James Throws a Curve Ball

...but each person is tempted 

when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; 

and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death.

^{James 1:14-15 NIV}

...but each man is tempted when he is drawn away

by his own lust and enticed; then lust, having

conceived, brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished,

brings forth death.

James 1:14-15 ASV

James gives a fascinating lesson in the progression or development of sin (evil) that starts out with a nicely-pitched curve ball.  Remember - verse 13 of James 1 says that God cannot be tempted of evil, and He does not tempt any man.  So, where exactly does the temptation come from?  James pins it squarely on each person - who is tempted when he is "drawn away."  Drawn away from what?  If this is speaking of a believer, which I think James is, then I am going to take a wild guess that the individual portrayed here is drawn away from God - stepping out of the light of life into the overwhelming darkness that is always found outside the boundaries of God's love.

If asked the question, "Is lust sinful?" I think most of us would say, "yes."  James does not agree.  The Greek word here translated "desire" in the NIV and "lust" in the King James and American Standard Bible is ĕpithumia, (a longing [especially for what is forbidden], desire, lust [after]).  It comes from the word ĕpithumĕō ( to set the heart upon, long for [rightfully or otherwise], covet, desire, lust [after]).  So for James, each human being allows himself to be drawn away from God by the longings and desires of his/her heart.  Note that these desires, these wishes, these feelings of setting our heart on something are not sin, but we allow them to draw our hearts away from the holiness and completeness of the presence of God.  Once we have been separated from God, our desires inflame into enticements, which lead us into sin (evil), which brings forth death.

Lucifer desired - longed for - recognition and power.  When he allowed those thoughts to separate him from God, it was only a tiny step further to decide that he wanted to be God Himself.  When Adam realized what Eve had done (eaten the fruit) and his desire for her swelled up until it blotted out the goodness and compassionate love of God, he did not have to tiptoe much further down the path to deciding to take matters into his own hands.

How Do You Create Evil?

Let no one say when he is tempted,

 “I am tempted by God”;

for God cannot be tempted with evil 

and He himself tempts no one.

 James 1:13

If God created "evil" - what exactly did He create?  A puff of smoke?  A black cloud? A talking serpent?  A sinful being?  We are explicitly told that both Lucifer (angel) and Adam (human) were perfect and morally spotless at their creation.  So God did not create "evil" in either of these beings.  The serpents in the Garden of Eden were not "evil" either - they were a part of the sixth day of creation when God  proclaimed all created things as "good."  Further, in order to create something - anything - one must have experience with its components.  Our verse in James today proclaims that God has nothing to do with evil.  He is not tempted by evil, nor does He tempt any other being with evil.  God does not deal in iniquity, evil, sin and darkness.  His realm is one of truth, purity, life and light.

I was taught as a child that sin cannot exist in the presence of a perfectly holy God. If God had created "evil," it would have been incinerated at the very moment of its creation.  I will say it again - sin cannot exist in the presence of perfect holiness. That is why we do not have the face-to-face access to the Father that Adam and Eve had.  Now we "see through a glass darkly" but someday will return to being "face to face" when Christ comes again and makes all things new.    

Perhaps if we read a bit further in the first chapter of the book of James, we might discover fresh answers to this age-old quandary.

Lucifer, Son of the Morning

How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, 

son of the morning!

Isaiah 14:12

The entrance of evil - sin - came long before the decision of Adam in the garden to go his own way.  The above passage in Isaiah 14, as well as verses in Ezekiel 28 tell the story of a powerful angel in heaven, created by God to fill the roll of a covering cherub - one of the highest positions among the angels.  Exekiel proclaims this angel to be the perfection of God's creation:  You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.  Lucifer was not created "evil" or sinful:  You were blameless in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you.

The meaning of the Hebrew word translated "iniquity" in Ezekiel 28 is evil.  So within the heart of this perfect angel is found "evil."  It wasn't in his heart when he was created - he was "perfect" and "blameless."  So how, exactly, did it get there?  Ezekiel 28 proclaims, Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.  Isaiah 14 is even more implicit:   You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God... I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

Here is this perfect angel - one of the two covering cherubs, who begins to believe that he is not as high up as he should be.  He wants a throne - a place of power - over the rest of his fellow angels.  More than that, he wants to be God.  He who is created wants the power and position of the Creator.  God has created this angel for companionship and for service.  He wants only equal billing and status. At some point, Lucifer rejected God's plan and purpose for his life and determined to go his own way - be his own god.  That choice separated him from the Creator God, and gave birth to sin = evil.

In the same manner, Adam was faced with a choice in the garden.  His beautiful wife had already eaten of the fruit of the tree.  What to do?  What do I do?  Do I trust in my Creator, the One who has walked and talked with me every single day since I came into being?  Do I believe that even though my wife has disobeyed, my friend God will work things out?  Do I look at Eve, who is standing there in perfect health, and tell myself that God obviously lied about dying, so what else has He lied about?  Do I decide that since Eve has suffered no harm from her snack, that God obviously doesn't know what He is talking about?  Whatever his thoughts were, Adam's final choice was to rely on his own wisdom, seek his own way - be his own god.  That choice blossomed forth as sin = evil. 

Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.

-John Milton, Paradise Lost