Genesis 3:1-5
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
“Hath God said?” With such a simple question, Satan began to tempt Eve in the Garden of Eden. The great battle that we face in our world today deals with what God has said. The Bible is God’s Word. It is inspired, sufficient, eternal, and true (inerrant) among other things. The devil and the world have an arsenal of arguments and questions that are meant to undermine the authority of God’s Word. It is important for believers to be aware of these tactics and to be ready to answer and stand against them.
In Genesis 3, we read about how God’s perfect creation was corrupted. Satan, the devil, came in the form of a serpent and tempted Eve. As a result, the Fall happened. Mankind and the entire creation were plunged into a curse. In the first five verses of chapter 3, we read about three schemes that the devil used in his attempt to deceive Eve. These three schemes, manifested in a variety of ways, are the same three schemes used today to deceive people to reject the Word of God.
The first scheme we see is that the devil tries to confuse the Word of God. He does so by questioning and getting Eve to doubt what God has actually said. It begins with, “Yea, hath God said?” What follows depends upon the particular temptation, but in Eve’s context it was with the one command that had been given to her husband Adam in Genesis 2:15-17. Adam was told that they were given every tree and herb to eat from, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They could eat of any tree but one. The devil comes and attempts to confuse God’s command with his question that suggests that God said they couldn’t eat of any tree. The devil rarely comes at first with an outright rejection of God’s Word. Instead, he begins subtly by simply bringing it into question.
The second scheme we find in this passage is that the devil tried to change God’s Word. Here, we find Eve’s response and no words from the devil in verses 2 and 3. The devil’s initial scheme of questioning God’s Word has worked and has now taken another step in Eve’s mind to change it. Eve repeats the original command of God and gets it almost right, but adds “neither shall ye touch it.” Now, it is possible that Adam added this to the command to her as a further preventative from his wife possibly eating of the tree. However it came about, adding to or changing God’s Word, even in miniscule ways, is deadly (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:5-6; Revelation 22:18-19). It made the command of God more restrictive than it was. The devil works the same way today when he gets us to redefine God’s Word in any way. We do this when we change the meaning of sin. Instead of lying, we say we told a fib. Instead of adultery, we say we had an affair. Instead of an abomination, we call homosexuality a loving relationship. Changing what God has said is something we must never do.
Lastly, we find his scheme of contradicting God’s Word. In verses 4 and 5, the devil outright calls God a liar. He accuses God of withholding the fruit of that tree from Adam and Eve so that they are held back from some knowledge. The great lie of lies that we face today is the lie about the consequences of rejecting God’s Word. God had clearly told Adam that the consequence of eating of that tree was death. “Ye shall not surely die” is a direct contradiction to God’s Word. The most powerful tool in the devil’s arsenal is to convince you that you can get away with something. We somehow always think we will be the exception. Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened and they no longer knew innocence. They now knew good and evil. They knew shame, fear, and guilt. Someone once rightly said, “Sin always takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs you more than you want to pay.”
God’s Word has always been under assault. Since the Garden of Eden, the devil and the world system have sought to undermine the authority of God’s Word. It is no surprise that the Bible is questioned and attacked today, even in the church. We must be aware of his schemes and stand upon the truth. It will keep us from sin. It will lead us into God’s perfect will. The question today is, are you committed to His Word?