Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Is it so that God has said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” [2] And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. [3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it’, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” [4] And the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die,”
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Lack of knowing and understanding the Word of God has and will always lead to problems in our walk with the Lord. The Lord declared through His inspired servant Hosea that His people were destroyed for lack of knowledge – knowledge of the written word of God being implied. It is of utmost importance that we know and understand what the Word of God teaches on any subject. We have an enemy that will use that very word to try and trip you up and cause you to fall into hurtful error.
Be aware that Satan will always attack the weakest person; or the weakness you have in your life. In the story of the fall of man in Genesis, we see Satan’s tactic – he still uses the same approach today!
Notice the “disarming” way Satan (through the serpent) approached Eve – who was the “weaker vessel”; he stated the truth as a question. This tactic immediately makes us wonder if what God has said is indeed true – to the letter. If it was given as a statement of fact and not as a question the response would’ve been agreement; but instead it was given to arouse thoughts of doubt.
Eve knew the truth, but evidently had thought long and hard about it and had decided to add some additional restrictions to the command – she in effect was adding to the Word of God – a dangerous practice indeed. She stated the following in response to the serpent’s question:
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we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden – correct so far
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we may not eat of the fruit of the tree in the centre of the garden – again correct
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neither should we touch it – incorrect! This was adding to the word of God. It sounds good and sometimes we may add to the word to strengthen it – but it is in effect lying! God’s Word is complete and there is no need or warrant to add anything to it. This is a real danger when we take some newer so-called “translations” of the scriptures, where men inject their own thoughts and ideas into the Word. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can make us truly understand what the scriptures declare and mean – let Him teach us and we will never go into error.
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“lest we die” – again incorrect. God said: “you will die”; no question about it. Eve stated that the possibility of dying was attached to not only eating the fruit but even to touch the tree.
What she in effect was doing was agreeing with the serpent that what God had stated clearly was open to debate and questioning.
Satan’s next tact was to outright deny the Word of God and contradict it – and of course this was what Eve really wanted to hear. Her desire had overcome what she knew was not permitted – and she ate.
Adding to, removing from or re-writing the Word of God – the way we want it to read is corrupting that word and leads to dire consequences. Satan corrupts the Word of God – and he seeks those without knowledge and understanding of that Word whom he can use to corrupt the Word. In this way, many are misled and end up on the path to destruction.
We need never “make excuses” for what God has clearly declared in His Word. Read it; study it; assimilate and practice its truths; declare it without compromise, and let the Lord accomplish what He desires.
Adherence to the scriptures and its precepts without corrupting it leads to life – the other path leads to death. Choose life.
Peter Crause
This is not copyrighted and may be freely used and distributed.
e-mail: crause.pd@shaw.ca
