Love and Temptation

Our topic today is love and temptation. The topic of temptation comes from the church calendar while that of love is related to Saint Valentine. Genesis 3:6 says, ‘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.’. I want to view this infamous fall of humanity from the perspective of love and temptation. Many scholars tried to relate the temptation of Adam and Eve with what John wrote in his epistle. In 1 John 2, temptation is classified into three categories: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life. This is precisely what happened in the Fall as described in Genesis 3. It was the lust of the flesh because there was a desire to eat the forbidden fruit. It was the lust of the eyes because the fruit was a delight to the eyes. It was the pride of life because they wanted to be like God in the wrong way.

In this story Adam’s love was misplaced. He chose his wife, Eve, over his love and obedience to God. In historical theology, there is a term ‘ordo amoris’ which describes a certain order in love. Nowadays it is perhaps very difficult because we can choose whomever we want to love. I am reminded of a saying by Mark Twain, ‘The more I know people, the more I love my dog.’. People are so disappointing that dogs are loved more than people. This is where ordo amoris should be contemplated: is it justified to love animals more than human beings? Is it correct if you love your game more than your siblings, parents or fellow human beings? Adam should have guided Eve if he truly loved Eve. However, his silence was a failure in his leadership. Was the silence an expression of love? Sometimes we say that we love our children. Perhaps it is not loving but spoiling. Sometimes we say we love our spouse and family, but perhaps it could be misplaced love. In the original creation there was not only ordo amoris but also ordo creationis that was brought upside down. In the order of creation it is clear that God should lead human beings, and Adam should lead his wife, and the wife should lead the animal. However, in the story, the order was brought upside down. It is not a coincidence that the author of Genesis uses the word ‘serpent’ rather than ‘Satan’ or ‘devil’ because the emphasis is on the order of creation. Instead of controlling the serpent, Eve listened to it. Eve then tried to control Adam, and he was controlled. It was a chaos of creation. Also, there was no confession of sin. Instead, Adam blamed Eve, and even blamed God for giving his wife to him. Eve also blamed the serpent. In the story, there were temptations, and humanity could not overcome them. Sometimes when we think about love, we think it is something beautiful and there cannot be anything wrong with love. From the biblical perspective, we should be critical. Even Samson, a judge, was driven by lust instead of true love. There was the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. Samson did not really love Delilah, and Delilah responded with emotional manipulation. There was gaslighting and betrayal in the story.

Connecting all these stories with Jesus’ own temptation, He, as a human being, was not exempted from temptations. In the creation story, there was actually plenty of food that man could eat, but there was only one tree whose fruit should not be eaten. Yet man focused on the forbidden fruit. It was not Adam and Eve’s portion, but they still wanted that food. That was the lust of the flesh. Jesus was also tempted to command stones to become loaves of bread, but He did not use his power to provide food for Himself. Rather, He waited for God’s appointed time. During this Lent, it is good to practice fasting or abstinence. Of course we do not want to be legalistic. Spiritual exercises should be done freely as an expression of christian freedom. Nevertheless, fasting or abstinence is a good thing because we can become aware that actually our physical need is not that much. We only need a tiny portion. Jesus did not use His power to provide for Himself.

With regards to the lust of the eyes, in Genesis, the tree was a delight to the eyes. The devil tempted Jesus by showing all the kingdoms of the world. The practice of praying with closed eyes is beautiful because it has a beautiful symbolic meaning. We do not want to be distracted with the glory of the world, thus we close our eyes and enter the invisible world to see God’s glory. If we do not see the glory of God in Jesus, we will be easily attracted by the glory of the world. Of course it is impossible not to see the world at all, but how do we see? It is a matter of perspective. We can see the same object or human being with different perspectives. One could see with the lust of the eyes, or in holiness, mercy and compassion.

Lastly, we read about the pride of life. The serpent said that Adam and Eve would be like God if they ate the fruit. Somehow Eve believed that she would get wisdom like God. In the temptation of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 4, the devil used a Psalm to tempt Jesus, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you,”’. This is about the pride of life as one wants to tempt God without doing one’s part. Jesus, as a human being, worships His Father, and more so for you and I, sinful human beings, who should worship our Creator and Redeemer. There is no possibility to overcome temptations without Jesus. Jesus is the only hope because He is the only one who can overcome temptations. All humanity is dragged down by the failure of Adam and Eve. We are blessed if we know Jesus and He reigns in our hearts. This is the true victory in life. It is not to become a victim of lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life.