The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent.
Genesis 3:2-13 "The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees..." "The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.
Genesis 3 tells the story of paradise lost by the willfulness of human sin. Humanity was originally given every perfect thing they could need or want, and virtually no restrictions.
Despite that, Adam and Eve needed only a bit of prompting from a talking serpent to disobey their good Creator.
Immediately overcome by shame and quickly cursed by God, the painful story of human history begins with their exit from the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:1–7 tells the story of Satan's temptation of mankind, the first human sin and the immediate consequences which followed.
Created sinless, ''very good,'' and placed into a perfect environment by a fair and loving Creator, Adam and Eve choose to sin anyway.
They earn spiritual death and separation from God, as well as lives punctuated by pain, conflict, and frustration, ending in physical death.
This is followed by God's response to human sin, tailored to each of the parties involved. The following chapter will tell the story of the beginning of human life apart from God and the garden.
In verse 1, the serpent questions the commands of God by asking the woman a slanted question: Did God really say you could not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?
In verse 2, she begins to answer, and at first her answer seems solid.
She correctly responds that no, they could eat fruit from trees in the garden.
She then concludes her answer with God's actual restriction.
However, she doesn't seem to quote it exactly right.
This reflects just enough doubt over God's words to give Satan an opportunity.
Here's what God said to Adam about what not to eat in Genesis 2:16–17: "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
The woman, either by accident or out of sincerity, added an extra layer to God's statement.
The restriction that they were not even allowed to touch the tree wasn't part of God's actual command.
Either Eve, as the woman would later be known, did not fully understand the command, she misremembered it, or she intentionally misquoted it in an effort to be more emphatic.
Instead of bolstering her willingness to obey, this addition to the words of God actually makes Satan's strategy more effective.
In the context of this conversation, her error makes God appear even more restrictive than He is.
The serpent will quickly zero in on the issue of God's character, His honesty, and His fairness.
Since temptation is something that Christians face and struggle against every day, it is necessary that we understand how it presents itself in our lives.
We can gain much insight in the nature of temptation from the first temptation in Genesis 3:1–6, when the serpent comes to Eve in the garden in Eden:
If we are going to understand temptation, we must first know the tempter.
The text of Genesis identifies the tempter as “the serpent” (Genesis 3:1), a creature whom Adam and Eve should have exercised dominion over (Genesis 1:28).
The serpent is compared to the other beasts of the field yet characterized as “crafty” (arum).
This word is used positively elsewhere in the Bible (“prudent” in Proverbs 12:16, 14:8) but it is also used in a negative sense, (Job 5:12, 15:5) such as the case in this narrative.
The serpent is not only described as being crafty or cunning; Scripture also tells us that this creature spoke.
The Bible later identifies this particular serpent as Satan (see Revelation 12:9, 20:2; . 2 Corinthians 11:3, 14).
As Christians, we need to be aware of Satan’s devices so that we are not outwitted by him (2 Corinthians 2:11), for his nature is that of being a liar (John 8:44).
Satan’s temptation of Eve in Genesis 3 gives us several insights into the nature of temptation that Christians should be alert to.
Distorting God's Word.
Temptation almost always begins by distorting authority.
This was the approach Satan used when he came to Eve in the garden, taking God’s command and reshaping it, saying, “Did God actually say?” (Genesis 3:1).
Satan’s words, which were designed to get Eve to debate God’s command, entertained the possibility that God did not know what was best.
While God had commanded Adam not to eat from one tree, Satan told Eve it was “any tree in the garden.” In other words, Satan presents God as the cosmic killjoy, someone who comes along and likes saying no to everything and everyone.
In his temptation, Satan did not just point to the tree and say, “Go on—eat it,” but he described reality in a way that is false.
Satan’s first step in deceiving Eve was having her question the truthfulness of God’s word.
As Adam and Eve found out, there are only tragic consequences when we reject God’s Word as the sole authority for our lives.
Responding to Temptation.
Eve’s response to Satan’s temptation, which is often like ours, was initially appropriate: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden” (Genesis 3:2–3).
So far, Eve is telling the truth. But her mistake was to set her sights on what God had commanded not to do rather than on what God had blessed them with ( all the other trees in the garden).
This often happens to us when we are tempted: we focus on what God has commanded us not to do rather than on all that he has already bestowed upon us as his children ( Ephesians 1:3).
So, Eve exaggerates what God had forbidden: “Neither shall you touch it, lest you die” (see Genesis 2:17, 3:3).
Yet, knowing enough of what God was like, Eve should have responded, “This is Eden. God made it, and it’s very good.
It’s unthinkable that we should even challenge him. If he says not to do something, then it is for our good.
Get out of here!”
Eve’s response, however, entertained the possibility of standing in judgment over God, which leads Satan to challenge what God had said by telling her, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).
Now, as a result of the deception, Eve has doubt in her mind and has fallen into unbelief.
The Consequences.
There are always consequences when we give into temptation, as Adam and Eve found out (Genesis 3:13–19).
Although once naked and without shame, after they disobeyed God, Adam and Eve realized they were naked and became ashamed.
In that shame, they were alienated from God (Genesis 3:7).
Eve gave in because she saw that the tree was (1) good for food, (2) pleasing to the eye, and (3) desirable for gaining wisdom (Genesis 3:6).
These temptations correspond to John’s description of the things of this world: “The desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).
This is a pattern of sin that runs through Scripture: (1) start listening to the creature instead of the Creator; (2) follow our own impressions instead of God’s instructions; (3) make self-fulfillment the goal.
The prospect of these things seems good to life when in fact it leads to death. If you rebel against the God who gives life, what else is there but death?
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Proverbs 14:12).
In light of Satan’s temptation of Eve, the Puritan Richard Sibbes exhorted believers, “In all temptations let us consider not what he offers, but what we shall lose.”
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