"Preach the Word,

This is a follow up to my other post and the comment I received regarding that article. Go here for the first post.

What was the temptation placed before man? The tree? Or the Woman? Or God's instructions? If we focus on the sin of eating the fruit as the first sin then maybe there is a point of God setting up man but the tree was just an object of a temptation or rather the 'question in a test'...it just shows if we can follow instructions.

Luke 6:1-2 tells us that "...Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan [note: where He was just baptized.], and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Being forty days tempted of the devil." [note: See also Matthew 3:13-4:11; Mark 1:9-13] Was Jesus being set up by the spirit to be tempted? YES! Was Jesus being set up to fail? NO! Did Jesus face the same kind of temptation set up as Adam did? Yes, He did. But He proved faithful and thus perfect to be the only one to remove the curse and debt of sin, right? So was Jesus set up to fail or succeed because of the temptation? Neither He passed the test because He followed the instructions, just like any student in school passes the test by learning and applying the information taught.

Is it a sin to be tempted or to yield to the temptation to the sin? Would it have been better if the garden was full of trees they were told not to eat and only one good true to eat from? Consider that wherever you are in the garden if you get hungry you can only eat from the one tree in the middle. The other ones that may be easier to get to and looked refreshing they would bring about sin's curse...does this scenario fill the same role as being set up for failure? I would think yes would be appropriate. The test objective is still the same and in fact the test is even harder. God told man just stay away from the one tree to protect it self and he failed at this simple thing. Why? Let's look at what I believe to be the true first sin.

I believe that the Bible shows that Adam added to God's instructions [note compare Gen 2:16-17 to 3:1-3]. Eve was not yet created in 2:17 so who told her about God's instructions? Did Adam add that "not to touch" stipulation? Did this give the room for Satan to raise doubts about what God said? We see Adam was "with her" (Gen 3:6). Why didn't he correct Eve or tell the serpent what God did say...Adam had heard it. When he didn't reinforce what God's instructions were...it raised opportunity for the serpent to cause Eve to question. But Adam couldn't have reinforced God's instructions because he had lied and added to them...albeit for a noble reason but still he lied when he implied what God's instructions to Eve were...don't eat..don't touch. This leads me to reason that the taking of the fruit was not the temptation or the sin, the mess was created by Adam adding to God's instructions and then lying or trying to at least conceal the truth. Adam should have revealed that he added something different to God's original instructions when the serpent asked "Yea, hath God said..." (Gen 3:1). But instead Adam kept this to himself and then once on this slippery slope he became a willing participant in the eating of the fruit offered to him.

Here's a curious thought - when their eyes were opened what did they know? Did they know that Adam had lied and that he failed to really care for Eve and warn her? Do you think she understood what kind of selfish, self-centered, conniving man Adam was, especially when he blamed God for "the woman whom thou gavest me" (Gen 3:12)?

How was Jesus was successful in escaping temptation? By using the 'Words of God' (the Scripture) the exact area that Adam failed at. Adam twisted the Words of God to fit his desire to not be alone, for his need of companionship, or whatever his personal reasons were. But ultimately when it came time for the test of temptation he failed to use God's words. He was trapped by his sin of lying/adding to God's instructions and truly this is the failure of man.

Since I believe this to be the first and ultimate sin of mankind...guess what the tree really had less of an effect than we like to think on the sin in the garden. Man is constantly being tempted...being tested...only following God's exact instructions can make us successful. Just like at school, huh?

Please think on these things and let me know if I can be of any more help.