find it easy to justify ourselves and talk ourselves into it.  A quick no is so much better than a slow yes.

And let’s add some spiritual advice from the NT. If you’re a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit in you. That’s why Paul can say we cannot be tempted beyond what we can bear. You can say no. God will help you. You’re not alone. Trust that what God says is good for you, even if the culture screams differently. Others will say something is fine that God says is not. Listen to the word of the one who knows best.

This was not only a sin that impacted the first man and woman. It changed history. It is the first sin that meant all following people also are like this. We can criticise Adam and Eve here, but we are all just like them. We are not good people with a few bad issues. We are bad people who easily want to be gods, who make decisions usually for selfish reasons, and who are worse than we think we are. The world is no longer the perfect place it once was. And all of us are the reason for this.