Meditations

Question from moody radio listener on Nov 18, 2017:

Our bible study is on the temptations in chapter 3 in  Genesis,  what are the underlying categories of the devil’s temptations to Eve? She’s heard that the first one is in general the temptation of appetite, is that the tree is good for food. The second one is that the tree is a delight to look at,  is the temptation of the eye. And the third one is the tree was desirable for obtaining wisdom is the coveting of the knowledge of God. I am not sure if those are accurate categories and want to know what do you think that the categories represent?

Passage to be considered:

1 John 2

¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. -kjv

¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  -niv

¹⁶ For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world.  -hcsb

Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik:

I think the best way to look at the categories is in 1 John 2 verse 16, where I think is exactly related to Genesis 3. It says for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, that has to do with desire. When we talk about the lust of the flesh, God has built us with desires and those desires get out of whack. They get distorted. And that’s what called the flesh. Desire is normal. For example, appetite would be normal but the desire to eat something we should not eat like gluttony, that would be the flesh. And so the lust of the flesh, it says. The lust of the eyes is when we see something and we want it. The desire of the eyes. And then boastful pride of life. The fruit is desirable to make someone wise. I want to be wise like God. To be really wise was what the temptation was. And so, those are the three categories. Now, what I think is every temptation we face, now I am wondering if Eva wants to add to this, but I think this is true. Every temptation that we face is in one of those categories.

Dr Eva Rydelnik:

Some times you hear of: the world, the flesh and the devil.

Dr Michael Rydelnik:

That’s the three area of warfare that we face. But this is the flesh, the flesh is pride, it’s visual desire and physical desire. And all three of those things, Galatians 5 talks about what comes of the fruit of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit.