The opening thought of this series on repentance is simple: the foundation of rebellion against God is selfishness. This thought many be expressed in another way: the foundation of evil is human selfishness.
Rarely do we give much consideration to the foundation of evil. We often deal with the impact of evil in the physical realm, but we do not often deal with the appeal of temptation. Primarily temptation is powerful and attractive to human existence because it successfully and deceptively gets people to focus on themselves. An ungodly concern for self is the "tap root" of evil. The more we focus on "self" the less we focus on God.
The Bible must be read forward, not backward. The meaning of scripture must be determined by understanding "first things first." The Bible's first book, Genesis, introduces a Bible student to (1) God's intent in creation, (2) why creation [specifically the human part of creation] rebelled against God's intent, (3) the basic consequences of "things gone wrong," and (4) God's initial responses to the problems caused by human rebellion.
The Bible quickly focuses us on the fundamental problem of evil in early Genesis. The problem came into existence through humanity's rebellion against its Creator. The rest of the Bible reveals the workings of God as He seeks to correct the problem by restoring His sovereignty. His sovereignty was rejected when humanity rebelled. Humanity rebelled because Adam and Eve lost sight of God's goodness.
Genesis 1 and 2 declare God is Creator of (1) the universe and (2) life. Succinctly and concisely, Genesis 1 and 2 affirms God is the source of all humanity sees, knows, and experiences. The God Who was the Sovereign of all brought into existence all humanity sees, knows, and experiences. Not only did the Sovereign God create, but He was pleased with His creation. As He examined His creation in its initial, intended state, He declared it to be very good. The good God, the Source of all goodness, saw a creation that reflected Him--He is good, and creation reflected His goodness.
The concept of "repentance" [a concept that exists throughout the Bible] is a redirection of mind, emotions, and behavior which seeks to return to state/condition that supports God's sovereignty. When one commits an evil act, he/she repents when he/she redirects both internally and externally. However, much more than reversing an act/emotion/direction is involved. One turns from evil to move toward godliness. The ultimate of godliness is to reestablish God as one's Sovereign. True repentance is a continual moving toward God in the desire to move in the direction of creation prior to rebellion.
Genesis 2 affirms God's completed creation provided humans with all they needed. [The creation of woman does not reflect God's oversight, but an appreciated discovery on man's part.] The human was special because he was created in God's image. He had unique companionship needs that could not be addressed by any form of animal life. After having viewed all animal life forms, Adam instantly recognized Eve's uniqueness. ["She is part of me--bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh!"] God's provisions for them included a lovely home, abundant food, and responsibility without stress. Their total needs were supplied in a stress free environment.
This point needs to be made and understood: Eve's temptation had nothing to do with need. Its appeal focused on desire and ambition, not on need.
A part of being in God's image included an independent will. God gave humanity His power of choice. The gracious God addressed all their needs. No need was ignored or unmet. They wanted for nothing.
Their problem arose from the fact that they had the power of choice. The question: would they realize how blessed they were, or would they be deceived by a desire to have what was not good for them? If they appreciated God's blessings and provisions, there was neither place nor need for rebellion. Only if they were deceived into suspecting that God was depriving them could they [through temptation] consider rebellion.
Evil focused human imagination on doubt and introduced temptation. "Has God restricted you? Deprived you? He has, has He? You should question God's motives. He misrepresented rebellion's consequences! It is a control issue, not a death issue! He seeks to deny you opportunity to be as wise as He is!"
We need to understand a powerful link exists between doubting God and being deceived by temptation. Temptation causes us to deceive ourselves--the power of temptation lies in Satan's ability to deceive.
It was not enough to be in God's image. They aspired to be God's equal. Thus woman examined the forbidden. Before you vent an oversimplified wrath on Eve, consider the context suggests that Adam heard the temptation without intervening. He exercised no leadership! Eve was close enough to hand him the fruit. (Genesis 3:6--"She gave also to her husband with her ...)
Two realizations: (1) We forget who we are. We are the created, not the Creator. The created will never be the Creator's equal--regardless of our desires and aspirations. (2) Adam completely failed in his role as leader. True, Eve was deceived. Also true, Adam did nothing to prevent her deception.
Note the things that impressed Eve as temptation urged her to considered rebellion. It had food value [though she did not struggle to survive]. It was esthetically pleasing [though she lived in a lovely garden planted for her by God, the Creator]. It had the power to make one wise, enable her to see evil [though the ability to see evil was a horrible ability that would make her less {not more!} like God]. In every consideration, rebellion worked against them. However, when she used the eyes of temptation, rebellion appeared totally desirable.
Please stress that Eve's temptation was founded on a deception that focused her attention on her desires. The deception seemed plausible because [from her perspective] it was an appeal to the practical, to the desirable, and to her aspirations.
Did rebellion result in their being able to be aware of evil? Yes! What was the result of perceiving evil? (1) Shame (Genesis 3:7). They immediately realized they were naked, and suddenly that was a bad thing. Never before had they experienced this new feeling, and it was not good. They were so uncomfortable with this new understanding [not a new condition or situation!] that they immediately used fig leaves to make coverings for themselves. (2) Fear (Genesis 3:8-10). They never felt the need to be afraid of God [or anything else!]. Shame's companion was fear! Because they saw themselves differently [naked], they were afraid to be seen by God--so they hid! (3) Blame [the attempt to evade personal responsibility] (Genesis 3:12) . What godliness presented as a source of enormous blessing ["bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh"], suddenly rebellion made "the woman You gave me." (4) Guilt [the cumulative effect of rebellion]. They used the power of choice to rebel against the God of goodness rather than continue in appreciative relationship with the God of goodness. They made the choice, exercised the will. Suddenly gifts of blessing became curses of failure.
Shame, fear, blame, and guilt are so entrenched in the human experience in this existence that people cannot imagine an existence in which those four do not exist. In fact, in specific situations, people often transform each into a virtue!
Why did they rebel? For many reasons! What was their primary motivation? Selfishness. "I" want to be like God. "I" want to decide what is good to eat, even if "I" have plenty of food. "I" want something that "delights me." "I" want to know and understand everything--even if it is not good for "me."
Stress that the root of rebellion was selfishness. Selfishness opened Eve to deception.
God handles knowing how to differentiate between good and evil. For God, knowing the existence and forms of evil creates no temptation, no abandoning of good. Humans cannot handle knowing the existence of evil. They poorly differentiate between good and evil. Evil tempts and deceives them. The end result: humans abandon good in favor of evil.
A fundamental difference between the Creator and those created in His image: God can handle knowing evil and never be deceived; we cannot. God never abandons good. We abandon good for evil.
Why? Humans are consumed with self. When they focus on need, they focus on self. When they focus on pleasure, they focus on self. When they focus on knowledge, they focus on self. Temptation deceives us by focusing us on ourselves. When evil deceives us into focusing on ourselves, we abandon good for the sake of self-indulgence. Selflessness brings us nearer God. Selfishness increases the gulf between us and God.
We continually demonstrate the difference between our focus and God's focus by (1) placing the focus on self and (2) [in that focus] allowing deception to led us away from good.
Thought Questions:
It should be studied forward. Understand the problem first [presented early in Genesis]. Learn the nature of God second [allow God to reveal His nature rather than us assuming His nature]. Understand God's resolution of the problem.
The Sovereign God Who is good has His goodness reflected in His good creation. Creation untouched by evil reflected the nature and character of God.
Through successfully focusing Eve on self, and by Adams's failing to exercise leadership, Satan successfully deceived them.
Shame, fear, blame, and guilt.
They focused on self. By focusing them on self, evil used their desires to deceive them.
Knowing evil never deceives God, never causes God to abandon good. Knowing evil deceives us, and in that deception causes us to abandon good.
In the human, selfishness redefines good and evil, sees evil as though it were good, and abandons good for evil.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 1