How does evil enter the world 3
by Ivan Ho 04 May 2025
How does evil enter the world pt.1
[1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? [2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: [3] but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. [4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: [5] for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. [6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
How does evil enter the world? Where do we start? Well, it goes all the way back to the garden of Eden as described in the book of Genesis.
Right up to verse 3 of Genesis 3, Eve had not sinned, not yet, but by then there was already presence of evil when the devil disguised as a serpent initiated a conversation with Eve.
Just because evil was present doesn’t mean sin was inevitable. The devil came to entice Eve but tragically, beyond verse 3, we know that Eve succumbed to the temptation and sinned against God.
Eve merely told the serpent what God had told her through Adam, but the problem with Eve was, she had no discernment at all who she was speaking to, the same critical weakness most, if not all of us have. We think that everyone who approaches to talk to us is from God. We think that everything in our world is rosy, that “God is good all the time”, so nothing bad can possibly happen to us. Yes God is good, but the devil is evil.
God did not send the devil to Eve, nor is He the author of evil. Evil comes not because of God but because of man’s rebellion against the authority of God, evil comes due to disobedience against the Word of God.
Evil comes from within the heart of man and woman who are not submitted to God. When God says “Yes” we say “No”, when God says “Go”, we say “It’s not the right time”. We would rather listen to the voice of the devil than to simply follow what God says. We prefer to follow what appears good and appeals to our flesh than to follow what is written in the word of God.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:6)
During Eve’s encounter with the devil, her soul was turned by the evil one, enticing her into disobeying God’s commands. The words of the serpent deceived her, so that she found the forbidden fruit pleasing to her eyes, and the tree desirable to make one wise. She made an emotional, soulish decision to partake of the fruit that was forbidden by God, before she gave the fruit to her husband Adam and he ate as well. As a result, both fell into sin.