THREE SINS COMMITTED: EVE SUBTRACTED FROM & ADDED TO GOD'S WORD
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Three Sins Committed
a) God had clearly said to Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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 2:16-17).
b) Assuming that Adam knew which of all the trees was the tree of knowledge, the word of God was clear and simple. Adam could hardly misinterpret it or misunderstand it, nor could anyone to whom he communicated it.
c) Nevertheless, although God had made himself clear, confusion ensued, and three sins were committed against God and His Word. Here is one of them.
2. Eve Subtracted From And Added To God’s Word
a) God had said to Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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 2:16-17).
b) Eve’s version is somewhat different: “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'” (Genesis 3:1-3).
c) Eve changes “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” to “the tree that is in the middle of the garden”. And to the command not to eat of the fruit, she adds, “And you must not touch it”.
d) We observe that Eve was not “accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) — unless Adam was sloppy in communicating the word to his wife.
e) God’s description of the tree, “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil” is informative about the loss of innocence that the fruit of that tree would impart to the eater. Eve’s vacuous substitution, “The tree in the middle of the garden” subtracts that information.
f) Eve then adds to God’s word. God forbade the eating of the fruit. Eve might wisely have made a rule for herself, “In that case I won't even touch it” — but she had no right to put those words into God’s mouth.
g) You might say, “Oh come Mr Graham! Eve’s sin was disobeying God’s word, not paraphrasing it!” But her meddling with God’s word showed disregard for it, and that is the seed of disobedience.
The End ...
1. Three Sins Committed a) God had clearly said to Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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 2:16-17).
b) Assuming that Adam knew which of all the trees was the tree of knowledge, the word of God was clear and simple. Adam could hardly misinterpret it or misunderstand it, nor could anyone to whom he communicated it.
c) Nevertheless, although God had made himself clear, confusion ensued, and three sins were committed against God and His Word. Here is one of them.
2. Eve Subtracted From And Added To God’s Word
a) God had said to Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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 2:16-17).
b) Eve’s version is somewhat different: “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'” (Genesis 3:1-3).
c) Eve changes “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” to “the tree that is in the middle of the garden”. And to the command not to eat of the fruit, she adds, “And you must not touch it”.
d) We observe that Eve was not “accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) — unless Adam was sloppy in communicating the word to his wife.
e) God’s description of the tree, “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil” is informative about the loss of innocence that the fruit of that tree would impart to the eater. Eve’s vacuous substitution, “The tree in the middle of the garden” subtracts that information.
f) Eve then adds to God’s word. God forbade the eating of the fruit. Eve might wisely have made a rule for herself, “In that case I won't even touch it” — but she had no right to put those words into God’s mouth.
g) You might say, “Oh come Mr Graham! Eve’s sin was disobeying God’s word, not paraphrasing it!” But her meddling with God’s word showed disregard for it, and that is the seed of disobedience.
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