WHAT WAS THE ORIGINAL SIN

In Genesis, chapter 3, when Satan tempted Eve to doubt God's goodness, he introduced into the pure spring of God's goodness the pollution of doubt. I have thought for most of my adult life that pride was the original sin, that it stood alone as "the sin." I have recently come to the conclusion that pride is the "gateway sin" to all sin. My thought comes from the term most of us are familiar with - "gateway drug." Oxford Dictionary defines it as "a habit-forming drug that, while not itself addictive, may lead to the use of other addictive drugs." It's the sin that gets its foot into the doorway of our life which immediately provides access to a host of other sins. Another way to picture sin is like a chain. One sin is linked to another sin, which is linked to another sin, which is linked to another sin...you get the picture.

Let me use my imagination a little bit. My understanding of Scripture is that Satan, at the time called Lucifer, was an angel of great, incredible beauty, possibly the most beautiful of all God's creation. I can imagine Satan beginning to think, "I am more beautiful than any other of God's creation, so why shouldn't I be worshiped as well?" In the latter part of Isaiah 14:14 it is recorded that Satan said, "I will be like the Most High." Pride is the first link of the chain. The next link is doubt. Satan then begins to doubt God's goodness, because if he were truly good, then he would want other angels to worship him as well. The next links would follow like envy, resentment, bitterness, rebellion, bringing division, strife, and war, with him being thrown out of heaven.

There is a natural progression of sin. It may start with an innocent "little white lie," like something you tell to keep from hurting someone's feelings. Satan will make sure that you will eventually have to tell another one in order to cover up the first one. In time it snowballs into a huge lie. Sin won't remain small. The chain of sin in due course becomes so great that you are bound - you lose all your freedom. Ravi Zaccharias said it well: "Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more that you want to pay."

The apostle James writes about this in James 4:1-3, NIV: "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

So what better temptation to use on Eve than one of the sins that caused him (Satan) to fall to begin with. If he could fall to the temptation of doubt when he was in the very presence of God, enjoying all of his (God's) splendor and glory, surely man would be susceptible to that doubt as well.

Eve's first mistake was talking to Satan. She told him that God said if they ate of the fruit from the forbidden tree they would die. Satan challenged that by saying, "you will not surely die" (Genesis 3:4). It was his nice way of calling God a liar. He introduces doubt. He then challenges God's goodness. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (v.5). If he were really good he would want your eyes to be opened, and you would be like him.

In Exodus 33 Moses asks God to show him his glory. I like how one pastor defined the word "glory." He said another way of saying it is "show me what you are 'famous' for. This was God's reply to Moses: “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you..." (33:19a, NIV). Have you heard the phrase "boil-it-down?" It's when you reduce, or simplify something to the most basic, essential or fundamental elements. The most basic, essential, fundamental truth about God, is his goodness. I have become convinced if this is the foundation upon which we build, that solid rock which Jesus spoke about (Matthew 7:24-25), then our faith and trust in God will become immovable, indestructible, unshakable. So when those storms of life assail us, that we all experience, and Satan tries to introduce that doubt of God's goodness, [If God is good, why is he allowing this to happen to me?], our knowledge and confidence in his goodness will get us through anything.

"We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously" (1Corinthians 10:13, TPT).

I mentioned the chain of sin earlier with each link being a sin connected to another sin, leading us to destruction and death. Christ has a chain for us with the first link being the promise that he has come that we might have life, and that more abundantly. Each link is one of his promises, and at the end of his chain is the anchor of his goodness that will keep us from ever being swamped by the storm driven waves of this life. "I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world" (John 16:33, MSG).