What Went Wrong with Humanity?
Man’s Fall and Sin
As we look at what the Bible teaches about people, we find ourselves describing two kinds of people: the kind of people God made, fantastic creatures, the climax of His entire creation; and the kind of people we are today, evil in nature and corrupt in behavior. Yet these are not actually two kinds of people at all, but the same race of people at two different points in their experience. When we look at how we began as a race and compare it to what we are today, we are bound to ask the question, “What went wrong?”
The answer to that question is found in the biblical account of the introduction of sin into the human race. When God completed His creative work, He noted all He had made was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). But when Satan entered the garden and successfully tempted our first parents to violate God’s express command not to eat a certain fruit, sin became a part of the human experience, corrupting all God made. The entire race fell into sin when Adam deliberately chose by an act of his own will to disobey God and fulfill his own desires (1 Tim. 2:14).
The same Satan who caused the human race to plunge into sin is still active today directly and indirectly tempting people to do wrong. The Bible records that first sin with these words, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of the fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:6). Today, people are still tempted in these three areas, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Although Adam and Eve failed when tempted in these areas, Jesus was tempted in the same way and was able to overcome the Devil (Matt. 4:1-11).
By looking at the temptation of Christ, we can understand how to overcome temptation in our life today. First, each time Jesus was tempted, He responded by referring to the Word of God (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). The Scriptures can also help us overcome temptation and prevent us from falling into sin (Ps. 119:9-11). Second, Jesus faced temptation in the fullness of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 4:1). When we walk in the Spirit, we will not fall into sin when we are tempted (Gal. 5:16).
A third key to overcoming temptation in the Christian life is to fight temptation with a winner. When you became a Christian, you received a new nature as Christ came to live within you. But you also have an old nature which you inherited from Adam. When you are tempted, you can resist in your own strength depending upon the old nature which has a losing record against sin or you can resist temptation in the power of the new nature by letting Christ who has an undefeated record against sin live His life through you.
