24) Eve’s Response to Satan’s Temptation-Genesis 3 – Lesson 24 2025
Daily we enter into warfare against our enemy, sin. Sin greets us around every corner, waiting to lure us into disobedient and unrighteous behavior. It is only through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we can resist the temptation to sin.
Who is the serpent in Genesis 2. It was the focus of discussion in last week’s post. He is ” Satan”, “the adversary,” a spiritual being whose challenge to the sovereignty and authority of God resulted in his fall from an intimate relationship with God, along with other angels who joined in his rebellion. He is also called the Devil and Lucifer (which means “day-star”). He has wisdom, but his wisdom is the wisdom of evil. Hell, the eternal fire (also called the fiery pit and the lake of fire), was created for Satan and fallen angels. Although he was thrown down from his place of intimacy with God, he still has access to the heavenly court where he accuses humankind of sin (Job 1:6). He continually attempts to lure man away from fellowship with God and to indulge in sin.
It is Satan who introduced sin and death into God’s Creation – a death that is spiritual (separation from God) with physical death as its consequence, and he continually works against God’s plan to bring humankind to salvation.
Genesis 3:1-3 KJV Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
At the time of creation, humankind was given by God the gift of Free-Will in service and obedience to God.
The crafty serpent began by testing Eve’s understanding of God’s command and by using half-truths. Satan avoids mentioning God’s generosity in providing for the woman and her husband and instead focuses on the one prohibition.
Eve is already succumbing to Satan’s half-truths. In her reply she has minimized God’s generosity in giving dominion over every creature and every fruit-bearing tree with the exception of the one tree, and she has misstated the prohibition, making it more restrictive and therefore harsher: “neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die”.
She does, however, clearly understand that the punishment for disobedience is death.
Genesis 3:4-5 KJV 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
When Eve identified the punishment for disobedience, Satan immediately countered her statement with a denial, contradicting the word of God and offering a reward for disobedience. Reward: Knowledge and wisdom “in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Adam and Eve did, in fact, have knowledge of what is good; God judged everything in Creation to be “good.” except the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Genesis 3:6-7 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
The book of 1 John tells us about a threefold temptation facing all that walk on this planet.
1 John 2:16 KJV 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
This is the same temptation that Eve faced. She saw that ‘the tree was good for food’ (lust of the flesh) and ‘pleasant to the eyes’ (lust of the eyes), and also ‘desirable to make one wise’ (the pride of life)’.
Upon Eve ‘seeing that the tree was good’ rebellion against God began. Up until this point it was only God who ‘sees’ and judges a thing in Creation as being ‘good. God had already judged the fruit of this tree to be “not good” for them.
Through believing the Devil, Eve reached out and took fruit from the tree of which she was not allowed to eat. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and Adam ate.
What was the result of this so desired wisdom? ‘Then the eyes of both-of-them were opened, and they knew that they were naked’.
All they had achieved was an overpowering knowledge of self, the result of which is always the same – separation from God.
Just as the knowledge of self brings separation from God, so to the knowledge of God’s love for us, expressed through Jesus sacrificial life, only serves to draw us closer to Him.
Romans 8:39 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Notice that as soon as their eyes were opened to their nakedness they began to make coverings for themselves. Humankind has been doing this ever since.
Spiritually speaking, mankind can see that they are exposed and try in a vain attempt to make a covering for their sinful lives. But the best we can ever produce through our own means and effort is a bunch of fig leaves, easily broken, ripped and torn… what a pitiful covering for sin!
It is sin that places man within Satan’s reach. Jesus came to destroy the work of Satan. It is Jesus’ sacrificial death and His resurrection that have defeated Satan.
1 John 3:8 KJV 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Discussion of Genesis 3, the consequences of humankind’s rebellion against God, continues next week.