Scripture tells us that right after God created the man Adam and the woman Eve, “The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame” (Gen 2:25). They felt no shame because Adam and Eve were in the state of “original innocence.” Original innocence was the state of humanity before the Fall. The Fall of humanity happened when Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This act of disobedience is called original sin, and it broke the initial perfect relationship between humanity and God; it introduced sin, death and suffering into the world.
One of the very first effects of original sin was that Adam and Eve realized that they were naked (cf. Gen 3::7). Original sin plunged humanity into a fallen state; in this fallen state, humanity has a weakened nature. This weakened nature is characterized by (1) a darkened intellect – a diminished ability to know and to accept the truth, (2) a weakened will to obey God – a strong tendency to rebel against God and His commandments, (3) a lack of harmony with creation – increased difficulty to live in peace with others, and (4) concupiscence – a strong and inherent inclination to sin.
Jesus rectified original sin by acting as the “new Adam;” He reversed the disobedience of the fall through His perfect obedience, sinless life, and sacrificial death on the Cross. By offering Himself, Jesus provided a way for mankind to reconcile with God. Through faith and baptism, individuals are incorporated into the Mystical Body of Christ, thereby allowing them to transition from the “old creation” under Adam’s curse to the “new creation.”
St. Paul talks about this transition through the perfect obedience of Christ: “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Jesus made the Sacrifice, but we are the beneficiaries. Jesus Christ redeemed humanity through His Death and Resurrection, but salvation requires a response of faith, which is demonstrated by a life of love of God and neighbor.
Many people think erroneously that when they are tempted, they have committed a sin. However, being tempted is not sinning because Jesus Himself, who is sinless, was tempted in the desert (cf. Matthew 4:1-11). It is only when a person gives in to temptation in thought, word or deed, has that person committed a sin. The temptation of Jesus in the desert teaches us a lot about temptation – how persistent the devil is, and the clever ways the devil uses to tempt us. But the greater lesson is how we ought to deal with temptation.
Jesus resisted the temptations of the devil 3 times; but that doesn’t mean we should resist the devil only 3 times. In the Bible, the number 3 signifies divine perfection, completeness, and wholeness; it appears over 400 times in the Bible, acting as a “signature” for God’s complete and perfect intervention. In terms of Jesus being tempted 3 times in the desert, what it signifies for us is that whenever we are tempted, we are not alone and God is still in charge. All the more reason why we ought to resist temptation, because no matter how long it takes for us to resist and overcome the temptation, we are still on God’s side and we have not committed a sin.