BY THE AUTHOR
Dr. Clarence E. Mason, Jr.
Philadelphia College of Bible
1970

4. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FALL
   1. Was the fall necessary?
      "Nothing is more remarkable in the whole history of man's moral life than the powerlessness of the Devil to overcome us apart from our own assent and consent. If we resist, he flees; if we yield, he wins." (W. H. Griffith Thomas)
   2. Lessons from the temptation and fall
      1. God is not the author of sin.
      2. Sin came from without, not from within the nature of man.
      3. "The foundation of sin lies in man's desire for self-assertion and his determination to be independent of God." (Thomas)
      4. "As soon as one does not wholeheartedly and unreservedly trust God, mistrust is gaining ground and sin has entered. " (Leupold)
   3. Why did God allow the temptation?
      "The answer must always be that God will have only that count as moral behavior, worthy of a being made in God's image, which is freely given and maintained even where the possibility of doing otherwise offers itself. To do what God desires, merely because one cannot do other­wise, has no moral worth. It would be a morality like unto that of beams which uphold the house because they have been put into place and cannot but bear the load. To do the right where there has never been an opportunity of doing wrong is not moral behavior. The oppor­tunity to do otherwise must present itself. This is the temptation." (Leupoid)

"Mason's Notes"

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