First, we saw that Satan used a mixture of right and wrong to tempt Eve. It is still the same way today. If we are not careful, we will see the right part and thus accept everything which includes the wrong part, and fall into Satan’s trap. We really should not distort our interpretation of the Bible. We should use the words of the Bible as the absolute standard to discern. Second, we discussed how Eve and Adam disobeyed God and fell into sin. We also briefly discuss why the Bible says that the definition of sin is disobedience to God. Today, we should obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit and not quench the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Even if we feel that we do not have the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we should always stand on the side of God. Finally, we see the reaction of Eve and Adam after they sinned, which was to blame others instead of talking about the real reason, which was disobedience to God. It is still the same today. We often argue about some superficial facts without touching on the real reasons behind them.
1. Satan’s strategy of mixing right and wrong to seduce Eve
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD (H3068, singular) God (H430, plural) had made (H6213). And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle (H8432) of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””(Genesis 3:1-5)
First, we notice that the term “Lord God” appears again, both in the singular and in the plural. What does it mean? In Genesis 1:1, it says, “In the beginning God (H430, plural) created (H1254, singular) the heavens and the earth.” The subject is plural, but the verb is singular, which means a multi-personal God, and the same is true here. Next time, we will discuss the meaning of God being a trinity, its biblical basis, and why there are exactly three.
We noticed a small place where the word in the middle (H8432) appears again, and it also appears in this verse, “…the tree of life also in the midst (H8432) of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”(Genesis 2:9) Because the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil could not be planted in the same place, no matter how far or close they are, the Garden of Eden has two centers. In geometric shapes, only an ellipse has two foci, that is, two centers. In short, the Garden of Eden should be an ellipse.
We have said before that only humans can eat the fruit of trees. The command God gave to Adam was clearly related to the fruit of trees. This command is recorded in the Book of Genesis, “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat (H398) freely (H398); but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day (H3117) that you eat from it you will surely die.””(Genesis 2:16-17) We have said before why the word “day (H3117)” refers to today’s one day, so I will not say more. However, we should pay attention to one point that “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.”(Genesis 5:5) So his body and soul lived for a long time. To die for sure in that day means that his spirit died and lost the ability to communicate with God, but his spirit did not die immediately and indeed died on the same day. Because after they ate the fruit that they should not have eaten, they could still see God’s face, as the scripture says, “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”(Genesis 3:8)
God has absolute sovereignty. After man was driven out of the Garden of Eden, He could still choose to communicate with Cain, as the scripture says, “Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?”(Genesis 4:6) In the Old Testament, God took the initiative to communicate with the prophets. In fact, it is the same today. God is proactive because life can only come from God, as Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”(1 Corinthians 3:6-7)
Another point to note is that the word H398 is used twice to strengthen the tone, which is the usage in Hebrew. We note that the serpent was made (H6213) by God and was created (H1254) in the previous world. No wonder the Book of Revelation says, “…the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, …”(Revelation 12:9) Satan knew that God did not tell Eve His command, but told Adam directly, so he was very cunning and only tempted the woman.
From the conversation between Satan and Eve, we know that she did know the command from Adam’s mouth, but not very clearly. At the beginning, the serpent used “Indeed, has God said” to deepen Eve’s confusion. From her answer, we know that she did not understand God’s command, because God did not say that you shouldn’t touch it. We also see that the serpent wanted to deepen her confusion by using the words “You surely will not die!” and tempted her with the right benefit that your eyes would be opened. This is indeed true, because after eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”(Genesis 3:7) But it is not “exactly like” God, who can know good and evil, but only “similar”, because “Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; …”(Genesis 3:22)
Here we see one of Satan’s strategies, which is to use true things to make people believe, and to put false things in between. When people see the true things, they will easily take the false things as true. Satan also used mixed words of right and wrong to Eliphaz the Temanite in the Book of Job (see Job 4:12-21). We have discussed these scriptures before and will not discuss anymore. It is the same today. If we are not careful, we will accept everything and fall into Satan’s trick. We really should not distort the interpretation of the Bible, but use the words of the Bible as the absolute standard to discern.
2. The fall of Eve and Adam
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”(Genesis 3:6-7)
We saw that Eve was tempted first, but Adam knowingly committed the sin because he knew God’s command very well. No wonder it is said, “…through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, …”(Romans 5:12) Today’s temptations also come from three aspects, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”(1 John 2:16) Doesn’t this correspond to the three aspects when Eve was successfully tempted? Is not good food the lust of the flesh? Is not pleasing to the eyes the lust of the eyes? Is not wisdom the pride of this life? After their fall, we can indeed prove that Satan’s words are a mixture of truth and falsehood, because “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, …”(Genesis 3:7)
We have said in the previous section that the Garden of Eden is oval, and the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil should be some distance apart. Even if they are quite close, at least for Eve, the attraction of the tree of life is obviously not as great as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, otherwise she would eat the fruit of the tree of life, because God did not forbid her to eat the fruit of life.
In the New Testament era, we clearly know that the tree of life represents Jesus Christ, because Jesus clearly said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”(John 5:39-40) We also know, “…I (Jesus) came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”(John 10:10) Doesn’t the fruit of the tree of life enable people to live forever? After Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned, “Then the LORD God said, “…and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever””(Genesis 3:22) The attraction of the tree of life was not enough at that time, and isn’t it the same today? God is a merciful and gracious God. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”(John 3:18) Didn’t Isaiah prophesied clearly about the lack of attraction? “For He (Jesus) grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”(Isaiah 53:2-3)
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.”(Isaiah 53:4-5) In the end, he was nailed to the cross for us, but was resurrected three days later. “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”(Romans 4:25)
Please note that we have shared that Jesus was scourged, but not every time the worldly life was healed, but not every time the spiritual life was healed. Only the spiritual life was healed for sure as long as we believe, because we have a new spirit and the Holy Spirit lives in us (see Ezekiel 36:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:19) The forgiveness of the body will wait until Jesus comes again, which is what the scripture says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
L(Philippians 3:20-21) In this world we need to be conformed to the image of Jesus and obtain the salvation of the soul. (See Romans 8:29) This is what the scripture says, “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”(Hebrews 10:39)
Here we are going to discuss what is the definition of sin? First of all, the scripture says, “Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, …”(Romans 5:12) This implies that Adam’s disobedience to God means sin, and all people are descendants of Adam, the same as him, so disobeying God means sin. In order to define sin, logic requires us to prove that sin means disobeying God, that is, to prove that obedience to God means no sin. The latter does not really need to be proved. How can obedience to God be a sin? But we can also use the scriptures to prove this. “…One (Jesus ) who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”(Hebrews 4:15) How did He obtain the fact being without sin? “…I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. …”(John 14:31) So obeying God does not sin.
We have proved that in the present world, the definition of sin is disobedience to God, but we have said that Satan was created before the present world. In “1096 Yu Hongjie’s Discipleship of Newself – Unbiblical Places (1) ,” we have proved in detail that in Satan’s previous world, the definition of sin was also disobedience to God. We will not repeat the discussion here. Please go to the website “https://a-christian-voice.com/” and click “Understanding of Spiritual Life” to find this article.
Today, we must obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit. “Do not quench the Spirit.”(1 Thessalonians 5:19) Even if we do not feel the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, we must choose to stand on God’s side. It is mentioned before that Adam was created in the image of God, and God’s image is holy. Therefore, Adam had a share in God’s holiness when he was created, but he still sinned. Therefore, man has holiness but also having free will, and thus can still disobey God and sin. This is different from God’s holiness. God’s holiness cannot sin, “…for He cannot deny Himself.”(2 Timothy 2:13) How could God not obey Himself?
Some people say that according to the English translation of the Strong’s Concordance, Adam was beside like this (and gave also H1571 unto her husband H376 with her; and he did eat. H398). That is the original text of the Concordance only uses the word eat (H398), which used in its typical verses such as “Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate (H398) and drank, and rose and went on his way. …”(Genesis 25:34) So it does not say that Adam was beside. Unless Adam and Eve were always together, there was really no need for the serpent to choose Adam’s presence to tempt Eve, because the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field. Not only that, according to the Scripture, Adam should not have been there, because the Bible clearly says: “And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.”(1 Timothy 2:14) But this is not the point to argue about. The point here is “…through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, .. “(Romans 5:12)
3. Eve and Adam’s reaction after they sinned
“They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””(Genesis 3:8-13)
First we saw, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”(Genesis 3:7) Can they make really cover them up or keep out the cold? In the end, it still needs that” The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”(Genesis 3:21)
We also saw that the result of sin entering is to blame each other and find excuses to shirk responsibility. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve said it was because of the snake, but they did not touch the real reason, which was disobeying God’s command and eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God is omniscient, how could He not know that their eyes were opened because they ate the forbidden fruit and thus knew that they were naked? But He still asked them, so that they could face their true selves after being stained by sin! We saw that they blamed others, although what they said was also true, but it was only part of the truth. It is the same now. We often argue about some superficial partial facts, but forget the real reason behind them! I don’t know if it’s because we really don’t know, or because ““The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”(Jeremiah 17:9) We are sometimes deceiving ourself without even knowing it!
(Verses refer to those in NASB95 unless otherwise specified.)
(You can get all articles in “https://a-christian-voice.com/” under “On spiritual understanding about life.”)
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