At least three potential causes:
- A consequence of personal or community sin
- A consequence of being a Christian
- A consequence of the fall.
A direct result mankind’s decision and action – the fall
The climax of Genesis 1 was the creation of the man and the woman, and the climax of Genesis 2 was the covenant relationship between the man and the woman. Today’s chapter is crucial to our understanding of human nature: God did not create us the way we are now, but we changed ourselves through the tragedy of the Fall. The fundamental issue in the temptation scene was trusting God enough to believe that He has our best interests at heart. When the man and the woman decided that they had a better idea than God of what their best interests looked like, they turned from saying “Thy will be done” to “My will be done.” Thus, they were spiritually separated from God, and their character and destiny were radically changed. But at the same time, this account offers the first presentation of what God would do to overcome the alienation of the Fall (3:15).
From Handbook to Scripture
Sharing in His sufferings
Since I am a child of God, I am an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ, if indeed I share in His sufferings in order that I may also share in His glory. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to me.
Romans 8:17–18 NASB
2 And we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker[Other mss read servant] in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith, 3 so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction, and as you know, it happened. 5 For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.
1 Thessalonians 3:2-5
“3 so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions.” Afflictions are to be expected and Satan (“the tempter”) attempts to use afflictions to shake our faith.
4 Therefore, we ourselves boast about you among God’s churches—about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions that you are enduring. 5 It is clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering, 6 since it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us. This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, 8 when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
2 Thessalonians 1:4-8
A consequence of personal or community sin
Consequences of Apostasy
14 Is Israel a slave?
Was he born into slavery?[e]
Why else has he become a prey?
15 The young lions have roared at him;
they have roared loudly.
They have laid waste his land.
His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.
16 The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have also broken your skull.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself
by abandoning the Lord your God
while he was leading you along the way?
18 Now what will you gain
by traveling along the way to Egypt
to drink the water of the Nile?[f]
What will you gain
by traveling along the way to Assyria
to drink the water of the Euphrates?
19 Your own evil will discipline you;
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Recognize[g] how evil and bitter it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of me.
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies.20 For long ago I[h] broke your yoke;
I[i] tore off your chains.
You insisted, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
and under every green tree
you lay down like a prostitute.21 I planted you, a choice vine
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?22 Even if you wash with lye
and use a great amount of bleach,[j]
the stain of your iniquity is still in front of me.
This is the Lord God’s declaration.
23 How can you protest, “I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals”?
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,
24 a wild donkey at home[k] in the wilderness.
She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.
Who can control her passion?
All who look for her will not become weary;
they will find her in her mating season.[l]
25 Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It’s hopeless;
I love strangers,
and I will continue to follow them.”26 Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,
Jeremiah 2:14-28
so the house of Israel has been put to shame.
They, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets
27 say to a tree, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”
For they have turned their back to me
and not their face,
yet in their time of disaster they beg,
“Rise up and save us!”
28 But where are your gods you made for yourself?
Let them rise up and save you
in your time of disaster if they can,
for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.
Judgment Deserved
(Blaming God unjusty)
29 Why do you bring a case against me?
Jeremiah 2:29-37
All of you have rebelled against me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
30 I have struck down your children in vain;
they would not accept discipline.
Your own sword has devoured your prophets
like a ravaging lion.
31 Evil generation,
pay attention to the word of the Lord!
Have I been a wilderness to Israel
or a land of dense darkness?
Why do my people claim,
“We will go where we want;[m]
we will no longer come to you”?
32 Can a young woman forget her jewelry
or a bride her wedding sash?
Yet my people have forgotten me
for countless days.
33 How skillfully you pursue love;
you also teach evil women your ways.
34 Moreover, your skirts are stained
with the blood of the innocent poor.
You did not catch them breaking and entering.
But in spite of all these things
35 you claim, “I am innocent.
His anger is sure to turn away from me.”
But I will certainly judge you
because you have said, “I have not sinned.”
36 How unstable you are,
constantly changing your ways!
You will be put to shame by Egypt
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 Moreover, you will be led out from here
with your hands on your head
since the Lord has rejected those you trust;
you will not succeed even with their help.[n]