Temptation is directed against the _human_ nature, and finds its
entrance through the natural desires and impulses of the body. That
is all Satan had to work upon in the case of Adam and Eve, and in the
case of “the last Adam,” our Lord himself. Both Adams were sinless
men before temptation came,――and “the last Adam” was sinless after
temptation came. But both lived in temptable bodies; and it is these
human bodies, not any sin nature dwelling in us, that make temptation
possible.
A lost man may have depraved and unnatural appetites, as the drink or
drug habit, which drop off at regeneration. But the natural appetites
remain, and through these temptation may come in many forms.
Satan has no other plan of temptation for Christians than that which he
tried successfully upon the first Adam and with disastrous failure upon
the last Adam. A study of these two conflicts with Satan reveals the
startling fact that all our multiplied temptations come to us through
three channels, and three only. If these citadels are held, victory
is certain. To understand this not only simplifies the problem of
temptation, but shows why certain _forms_ of temptation fall away from
the Christian who takes Christ as his victory, while _temptation_ in
many other forms remains.
Perhaps no one has summed up more concisely, in terms of everyday
experience, these three channels of temptation, than does Professor
Melvin Grove Kyle in his teaching on temptation in his seminary classes.