2. The Devil's Influence on the Origin of Sin in the Human Race

      As an evil creature who tries to harm man and lead him into sin, Satan clearly appears in the Book of Genesis, in which it is clearly narrated how, having entered the serpent, he tempted our first parents and finally persuaded them to violate the Commandment of God - to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree (Gen., ch. III); furthermore, the devil is the same evil creature in the book of Job (I, 6-12 and II, 1-7). In the book of Chronicles (1 Chron. XXI, 1) it is said that "Satan rose up against Israel and stirred up David to number the Israelites." Here Satan is represented as stirring up David to number the Israelites, and thus involving him in the sin which David himself confessed before God (v. 8), and for which the Lord punished the people of Israel with a pestilence (v. 14). Thus, the above passage serves as a new proof that Satan leads man into sin.

      In the same way, in the New Testament there are clear indications that the devil leads man into sin. This is indicated first of all by his very name as a tempter (Matt. IV, 3; 1 Fesal. III, 5), i.e. tempting a person to sin. Satan is a tempter to sin even in relation to Jesus Christ (Matt. IV, 1-11; Mr. I, 12-13; Onion. IV, 1-13). In the wilderness, where Jesus Christ withdrew after His baptism, Satan appeared to Him and began to tempt Him, seducing Him with all his tempting means, such as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 1:10). II, 16). But Jesus Christ resolutely resisted all the temptations of Satan, so that the latter had to distance himself from Him and realize his powerlessness to lead the Son of God into sin.

      The influence of the devil on the origin of sin in the human race is clearly recognized by the Savior in His parable of the seed and the tares (Matt. XIII, 24-30, 36-43). The kingdom of heaven, He says, is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. And while the people were asleep, the enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat, and departed, v. 24-25. The field, according to the Saviour's explanation, is the world, the good seed is the sons of the Kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one; The enemy who sowed them is the devil (vv. 38-39). In this way, evil in the world is represented, according to the words of the Saviour, as sown or originating from the devil. According to the testimony of the Gospel, Satan inspired Judas to betray Jesus to the chief priests and scribes (Luke 2:10). XXII, 3; John. XIII, 2, 27). Up. John also clearly acknowledges the devil as the culprit of the origin of sin when he says: whoever commits sin is of the devil, because the devil sinned first. For this reason the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 1:10). III, 8). Here the sinful actions of man are directly called the works of the devil. This means that their origin is influenced by the devil, which is why they are called his works. In the words of Ap. In which he warns Christians against the wiles of the devil, we can also find an indication of the devil's participation in the origin of sin. Be sober, be watchful, says the Apostle, for your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. V, 8). Here the devil is represented as an adversary of man, trying to destroy him; but it destroys a person when it leads him into sin.

      From the presented passages of the Old and New Testaments, it is clearly seen that the devil exerts an influence on the origin of sin in man.

 3. On the freedom of will in man

      "God created the soul," writes Basil the Great, "and not sin. Its primary good was to be with God and to be united with Him through love. Having fallen away from Him, she began to suffer from various and manifold ailments. Why is there a general acceptability of evil in it? On account of free striving, which is most befitting of a rational creature. Not being bound by any necessity, having received from the Creator a free life, as created in the image of God, it understands the good, knows how to enjoy it, is endowed with freedom and the power to observe the life that is natural to it; but also has the freedom to deviate from the beautiful...

      But, they say, – the saint continues, – why is sinlessness not given to us in the very structure, so that it would be impossible to sin, even if we wanted to? For the same reason, why do you not consider the servants to be in good order when you keep them bound, but when you see that they voluntarily fulfill their duties to you? Wherefore it pleases God not that which is compulsory, but which is done voluntarily, but virtue proceeds from volition, and not from necessity, and volition depends on what is in us; and what is in us is free. Therefore, whoever reproaches the Creator for not having made us sinless, does nothing else but prefer an irrational, immovable nature, and having no strivings, to a nature endowed with volition and self-activity" (The Creation of the Holy Fathers. VIII, 151, 156).

4. The internal cause of the origin of sin lies in the freedom of human will

      An indication of the origin of sin from the freedom of man can be found in the Holy Scriptures: a) the Old and b) New Testaments, and c) in the teaching of the Holy Fathers of the Church.