Subtlety of the Devil’s Temptation
In Gen 3, the devil showed up to destroy the beautiful earth and creatures that God had made. He appeared in the serpent. Before the fall, the serpent was a “beast of the field”, Gen 3:1, and it was the subtlest beast. It didn’t look like a snake until after it was cursed, Gen 3:14.
The only weapon the devil used to cause Eve to sin was his mouth. As God only had to speak to create the heaven and earth, the devil only had to speak to damn it.
He used subtlety to deceive Eve, 2 Cor 11:3. The word subtle means, “So slight as to be difficult to detect or analyze; elusive” (American Heritage Dictionary). He still uses this same method. In Rev 12:9, Satan, that old serpent, “deceiveth the whole world”.
Very cleverly, the devil caused Eve to disobey what God had said. Notice the various corruptions of the words of God that led Eve to disobey God.
Corruptions of the words of God
Doubt. The devil asked, “Yea, hath God said…”? Since faith comes from the word of God, Rom 10:17, the devil will get a man to doubt God’s words to destroy his faith. Doubt diminishes faith, Matt 14:31; 21:21.
Subtraction. Eve said, “We may eat of the fruit…”. She left out the most important word, “freely”, Gen 2:16. See Deut 4:2, Rev 22:19 for the prohibition against taking away from the words of this book. Then compare Rev 21:6 and 22:17 for the importance of the word, “freely”.
Addition. Eve then added, “neither shall ye touch it” to what God had said in Gen 2:17. There are specific prohibitions against adding to God’s words, Prov 30:5-6; Rev 22:18; Deut 4:2.
Change. Then Eve changed “… thou shalt surely die,” Gen 2:17 to “… lest ye die”, thus, diminishing the consequences of disobedience from the certainty of death to the fear that it ‘could’ happen.
Lie. Finally, the devil lied to Eve. He said, “Thou shalt not surely die”. And shew believed him.
These five corruptions of the words of God are identical to the major corruptions found in modern Bibles. The obvious conclusion that we can draw from this is that Satan must have had something to do with the changes that have been made in all these English translations and the manuscripts from which they came.
Satan’s question
The devil’s temptation began with a question. Satan’s question in Gen 3:1, “Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden” generated a desire to have the one that’s forbidden. It stirred that lust in us that causes us to desire that which we cannot have. The thought is, “what is it about that tree that God doesn’t want me to have”?
Eve’s answers
When Eve forgot the word “freely” in Gen 3:2, she inadvertently set herself up for the devil’s temptation regarding the forbidden tree. Removing “freely” emphasized the restriction rather than the benefit of God’s command. For example, James calls God’s commands “the perfect law of liberty”, Jas 1:25. He emphasized the liberty and encouraged us with the blessing of doing it.
When Eve added, “neither shall ye touch it” in Gen 3:3, she added something Adam must have told her. I can imagine a husband telling his wife, “You can look, but don’t try it on”. However, all the devil had to do at this point to prove God “wrong” was touch the tree. Touching the tree wouldn’t kill her.
When Eve said, “lest ye die”, she opened the door for the devil’s retort. To Eve, “Ye shall not surely die”, Gen 3:4, sounds like it’s really not a sure thing. At this point she doesn’t know what to believe. That’s precisely what the devil wanted.
The Devil’s Temptation
When the devil said, “For God doth know…”, the implication is that God knows something that he’s withholding from you. He’s “cheating” you out of something that you should know. To keep you from knowing, God threatened you with death. But the “truth” is you’ll be like him and he doesn’t want you to be like him.
The devil’s temptation to achieve a higher level of spirituality is very seductive to men. The world’s religions are founded on this principle. Through spiritual enlightenment (eyes shall be opened) and knowledge (knowing good and evil) you can be gods. Men go for these two things all around the world.
Eve’s deception
When Eve looked at the tree, she saw only it’s positive qualities. The Devil is the master of using “good words and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple”, Rom 16:18. He tempted Eve with the “good stuff”. Gen 3:6, good for food, pleasant to eyes, and a tree to make one wise.
These “good things” are found in 1 Jn 2:16, and were used in the devil’s temptation of Jesus Christ, as well. 1 Jn. 2:16, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Eve’s disobedience and Adam’s sin
When Eve could see nothing wrong with the tree and no longer had God’s word as her authority to keep her from eating it, she was totally deceived, 1 Tim 2:14. Once Eve was deceived, she disobeyed God.
When Eve offered the fruit to Adam, he wasn’t deceived. He simply had to decide whether he was going to disobey God’s command and go along with his wife, or go along with God and disobey his wife. He ate the fruit, and chose to die with Eve.
They’re reaction
Sure enough, Gen 3:7, their eyes were opened, and they “knew” they were naked. To cover their nakedness they sewed fig leaves together and made aprons. Instead of being like gods, they were now like the devil, the god of this world.