This post is about one of the studies I did a while ago but did not get to put it on my blog. I was studying the book of Genesis and read through the first temptation that man had to face. I then was trying to make sense of how the temptation actually looked like and what are those human elements involved during the process of being tempted and heeding to the temptation.
With the help of some cross references and my study I found a very interesting parallel - the first temptation of man to the first temptation of Jesus. It struck me when I later found the summary of the two incidents in 1 John 2:16.
"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world."
My study was made complete by the above verse. It beautifully summarizes and gives life to my study about the signs of temptation. May be those of you who are reading this have already figured it out long time ago or may be there are other studies online.But for me it just dawned on me one day and when I found out about it I strongly felt that the Spirit of God was teaching me something very important. I could not contain it and shared it with Vijay and my Bible study friends. I put my notes in the form of a table and hope it is easy for you to understand.
Real life examples
|
Lust of the flesh
|
Lust of the eye
|
Boastful pride of life
|
Satan to Eve –Gen 3:2-6
|
Good for food – V6
|
Delight to the eyes – V6
|
Be like God – V4,V6
|
Satan to Jesus–Lk4:3-12
|
Stone to bread – V3
|
Showed kingdoms – V5
|
You are Son of God – V9
|
Other examples
|
Esau Gen 25: 31-34
Saul 1 Sam 15:9
|
Lot Gen 13:10,13
|
Job’s 3 friends Job 42:7
|
Godly response for the above
examples
|
Obedience is better than sacrifice
1 Sam 15:22
|
Prudent sees danger and hides
himself. Prov 22:3
|
Silence is also wisdom Prov 17:28,
Job13:5,2:13
|
Our lesson
|
Flee from lusts 2 Tim 2:22 1 Tim
6:11
|
Temptation comes from our lusts
Jam 1:14-16
|
Test everything and hold on to
good 1 Thes 5:21,22
|
Application
|
Crucify the flesh Gal 5:24
|
Fix your eyes on Jesus Heb 12:2
|
Humility like Christ Phil 2:1-11
|
We do have a God who is
faithful and does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear and He will
provide a way out for us(1 Cor 10:13).
After this study when I read any scriptures which talk about sin or temptation or disobedience I was able to categorize it into one of the above three. There are many more examples but I just gave a few to drive my point home. We know how Adam and Eve fell into the temptation and Jesus did not. If only we knew the scripture will we be able to discern good and evil by the wisdom and grace given by God.
"Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?" - Mk12:24
