Today in the Word

Genesis 3:1-10

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)



























Temptation

Genesis 3:1-10

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

What do we learn from this important passage on temptation?

(1) God allows us to be tempted. (Gen. 3:1-5)

(2) God never tries to get us to do the wrong thing, however. (James 1:13)

(3) We are tempted when we are overpowered by our own desire. (James 1:14)

(4) Satan, man’s arch-enemy, used the body of a creature who was subordinate to Eve (Gen. 1:26-28) to tempt her. (Gen. 3:1-5; Rev. 12:9)

(5) Adam allowed his wife, who was created to be his suitable helper (Gen. 2:18-23), and thus was subordinate to him, to tempt him. (Gen. 3:6).

(6) Satan began by questioning God’s Word. (Gen.3:1)

(7) Satan continued by contradicting God’s Word. (Gen. 3:4)

(8) Satan lied about God’s motive and besmirched His character, stating that God really was trying to withhold something good from Eve – being like God. (Gen. 3:5)

(9) Adam and Eve lost their innocence when they disobeyed God. (Gen. 3:7).

(10) Adam and Eve died spiritually the moment they had disobeyed. They were now separated from God and did not want to be around Him. (Gen. 2:16-17; 3:8-10)

(11) It would take Adam 930 years to die physically. (Gen. 5:1-5)

(12) If you don’t take care of spiritual death before you die physically, your eternal destiny will be “Second Death.” (Rev. 20:11-15) You really don’t want that to happen!

By James T. Bartsch

February 8, 2021


(Scripture quotation taken from the NASB.)











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Posted February 8, 2021