God's Success and Man's Failure part four

The sins of Adam and Eve reflect the entire scope of God's relations with mankind as related in His Word. Because of her innocence, Eve sinned only because of deception and her weakness. She was like a child who becomes deceived by an adult. The beginning of Adam's sin was that he lost faith in God's mercy. Had he thought to take her case to God, then God would have forgiven her, and everything would have been all right. If men have limited mercy, then surely God has infinite mercy. God always forgives man's sins of weakness. In Matthew 6:14-15, God commands believers to always "forgive men their trespasses." God instructs believers to always forgive men's trespasses, meaning sins caused by weakness, whether they ask for it or not. God would never ask people to do that which He would not do Himself. Therefore, God must forgive all sins of weakness. The Word reflects this truth in Christ's cry from the cross in Luke 23:34. Jesus' phrase "...for they know not what they do," indicates sins of weakness. God, the Father, could never fail to give Jesus whatever He prayed for. In Matthew 26:50, Jesus called Judas Iscariot "friend." This fact can only indicate that Jesus had forgiven Judas of the weakness of his sin against God. Whatever God forgives, He also recovers and recreates.

However, God never forgives sins caused by deliberate evil. Matthew 12:31-32. The totally evil part of Judas Iscariot's sin against Christ, God will never forgive. In the end of the world, God will cast all deadness and total evil into the lake of fire forever. Revelation 20:15; Revelation 21:8. Total evil is demonic and never repents anyway. Revelation 9:20-21. For this reason, God does not require believers to forgive deliberate and cruel sins against themselves and especially their families.

Eve transgressed because she was deceived by a greater intellect. This fact implies that she sinned by accident, not deliberately. We do not hold children responsible when they become deceived by an adult. God put this kind of compassion in us, and so He certainly must have this kind of compassion Himself. If Adam and Eve had only remembered the mercy of God, they could have taken her case to God, and He would have forgiven her. Adam and Eve's loss of faith became a part of their sin. Romans 14:23.

Eve did not deliberately sin until she gave the forbidden fruit to Adam for him to eat. This was an act of total selfishness. She knew that the change she felt in herself was not good, even though she also knew she was wiser. Instead of protecting her husband, she wanted him to become as fallen as she knew she was. She allowed her love for her husband to fail. This could only be a deliberate and cruel sin.