What is the significance of the three distinct aspects of the temptation of Eve in the garden?

score:5

Accepted answer

1 Thessalonians 5:23 KJV
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Shameless "copy and paste" from here:

1: The BODY. This is your PHYSICAL component of being. It is flesh made from a collection of unremarkable mineral elements (but is mostly water) and is in harmony with the nature and spirit of this world. It grows, matures, begins to deteriorate, eventually dies, and then decomposes back into its constituent elements and remains a part of the dust of the world. The body is a part of you but is NOT ALL of what defines who YOU are.

Proverbs 5:11 KJV And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,"

2: The SOUL. This is who YOU are; it is a part of your SPIRITUAL component. This is your individuality, your "I AM" so to speak (made in God’s image), your "heart." Although your individual soul did not exist before your mother and father procreated you, it will exist forever. It cannot be killed by man:

Matt. 10:28 KJV And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

When your body dies your soul (YOU) will leave the body of flesh:

Genesis 35:18 KJV And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin."

3: The SPIRIT. This is the source of power and control for both your body and soul; it is either evil or good, darkness or light, unholy or Holy, unclean or clean, of Satan or of God:

Luke 9:55 KJV But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of."

Why all that explanation? Well, the Eve's temptation and Jesus temptation are similar:

         Eve                        Jesus
Body   - good for food            - stones to become loaves of bread
Soul   - delight to the eyes      - all these I will give you
Spirit - desired to make one wise - If you are the Son of God...

(Sorry the formatting, Markdown has not tables)

Satan tempted in all aspects possible both Jesus and Eve - Body, Soul and Spirit.

Finally, not all scholars accept that kind of theory, because consider "Soul" and "Spirit" to be equivalent, or different terms that refers to same subject.

Upvote:3

The three virtues of the tree are an instance of what is called the “rule of three”, a literary device which engages the hearer using a pattern that is easy to commit to memory. The significance of three seems to be that the hearer cannot be expected to see a pattern in fewer things. You will find the rule of three used heavily not just throughout the Bible but in any kind of storytelling.

Christopher Booker points out that there are four basic variations on the rule of three: simple, progressive, contrasting, and dialectical.

Using Booker’s organizing principle, we can call the virtues of the tree a progressive three because of the pattern – each is more valuable than the last. This makes it easy to remember the tree and how tempting it was.

The temptations of Christ are another progressive three; the three virtues in Jeremiah and the three worldly desires in 1 John are simple threes.

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