Chapter 3
Challenge or Affirmation
Sin Moves to Eden
When God created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, He gave him certain responsibilities and prohibitions. These instructions were extremely clear, and Adam understood them fully. Would Adam accept these instructions as absolute good? Would he accept the will of God as best? Would he gladly align his will with the will of God? Would his volition affirm that the plan of God is superior to all other plans?
Every morning Adam had the opportunity to send a message to all creation—the will of God is best. When Adam passed by the forbidden tree, he could refrain from eating as God had commanded him to do. In this obedience, he was affirming the will of God as best.
God, in His sovereign plan, elected to give Adam a choice in the matter. God created him so that he could obey, or he could disobey. He could affirm the will of God, or he could reject it and go on his own way. At this point, man’s volition took a tragic turn. Adam disobeyed, went his own way, and misery entered the human race.
Influence on Adam
In Genesis 3, we have two wills exerting influence on the will of Adam. First, we have God’s will, which is clearly expressed in His word. We also have a narrative showing how Satan introduces his will to Adam.
Adam’s response is negative to God and positive to his own interests. Genesis 3:17 is painfully clear. Echoing Satan, Eve says, “Eat.” Through His word, God says, “Do not eat.” Adam responds with the choice to disobey God. From this point on, human will takes on a broken character. Humanity now has a sin nature; and we, not God, become the center of our mentality. Humanity is now what Romans 6:17 calls “slaves of sin.”
Important to note here is that Adam sinned because he chose to sin. He exerted his will contrary to the will of God.
God Confronts Adam—Genesis 3:11
In Genesis 3:11, God asks Adam, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” Notice God bringing Adam to the single issue—did he disobey?
Four concepts are involved here. First, there is God’s law, the expression of His will that said, “Do not eat.” Second, God attached a penalty for disobedience that said, “Eat and you will die.” Third, we have God’s courtroom that asks, “Did you disobey?” And fourth, we have the actual execution of the sentence when Adam disobeyed.
God’s law, God’s penalty, God’s courtroom, God’s sentence—an order that is the basis for human society: clear laws, definite penalties, definite responsibility, and certain sentences.
It is worth noting that we have largely abandoned the third concept, responsibility for actions. The question “Did he do it?” has been replaced with “Why did he do it?” In other words, we assign the reasons for wrong conduct to conditions outside of the offender. As long as a believer shares in any part of this mentality, he will be totally unable to relate to the concept of responsibility presented in the Word of God, which will be presented later in this study.
The answer of God’s word to “Why did he do it?” is clear and simple. Men do wrong because man is inherently evil—he has a sin nature that produces sinful acts, and man is totally responsible for everything he does and thinks that is contrary to the will of God. If we cannot accept this teaching, we will never be men and women who walk in accord with the will of God because we will be forever excusing ourselves for our wrong actions and wrong reactions.
Influences on Man’s Will
In the Bible, man’s will moves under the influence of his sin nature; and he is held by God to be fully responsible for his actions.
When Satan manipulated Adam and Eve in the garden, he did not achieve an absolute victory for himself. As a matter of fact, he set the stage for God’s “so great salvation.” Isaiah 53:6 spells out the rebellion of man relative to his will by saying “each of us has turned to his own way.” Here we have the sequence. We have moved from the single will of God to the second will of Satan; and now in the garden, we have the will of Adam that will result in billions of wills, each desiring their own way as described in Isaiah 53:6.
Putting It All Together
God desires the willing submission of His children for the enthronement of His Son Jesus Christ in our lives now and ultimately His enthronement over the earth at His second coming. The Word of God is the objective expression of God’s will and is His appeal to us for obedience. We have the Holy Spirit resident within us to give us power to submit to the will of God.
On the other hand, Satan desires willing submission from humanity in order to enthrone himself in our lives now and ultimately over all creation. The highest level of success that he will achieve will be in the “man of sin” described in II Thessalonians 2.
The basis of Satan’s appeal to humanity is the sin nature through which he gains entry and control in the lives of each of us.
The cross work of Jesus Christ has freed the believer from the control of his sin nature in such a way that he has a choice to say “yes” to the will of God and “no” to the commands of the sin nature. This is the teaching of Romans 6:12-13.