If a man is tempted to kill, commit adultery, commit perjury, or steal, isn't he obliged to resist that temptation?
Did God want Adam and Eve to partake of the tree? Or did He want them to love Him?
The tree is the knowledge of good and evil.
The knowledge of good and evil is the law.
The strength of sin is the law.
The sting of death is sin.
Love is the commitment to the good of someone.
So yes, if a man is tempted to murder, commit adultery, lie, or steal, then he should not do those things.
But your question assumes that the only alternative to sin is law.
That is a paradigm error.
God did not create Adam and Eve for law. He created them for life, fellowship, trust, and love. The command concerning the tree was not the goal of their existence. It was the boundary. God did not want them living by the knowledge of good and evil. He wanted them living by trust in Him.
Man chose the tree.
And from that point forward, fallen man has kept trying to make righteousness into a matter of managing good and evil by law.
But law does not produce love, as the entire story of the Bible shows. Law exposes sin. Law condemns sin. Law restrains sin. But it does not give life. If it gave life, then Israel would be in a much different place than it is now.
The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The day the law was given, around 3000 people were killed.
The day the Spirit was given, around 3000 people were given life.
That's not a coincidence.
Paul says the law is a tutor to bring men to Christ.
It teaches man that he cannot earn life through obedience. It tells him what righteousness requires, then exposes that he does not have righteousness in himself. It commands life, but cannot give life. It demands obedience, but cannot produce love. It shows man his sin, his weakness, and his need for Christ.
A tutor is for children, not mature sons.
Once faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor.
The tutor can say, “Do not murder.” But the tutor cannot produce love for your brother.
The tutor can say, “Do not commit adultery.” But the tutor cannot produce faithfulness.
The tutor can say, “Do not steal.” But the tutor cannot produce generosity.
The tutor can say, “Do not bear false witness.” But the tutor cannot produce truthfulness from the heart.
Love does what the law can only command.
That is Paul’s point in Romans 13. He names the commandments against adultery, murder, theft, false witness, and coveting, and then says they are summed up in this:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Why?
Because love does no harm to a neighbor.
Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Notice what Paul does not say. He does not say, “Therefore, put yourself under the Ten Commandments.” He says love fulfills the law.
A man walking in love does not murder because murder is contrary to love.
A man walking in love does not commit adultery because adultery betrays love.
A man walking in love does not bear false witness because false witness destroys truth and justice.
A man walking in love does not steal because love does not take what belongs to another.
That is not lawlessness.
It's what Paul means by righteousness apart from the law.
Jesus is the example. He was tempted, yet without sin. Not because He needed the law to restrain Him, but because sin had no claim on Him. He loved the Father and did always those things that pleased Him.
That is the life of sonship.
So the answer is yes, a man should resist evil. But the deeper answer is that a man walking in love is not governed by temptation in the first place. He does not need the tutor standing over him with a list of rules, because love already fulfills what the list could only command.
The law can tell a man what sin is, but it cannot make him alive.
The law kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The law is for the lawless.
Love is for sons.
