Excerpt C from Chap. 1 in FOR HIS GLORY
Satan, Sin and Man
Satan was an angel who rebelled against God and was kicked out of heaven. He infected other angels and is obsessed with influencing humans to follow them. His nature is exactly the opposite of God’s in every way.
When we read the story of temptation and sin (Gen. 3:1-7), we can see what it’s all about. Up to this point Adam and Eve only did “good,” because that’s all they knew. Creator God and Satan, the two gods, knew evil but man did not.
The interlinear Bible, the King James, and several others, render Gen. 3:5 as “then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Adam and Eve liked that idea so they chose to eat the fruit. Just as Satan had said, they now knew both good and evil, but Satan is a deceiver, a liar and a thief, and they now came under his authority rather than becoming their own god.
This was “original sin.” Very simply, sin, or hamartia in Greek (Strong’s G266), speaks of “missing the mark.” Sin is man’s attempt to satisfy his soul-hunger through acting according to his now-depraved instincts – and missing it because he aimed at the wrong source.
Satan will repeat “the lie” as long as we live, and we will keep believing that we are a god unto ourselves until we reverse that curse by choosing to make God, our god.
The Fall
When Adam and Eve listened to Satan, man’s inner nature changed from naturally living in harmony with God, to naturally rebelling against Him.
Any temptation that we yield to, to appease a need or desire in a way contrary to righteousness, reveals our attempt to be our own god. We thus glorify Satan by declaring his way to be better than God’s.
If we hope to understand ourselves, our struggle with temptation, our restoration into wholeness, and the meaning of “Church,” we must understand God’s plan for man and realize what happened in the Garden.
Ken Stoltzfus
Kidron, Ohio USA
March 21, 2022
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