Now you have a New Testament commentary. I’m going to close with this. We have a New Testament commentary on Genesis 3 in two places. 2nd Corinthians 11. This continues to help us to understand who this serpent is, and also to demonstrate the veracity of this account. In 2nd Corinthians 11:3, Paul says: “I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness…” There is that same idea of craftiness. There is that serpent, and there is Eve again. Bottom line: This is a New Testament affirmation to the reality of the Old Testament account. This is not, again, a legend; this is not a fable; this is not a parable. This is a real account. “The serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness.” And that simply affirms and gives commentary to what we see in Genesis Chapter 3. It is also true in 1st Timothy 2 — I want you to look at Verses 13 and 14 — that the pattern of what happened in the garden is sustained by the New Testament. Verse 13 of 1st Timothy 2. 1st Timothy 2:13. “It was not Adam who was deceived.” Okay? You want to remember that. This was not Adam who was deceived.” Adam wasn’t deceived. Who was deceived? Eve. She was there. She was deceived. And Adam just says hey, yeah, if you’re going to do that, I’m going to do that, too, and jumped in. There was no deception. That affirms the story exactly the way it lays out in Genesis. It was Adam who was first deceived — is this important? Of course, it’s important. Because the very fact that that is an accurate historic representation supports the fact that the man is the head of the woman. Because a woman, out from under the authority of her husband, acting independently, is more susceptible to deception. And so: “It was Adam first created, then Eve. It was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman, being quite deceived, fell into transgression.”
So there we have in the New Testament the clear identity as to who the serpent was, and the affirmation of this temptation by the devil. Now what can we say in summarizing all of this? The person, the personality, let’s say, in the reptile, is not identified in Genesis 3. But we can know this: There is a real personality there. There is a personality there opposed to God, calling God’s word into question; calling God’s character into question, impugning God, and saying: God just doesn’t want you to know everything he knows because he’s selfish, in effect. So here is a personality of malevolent, wicked, evil, vicious personality opposed to God, opposed to man, because he wants to plunge humanity into the same misery that he has. He’s not going to Eve and saying whatever you do, Eve, don’t disobey God; whatever you do, Eve, don’t seek to be like God. I’m living testimony; it is a bad choice. There is no element of that in Satan. He is wretched and malevolent from the top to the bottom, inside out, if you can use those terms of a spiritual being. He seeks only evil. And so, he rushes to destroy man. He is deceptive; he is lying; he is hostile; he is wicked, he is a killer. He wants to bring about the death not only of all those angels that went with him, but the death of the whole human race.
As powerful as he is, as wicked as he is, as evil as he is — listen to this — he is subject to God’s sovereign control. Now, listen. His temptation of Eve does not involve any compulsion on his part. He can’t make her sin. He doesn’t have that power. Now let me tell you something, folks. The devil still can’t make you sin. Do you hear that? He cannot make you sin. When you sin, you bear the responsibility. He does not have the power to make you sin. He didn’t have the power to make Eve sin. She sinned by her own choice. And Adam and Eve are fully guilty for their sin. He is a malevolent power, but he is subject to God’s sovereign control. We’ll see that when we look at the story of Job next week.
And his — his power has its limits. God says you have so much room, beyond which you cannot go. And one of the things that he’s limited in is his power. Think of it this way. He thought he could be like God. But guess what? He’s not omniscient, he’s not omnipotent, and he’s not omnipresent, and he’s not immutable, and he’s not sovereign. He’s not like God at all. He’s utterly as much unlike God as a creature could be. He didn’t get what he wanted. And as Martin Luther said: “The devil is the Lord’s devil. He functions within the sovereign purposes of God to achieve the things that are in the eternal decree of God for the salvation of sinners, the damnation of sinners and the ultimate triumphant destruction over evil.”
Now, the primary word for him, the primary name is Satan. Satan. He is called that, as I just read you, in Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20 Verse 2. But he is also called that in the Old Testament. That’s right; three times in three passages, he is identified by the name “Satan.” Satan, to give you a little preview of next week, “Satan” is a word that means adversary, or opponent. He is the adversary of God and he’s the adversary of man. He could be called the adversary, with a definite article, “the” adversary. And he is the first couple of times. The third time he’s mentioned, 1st Chronicles 21, he’s called “adversary.” And “the adversary,” simply being a term to identify him, becomes a proper name. And he’s no longer the adversary; he is adversary with a capital S. Satan. And from then on, he is Satan. He is the adversary of God and the adversary of man. 2nd Corinthians 11:2 says we don’t want to be “ignorant of his devices.”
So what we’re going to do next time is I’m going to take you through the Old Testament and show you how Satan is presented in the Old Testament. I’m going to show you also how he fell, why he fell. And once we understand the serpent, then we’ll launch into his approach to Eve with greater understanding, and it will help us in our own struggle as well. All right, enough.
Let’s pray.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
