Authorized Version Defence THE GARDEN OF EDEN: HOTBED OF CORRUPTION OF GOD’S WORDS

THE GARDEN OF EDEN: HOTBED OF CORRUPTION OF GOD’S WORDS

By Steven Melvin McCalip

Website: www.kingjamesman.com

Email: kingjamesonly@yahoo.com

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Introduction

Warning:

Correcting God Can Be

Hazardous to Your Spiritual Health

Thinking that you can correct God has to rank as the height of sinfulness, yet that is what people think when they attempt to act as Bible editors by correcting God’s words. God created a universe with over 100 billion galaxies-don’t you think he can create a book without any errors in it and use man to write it? Is anything too difficult for God? Correcting the Bible is no different than correcting God, unless, of course, the bible you’re correcting is a false bible, and in that case, just throw it away. You can’t correct it. What I am talking about is correcting the only perfect word of God in the English language, the King James Bible. When man thinks he’s smart enough to correct God Almighty, you know man has got some serious issues to deal with.

Correcting God’s words got its start from-you guessed it-the Garden of Eden. It is fascinating how much God has taught us in these first few chapters, and is what is even more amazing is how overlooked the details are, especially concerning the adding, subtracting, and replacing of the words of God. What we will see in the upcoming paragraphs is the subtle and total deception of Eve by the serpent (Satan) concerning the words of God given to her by her husband Adam. Eve’s corruption of the commandment of God made possible her deception by the serpent. What I am about to show you are 27 different corruptions Eve and the serpent made to the spoken words of God given to Adam. The lessons taught here in Genesis about correcting God’s words are astounding, but you must pay attention to details, for God put every detail there for a reason.

If you study the Genesis account carefully, God first put two trees in the Garden of Eden before he put Adam there (Eve was not created yet). These two trees of note in the Garden were “the tree of life” and “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God’s actual commandment to Adam and Eve concerning the trees, along with Eve’s paraphrase of that commandment, is going to be studied here in great detail. I will be pointing out which words Eve and the serpent left out, added, changed, and replaced from God’s original commandment to Adam, and I will be showing how Eve substituted her lies and the serpent’s lies for God’s words and thereby multiplied her deception many fold. Though it may seem to be “nitpicky” at first, what we shall discover is that these glaring omissions and additions were the direct cause of Adam and Eve’s downfall and subsequent loss of spiritual life for both. What the Lord actually said about the trees is now ready to be studied.

Notice that God gave his commandment to Adam and Adam only (remember Eve was not formed yet): “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). The man was to teach his wife what God said. Shortly thereafter, God decides to give Adam a wife: “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18).

The serpent now enters the stage and first attacks the woman by getting her to doubt what God’s words were to Adam: “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?” (Genesis 3:1). Pay particular attention to the glaring omission here: the serpent did not go after Adam; he chose the woman for her perceived weakness, especially in her lack of knowledge of God’s commandment (his words). The woman then makes the fatal flaw of answering Satan with what she thought God commanded the man. “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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” (Genesis 3:2).

Before we get started on the corruption of God’s words by Eve, it is worth noting that God never commanded Adam and Eve to talk to the serpent (the Devil). Eve took it upon herself to talk to him. God commanded us to resist the devil: “…Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). God didn’t want us to have conversation with Satan or the serpent as he was called. This talking to the serpent began Eve’s plunge into darkness, for she underestimated the power of the serpent’s subtlety, and she had no commandment that it was okay to talk to the serpent.

This was presumptuous sin, for it was presuming that the absence of a particular commandment made the sin okay. She, like many today, could have justified the situation by saying that God never said she couldn’t do it so it must have been okay to talk to him. That was a fatal mistake. This act could be seen as her first deception, for many people today do the same thing. They talk to the Devil, albeit for the purpose of getting him out of their life; nevertheless, they entertain him by having conversation and mock him with trite and childish games of trying to get rid of him by their human conversation and power.

Eve and the serpent changed God’s words in 27 different places, far more than most people realize if they realize it at all. Let me repeat what God said first and then what Eve said that God told her. I will compare both passages directly to each other, examining them word by word for the extent of Eve’s corruption of God’s commandment to Adam (and her by extension): Later, I will also show how Eve changed God’s words in her reasoning used to eat the fruit that was also recorded in scripture.

To begin with, here again is what the Lord originally commanded Adam: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Now, here again is what the woman said that God said: “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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” (Genesis 3:2). Study the difference between the above two passages that are underlined. They are supposed to be the same, yet Eve paraphrased and “retranslated” what God originally told Adam. By doing this, she sealed her fate and the death of all mankind to follow. Do you still think it is an issue of semantics? You won’t after you read further.

Eve’s Corruptions to God’s Commandment x 27

1. Eve omitted the name “Lord” in the title “Lord God” and used “God” instead when she quoted to the serpent what the Lord God had told Adam. Look at the original scripture again to verify this: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat” (Genesis 2:16). Again, look at the name the woman gave God: “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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” (Genesis 3:2-3).

How is this significant you may ask? To start off with, any words subtracted are, of course, changing the word of God and its meaning and impact. That is of foremost importance and is Eve’s most grievous sin. When Eve changed “Lord God” to “God,” the subtraction of the word “Lord” does indeed change the meaning. The word “Lord” speaks of God as a master or ruler over his creation. The word “God” does not have that same meaning. By Eve leaving the word “Lord” off, she leaves off the added meaning of God’s role as “Lord,” one of his main attributes. The whole issue of God’s authority is undermined when God’s lordship is omitted. This issue of authority is questioned by Satan immediately when he said “Yea, hath God said…?” Notice also that the serpent didn’t refer to God as the “Lord God” either, and that is significant for the same reasons as it was for Eve. Thus, the word “Lord” and its importance is seen by Satan, but not by Eve. The serpent recognized Eve’s lack of respect toward God, and because this is one of a multitude of her careless mishandlings of God’s words and his authority, the serpent deceived her.

Another important concept that should be pointed out is that the name Lord is used to signify a relationship between God and man just as when Jesus becomes your Lord and Savior when you trust in him; thus, it is a word that shows the closeness between God and man. Again, that closeness with God by calling him “Lord” is brushed aside by Eve’s omission of that term when she lackadaisically misquotes God’s words to the serpent.

2. Eve changed God’s word “commanded” and replaced it with her word “said” in the scripture “the Lord God commanded the man.” By changing “commanded” to “said,” she changed the meaning and intensity of what God’s words were originally as shown here: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:” The word “commanded” conveys the use of authority because the word “commandment” originates from someone who has great authority. The word “commandment” has much more depth of meaning than merely the word “said” which Eve used instead. A command comes from a commander, a person in great authority; i.e., the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States. The Ten Commandments were not “Ten Sayings” or “Suggestions.” A command is the strongest order that can be given. The authority of the word “commandment” is patently evident. This passage where the word occurs is the first usage of the word “command” in the scriptures, and tragically, the word is changed by Eve. This change greatly diminishes the power of God’s statement, now making God’s order much less authoritative and mandatory to Adam and Eve.

Some may object that the word “command” was not part of God’s original quoted words to Adam, that it was part of the written Bible and not spoken to Adam. That assertion is not true according to other corroborating scriptures. Pay attention closely here and you will agree: When God made reference in Genesis 3:11 and 3:17 to what he himself originally said to Adam in Genesis 2:16, God said he did “command” Adam: “And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” (Genesis 3:11). “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee…” (Genesis 3:17). So we see that the word “command” was part of what God told Adam, and by extension Eve, and it being God’s holy words, was corrupted by Eve.

3. Eve took away from God’s words the fact that God commanded the “man”: “And the Lord God commanded the man…” By leaving off who the commandment was directed to (the “man”), she was snubbing the chain of authority that God had set up. The man was commanded, and he was supposed to teach the woman. When the woman quoted back what God said to the serpent, she didn’t tell him what God told Adam, the “man.” She gave the serpent the impression that God directly told Adam and her. That was not the case, and was another prime example of how Eve changed the word of God.

This omission exemplified Eve’s lack of respect and authority of the man over her. If she disrespected that authority, she would also disrespect the authority of God’s commandment, and the serpent knew it. She did not tell the serpent that “the Lord God commanded the man or Adam,” and this subtraction was seen by the serpent as a major omission and an open door to attack the authority of God’s words to Eve. Eve’s flippant attitude towards God’s spoken words paved the way for the serpent to totally deceive her.

4. Eve subtracted the word “freely” from God’s commandment that Adam “mayest freely eat.” Look back at God’s quote: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:” God said to Adam that he could “freely” eat of the trees. Eve omitted it. With this word “freely,” God gave Adam complete freedom. This missing word has enormous implications, for if man weren’t completely free to act as many Calvinists today proclaim, then man could accuse God of man being forced to act and, in essence, being forced to sin because of man’s lack of complete freedom. The teaching that man had freedom is missing when Eve subtracts the word “freely.” Man’s choice of sin and rebellion against God could not be brought back into God’s face by declaring man wasn’t free. God made sure of that when he told Adam (and by extension Eve) that Adam could “freely” eat. All this talk of man’s inability and man not having “free will” is totally refuted by that one word. By leaving off that one word, Eve opened the door for all the heresy to enter in, and she also opened the door for the serpent to deceive her by possibly telling her that God took away her freedom to “freely” act. The serpent could have easily beguiled her by portraying God as not giving Eve her “freedom.”

5. Eve subtracted the word “every” from God’s words that Adam could eat of “every” tree in the Garden: (“Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:” Genesis 2:16). Eve’s reply to the serpent was as follows: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:” (Genesis 3:2). By Eve saying “We may eat of the fruit of the trees” she was weakening what God said and leaving a crack in the door for the serpent to deceive her about eating from “every” tree. The serpent, in fact, did that very thing when he told Eve: “Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden?” The serpent jumped on the fact that she left off the word “every” and used that for his first beguiling of Eve and her eventual loss of spiritual life. The serpent got Eve to question if the phrase “every” tree was spoken. When Eve answered back that God said, “We may eat of the trees,” she fell into the serpent’s trap because of her omission of a single word of God’s holy commandment.

Eve answered the serpent with a complete paraphrase of God’s commandment. It was a complete corruption of what God originally commanded her husband. The instant that the serpent recognized that Eve had mutilated God’s commandment, he went after her. It is no different today. You must believe every one of his words and not change them or you are showing unbelief. If you believe God’s words don’t exist in their original form because all we have is a translation, you are sorely deceived. God is able to preserve them. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

6. Eve omitted the complete name of the tree that God commanded she couldn’t eat. God called it “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and Eve just called it “the tree” and even confused which tree it was as evidenced in the next corruption about its location. Look again at God’s original commandment showing he named the tree: “But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it…” (Genesis 2:17). Now look at Eve’s naming of the tree in her reply to the serpent: “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden…” (Genesis 3:3). By her leaving off the name of the tree, she confused herself about the tree and showed a complete lack of respect for what God’s words were. God specifically named the tree for a reason. One of the reasons for its particular name was what the tree contained. It possessed the knowledge of good and evil. Eve said nothing about God prohibiting her from the “knowledge of good and evil,” and this was due, in part, to her omission of its name-“tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

It is evil, of course, that led to her downfall. By her brushing aside the importance of the name of this tree, she dismissed the importance of evil itself. In other words, by her not knowing or remembering the name of the tree in her quote to Satan, she was showing him she didn’t respect God’s words and what God had to say about “good and evil.” Evil, then, became her master.

7. Eve said the tree of knowledge of good and evil was in the midst of the garden, yet God said it was the tree of life that was in the midst of the Garden: (“…the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” Genesis 2:9). It is easy to miss, but if you study, you will see it. By confusing the location of the tree of life and the tree of knowledge (one was in the midst of the Garden and one was not), Eve allowed the serpent to deceive her about the most important element in the Garden and that was the tree of life. God never told Adam (and by extension Eve) that they couldn’t eat of the tree of life. The tree of life, if eaten, would have given Adam and Eve eternal life of which they would have never died. God gave Adam and Eve a choice between the tree of life and the tree of death, for, as you recall, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, if eaten, would have caused them to die (“thou shalt surely die”). Adam and Eve never chose to eat of the tree of life. This fact is proven after they both ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for God had to guard the tree of life with cherubims and a flaming sword to keep Adam and Eve from overturning the penalty of their death and getting eternal life which the tree offered: “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” (Genesis 3:22). God said he would guard the tree “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.” It is obvious that Adam never put forth his hand to take from it or God wouldn’t have had to guard it from bestowing eternal life to them. They would have already had eternal life if they had ever eaten from it as God said-“and live for ever.” God’s punishment for Adam and Eve’s disobedience was death just as he said before. Eternal life would now have to come another way, and that way was faith in the fact that God himself would become a man and die for their sins.

8. Eve said, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees…”, yet God never said the word “fruit” as quoted here: (“Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:” Genesis 2:16). Isn’t that amazing how many Christians will say that God told Adam not to eat the fruit? Go ahead and look again at God’s original quote to Adam. Where is the word “fruit?” It’s not there. So then, this was another lie by Eve and another corruption of God’s commandment. Why is this significant, you may ask? It has all the significance in the world, as they say. If God told Adam not to eat the fruit, then the serpent could say that the other parts of the tree must be okay to eat. Eve would have to agree with the serpent, for all she could remember of what God said was to not eat the fruit. The serpent could then get her to eat another part of the tree; for example, he could have offered Eve seeds, nuts, leaves, flowers, sap, bark etc. and could make Eve die in the process. Satan knew if she ate any part of the tree, she would die, for he of all creatures knew what God had originally said even if Eve didn’t remember. Since Eve thought she would die only if she ate the fruit, the serpent had her right where he wanted her: he could bring about her death through her own lack of knowledge of God’s commandment to her husband. It would be pretty hard for Eve not to believe the Devil that it was okay to eat the other parts of the tree, for she thought that God had told her not to eat only the “fruit.” God said no such thing; hence, the total deception of Eve by the serpent. Do you think that one word is not important? If you do, you are just as deceived as Eve was and are setting yourself up for the same situation-your complete loss of spiritual life.

9. Eve added the word “neither” in her paraphrase: “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” By Eve adding this word, she was saying that there were two things forbidden to her about the tree-eating and touching it. Because Eve believed there were now two things forbidden to her that would cause her death, she set herself up for deadly deception. The serpent could now have her try just one of the two deceptions and justify it to her by telling her that one wouldn’t kill her, since Eve said that God told her two would. Eve’s statement and change of the word of God made it unclear whether it took two actions to cause her death (eating and touching) or just one of the two. Of course, if one didn’t kill her, the serpent could call God’s word a lie because nothing happened to her. It would be further beguilement because, originally, God just said not “to eat of the tree.” Nothing about “neither” was mentioned by God, so two actions that were forbidden were never said by God. The word “touch” is another corruption dealt with in the next example.

10. Eve stated that God’s words were: “neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die,” but God never said Adam couldn’t “touch” the fruit, only that he couldn’t “eat” of it: “But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:” (Genesis 2:17). This difference has huge implications. If God never said Adam couldn’t “touch” the tree, but Eve said God did say that, then the serpent could come along and get her to touch the tree or the fruit and then show her that she didn’t die as God supposedly said she would. Eve could have bought in to that, touched the tree or fruit, and proved the serpent right. She would have believed the serpent, and now would have believed that God and his words were a lie. The reason is simple: she said that if she touched the tree she would die, yet she did not, just as the serpent said she wouldn’t. This is total deception as thick as it ever gets all because of the changing of one of God’s holy words.

11. God originally said, “…thou shalt not eat of it…” (Genesis 2:17), and Eve paraphrased it as “Ye shall not eat of it” Genesis 3:3). “Ye” and “thou” are two completely different words with distinct meanings. So we see that God never directly commanded the woman not to eat of the tree; he only said it to the man which is why “thou” was used. She was misquoting the words of God back to the serpent, words which had no power and no life, and Satan knew it. She told the serpent a lie by saying that God said “Ye” may eat of the tree. God told Adam and Adam only, and even though it is Adam’s responsibility to teach Eve that she could eat also, what God actually said is a different story altogether. “Ye” is a plural pronoun (more than one person addressed) and “thou” is singular. God never told Eve anything. He told Adam. Whether Adam taught her correctly what God said or whether Eve was just negligent in her own learning is not absolute, though the scriptures in the New Testament say Adam was not deceived, but the woman was, so I would lean towards her being negligent. That in no ways excuses Adam’s sin but just points out that Adam was not deceived, Eve was.

12. Eve’s subtracted the words “the day” in God’s commandment (“in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”) and by doing so removed the threat of immediate death. By Eve leaving off the fact that death was a consequence that was going to happen the very day she ate of the tree was a huge omission. This could open the door for death to happen at some ambiguous time in the future, possibly hundreds of years away, an occurrence that would forever change the whole situation altogether with Adam and Eve and warp the whole plan of redemption that was necessary for both of them the “day” they ate of the tree. Eve completely removed the biblical reference to the time frame of her death occurring, and this action had the result of also destroying the immediacy of the consequence of her death. If death wasn’t going to be immediate, Eve could have easily taken the nonchalant attitude that the threat of dying didn’t matter because it was too far in the future to worry about. Once again, deception takes hold on Eve for her neglect and corruption of the mighty word of God.

13. Eve substituted the word “lest” for the word “shalt” in God’s original command “shalt surely die.” Using “lest” only diminished what God had originally said when he commanded “shalt,” for the words “shalt” and “lest” are not synonymous by any means. This perversion is changing the meaning of what God commanded, and that itself constitutes a lie. “Lest” implies a possibility of not dying or at least not being sure if you will die while “shalt” leaves no room for ambiguity. You can see the impact that changing these words would have. It is the difference between dying and maybe not dying. I would say that’s a little more than semantics. It is eternal life at stake.

14. Eve subtracted the word “surely” from God’s commandment of “thou shalt surely die,” and this got rid of the certainty of Adam and Eve’s punishment. God said the phrase “surely die” for a reason, for he wanted Eve to be certain that death would occur if she ate of the tree. By Eve leaving off the word “surely,” she showed a complete lack of respect for God’s words and opened herself up for more deception from the serpent. God’s words as originally stated gave Eve 100% certainty of death if she ate of the tree, and when Eve left off the word “surely,” that certainty might as well have been 0%, for she ate of the fruit anyway.

The Serpent’s Seven

Subtle Changes

The next seven changes to God’s spoken words are done by the serpent with Eve’s approval or lack of disapproval. When the serpent cast doubt or changed God’s word, Eve accepted these changes.

The serpent slyly got Eve to doubt God’s words when he questioned the original commandment of God with “Yea, hath God said,” and Eve corrupted God’s words when she accepted this questioning without objection and tolerated the later changes that the serpent made. The next seven corruptions of God’s words that Eve made are her approval of the seven changes to Gods’ commandment that the serpent made. Let us remember that the serpent was in the business of changing God’s words and getting others to do so as well. Eve accepted these changes because she refused to correct the serpent for his changing of God’s words. Consequently, her agreement or lack of protest thereof of the serpent changing God’s words made her an accomplice to changing it as well.

15. When the serpent asked Eve, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” he was making a false accusation and completely changing God’s words to the opposite meaning, and Eve did not rebuke him for it as seen here: “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the trees of the garden: 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.” (Genesis 3:1). When the serpent started off casting doubt on God’s spoken words by saying “Yea, hath God said,” Eve’s very first response was not defending what God said but giving the serpent her own words of “We may eat of the trees of the garden.” The serpent said that God said they couldn’t eat of every tree of the garden. God said the exact opposite almost. God said they could eat of every tree (“Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat” (Genesis 2:16) except one. The woman did go on to say they couldn’t eat of the tree which was in the midst of the garden. Satan was trying to confuse Eve with his choice of words and his corruption of God’s original commandment. Eve allowed this questioning and subsequent corrupting of God’s words without rebuking the serpent (for more on that, see next section), and so she was party to the changes of God’s words herself.

16. The serpent directly contradicted and changed God’s words from “thou shalt surely die” to “Ye shall not surely die” and Eve wholeheartedly accepted this mutilation of God’s commandment: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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” (Genesis 3:4-5). When the serpent said to Eve, “Ye shall not surely die” just after God said Adam and she would, the serpent was boldly declaring God and his words to be a lie. The serpent told Eve outright that God’s words were not true. How this is related to this current issue is worth noting. If you noticed, after the serpent called God’s words a lie, Eve had no response. She said nothing at all. By doing nothing and saying nothing in response to the serpent calling her God and his words a lie, Eve was giving tacit approval to changing God’s words. Why? Because the serpent changed what God said from “Ye shall surely die” to “Ye shall not surely die”-the complete opposite and Eve approved by default. Amazingly, Eve accepted this corruption of God’s original commandment without even a hint of protest. Of course, this situation is paralleled today when people see and hear the corruption of God’s words and do nothing about it or tell no one of it. I will not do this, and that is the reason for this writing.

17. Eve believed the serpent’s words when he said that he knew what God knew; she accepted his words over God’s words. This corruption Eve made to God’s holy commandment is contained in the same verse: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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.” The serpent was presuming to tell Eve that he knew what God knew-that he was God’s spokesman. The serpent was speaking for God and telling Eve she should accept his knowledge of what he thought God knew. In other words, the serpent took upon himself to be the spokesman for God by declaring what his (God’s) thoughts were to Eve. Eve once again accepted this as truth that she should obey. She accepted the serpent’s words over God who never told her that the serpent could be his spokesman to relay his thoughts. Eve believed the serpent was God’s messenger and spokesman because she didn’t protest that the serpent said he knew the mind of God. Eve is now obeying a whole new set of laws from the serpent. She not only corrupted God’s words, she replaced them in this passage with the serpent’s thoughts and words. Whatever the serpent knew was good enough for Eve because he knew what God knew and what Eve didn’t. The serpent was “in the know” concerning God and Eve wanted that too.

18. Eve believed the serpent’s words (and thus added them to God’s words) that her eyes would “be opened,” yet God’s words never mentioned that to be the case. In this same scripture comes a further corruption: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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.” God’s original commandment to Adam never said anything about their eyes being opened. The serpent added these words and belief to God’s commandment. What is very revealing here, though, is the fact that even though Satan did add to God’s word and Eve accepted this, these added words in this particular part did become a part of God’s words and was fulfilled. God’s words did say in a few verses later that “the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). Thus, we see that the serpent uses his knowledge of God’s words that haven’t even been revealed to man to deceive man with.

19. By Eve believing that her “eyes shall be opened” when God never said that, she not only added these words to God’s, she accepted all the truth and words that statement implied, one of which is the implication that her eyes were closed. The serpent changed the word of God from “shalt surely die” to “eyes shall be opened.” God never said to Adam or Eve that their eyes were closed or open to anything. If Eve’s eyes would be opened, then that teaches by direct implication that her eyes were closed, and if closed, God was the one who must have closed them. Eve believed the serpent’s words and exchanged them from God’s that her eyes were closed and would be opened by eating of the tree. The serpent knew that if he could get Eve to accept his words in addition to or in exchange for God’s about her eyes being closed by God, she would desire the things that were being withheld from her, as the next examples will show.

20. Eve believed the serpent’s words that she and Adam would be “as gods”; thus, she added to God’s words who never said any such thing. The serpent added that she and Adam would be “as gods,” and she accepted this change and the further corruption of God’s words. The temptation to be as a god was believed more than God’s words. She was basically believing that God was withholding truth from her, and that there was more to what God’s words said than what God said they did. It is akin to extra books, chapters, or verses being added to the word under the reasoning that they were lost or were missing from ancient manuscripts. By correcting Gods’ words, you also will become your own god, for if you can correct God, you are God. It’s that simple, yet that tragic. Here’s something even more disturbing: according to the above account: the way to become a god is to correct God’s words.

21. Eve believed the serpent’s words that she would end up “knowing good and evil”; thus, she added to God’s words even though this was a true statement about “good and evil.” Despite it being true that Eve would know good and evil, it was never said by God originally and was an addition to God’s words. God’s original commandment just forbade the “tree of knowledge of good and evil”; it didn’t say that man would “know” good and evil.” Additions can be true but are still corruptions because they are not part of the original commandment. That this statement turned out to be true anyway is verified later in verse twenty-two: “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” Satan can tell the truth when it is convenient for him to do so. Satan used the truth he knew beforetime and told Eve she could “know” good and evil. Again, even though Adam and Eve ended up knowing good and evil, God never said they would originally, and the serpent used this foreknowledge to deceive them with truth.

Eve Deceived

22. The first reason Eve gave for eating the fruit was that she said the tree was “good for food”. God also said the tree was “good for food,” but at the same time, he said the tree would kill her. Thus, Eve took half of what God said and discarded the other half. Is what God said a contradiction?-that it was “good for food” but by eating it, “thou shalt surely die.” God did tell the reader before he put Adam in the Garden that this tree of knowledge of good and evil was indeed “pleasant to the sight, and good for food.” He said it in his words in Genesis 2:9: “And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” As previously mentioned, of course, God did also say that the tree would make Adam “surely die.” As God told the reader in Genesis, he must have also told Adam that the tree was “pleasant to the sight, and good for food.” Since Eve would have known this also, she had to resolve an apparent contradiction of the tree being good and bad for her at the same time. Something interesting here is that God never commanded the serpent not to eat of the tree, and that has significance. If the serpent could eat of the tree and appear to be alright, he could convince Eve to do the same. The seeming contradiction here is easily explained by the following: God did say the tree was good for food, and it could have been good for food for the animals and the serpent. God said the eating of the tree would kill Adam, and since Eve came from Adam, it would kill her too. It didn’t have to kill the serpent, for God never said it would. Eve justified breaking God’s law because the tree provided her a necessity: food. Eve wanted the wrong food, for God had given them all the food of the garden. Just as the wrong food will kill you, the wrong words will as well. The point is that Eve substituted her reasoning over God’s words and thus challenged his words with her own thoughts, words, and actions. She replaced God’s words with her words and reasoning, reasoning that seemed right to her. Reasons and man’s words are substituted for God’s words on a daily basis today.

23. The second reason Eve gave for eating the fruit demonstrated the same point as the first reason: Eve used part of God’s words to justify changing God’s words. She said she ate of the tree because it was “pleasant to the eyes” (Genesis 3:6) which was God’s words; however, God also said “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16). God’s words to Eve must again have appeared to be a “seeming contradiction,”-that the tree was indeed “pleasant to the sight,” but it would also make her “surely die.” Eve had to reconcile this seeming contradiction. She justified her sin, changed the word of God, and reasoned that since the tree was “good for food,” it couldn’t be bad and kill her. Eve saw a contradiction in God’s words and assumed God’s words were wrong. Thus, Eve exalted her own reasoning and corrected God’s mistake with her words. She accepted only half of what God originally said. Half is still corruption.

24. Eve added to God’s commandment because she said the tree was “to be desired” (Genesis 3:6), yet God said the tree was not to be eaten of; therefore, it was not to be desired. God never told Adam the tree was “desirable.” Eve’s desire was for the tree, and so she substituted her “desire” over God’s words and his desire. She exchanged her thoughts, i.e., her words, over God’s.

25. The third reason Eve gave for eating the fruit was that she believed the tree would make her wise (“and a tree desired to make one wise”), but God’s commandment said eating of the tree would kill her; thus, Eve believed in and desired wisdom from the tree over God’s words. Eve chose knowledge and wisdom over believing God’s words, thus, she substituted worldly wisdom and its words for God’s wisdom and his words. It is a corruption of the highest magnitude because she totally replaced God’s words, not just added to them or subtracted from them. She decided once and for all that all of God’s words and wisdom couldn’t add up to the wisdom and words of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

26. Eve also substituted the word “wise” (wisdom) for the word “knowledge,” yet God never said that the tree had “wisdom”; he said it had “knowledge of good and evil.” Those two concepts are not near the same, for many know that the words “knowledge” and “wisdom” are far apart, with wisdom going far beyond knowledge in scope. The word “wisdom” includes the application of right knowledge to make one a better person, and wisdom can only come from God. The word “knowledge” means just accumulated facts and opinions and can come from any source. God never said the tree would give her wisdom, and it didn’t; it killed her and Adam. Millions today mistake knowledge for wisdom and eat of the same fruit from the education tree.

27. The word of God said that Eve thought the tree would “make one wise.” Eve used the word “one” even though God never mentioned “one” which is a third party or someone else getting wisdom or knowledge. Eve spoke of her own disobedience in third person; thus, she deflected the responsibility of her eating the fruit by saying it was good for “one” (all mankind). She justified her rebellion by saying it would help everyone. If it would help others (ones), then the tree couldn’t be all bad, could it?

Conclusion

To summarize, we see twenty-seven sins by Eve and twenty-seven changes made to the word of God. All of these changes are lies Eve told, for if you change the truth and declare that that is what God said when God didn’t say it, it is a lie. By the time she had lied twenty-seven times about what God said, eating the fruit must have been an afterthought. To sum things up, Eve presumed upon God’s words by talking to the serpent, possibly reasoning that God’s words never commanded her not to talk to him, thereby twisting the meaning of sin to mean only violations of direct commandments. Eve omitted the name “Lord” in her paraphrase from the original commandment and thereby omitted the reality of her relationship with God because “Lord” signifies a personal relationship. She changed the word “commandment” to the word “said” and seriously weakened the authority of what God said. She omitted the word “man” from the original commandment and by doing so showed her lack of respect for the established authority that God had set up between husband and wife. She subtracted from the word of God by omitting the word “freely” from God’s commandment, taking away the freedom that God gave them both. She left off the word “every” pertaining to “every tree” and confused what tree she could eat from and not eat from. She omitted the entire name of the tree that was forbidden to her when she quoted to the serpent what God had told Adam. The name of the tree was of paramount importance, for it was called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” She switched the meaning of God’s commandments to Adam by saying that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was in the midst of the garden when God said the tree of life was in the midst. This showed the serpent that she didn’t know God’s commandment and deception could ensue. This also kept her from eating the tree of life where she could have gotten eternal life from. She added to God’s commandment by adding the word “fruit” which God had never said. By doing this, she set herself up for total deception and death as previously discussed. She added to God’s commandment by saying she couldn’t touch the fruit. God never said anything about not touching the fruit or any part of the tree for that matter. Satan again could deceive her by having her touch the tree and not dying, thereby showing her that God was a liar because she touched the fruit and didn’t die. She added the word “neither,” which would make two things God forbade them: touching and eating of the tree. She substituted the word “ye” when she said what God told them. God never told “them”; he told Adam; thus, “ye” was a wrong quote of God. In addition, she left off the words “the day” from God’s warning that pinpointed an exact time for their punishment if Adam disobeyed God’s words. She used the word “lest ye die” when God said “thou shalt surely die,” a huge difference. Eve left off the word “surely” from God’s original command; thus, she left off the certainty of God’s warning of death if she ate of the tree. Not paying attention to God’s words will get you killed. It did with Adam and Eve. Eve accepted the serpent’s words over God’s words when the serpent said she couldn’t eat of every tree and God said she could do so except for one. Eve believed the serpent’s words over God’s when the serpent defied God by saying she wouldn’t die and God said she would. Eve believed the serpent’s words and added to God’s words when she accepted that the serpent knew what God knew. Eve added to God’s words when she believed the serpent’s words that her eyes would be opened. Eve also accepted changes when she believed that her eyes were closed (since they needed opening according to the serpent). Eve further corrupted God’s words when she believed that she and Adam would be “as gods” when God’s words said nothing of the sort. Eve added to God’s commandment when she accepted the serpent’s truth that she would know good and evil because God had never said that. Despite that knowledge of good and evil being true, God never said it and it was adding to the word of God. Eve believed only half of God’s commandment by believing the fruit was “good for food” when the Bible also said the fruit would kill her. She accepted only half of God’s commandment by saying the fruit was pleasant to the eyes when God’s commandment also said the tree would kill her; and she rebelled against his words by declaring that she thought the fruit would “make one wise” when God’s words said no such thing. She substituted her words for God’s. Eve substituted the word “wise” for “knowledge” referring to what the tree would give her, and these two words are vastly different. Eve replaced “thou” with “one” in reference to who the tree would help; thus justifying her sin for the good of helping another or “one.”

Let me leave you with what God’s word has to say about changing the word of God. It should speak for itself quite clearly: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19).