2 Ne 2:16-20
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
The Book of Mormon > Second Nephi > Chapter 2
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Contents |
Questions
Verses 15-25
- Why is the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden such an important scriptural story, so important that it is repeated for us more often than any other if we attend the temple regularly? If we think in types, how does their story give us a type for understanding our own lives?
Verse 16
- "Or." Why is the word "or" used here? Wouldn't "and" make more sense? That is, to "act for himself" doesn't man need to be enticed by two things, not just one thing, as the word or seems to suggest?
Verse 17
- Why does Lehi add, “according to the things which I have read"? Does this perhaps suggest that he wasn’t familiar with the story of Adam and Eve until he read the brass plates?
- What did the devil seek that was “evil before God"? Are there times when we seek something similar? How?
- "Needs suppose." Why does Lehi (or should we say Nephi?) use the word "suppose" here? Is he deducing what he is saying? showing some sort of logical structure in the material he is presenting? something else?
- "An angel". Why does Lehi say "an angel" here (and "a devil"), but refers "that old serpent, who is the devil" in verse 18? What is going on here?
Verse 18
- Why is the devil called “the father of lies"? Why use the metaphor of fatherhood? What is the devil’s lie? (Compare what he tells them with Gen 3:22 and Moses 4:28.)
Lexical notes
- Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes
Exegesis
Verse 16: Act for himself
This verse says that "man could not act for himself save it be that he was enticed." There seems to be a fundamental tension in this phrase since to "act for himself" suggests that man acts independently, yet the word "enticed" suggests that this acting is not independent, at least not completely independent.
This issue pertains to a fundamental theological question about the devil: does evil originate from the devil or is evil something that is "man-made" in the absence of God's presence? Verse 18 suggests that the devil plays at least some role in enticing us toward evil. This raises the following follow-up theological question which this passage seems uninterested in addressing: if evil originates from the devil, what or who "enticed" the devil to be evil?
Related links
Verse 16
- Act for himself. See this comment and surrouding discussion at the T&S blog regarding this issue.
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