God's Providence, Freewill, and the Evil Inclination (Revised Part 3 of 4)

OVERCOMING THE EVIL INCLINATION

The design of man is unique among all of the creatures. While angels are only composed of the heavenly, and the animals are only composed of the earthly (Eccl 3:21), man is made of both the earthly and the heavenly. When God created man, He formed man out of the dust of the earth and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, (Gen 2:7). When a person dies, “the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit to God who gave it,” (Eccl 12:7).

When we appreciate that man is part earthly and part heavenly, we understand the certainty of the conflict that exists within each man. We also gain insight into the proper course of action to overcome the evil inclination. To become more like our heavenly Father, we need to set our “minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col:3:2). To enable men to dwell on “things above,” God gave mankind His word authored by the Spirit Who came down from the Father.

In scripture, the word is seen as the overriding force that enables man to resist the evil inclination, as David has written, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you,” (Psa 119:11). The Hebrew Talmud recorded this understanding,

“The scripture tells us (Psa 34:14), ‘Turn from evil and do good.’ By the word ‘good’ nothing is meant but Torah, as it is written (Prov 4:2), ‘For I have given you a good teaching, do not forsake my Torah,’” (b.Abodah Zarah 19b).

Jesus reinforces the ability of the word to overcome the flesh by saying, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life,” (John 6:63).

The rabbis identified a number of names in the Hebrew text associated with man’s sinful nature. The term “evil inclination,” as previously mentioned and referred to by James as the “evil desire” (James 1:14), is derived from the mouth of God who said of man, “every intent (yetzar) of the thoughts of his heart was only evil (hara) continually,” (Gen 6:5). Six other names in the Bible were seen by the rabbis as synonymous with the evil inclination:

 “Uncircumcised heart,” as Moses said, “Circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer,” (Deut 10:16, 30:6)(Jer 4:4).
 “Impure heart,” as David wrote, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me,” (Psa 51:10).
 “Your enemy,” as Solomon wrote, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat: if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you,” (Prov 25:21-22)(Rom 12:20).
 “Stumbling block,” as Isaiah wrote, “take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people,” (Isa 57:14, KJV)
 “Heart of stone,” as Ezekiel wrote, “I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,” (Ezek 11:19, 36:26)
 “Hidden one,” as Joel wrote, “But I will remove the northern (tsephoni) for you,” (Joel 2:20). Although the translation is not apparent, the Hebrew “tsephoni” is the same word used to refer to the hidden matzah in the Passover celebration seder.

Three of the terms associated with the evil inclination relate to the heart, a principle affirmed by Jesus. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slander,” (Matt 15:19). Ezekiel’s “heart of stone,” results from of an “evil unbelieving heart” that is “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin,” (Heb 3:12-13). Sin becomes a “stumbling block,” (Isa 57:14), as people “stumble because they are disobedient to the word,” (1 Pet 2:8).

“Create in me a pure heart,” (Psa 51:10), becomes the remedy for the "heart of stone." To accomplish this, Jeremiah tells the nation “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskins of your heart,” (Jer 4:4). The call of Jeremiah is a reference to the words of Moses, “circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer,” (Deut 10:16). Moses calls on the people to “circumcise your heart,” but later he tells them, “The LORD your God will circumcise your heart…to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live,” (Deut 30:6). Moses appears to be telling us that circumcision of the heart is initiated by man and then completed by God.

In scripture, it is the Spirit that circumcises the flesh and enables the believer to walk in the statues of the LORD. The LORD told Ezekiel,

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezek 36:26-27)

The promise of the Spirit is not simply as a guarantee of our future resurrection, but He is given as a helper to enable the believer to overcome the evil inclination and “walk in My statutes…and …observe My ordinances.” An individual cannot purify himself without the assistance of the Spirit, but his freewill must submit to the leading of the Spirit. This interaction between a man’s freewill and the Spirit is express by the rabbis in this manner,

“One who comes to purify himself (bal’taheir) receives Divine assistance (siyata d’Shimaya), and without Divine assistance it is impossible to withstand the evil inclination. As the Talmud states, ‘In the way that a person wants to go, he will led him.’” (The Power of Teshuvah, Rabbi Heshy Kleinman)

Divine assistance comes from the Spirit who is given as a “Helper” (John 14:26), to believers. The Spirit can work in an individual who subrogates his will to the leading of the Spirit, as Paul has written, “for when I am weak, then I am strong,” (2 Cor 12:10). At the same time, when individuals have elected to reject the grace that is offered, “God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts,” (Rom 1:24). The process of “giving them over” can be seen as the hardening of an individual’s heart due to their own sin, (Heb 3:12-13). “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,’” (Heb 3:8).

The struggle to subject the flesh to the Spirit is seen as a continual battle within an individual. In this battle, the flesh is the enemy, even the enemy that Solomon was referring to when he wrote, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat: if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.” (Prov 25:21-22)(Rom 12:20). An interesting interpretation comes from the rabbis by understanding that “your enemy” is a reference to the “evil inclination.” To overcome the enemy, we are instructed to “give him food to eat…give him water to drink.”

Bread and water are often equated to the word of God in Scripture.

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth…so is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it,” (Isa 55:10-11).

In the Greek text, Jesus is called the “the living bread that came down out of heaven,” (John 6:51) and “living water” (John 4:11), and, at the same time, Jesus is referred to as the “Word,” (John 1:1).

Writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul said that Christ sanctifies the church “having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,” (Eph 5:26). The word of God is also connected to bread, as Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds of out of the mouth of God,” (Matt 4:4). The rabbis often equated the Torah to food and drink.

“The words of Torah are likened to water, wine, oil, honey, and milk. To water, ‘Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the water; and you who have no money come, buy and eat,’ (Isa 55:1)…As water is life to the world, so is Torah life to the world. As water descends from heaven, so the Torah descends from heaven. As water refreshes the soul, so the Torah refreshes the soul. As water cleanses man from defilement, so the Torah purifies the unclean (morally).” (Everyman's Talmud, Abraham Cohen)

Paul’s conclusion, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,” (Rom 12:21), can be interpreted as a call to overcome our own evil inclination through study, memorization, and application of God’s “good word,” (Heb 6:5). Moses indicated that a believer’s obedience is directly related to the degree that God’s word is imbedded in the believer, as he said, “the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it,” (Deut 30:14). A believer is capable of observing the word (obedience) when the word is in the mouth flowing from the heart. From this knowledge, Paul prescribes the following approach for believers to follow.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect,” (Rom 12:2)


(to be continued)