The opening scene of Genesis displays God’s power and ingenuity. At the mere sound of His voice, creation bursts forth over a few short days. The pinnacle of God’s creation are Adam and Eve, who walk with him in the Garden of Eden. His one command is that “‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” (Genesis 2:16-17, emphasis mine).
Disaster enters the scene when Satan, banished from heaven for his pride (Ezekiel 28:16-17), takes serpent form and strikes conversation with Eve, drawing humanity into the pivotal decision that has crippled us ever since:
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ Genesis 3:1-3
Eve proves her vulnerability initially by merely accepting Satan’s presence in the garden. She doesn’t test his credibility and assumes conversing with him is safe. She not only recites God’s rule as a fact, but also perverts it. God gave no instruction about whether or not she and Adam could touch the fruit, and doing so intensifies her appetite for breaking God’s command. Satan shows her to view the rule as a hindrance, but God commanded it for her protection, based on his loving character. Without demonstrating understanding of the rule’s purpose, Eve simply takes a bite.
Thousands of years later, Jesus was fasting in the wilderness for 40 days. As the only begotten son of God, he lived on earth untainted by humankind’s now-fallen nature. Satan approached him with similar temptations, knowing that if Jesus followed his suggestions like Eve, Satan would have authority over Him as well. However, Jesus shrewdly responds to Satan’s tactics.
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
Matthew 4:8-10
Jesus immediately recognizes Satan as a schemer and the father of lies (John 8:44). He does not attempt to “reason” with Satan whose claims are knitted with deception. Jesus rebukes Satan with scripture, demonstrating His understanding of God’s law. His reaction to temptation is based on his complete understanding of God’s character and knowledge that sin holds devastating consequences of death, deception, and corruption. Jesus never developed a desire for sin during Satan’s temptations because his perfect knowledge of God’s love overshadowed all cheap desires for sin and its wake of destruction. In contrast, Eve’s incomplete perception of God left her suspicious of his sufficiency and wisdom, leaving her blind to the danger Satan presented.
Returning to Genesis 3:7-8, Adam and Eve saw their inadequacy when they ate the fruit. They were naked and vulnerable before sinning, but they failed to understand their dependence on God. Sin filled them with immense guilt and shame, driving them away from perfect communion with God, which is now the tendency of human nature.
However, sin can be conquered through submitting to Jesus’s resurrective power instead of the destruction of Satan’s. In Genesis 39, sin approaches Joseph, a man considered righteous before God, when his boss’ wife tries to sleep with him. Despite her persistent confrontations, Joseph responds by fixating on obedience towards God:
“‘Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?’”
The parallel temptations of Eve, Jesus, and Joseph reveal that temptation - while not inherently sinful - exposes humanity’s need for God and tests our dependence on him. This humble posture allows God to lavish his love and mercy on us. When we fully understand Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we can renew ourselves as heirs to his glory by pleading Jesus’ blood over our sin instead of attempting to hide our shame or justify ourselves.
God has used sin’s entrance in the world to richly display his love and mercy to all people. Failing to fully experience the completeness of His perfect character leaves us predisposed to sin. We experience Jesus’ resurrective power by humbling ourselves before his throne of mercy with repentance. His sacrifice on the cross is the source of victory to daily repel Satan’s schemes and become molded into new creations.
