Episode 234 - "You will not surely die!" - Genesis 3:4-7
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
In our last episode, the serpent questioned and twisted God’s command to eat freely of every tree of the garden except for one. Instead, the serpent was indirectly suggesting that God was cruel by asking, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Gen 3:1) How easy and common it is for people to do that today. If people don’t like what God’s word says, it’s tempting to twist it to something more agreeable, or perhaps we just question whether God is truly good or not.
At some point, we just deny it all together. That’s what the serpent does here. He denies that God’s word is truthful. But he doesn’t stop there. He continues by arguing that God doesn’t want us to be like him. Wait a minute! Wasn’t humanity already “like God?” The people were made in the image of God. So, there is a similarity. But they aren’t exactly like God. This is a very important theological principle. God is the Creator. We are the creatures. We should not confuse those. Too often, people want to be their own god. They want to determine what is good and evil or right and wrong. Furthermore, they want to change it as needed to fit their current situation or desires. This is a common tenet of the postmodern way of thinking, “There is no such thing as absolute truth.” Of course, that is an absolute truth claim itself and stands in self-contradiction. If there is no god and no source of morality, then the logical thing to do would be to abolish laws, law enforcement, and justice systems such as prisons and let people do whatever they want to do. It shouldn’t take long to ponder the consequences of that and understand how ridiculous it is.
Verse 6 says, “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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” What we should not miss is the statement, “When the woman saw . . .” The point is that she let her senses override God’s explicit command. This is another problem we face in our lives, isn’t it? We need to value God’s word so that it’s in our minds, and perhaps when we let our senses tempt us to do something we shouldn’t, God’s word will remind us and encourage us to be discerning and exercise restraint. We need to remember that God wants what is good and best for us and isn’t trying to hold out on us. If we refuse, we’re making the decision that we are our own god, and will suffer the consequences of poor decisions.
Besides disobeying God’s clear command herself, she gave it to her husband, who was with her. The million-dollar question here is, “What was he doing this whole time?” If he was with her, why didn’t he step in and try to stop her? But he ate it with her.
Notice what has happened. God made the man and gave him the command to enjoy everything except the one tree. From the man, he made the woman to whom we assume the man gave God’s command. She knew what it was. There’s a sense in which he had a responsibility to inform her of God’s command. The man and woman together had authority over the beasts of the field. However, the woman listened to the serpent (a beast of the field) and followed the serpent’s lie. The man followed his wife’s offer despite knowing clearly what he was doing. The whole order of God’s creation has been turned around. The serpent has achieved a sense of authority over the people and creation based upon the peoples’ willing subjection to its will over God’s. As we continue through God’s story, we see how this plays out and the extent to which the world becomes very much unlike what God wanted for it in the beginning.
Verse 7 reveals the one thing the serpent said that was true: their eyes were opened. Unfortunately, that was not a good thing. Previously, they were “naked” but not ashamed. There was no guilt upon them of which they should be ashamed. But now they are ashamed of their nakedness, and they make an attempt to cover that shame. This is another thing that is not uncommon for people when they sin. They attempt to hide or cover up their guilt and shame.
Essentially, these few verses describe what people often call “the human condition.” This explains our own reality today. We are descendants of the first people and we’ve inherited and continue to manifest the hubris of the first people and become our own god and do our own thing.
We’re going to see the tragic consequences of their decision and see that God seems to have a plan up his sleeve. My encouragement is that we take an inventory of our own attitudes about God and his word and prayerfully ask that he gives us a passion for what is good and right according to his will and not our own senses and judgment.