We all know the story of Adam and Eve from the Genesis book in the Bible. We are familiar with the story of how satan as a serpent beguiled Eve into disobeying God and eating of the forbidden fruit. Here is the story:
"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desired of to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Genesis 3:1-6
Before I begin, remember that deception is 99% truth and 1% lie. The enemy works daily to deceive us in any way, shape or form. He even deceives us through false Bibles, false churches, false prophets and so forth. God tells us to try and test these things whether they be of God, or not.
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1
Some may teach that satan told a complete and blatant lie to Eve. You may hear from some that the knowledge of good and evil was also lie that satan told Eve while wrapped around the forbidden tree. That wasn't a balant lie, but a deception from satan. He seduced Eve first by telling her that they would be like gods knowing good and evil, then he deceives her by saying "thou shall not surley die!"
Was it an illusion or lie that we know good and evil? First, let's check ourselves.. do we know good and evil? Yes.
Secondly, God confirms it in His Word by acknowledging what had happened,
"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.." Genesis 3:22
Also,
When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit,
"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." Genesis 3:7
Their eyes were indeed open, just as the serpent said in verse three listed above.
Satan is the father of lies, and he is a liar, that we do not deny. A flat out lie would be easy to detect, but satan was the most subtle serpent in the garden and he deceived Eve by mixing a lie into the truth. We see that in the world everywhere today with false Bibles, false churches, false prophets and so forth. Beware for the enemy seeks to deceive us all.
Adam and Eve were originally protected by innocence and purity until that was shattered. Now we became cursed by living in a mortal flesh driven by it's own lusts. We see good and evil everyday, and we die. This brought on the law, and the law brought us into grace. Now when we sin, we are not condemned for we are in Christ (Romans 8:1) and we strive to walk in the Spirit.
We as Christians have our sins covered by the blood of Jesus. I am a sinner, and I sin, but I have grace from Christ that whenever I fall, I can rise up again and keep going. I won't stay in iniquity, but I can continue to keep fighting the good fight.
"For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." Proverbs 24:16
And even the great apostle Paul struggled with his own flesh while desiring the things of God. It is a daily battle, we must continue to deprive our flesh and it's lusts, and walk in the Spirit with Christ Jesus. We don't pretend it does not exist, but we acknowledge it, and hate it.
"I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Romans7:21-25
And it is not love to ignore sin in others. It is love to rebuke our brethren and we need to keep each other walking along the straight and narrow way. If we see a bear trap in our brother's path, we need to let them know. The Bible tells us not to judge (for that is the wrong spirit), but to rebuke them in love and intreat them as brethren. (Proverbs 24:24,25, Proverbs 27:5,6, Amos 5:10, 15, Luke 17:3, 2 Timothy 4:2, Titus 1:13, Titus 2:15)
If we say that we have no sin, then we call God a liar.
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." 1 John 1:8-10
Sin is not an illusion or a lie, for this was the whole purpose of the law, of grace, and our need of a Saviour. We will arrive to the point of perfection when Jesus returns. That is the blessed hope we look for. We will become incorruptible when we are freed from this mortal body (what is corruptible cannot inherit incorruption until we are raised incorruptible in 1 Corinthians 15:50).
One day we won't have this flesh anymore. This flesh is a curse from the first Adam, and we shall soon inherit the new body from the second Adam (Jesus) who is the firstfruit of the children of the resurrection. We have to keep turning to God for that and fighting the good fight daily, instead of pretending sin doesn't exist.
If there is no sin, there would be no Saviour.
And I am a sinner that is no longer condemned, for I have grace by the blood of Jesus.
