A Primer on Temptation, Part 5 Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: A Primer on Temptation, Part 5------------------------------------- Date: 6/5/2002 Keyword: "temptation" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Genesis 3:1-7* 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" 2. And the woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3. but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.'" 4. And the serpent said to the woman, "You surely shall not die! 5. "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 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 she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Questions 1. According to verse 5, where was Adam when Eve ate the forbidden fruit?   2. Who received the original command from God to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?   3. If Eve’s failure was a failure of faith, of what sin was Adam guilty when he ate fruit from the forbidden tree?   Practical help Adam received direct revelation from God that he was not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. He (not Eve) disobeyed God’s voice, and is held morally culpable for eating and plunging the human race into sin. Eve was guilty, but Adam’s guilt was greater (see Romans 5). But Adam’s was not a failure of faith. His sin was a conscious choice of the fellowship of his wife over the fellowship of God. Adam’s sin was idolatry. The Bible’s broad description of idolatry is that whenever a person gives himself to satisfying an appetite or to pleasing a person or to pursuing a goal rather than giving himself to God, he is practicing idolatry. Adam did exactly this in eating the fruit that God had told him not to eat. The enemy’s ploy was to get Adam to think that the fellowship of the woman was preferable to the fellowship of Almighty God. How many Web strugglers forfeit the intimacy of a close walk with God for the fleeting physical thrill that comes from porn? They prefer the stimulation of sex to time in prayer, and choose dirty pictures over worship. There is no future in idolatry. Adam found that out to his sorrow. Don’t follow in his footsteps! eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2002 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." ---