追溯罪惡的發展Tracing the Development of Sin
[每日靈修] 10/9/2018, 駱鴻銘編譯
「你們便如上帝」（創三5）。這是最原始的誘惑，是蛇針對我們的第一對父母的「原型」（archetypal）誘惑。亞當和夏娃被造時，是要作為治理全地的副統治者，但他們卻想要更多。他們伸手要取得獨立自主權（autonomy），向上帝的寶座伸出貪婪的雙臂，結果卻是一頭扎進邪惡的深淵。
從伊甸園被逐出去是他們的命運。他們無法回到伊甸園。天堂失落了。一位帶著發火焰的劍的天使，站在通往花園的入口。這是聖經中第一次提到武器。在上帝將「刀劍的權柄」（參：羅十三4）交給人之前，祂把它交給天使，巡邏並守衛挪得以西（創四16）的邊界。
隨著墮落，罪惡迅速擴張。亞當和夏娃的一個兒子謀殺了他的兄弟，為人類歷史引進了自相殘殺。然後是拉麥，他以著名的「劍歌」（創四23～24）來歌頌戰爭。人類利用他的新興科技，把農業工具變成戰爭的手段。犁變成了劍，治理全地的呼召被扭曲成征服弟兄的陰謀。生產方法成為毀滅的手段，人類的科技發明不是被利用來尊崇上帝，而是通過攻擊祂的受造物和佩帶祂形象的人來攻擊祂。
然後上帝對敗壞的擴張說不，並帶來了洪水，一場對全地的審判風暴，一場清理全地的大洪水。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
在你曾經面對或正在面對的誘惑中，第一個誘惑——「你們便如上帝」——是如何顯明出來的？你應該如何回應？
進一步研讀：
創三4～5 蛇對女人說：「你們不一定死； 因為神知道，你們吃的日子眼睛就明亮了，你們便如神能知道善惡。」
創三22～24 耶和華 神說：「那人已經與我們相似，能知道善惡；現在恐怕他伸手又摘生命樹的果子吃，就永遠活著。」 耶和華 神便打發他出伊甸園去，耕種他所自出之土。 於是把他趕出去了；又在伊甸園的東邊安設基路伯和四面轉動發火焰的劍，要把守生命樹的道路。
Tracing
the Development of Sin
“You
will be like God” (Gen. 3:5). This was the original temptation, the archetypal
seduction aimed at our first parents by the Serpent. Created as vice-regents
with dominion over the earth, Adam and Eve wanted more. They reached for
autonomy, stretching greedy arms toward the throne of God, only to fall
headlong into the abyss of evil.
Expulsion
from Eden was their fate. They could not go back. Paradise was lost. An angel
with a flaming sword stood guard at the gateway to the garden. This is the
first reference in Scripture to a weapon of any sort. Before God gave the
“power of the sword” to men, He gave it to the angel to patrol and guard the
border west of Nod.
With
the fall came a rapid expansion of sin. One son of Adam and Eve murdered his
brother, introducing fratricide to human history. Then came Lamech, who
celebrated warfare in his famous “sword song” (Genesis 4:23-24). Man used his
nascent technology to turn the tools of farming into implements of war. The
plowshare became a sword, and the call to subdue the earth was distorted into a
conspiracy to conquer one’s brother. The means of production became the means
of destruction, and human technology and scientific discovery were used not to
honor God but to assault Him, by attacking His creation and His image-bearers.
Then
God said no to the expansion of corruption and brought the flood, a storm of
judgment upon the earth, a deluge to clean the planet.
Coram
Deo
How
is the first temptation, “You will be like God,” evident in temptations you
have faced or are facing? What should be your response?
Passages
for Further Study
Genesis
3:4–5
Genesis
3:22–24