Twelve Extraordinary Women, Week 2
Notes
Transcript
Her Temptation
Her Temptation
Genesis 2 ends with a succinct description of the innocence of Eden’s paradise: “They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (v. 25 NKJV).
25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Genesis 3 then introduces the tempter, a serpent. This is clearly Satan, who has somehow manifested himself in the form of a reptile, though Scripture doesn’t formally identify this creature as Satan until the final book of Revelation.
Satan was an angel who fell into sin.
12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.
12 “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared.
14 You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.
15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.
16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you.
18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you.
19 All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”
Isaiah 14:12–15 and Ezekiel 28:12–19 make reference to the demise of a magnificent angelic creature who is described as the highest and most glorious of all created beings. This can only be Satan. We’re not told in Scripture precisely when Satan’s fall occurred or what circumstances led to it. But it must have been sometime during the events described in Genesis 2, because at the end of Genesis 1, all creation—including everything in the visible universe as well as the spirit world—was complete, pristine, and unblemished. “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen. 1:31 NKJV, emphasis added).
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
But then in Genesis 3:1, we meet the serpent.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
The chronology of the account seems to suggest that a very short time elapsed between the end of creation and the fall of Satan. A similarly short time appears to have elapsed between Satan’s fall and Eve’s temptation. It might have been only a few days—or perhaps even only a matter of hours. But it could not have been very long. Adam and Eve had not yet even conceived any children.
In fact, that is undoubtedly one of the main reasons the tempter wasted no time deceiving Eve and provoking her husband to sin. He wanted to strike at the head of the human race before the race had any opportunity to multiply. If he could beguile Eve and thereby cause Adam to fall at this moment, he could sabotage all of humanity in one deadly act of treason against God.
Here is the biblical account in full from Genesis 3:1–7
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
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.
Satan came to Eve in disguise. That epitomizes the subtle way he intended to deceive her. He appears to have singled her out for this cunning deception when she was not in the company of Adam. As the weaker vessel, away from her husband, but close to the forbidden tree, she was in the most vulnerable position possible.
Notice that what the serpent told her was not only plausible; it was even partially true. Eating the fruit would indeed open her eyes to understand good and evil. In her innocence, Eve was susceptible to the devil’s half-truths and lies.
The serpent’s opening words in verse 1 set the tenor for all his dealings with humanity: “Has God indeed said … ?” Skepticism is implicit in the inquiry. This is his classic modus operandi. He questions the Word of God, suggesting uncertainty about the meaning of God’s statements, raising doubt about the truthfulness of what God has said, insinuating suspicion about the motives behind God’s secret purposes, or voicing apprehension about the wisdom of God’s plan.
He twists the meaning of God’s Word: “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” God’s commandment had actually come to Adam as a positive statement: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Gen. 2:16–17 NKJV, emphasis added).
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
17 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 serpent casts the command in negative language (“You shall not eat of every tree”), making God’s expression of lavish generosity sound like stinginess. He was deliberately misrepresenting the character and the command of God.
It is likely that Eve had heard about God’s only restriction not directly from God, but from her husband. Genesis 2:16–17 records that God gave the prohibition just prior to her creation, at a time when Adam must have been the lone recipient. This concurs perfectly with the biblical truth of Adam’s position as the representative and head of the whole human race. God held him directly accountable. Eve’s instruction and her protection were his responsibility as head of his family. Consequently, the farther she went from his side, the more she was exposed.
In the innocent bliss of Eden, of course, Eve was unaware that any danger like this existed. Even if (as it appears) the serpent discovered her looking at the tree, she was not thereby sinning. God had not forbidden the couple to look at the tree. Contrary to Eve’s statement in Genesis 3:3, God had not even forbidden them to touch the tree. She was exaggerating the rigors of God’s one restriction.
Genesis 3:3 (ESV)
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
Notice that she also understated the severity of God’s warning, softening God’s decisive tone of absolute certainty (“in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” [Gen. 2:17 NKJV]) to the language of a mere potentiality (“lest you die” [Gen. 3:3 NKJV]).
Genesis 2:17 (ESV)
17 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.”
Genesis 3:3 (ESV)
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
At this point, however, it seems she was more flustered and confounded than anything else. There’s no reason to assume she was purposely misrepresenting the facts. Perhaps for her protection, to put a fence around the danger, Adam had advised Eve not to “touch” the forbidden fruit. In any case, Eve was doing nothing wrong by simply looking at it. She would naturally have been curious. Satan seized the opportunity to beguile her, and thereby tempt Adam.
The second time the serpent speaks to Eve he does not merely misquote God’s Word in order to put a sinister spin on it. This time he flatly contradicts what God had told Adam. God’s word to Adam was, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17 NKJV). Satan’s reply to Eve was the exact opposite: “You will not surely die” (3:4 NKJV).
Then Satan went on to confound Eve with his version of what would happen if she ate: “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (v. 5 NKJV).
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.”
This was another partial truth. If Eve ate, her eyes would be open to the knowledge of good and evil. In other words, she would forfeit her innocence.
But buried in the middle of those words is the lie of all lies. It is the same falsehood that still feeds the carnal pride of our fallen race and corrupts every human heart. This evil fiction has given birth to every false religion in human history. It is the same error that gave birth to the wickedness of Satan himself. This one lie therefore underlies a whole universe of evil: “You will be like God” (v. 5 NKJV).
Eating the fruit would not make Eve anything like God. It would (and did) make her like the devil—fallen, corrupt, and condemned.
But Eve was deceived. She “saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise” (v. 6 NKJV).
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.
Notice the natural desires that contributed to Eve’s confusion: her bodily appetites (it was good for food); her aesthetic sensibilities (it was pleasant to the eyes); and her intellectual curiosity (it was desirable for wisdom). Those are all good, legitimate, healthy urges—unless the object of desire is sinful, and then natural passion becomes evil lust. That can never result in any good. Thus we are told by the apostle John, “All that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16 NKJV).
16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
Eve ate and then gave to her husband to eat. Scripture doesn’t say whether Adam found Eve near the forbidden fruit or she went and found him. Either way, by Adam’s act, according to Romans 5:12, “sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men” (NKJV).
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
That is known as the doctrine of original sin. It’s one of the most important, truly foundational doctrines in Christian theology, and therefore certainly worth the effort to understand in the context of Eve’s story.
People sometimes ask why it was Adam’s failure that was so decisive for humanity and why Scripture treats Adam’s disobedience as the means by which sin entered the world. After all, Eve actually ate the forbidden fruit first. She was the one who succumbed to the original temptation, allowed herself to be drawn away by an appeal to lust, and disobeyed God’s command. Why is Adam’s transgression deemed the original sin?
Remember, first of all, that 1 Timothy 2:14 says, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (NKJV).
14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
Adam’s sin was deliberate and willful in a way Eve’s was not. Eve was deceived. But Adam chose to partake of the fruit Eve offered him with full knowledge that he was engaging in deliberate rebellion against God.
There is, however, an even more important reason why Adam’s sin, rather than Eve’s, led to the fall of all humanity. Because of Adam’s unique position as head of the original family and therefore captain of the whole human race, Adam’s headship had particular significance for all of humanity. God dealt with him as a kind of legal delegate for himself, his wife, and all their offspring. When Adam sinned, he sinned as our representative before God. When he fell, we fell with him. That is precisely why Scripture teaches that we are born sinful (see Gen. 8:21; Ps. 51:5; 58:3) and that we all share in Adam’s guilt and condemnation (Rom. 5:18).
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
In other words, contrary to what many people assume, we don’t fall from a state of complete innocence into sin individually, on our own. But Adam, who in effect was acting as an agent and proxy for the entire human race, plunged all of humanity at once into sin. In the words of Romans 5:19, “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners” (NKJV).
19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Every one of Adam’s progeny was condemned by his actions. And that is why the whole human race is said to be guilty because of what he did, and not because of what Eve did.
It is impossible to make sense of the doctrine of original sin if we ignore this principle of Adam’s headship. Ultimately, it is impossible to make sense of Scripture at all without understanding this vital principle. In an absolutely crucial sense, even the truth of the gospel hinges on this very same idea of representative headship. Scripture says that Adam’s headship over the human race is an exact parallel of Christ’s headship over the redeemed race (Rom. 5:18; 1 Cor. 15:22). In the same way that Adam brought guilt on us as our representative, Christ took away that guilt for His people by becoming their head and representative. He stood as their proxy before the bar of divine justice and paid the price of their guilt before God. Jesus also did everything Adam failed to do, rendering obedience to God on behalf of His people. Therefore, “by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19 NKJV). In other words, Christ’s righteousness counts as ours, because He took His place as the representative Head of all who trust Him. That is the gospel in a nutshell.
Don’t get the idea, however, that Eve’s sin was excusable because it wasn’t as deliberate or as far-reaching as Adam’s. Eve’s sin was exceedingly sinful, and her actions demonstrated that she was a full and willing partner with Adam in his disobedience. (Incidentally, in a similar way, we all demonstrate by our own willful deeds that the doctrine of original sin is perfectly just and reasonable. No one can legitimately cast off the guilt of the human race by protesting that it is unfair for the rest of us to be tainted with guilt for Adam’s behavior. Our own sins prove our complicity with him.)
Eve’s sin subjected her to God’s displeasure. She forfeited the paradise of Eden and inherited a life of pain and frustration instead. The divine curse against sin targeted her in a particular way.
John F. MacArthur Jr., Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You (Nashville, TN: Nelson Books, 2005), 9–15.