HOW COULD LUCIFER, ADAM, AND EVE SIN, SINCE THEY HAD BEEN PERFECTLY DESIGNED?

I hope I am not being too presumptuous by addressing this question, one that seems to be shrouded in mystery. However, I do think that it is important enough to attempt a Biblical explanation that our Lord’s ways might be exalted.

All three had wanted to be like God. In Lucifer’s case:

·       “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” (Isaiah 14:12-14) ESV)

·       “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God…You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.” (Ezekiel 28:12, 14-15)

Satan understood how tempting it is to be like God. He therefore used this very temptation to lure Adam and Eve:

·       But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:4-6)

Does any of this imply that God hadn’t designed these beings optimally? I don’t think so. Well, where did the desire to be like God come from? Did God instill them with this fatal desire? If He had, His design would have been faulty. Instead, I think that there are numerous evidences that this was a righteous godly desire, when curbed by the Word of God.

For one thing, God wants us to be like Him. We were purposely created in the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27) in “true righteousness and holiness,” and we are to seek to regain this likeness (Ephesians 4:24). Already, we have become “partakers of His divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Besides, when He returns for us, we will become like Him (1 John 3:2). We are also to be glorified (Rom 8:30; John 17:22; Hebrews 2:10). Jesus wants to share everything that is His with us (Colossians 2:8-10).

Our Lord even wants us to eventually partake of the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil.” The New Covenant promises us that there will come a time when we will no longer require teachers, because we will all be filled with the knowledge of God (Jeremiah 31:34), having been taught by God Himself (Isaiah 54:13). In other words, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will no longer bear forbidden fruit.

This is all to say that our Lord didn’t infuse us with improper desires. So from where did the problem come? From us! There was nothing wrong with our desire to be like God and even to share in His glory, something He wants to eventually share with us. Adam and Eve (and I think that this also holds true for Lucifer) had the Word of God but thought that they knew better than God. In their self-confidence, they became convinced that they could better manage their own lives to fulfill what had been a godly desire and rejected His Word in favor of their own.

They had no reason to reject God’s Word. In all regards, He had proved Himself faithful. But wasn’t God’s design at fault for allowing them to experience self-confidence, which then morphed into pride? I don’t think so. While ultimately, we want our confidence to be in God alone (Psalm 62), a babe needs a sense of self-confidence in order to take his second step after he falls. I think that the same was true for the first couple.

Whatever our trait, it must be bridled and reshaped by the Word of God, our very life. God had sent Israel multiple humbling trials to teach them that “man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3; Matthew 4:4). I therefore thank God for His humbling trials that I too might cling to the Word of God with all of my heart and strength. Without these provisions, I know that I too will quickly go astray.