JD Abshire

Maybe a closer look at the context will help us glean a little more understanding. 
“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?” (Genesis 3:1) The very nature of his opening question was intended to deceive, to instill doubt to call in to question what God actually said. (What did God say? What do you think he meant by that? What does this mean to you, etc? Etc.)

“And the woman said unto the serpent, 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 hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” When we doubt or question what “God said” it gives occasion or causes us to reinterpret. “Neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die”. By adding to God’s Word Eve rendered it ineffective. For example, if I have a gallon of distilled water certified 100% pure then add just a drop of tepid water, what happens? It becomes contaminated. If I add just a pinch of yeast to pure bread dough what is the result? The combination putrefies or begins to ferment and the whole lump is leavened (1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9)

Contrary to half truths or doctrine that has been polluted by eisegesis, Proverbs 30:5-6 declares: “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” How do we avoid the trap of sin? “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” (Psalms 119:11) 

It is so easy for us to forget that our God is a God of jots and tittles. Whither half truth or half lie, The Lord God only honors truth. Otherwise he would be inconsistent with himself and not holy, righteous and just.
My take from this? As Christians we need to spend much more time reading his Word, listening to and absorbing what God actually said. What God meant is not always clear but I have often found that after having faith and trusting in what he said, The Lord will grace us me more understanding. Faith first, then understanding.

January 15 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

I have always thought that Eve was not deliberately lying, but just misstating or mis-paraphrasing what God had told Adam in Genesis 2:17 (before Eve was created), perhaps because Adam either misunderstood what God had said and passed that misunderstanding on to Eve, or because Eve herself misunderstood what Adam had said. (In fact, in Genesis 3:3, Eve actually went beyond what God had said, since there was no mention in Genesis 2:17 of a prohibition from God against touching the tree or its fruit, but only against eating the fruit.)

Nevertheless, the facts that Eve apparently was not completely clear on what God had told Adam (regardless of how that misunderstanding may have come about), and that Eve had not been personally present when God spoke to Adam in Genesis 2:17, may have been the circumstances that enabled Satan (acting and speaking through the serpent) to plant doubts in Eve's mind about what God had actually said or intended. Those doubts, in turn, led Eve to sin by eating the fruit (1 Timothy 2:14).

January 13 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report