Ok, back to this series. We need to continue the look at the Fall, and examine the three pathways that sin took into Eve's heart, and then in Part V we will jump back to Romans and develop the issue of evil, then Part VI will deal with identifying Christians by their attitudes towards sin, and finally, Part VII will include some reflections on the implications of these truths.
In the narrative of the Fall, we hit Gen. 3:6, "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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." There are three in-roads into Eve's heart. Once she made an incorrect judgment about God and believed the Enemy's lies, wickedness became a possibility, disobedience was now 'on the table'. In effect, the knowledge of good and evil was attained before she ate of the actual fruit.
Gateway #1-"When the woman saw that the tree was good for food..." This is the base, beastly desire of the flesh, defined in 1st John as the "lust of the flesh". This is the lowest, basest part of man. We can see the contrast in these desires being righteously fulfilled versus an evil fulfillment in the difference between meeting an actual physical hunger and becoming gluttonous, desiring food for reasons other than simply nourishing the body and enjoying God's good provision.
Gateway #2-"...and that it was a delight to the eyes..." This is the eye-gate, or the "lust of the eyes". It is a slightly higher appeal than the lust of the flesh. This is different than the base, animal desires of the flesh. It involves the ability to see beauty and art and honor the Artist. Sin moved in through the eye-gate and corrupted this ability. She saw that the fruit was beautiful and instead of glorifying its Creator, she desired its beauty for herself, for her own advancement and enjoyment.
Gateway #3-"...and that it was desirable to make one wise..." Here is the corruption of the highest, most noble aspect of man, his 'imago dei', the part of him that was made in God's image, the self that was made to be surrendered to God and thereby to both worship the true God and enjoy perfect fellowship with Him. The temptation is to take that self and put it upon the throne, to supplant God. This is the "boastful pride of life".
And when all three gates were breached, she took the fruit and ate it. It should be duly noted that in Eve's deception, (which Adam was responsible to prevent by the way, considering that the text says that she gave the fruit to her "husband with her") her motive may have been pure throughout. She may have even believed that by taking the fruit and eating it she would gain some kind of higher wisdom, thereby achieving a greater and more "equal" relationship with God. I think Satan knew that she and Adam would never buy into the outright accusation that God was evil or a false God. The infiltration really achieved success at the ear-gate, and in that attack the innocence previously enjoyed was shattered, and it is clear from Scripture that now no one is innocent. Only God can be aware of evil and remain unstained by it. THIS is why He gave Adam only one restriction/protection; not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Once that commandment was transgressed, immortality was necessarily removed as a possibility, and what a mercy that was! (see Gen. 3:22) In this sense, physical death is both a curse and a blessing; a curse because we were not created to die physically; a blessing because it puts a limit on how long we can be imprisoned in unredeemed flesh. It is comforting that the Lord has numbered my days. "All flesh is like grass...the grass withers and flowers fade, but the Word of the Lord endures forever!"
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