The Fall Part 1:God's Word

Genesis 2:

15  The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

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."

Genesis 3:

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.

There are several matter at issue through the revelation given in the passages cited above. The serpent’s deception, both in content and method, is quite obvious. He co-mingles the truth of God’s word with a lie. (Thesis+antithesis=synthesis; i.e. Hegel’s dialectic which the modern world continues to skillfully employ to its destruction)
The woman succumbs to this line of thought and the rest, as they say, is history.

What is most times overlooked is that the serpent appealed to Eve’s “feelings” and opinions;

“Did God actually say?” Even in her reply to the question we see that she had already added to what the Lord had said, “neither shall you touch it” Some may view this as unimportant, but in reality it reveals the real problem. Deception occurs when men add to, or take away from the word that God has already spoken. 

This is revealed again in the very end of the scriptures:

Rev 22:

7  "And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."

8  I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me,

9  but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God."…………………..

18  I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,

19  and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Interesting that the Lord speaks of the loss of access to the tree of life, as well as access to the New Jerusalem. The end hearkens back to the beginning. He is alpha and omega,as well as everything in between.

Genesis 3:8  And 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………………..

22  Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—"

23  therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

24  He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Rev 21:

1  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

2  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

4  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

5  And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

God once walked with man in the garden. The fall changed that in a profound way. Thus, God’s plan from the start was to restore fellowship with His people. This is “making all things new”. It is the new heavens, the new earth, and the new city, the new man, the new creation. (2 Cor 5:16-20) God does this solely through His Son, who is the “Word that came into being (ginomai) as flesh”.

The serpent appealed to the woman’s ego by both adding to, and taking away from the Word, (and we have seen that she, as well, was already inclined to add to it).

Deuteronomy 29:29  "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Eve desired to know the secret things of the Lord, and did not obey that which the Lord had already made known. This is what it means to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is the error of mankind to this day.

Therefore, when men desire a ‘word from God”, that is, special knowledge and /or revelation, (the root of all gnosticism), they are eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. (Amos 8:11-12)
The Lord said that men will be known by their fruit. (Matthew 7:15-23) Since God made fruit, trees, vegetation, etc. to carry the seed of its own kind, and reproduce according to its own kind, He also commanded man to be fruitful and reproduce. (Genesis 1:11-12; and 28). Both the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, along with both fruit and seed, would be included in this.

Luke 8:11  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

1Peter 1:23  since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

When a man speaks he brings forth a harvest, a harvest of righteousness or of sin and death, the regenerate, or those who remain dead in their sins.

God help those who are constantly searching for a “fresh” word from God. Every year there are those who proclaim the “new thing” for the coming new year, as if God needs to correct the course He has embarked upon. The neo-gnostics of the ages refuse to accept the scripture as sole revelation and authority. In so doing they lift one or two scriptures as “proof texts’ out of their context to support their agenda, and their personal word given to them by the Lord. The complete revelation of the scriptures is what God gave us to know; all else is not our concern. The tree was desired to make one wise, as wise as Him.

John 12:

47  If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

48  The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

49  For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.

50  And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me."

“Did God indeed say?”

There is no extra-biblical revelation.