Almighty In Authority, part three

The Suspects, continued

How about Adam? Could he have been the one to change Eve's inclination? He certainly had the opportunity. He too was in the garden. He too had authority over Eve. The problem, of course, is that Adam also fell under God's blessing. He too was part of the creation that God declared to be good. He too, then, must have had the inclination only to do good. Is it a good inclination to desire to change Eve's inclination from good to bad? Adam, being good, could have had no desire to change Eve. And when we add that Adam doesn't have the power to change Eve, he slips quickly off the suspect list. Humans haven't the power to change the inclination of other humans. This lack of power is not the result of the fall but is inherent in man's nature.

That same lack of power applies to our strange suspect, the birds and the bees and the rocks and the trees. Though these things were present at the commission of the crime, they too have neither a motive nor the power. These things are impersonal. They do not influence the desires of humans. They have no consciousness, so they couldn't have chosen to change Eve. And if they had consciousness, just how would they have effected their desire? Wish I may wish that it is the candy bar which woos me, calls me to break my diet, candy bars don't talk. And neither do rocks.

This leads us to the crowd favorite. All of us, I'm sure, are hoping we can pin this dastardly deed on the serpent in the black hat. We don't much care for him, and we know he is destined to a rather lengthy jail term anyway. It sure would be nice if we could pin this crime on him and solve one more mystery.

There are, however, several problems with this suspect. While it is true that he was at the scene of the crime and had opportunity and a motive, he cannot be the culprit.

Though the devil, unlike the rocks and the trees, is personal, he hasn't the power to change the inclination of humans. Though incredibly powerful, he is yet a creature. Though he can and does tempt and seduce, he always does so by appealing to our already twisted inclinations. We have one example in which Satan tried to work his devilry with someone who had no inclination to do evil. Three times Satan sought to twist Jesus' legitimate desires into sinful desires. There is nothing inherently wrong with desiring to eat, especially after fasting forty days, so Satan said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread" (Matt. 4:3). Jesus' strongest inclination, however, was to obey His Father, and so He refused. SO Satan said, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down" (v. 6). Again, Jesus' strongest desire was to obey God. Finally Satan said, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me" (v. 9). Jesus knew that all things rightfully would be His; yet again His strongest inclination was to obey God.

In the garden, Satan tried to get Eve to see things differently. He tried to appeal to her natural and legitimate desire to know more. He could not, however, make that desire surpass the fundamental desire of those who are good, the desire to bey God's commands. Satan, then, could not be the culprit.

Even if Satan could have been the culprit, it still wouldn't really solve the problem of where evil came from. Even if Eve could rightly say, "The devil made me do it," we must then push the question further back. How could the devil come to be evil? Like Adam and Eve, the devil was created good. There was a time when his desires were only to obey God. Blaming the devil does not ultimately help us in solving the mystery. The devil, as the angel of light, before his fall, could not have had the inclination to do evil either.

Some pin this on the devil by suggesting that he allowed a legitimate desire grow into and illegitimate desire. Still, there must have been a time when that desire approached that line. The devil had a choice; would he allow this desire to grow into sin or not? To desire to allow it to so grow would again require an inclination toward evil, an inclination the devil could not yet have had.

To be continued...

The above quote was copied from the book
Almighty Over All, Understanding the Sovereignty of God
by R. C. Sproul Jr
Published by Baker Books