At the very beginning of the Bible, spiritual warfare was already happening. If the devil could attack Adam & Eve in the perfect Garden of Eden, what more the imperfect world & imperfect Church? …Read More
Thus, there is no reason for the church to be ignorant of the devil’s schemes (2 Cor 2:11). In the last days, there is nothing the church can do if it cannot engage in spiritual warfare (Eph 6:11).
Why did Eve fall for the devil’s schemes? Because she entertained his voice and allowed him to manipulate her to doubt God’s goodness. How did she fall for it? Because she took God’s Word lightly, by saying that “you will die” instead of “you will surely die” (2:17), and adding a command not to “touch” the tree, which God did not say. For the church, therefore, preaching only a ‘pet doctrine’ or partial truth (i.e. not everything Jesus commanded – Mt 28:20) is certainly satan’s strategy.
When Eve had the wrong knowledge of the Word, satan gave her 2 false visions (3:5): first, that the fruit will make her become like God. Becoming like God is to participate in His divine nature, i.e. absolute obedience; but satan’s way of attaining Godlikeness is to do whatever one wants i.e. self-centredness. Second, that it will help her know good & evil. In God’s presence where all is light, there is no need to know evil. But satan is good at inciting people to receive what they do not need.
So the reason why man fell was, fundamentally, that they could not see the goodness of God – God made everything good, but Eve focused only on the tree that looked ‘good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom’ (3:5). Adam & Eve fell into temptation, thinking the tree could satisfy what they ‘lacked’, only to eventually lose everything they had & become naked (3:7).
