Podcast Episode 5: Two Temptations, Part 1

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He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 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.’”
-Genesis 3:1-3

In the third chapter of Genesis, we come to the Fall. This is where Satan comes to the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent and tempts Adam and Eve to sin. They do, and God’s perfect Creation becomes tarnished.

It is interesting to me what Satan says to tempt Eve away from God. Basically, he has two approaches, and they are approaches he still uses today, which makes them important to understand. We’ll look at the first today.

“Did God actually say that?” he asks.

What a challenge! He even misquotes God, just to plant doubt. “Did God command to not eat of any tree?” God said nothing of the sort! It is only the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that is forbidden. He is taking the Word of God and misquoting it for effect.

He is probing, trying to figure out what Eve knows. Does Eve remember the command of God, or is there wiggle room in her memory that he can exploit? In truth, there is wiggle room there. Eve responds that they are not even allowed to touch the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which God never said. He only said not to eat of it.

But even though Eve does not remember the command perfectly, she does pass this test. She does not eat when Satan says these things. Not yet, anyway. I wonder if we pass this test. Frankly, I hear this challenge made against God’s people all the time. Did God really say that?

Did God really say that it is only through Jesus that we can be saved? Did God really say that wives are supposed to submit to their husbands? Did God really say that we should not have sex outside of marriage? Did God really say that we shouldn’t desire to be rich?

And sometimes the challenge comes misquoted, as Satan does to Eve. Did God really say that money is the root of all evil? Well, no He didn’t. He said that the love of money was the root of all sorts of evils. This next one is a favorite misquotation amongst atheists to discredit the Bible. Did God really say to not kill and then command the Jews to wage war? Well, God actually said to not murder, which is distinctly different than the word “kill.”

The world calls the God of the Bible all sorts of terrible things. They call Him a barbarian, a butcher, a chauvinist, a racist, a hate-monger. In all of these things they are asking, “Did God really say . . .” But Satan will often twist the words of God to claim something that God never claimed.

The challenge is going to come at us from everywhere: Did God really say this? The only way we can answer the question is to know what He said. He gave to us the Bible so that we would know exactly what He has said.

Let me tell you something God really did say: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Every day we fall for the temptations around us, but God does not want these sins to remove us from His Glory. So He sent His Son to die in our place. Satan tries to bring us into sin and trap us there, but the Blood of Christ can bring us out of that trap. If you repent of the ways you have fallen for those lies and believe in Jesus, you will be saved. Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Believe in Him, for He is the way to life.