The First Temptation and The First Sin
There are lot of folks who gloss over what the first sin really is, so I think it’s important I start this off by making it clear that while the first sin may have involved fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the first sin wasn’t, technically speaking, eating the fruit. The first sin, and what I think is the most common one we still commit today, was disobedience.
Genesis chapter 2, verses 15 through 17 (NASB) tells us:
Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.
See, God gave that instruction directly to Adam. And while later verses will make it clear that the instruction was shared with Eve, both of them actively chose to disobey. It was a willful choice that created a chasm that separated humankind from God and still does to this day. It wasn’t eating the fruit that was wrong, there were other trees and other fruits that were fine. It was disobeying God’s command. It was when Adam and Eve chose themselves over honoring God. That selfish nature that we’re all born with, that’s the evidence of the sin debt we’ve inherited.
So, why’d they do it? The first sin gets a lot of air time in, but the first temptation doesn’t. See, the serpent didn’t slither up to Eve and say, “Come on, just a little disobedience isn’t so bad.” Genesis chapter 3, verses 4 and 5 help us see it clearly
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
“You can be like God” was the first temptation. It’s true to say that we were all created in God’s image, but that doesn’t mean we were created to be his equals. When He created humankind, God gave us dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and all the earth, and over every creeping thing. We answered only to God. We weren’t created to be his equals. And, in Isaiah chapter 43, God speaks through the prophet to tell us
Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.
It’s pretty clear that we’re not meant to be equal with God. The first temptation was that we could be, that we should be. The first sin was disobedience. When they could have had anything, Adam and Eve chose the one thing God had said “no” about.
There’s a quote I like from Will Smith. In an interview he said, “It’s not your fault when you experience trauma, but it is your responsibility to overcome it and choose your happiness.” Take that to heart, and this as well. The sin debt you were born with. The chasm that separates you from God, it’s not your fault. It is, however, once you realize that gap is there, once you hear the Good News for the first time, your responsibility to make things to repair that relationship.
Repairing Our Relationship with God was Impossible, Until it Wasn’t
I know, that heading is a little confusing, but it’s the most accurate way to describe things. The Old Testament of the Bible is a chronicle of God refusing to give up on his people. He gave us laws to help us live amongst each other and we didn’t follow them. He gave his people prophets and judges, but they demanded a king. He gave his people kings, and, eventually, those kings took them on a journey away from God. But we know from the book of John, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17 (you’re probably familiar with 16)
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through Him.
No matter how hard Israel tried in the Old Testament to set things right, they always found a way to go astray again. That’s us too, unfortunately. That’s why God sent the Holy Spirit to guide us. He sent it to be that voice in our ear to let us know God’s will for us and when we’re not following it like we should. The way for the Holy Spirit was paved by Jesus and through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the impossible path back to a relationship with God isn’t impossible anymore. See, it was impossible, until it wasn’t.
Carpenter, Bridge Builder, Savior
If you’ve made it this far into this rambling, you probably have a general idea who Jesus is but, just in case, Jesus is the Son of God, the Son of Man, 100% God and 100% human and 100% exactly who we needed. He had these really great friends, 12 to be specific (though maybe one of them wasn’t so great a friend, but that’s another story). He walked with them, He taught them about God and how to honor and worship him. If I envy one thing above all else, it’s that I won’t know what it’s like to get a sweet high-five from Jesus until I make it to heaven and while it’s not in the Bible that any of the disciples did, my head and heart tell me they did.
Jesus was born knowing exactly what was expected of him. He was born knowing that He was going to take all of the sin debt that generations had passed down and would pass down, put it on his own shoulders, and then do what no lamb, no pair of doves, no sacrificial bull could ever do: wipe it all away. He gave up His life, willingly, so that we could give our lives to Him and, in doing so, have a path across the sin gap and rebuild a relationship with God. Then, He rose from the grave, showing us that He was who He claimed and that death had no power over the Son of God. There’s a lot that happened between Jesus’ birth and His death. There’s a lot that happened between His resurrection and His ascension. We’ll talk about those eventually, I’m sure.
Before the sin gap was created, God walked with us and He talked with us and He had a relationship with us. We were His friends. After Adam and Eve created the gap, God sent His son, born of humble beginnings, a carpenter, to build a bridge so we could cross that gap.
Being a Christian isn’t about being perfect, none of us can be. It isn’t about being “good” because the nature we inherited is a selfish one. Our purpose is to acknowledge the gap, take responsibility for it, accept the gift Christ gave us, and walk across the bridge. Then, we get to have our relationship with God, we get to know Him better and in knowing Him better, we can achieve our original purpose of glorifying him.
It could not matter less how big you think the gap between you and God is. It doesn’t matter how far away from the gap you’ve stepped. It doesn’t matter if you can’t see the other side. The sacrifice of Christ was enough to span it. If you’ve never taken a first step onto the bridge before, it can be scary, I’ll give you that. But the moment you do, God gives you a guide, the Holy Spirit, to help you make the journey all the way across. You get an amazing friend in Christ Jesus whose love for you will never be matched by any other and he won’t leave you stranded. He won’t leave you to fight battles on your own. It’s not his way. He gave up too much to ever give up on you.
Maybe you’re reading this and you’ve been on a journey to get to know Christ better and you just read this far because you liked the way I ramble. Maybe you’re reading this and you started your journey but stopped along the way. Maybe you’re journey back to God has yet to begin. Wherever you are, God will meet you there and guide you back to Him. His grace saves us from ourselves and His spirit guides us back to Him. If you want to start your journey, or need to start it again and need a guided prayer, try this:
Dear God, I know you are the mighty creator of all things, including me. I know I didn’t commit the original sin, but I haven’t been obedient in my own life and I want to start obeying You and having a relationship with You. I know that You sent Your son to be the sacrifice I could never provide. Thank you and please fill me with Your Holy Spirit so I can be guided back to You, know You better, and bring glory to You. I give You all that I am and ask that You take control of my life and make me all You have intended for me to be. Amen.
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