Genesis 2:16-17
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
New Testament Caution
"she who lives in pleasure [self-indulgence] is dead while she lives.
(1 Timothy 5:6)
The Fall
Genesis 3:6
"The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."
Satan didn't lie completely. He said their eyes would be opened, and they were. And he wasn't wrong when he said they would be like God in that they'd know between good and evil. His lie was in the "surly die" thing. Spiritual death was the consequence of their sin. They saw the warning label, they ignored it because they desired pleasure, they saw that the tree was "delightful to look at" and they wanted it. The sin of their eyes. The eyes are truly the windows of the soul.
Doubly Dark
Matthew 6:22-24
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"
Psychologists believe pupil dilation is an honest cue to our sexual or social interests. Our pupil size isn’t under our voluntary control. The desires of our minds eye, our soul controls our dilation. Let’s say you’re trying to fake interest as your coworker recounts a story about whatever but you're completely uninterested. You can force a smile. You might even remember to crinkle the corners of your eyes, to make that smile look real. But your tiny pupils will reveal your lack of interest. The lust of the eyes can't be faked, pupils never lie. The eye is the window into the soul, and the pupil is—quite literally—an opening into the eye.
The pupillary light response isn’t just a mechanical reaction to ambient light. Pupils will adapt in anticipation as we shift our gaze from one thing to another, in anticipation of the light we expect to encounter. And they also dilate when we’re aroused. It's an autonomic preparation for us to take action whenever we detect a threat—or an opportunity. Your heart and breathing rates increase, you begin to sweat—and your pupils dilate. Sexual arousal increases our pupil size irrespective of the amount of ambient light present in our environment. Our soul is preparing us to respond to this thing that is "delightful to look at"...and is desirable. Our mind wants what it wants and it wants to make sure we get a real good look see. Not eyes wide shut, but wide open, just like Satan said. The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but the pupils tell us a lot about what’s going on in the mind. This is what I call the "minds eye". Not filtered through the soul, but instead filtered through the sinful nature, the flesh.
The Filter
So what do we know?
We know that the phrase, eyes are the window to the soul, is the idea that you can understand a person’s emotions and sometimes thoughts by looking into his or her eyes. In the Bible the eye is the organ of perception. When our attention is attracted to something remarkable, we call it “eye-catching,” or an “eye-opener." When we watch something very carefully, we are said to be “keeping our eye on the ball,” or when we're asked to “keep our eyes peeled” for a sight we seek, we focus our thoughts through our eye sight.
When I do my landscape design work I am said to “have an eye for” it. How? How does my eye know what others want in their landscaping spaces? How does my eye see what they can't about what they desire? So often I here, "I don't know what I want, you're the designer". How does my eye perceive their own thoughts about their lives and home living environment? I can tell you, I ask questions and watch their eyes for cues and clues into their desires. Everyday I use the gift of discernment the Lord gave to me in my vocation. Not unusual by the way, everyone who has the Holy Spirit have some measure of the various spiritual gifts. And each individual believer is gifted with certain gifts that are given greater weight for them by The Spirit. Often these gifts seem to be just a natural talent that shows itself in their work.
At any rate...do you think Eve stopped for a moment and said, “Oh, I see now.”? Hmmm 🤔
When we do not plan ahead, we are said to be “short-sighted." I think it's very fair to say our first parents were definitely short-sighted. They had virgin eyes and had not yet learned to "turn a blind eye". But then they did. In fact that's exactly what they did, they ignored the warning label. They "took a dim view" of God's prohibition, mainly because they desired the tree. They tried to become the "overseers" of their own lives.
Food for thought.
Our sin is concealed by darkness, and confession shines light on the subject. Adam hid himself in sin until God called him out into the light.
P.S.
Kind of makes you think when you read that The Lord's eyes are like a fiery flame (Revelation 1:14). Hmmm what's on his mind?
Well...whatever God's got on his mind, one thing is sure...
“Every eye will see him” (Rev. 1:7)