The moment that started this cosmic conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man occurred in the garden of Eden. Genesis 3 records the temptation and fall of the human race. The account begins, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made” (Gen. 3:1).
Nearly everything that precedes Genesis 3:1 is positive. It speaks of God’s original, transcendent, majestic work of divine creation. Everything proceeds with divine benediction as God looks at the work of His hands and calls it “very good” (Gen. 1:31). The one exception is the declaration that it is “not good” that the man be alone, a situation soon remedied by the creation of the woman (Gen. 2:18–25).
Genesis 3, however, introduces an ominous note of foreboding that we can sense with the opening phrase, “Now the serpent.”
The crafty and cunning serpent appears for the first time. He is on a mission of seduction. We could also call it a mission of enlistment, for the serpent is trying to gather troops to accompany him in his declared war against heaven. Before the fall of man took place, conflict already existed in the universe because of a civil disturbance in the heavenly host. Some of the angelic beings who had been created by God to serve in His army defected. They rose up in cosmic insurrection against their Creator, and as a result, they fell from heaven. Now, after man has been made in God’s own image, the leader of that cosmic rebellion comes in the form of the serpent to recruit soldiers for his army.
The serpent asks Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). She answers, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 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’” (Gen. 3:2–3). At the center of this discussion is a law delivered by the King of the universe. A single prohibition has been issued. God has graciously offered Adam and Eve a smorgasbord of delectable fruit from all the various trees of the garden, saying: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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” (Gen. 2:16–17).
Next comes the direct assault: “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (Gen. 3:4–5). God has warned, “If you eat it, you will die.” But the serpent says, “If you eat it, you will not die.” The serpent directly contradicts the word of God. The first volley fired against the authority of God is an assault on His truthfulness, and it is intended to incite rebellion against God and over His inherent authority over His creation.
The serpent is saying, in so many words:
Your Creator has lied to you. The King has betrayed you. He told you that if you eat of that fruit, you will die. I’m here to tell you that that’s not true. The reason that God told you not to touch that fruit is not for your protection or well-being, but that He is jealously guarding His own dominion and kingdom. He knows that if you eat of that fruit, you will awaken to a new dimension of knowledge that heretofore in your naïveté you haven’t penetrated at all. If you eat of that tree, you will know and understand good and evil. Once you have achieved that level of insight and knowledge, you will be like God.
The First Credo of Humanism
Protagoras, an ancient Greek philosopher, is sometimes called the father of humanism. He coined a phrase that was later translated into Latin as homo mensura, which literally means “man the measure.” Protagoras’ thesis was that man is the measure of all things—man, not God, is ultimate. Yet Protagoras didn’t invent humanism. It began much earlier than in ancient Greece. It began in the garden of Eden. Of course, the great irony is that the author of humanism isn’t even human. A serpent, not a man, gives the first credo of humanism. The original creed is not homo mensura but eritis sicut dii, “You shall be as gods.” That’s the seduction.
From a theological standpoint, what really provokes the fall? The temptation that seduces the entire human race is an offer of autonomy. Someone who seeks to be autonomous seeks to be a law unto himself, accountable to no higher authority. The serpent suggests to Adam and Eve that they are free to decide for themselves what is best. Why should they live under the authority of someone else?
This lie continues to be told today. It might sound something like this: ‘‘As long as there is one restriction on your freedom, you’re not truly free.” Since Genesis 3, the promise has been held out to man to be his own god, to create his own kingdom, to build his own city, and to throw off the kingdom and rule of God. The temptation is a test of obedience, and once the serpent’s suggestion is acted on, the cosmic war begins. As a result, conflict enters human experience.
Ligonier Ministries