James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
By the purpose of God, man has the choice between good and evil. Man has the choice to ‘escape’ temptation. Man’s choice to sin is always an offense to God. Religious tradition falsely teaches that Adam and Eve succumbed to
Eve was never TEMPTED to sin at the Tree of Knowledge. . By the plan and purpose of God...she was tricked/beguiled by the MOST SUBTLE DECEIVER. Adam WILLINGLY and KNOWINGLY...as a TYPE of Christ...became sin for his bride. 1ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
temptation and sinned. But neither Adam nor Eve were ‘tempted’ by the deceiver. ’Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed’. Adam and Eve had no LUST to ‘draw and entice’ them…to tempt them to sin. They were fully in the presence and fellowship of God. They, though flesh, had not experienced spiritual death resulting in the ‘fallen’ nature. They were naked and unaware due to their innocent natures. It was not possible for them to be ’tempted.’ Nowhere does the Word show they were ever ‘tempted’. It only says Eve was ‘deceived’ ….which resulted in transgression from the pure nature to a ‘fallen’ nature. Adam was never deceived. He knowingly and willingly became sin for the bride. 1 ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. The master deciever… the most ‘subtle’ deceiver …’beguiled’ Eve. God is above ALL and has never been submissive to lesser powers. Thus, God’s dealings with His precious Adam and Eve in Eden were fully under the control and purpose of God. The most subtle deceiver did not ‘tempt’ nor distort the will of God concerning Adam and Eve. For those who ‘discern’ Truth, it is clear that Eve was purposed to be ’beguiled’/tricked/deceived/lied to…. and that Adam was purposed by God to be the ‘type’ of Christ who would leave the fellowship of the Father and go to the place of ‘death’ with the bride…to become sin with the bride…so they might be redeemed. Adam spoke only Truth when he answered God. Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. We reduce God to less than deity when we insist that Adam and Eve thought so little of the pure and loving nature of the Father that they would LIE TO HIM!!!! THEY DID NOT LIE TO GOD!!!!! Eve did as Adam and spoke the pure truth in answer to the Father’s question. . Gen 3:13 …. And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Eve was ‘beguiled’ by the purpose and permission of God. It was ordained by God that man would know BOTH good and evil. Knowing both good and evil, they would be equipped to CHOOSE which they would serve….Good which brings Life….or Evil which brings Death. It was only AFTER the event at the Tree of Knowledge was the scripture fulfilled which declared ‘let us make man in our image.’ Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Only AFTER the event at the Tree of Knowledge is the justice of God revealed concerning man’s ability to choose ‘whom he will serve.’
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Very thoughtful! I’m not sure if I agree or not. . .something to consider. . . I do know, however, that we are sinners saved by grace and that by definition sin is very broad. We are called on to live holy and pure lives and we have no excuse for not doing so. . . yet we are fallen and ‘born in sin’. It is because of this that we count on His grace every single day. We can do nothing to save ourselves, either eternally or in ‘the flesh’. We seek always to ‘put to death the misdeeds of the body’ but like it or not we fail in some fashion daily and thus we depend on Him. He is our only hope. As always, thanks for your thoughtful posts.
JD..thanks for visiting. Always good to hear from you. I value your thoughts. I realize the content of my post is beyond traditional thought. But it was the Holy Spirit who opened up the scriptures to me to reveal the Truth concerning the ‘fall.’ I did a ‘page’ on the subject quiet a while ago. We are to try the spirits to see whether they be of God. I am convinced the spirit of Evil/Satan/Liar/Deceiver would not attempt to convince me that God is above ALL…especially above the Deceiver. Neither would the spirit of Satan attempt to convince me that God’s rule and purposes are without fail and are not subject to the distortions from Satan. Distortions can only come through man’s individual perceptions of God’s truth…after being tempered by the influence of the Deceiver. It is true that we are born with a ‘fallen’ nature. But it is also true that when we yield that ‘fallen’ nature to Christ…He redeems it…restores it…makes it new…makes it ‘alive’ again…sets it FREE from the bondage of ‘fallen’ and ‘dead.’ Such ‘freeing’ is what Christ meant as He began to preach immediately after the death of John the Baptist…..’Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’ ‘At hand’ means it is now within reach for one to take hold of. Real! Accessible! In the here and now!!! Relationship with the Father…restored!! It means one can…in the here and now…pass ‘from death unto Life.’
Again, thanks for visiting. I continue to enjoy your poetry. It’s always beautiful!
Carolyn
I believe that initially the devil was deceptive, his frist attack, however, he implanted an idea that created lust in her heart to be like God. The deceptive part was Satan telling her that she would not die after God said that they would. The lust/temptation in the heart came when she saw that the fruit was “good for food” and the devil promising her that she will be as “gods, knowing good and evil.” Satan found her weakness or curiosity and exploited it fully.
harleyq2…thanks for visiting and for commenting. You make a good point. But I can’t justify the point since I’m looking at the the following scripture which instructs that temptation only occurs within the realm of the ‘fallen’ nature and its characteristic fleshly lusts. Eve had the nature of God before eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. She was sanctified…perfect..or she and Adam could not have had full fellowship with their Father.
God cannot be tempted with evil since His nature Holy/Perfect/Flawless/Spirit/Infinitely GOOD (James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
According to this scripture…the ‘flesh/fallen/lust’ nature is the catalyst in which temptation occurs. Adam and Eve did not yet have a ‘fallen’ nature.(14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.)
God confirms in the following that before the event at the Tree of Knowledge..that Adam and Eve KNEW (as in Adam knew his wife and the conceived) ONLY Good. (((Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:))) The passage clearly reveals that BEFORE the event at the Tree of Knowledge they DID NOT KNOW EVIL. Since they did not KNOW evil…Eve could not recognize it when it came against her. She had NO KNOWLEDGE of the concept. She KNOW only Good as revealed in the heavenly FATHER. That being the case, God knew Eve had no defense against the most subtle deceiver and his ‘death.’ To affirm…in any form…that God’s plans and purposes for man was crippled…blocked…thwarted…in the very beginning…in God’s own house… is to affirm that Satan has power over God. The flawed doctrine we have believed for so long is an affront to the diety of God. It is an affront to Truth found in scripture. We have believed a lie because we listened to man and not to God. The most subtle deciever still works to kill, steal, and destroy. He continues to HATE all life…even his own children. He is the deliberate author of all false doctrine with one aim in mind…to make a fool out of God and to ‘beguile’ in the most ‘subtle’ way…those who seek God. A microscopic deception..unseen and unrecognized results in the eternal destruction of a man’s soul.
Since God through the Holy Spirit has shown me the truth of the matter…I now know Holiness is possible for me. I now know the Truth of ‘if I make you free you are free indeed.’ I rejoice at the victory ahead for me now that I KNOW that when God said ‘SIN NOT’ which results in holiness through the indwelling and very real presence of power of the third person of the trinity…Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Truth.
I appreciate your comment. You expressed what we have been taught throughout our Christian experience. We TRUSTED that teaching which was given to us by those who, too, had TRUSTED those who taught them. As a very small child in Sunday School, I saw the contradiction between God as successful over His eternal purposes for man….and a God who had to yield to the omnipotent power of the Deceiver.