The Means of Temptation (Genesis 3:1-5 ) by N. E. Constance
The third chapter of Genesis deals with the question of the roots of evil in the world. The revelation that comes to us in this portion of the Word of God is factual, bringing to us the real facts of life, the real story of what it is all about. These facts are brought to us in this story of a serpent in a garden of paradise, who talks with a real man and a real woman. One misses the whole point of the story if preoccupied with what the serpent is rather than with what the serpent says.
In the first part of the dialogue between the serpent (Satan coming to her in a disguised and subtle form) and to Eve, he says, “Has God indeed said, ’You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” Notice that the serpent does not come questioning the existence of God. Satan never does this for he knows better. Also note that the serpent made no startling proposal of disobedience at this point. Rather, with an apparent full reverence for God, he attempts to inject doubt into Eve’s mind by distorting God’s original command. God had originally said, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat” (Genesis 2:16 ). Satan misquotes this command so God seems to be saying, “You can not eat of any of these good trees I have provided for you.” Satan is trying to introduce doubt in Eve’s mind as to the good intentions of God.
So it is today, Satan’s means of temptation are still the same; he is saying, “Let’s have a discussion about God. God is different from what you think. God is not a narrow-minded, moralistic God; He is a God of life, a God of abundance; take everything you can get.”
The game Satan played was to draw our first parents to sin and thus separate them and their God. This first encounter brought a very strong defense from the woman, too strong in fact. She said, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die,’” (Genesis 3:2-3 ). Notice that Eve improves on God’s statement by adding that they were not even to touch the fruit of the tree. Furthermore, in her response, Eve represented the penalty in a somewhat softer tone. God had said, “You shall surely die.” Eve translated the words into “lest you die.” The implication of her reply was that God’s penalty was a risk and not a certainty. In both of these ways she showed a willingness to meddle with God’s command and in doing so she succumbed to taking the first step down the road to disobedience—doubt as to the clearly revealed command of God.
“You shall not surely die.” Satan immediately picked up the point of doubt and pushed Eve on to active disbelief. He went on to make his first accusation against God: “For God knows… ” In essence he was saying, “God is really withholding something very important from you, Eve.” Thus Eve was led to disbelieve God’s wisdom. So still today Satan draws people into his interests by suggesting to them wrong concepts and thoughts about God. He gives, to those who will give ear to him, false hopes of benefits and advantages to be gained by sin. He insinuates that true Christianity and God’s Word have no relevance for our time.
Satan succeeded in his purposes. Eve had first doubted, then disbelieved, and finally she took the fatal step of direct disobedience. First she looked at the tree, then she took of the fruit, and finally, she ate of what God had forbidden. To compound the situation, she gave some of the fruit to Adam and he ate as well. We see from the first that sin is not something one does in solitude. It always involves others.
