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    Naked and Ashamed

    Genesis 3:1-13  p2

Without G3, nothing in the Bible makes sense.  Why is there sin & evil/judgment & heartache?  Why are people broken/battered/ bleeding/bruised?  Why is there death/suffering?  Why am I stuck in my life?  Why is there hope?  

We are looking at this passage from five different angles: historical/ theological/relational – TODAY: philosophical/NEXT WEEK: practical.  

Philosophical – why is there evil?

This is a huge question?  Why is there human trafficking/sex slavery/oppression of women/exploitation of children/addiction…?  There are various Biblical responses to this, but one response has to include an evil supernatural being called Satan.  Why is there evil?  Because there is Satan.  G3:1 is the 1st mention of in Satan in the Bible – 

Serpent: in his 1st appearance Satan is not associated w/ man/, but w/ animals.  G1:28 – creation mandate.  This 1st mention tells us that he is lower than man - he is one over whom A/E had dominion/should subdue.  They were not helpless before him.  

Satan is a lower order of being than man as designed/created by God.  Man is a little lower than the angels and Satan is lower than man.  The sin of man reverses this.  After the sin of A/E, after the fall, Satan became the god of this world (2C4:4)/prince of the power of the air/the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2).  What he lusted after in heaven and couldn’t attain he has achieved on earth.  He sought after a domain in heaven/has a domain on earth.  Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13.  

In the beginning, man had authority over Satan.  In that man didn’t exercise that authority he came under bondage to Satan.  In Christ, the bondage is broken and redeemed man has authority over Satan.

You have authority over the devil.  He is a lower order of being than you who are born again.  Luke 10:18-20; James 4:7; 1 John 4:4

Adam was given the mandate to cultivate/keep the garden.  Keep = guard.  The approach of the serpent is exactly what he was watch for.  His/his wife’s relationship with God was something to be protected/guarded.  Here was an assault on that relationship.  Whether Adam was with her or not, I don’t know.  But I do know that he wasn’t as watchful as he could/should have been.  I know that as a father – I was not as watchful as I could/should have been with my children.  

Crafty: he knows what he wants/knows how to get it.  In that he is in the form of a serpent, he is lower than man.  In that he is crafty, he seeks to dominate man.  What he attempted in heaven, he attempts on earth.  He sought dominion in heaven/seeks dominion in the earth.  He is a fallen creature who seeks to bring other creatures into his fall.    

When did Satan fall?  I don’t know.  Some think they can tell us precisely – between G1:1 and G1:2/between G2:25 and G3:1.  Though there was no sin yet in the earthly created order of things – there had been sin among the angelic order of beings.  Satan stood under the judgment of God and wanted to drag all of creation down to his level.  Why is there evil?  This one of the reasons – G3:1.  

There’s no doubt that if you were to ask the 50 leading sociologists of our day, “Why is there evil in the world/why do people do bad

things?”, not one of them would make a reference to the devil.

They would cite poverty/lack of education/disease/racism/class warfare/capitalism/ sexism/racism/greed/republicans/democrats/society/the industrial – military complex… but I can’t imagine one of them making reference to an evil supernatural being called the devil.  Yet this is the Bible’s 1st response to the question as to why there is sin/evil.  Can you imagine a NY Times front page article reading: Satan drives 30 people to commit mass suicide?

One dimension of the Bible answer as to why evil exists is that there is a devil.  The 2nd dimension is that man was created w/ free will.  

God is good/He created good creatures with a good power called free will. Unfortunately, they used this good power to bring evil into the universe by rebelling against their Creator. Evil arose from a good power called freedom. Freedom in itself is not evil. But with freedom comes the possibility of evil. 

Along w/ Satan, evil comes from the free choice of free will moral agents.  Evil is only possible because of free will.  If God destroyed free will He would be destroying the possibility of evil.  But if God destroyed evil He would have to destroy free will.  God has created you w/ free will and you can receive/reject Him.  You do not live a mechanized/predetermined existence.  Your life isn’t following a prearranged script.  You are responsible for the choices you make.  Your choices have real consequences.  This is what makes temptation, temptation.    

Why is there evil?  #1 Satan / #2 Free will / #3 Allowance of God

God is responsible for making evil possible, but free creatures are responsible for making it actual.1

If God is good why doesn’t He do something about evil?

Chart - Atheism affirms the reality of evil/denies the reality of God. Pantheism affirms the reality of God/denies the reality of evil. Theism affirms the reality of both God/evil. 
   God  Evil
Atheism  NO  YES
Pantheism  yes  NO
Theism  YES  YES
 
Here is the problem; how can an absolutely good Being (God) be compatible with evil, the opposite of good? God is powerful and can destroy evil.  God is good and should destroy evil.  God was wise enough to know that evil would come into existence.  2

Why does God allow evil?  Because He values freedom.  If there were no free will there would be no evil and no love.  If He were to take away your free will He would also take away the possibility of evil/love.  My conclusion is that God values love so much that He allows evil. God is willing to allow evil in order that love might be experienced.  God is love/manifested His love/desires your love.