Genesis 3:1 - Did God actually say?

3:1

So far we have had God’s creation and purpose in creation, with mankind being at the centre of God’s plans. We now come to the Fall, man’s sin against God and the subsequent punishment. The final outcome of all this, which is hinted at in this chapter, is that God’s plans and purposes will be fulfilled, despite man’s sin. How can this be? The rest of the Bible is about “how can this be?”, how can man’s sin and its consequences be overcome? The answer is found entirely in Jesus Christ.

There is the question of whether the description that we have of the fall is a literal description of what happened or is an allegorical telling. I have to say that the Fall itself reads like an allegory, and in practical terms, even if we assume it is literal, we interpret and apply it as if it was allegory. No one expects to encounter a talking snake today urging us to eat some particular fruit. We may well encounter temptations to lust, lying, pride, etc etc.

The incident starts with the serpent. We tend to associate the serpent with Satan, this is largely because of Rev 20:2. However, in Jewish teaching this was not so. Also here the serpent is presented as just another created beast, albeit one who was more crafty than any other beast. If we take the incident as literal then it is actually quite difficult to square Rev 20:2 with Gen 3:1. But if we take this as allegory there is no such problem. 

Some of you may think we are doubting the Bible if we take it as allegory. Let me say I have no problem at all with a snake speaking, God can do anything He likes. My reasons for taking this chapter as allegory are that it seems to me that to do so is actually more consistent with the Bible as a whole. I could be wrong, but this is what I think.

Why use allegory? Because it makes the fundamental aspects of the Fall more generally applicable. If it was actually about a particular sin, then we would be prone to thinking that the lessons that come from this were limited to that area of sin, when in fact they apply to the whole of life.

The serpent spoke to the woman “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”. Well the answer is no, God did not say that at all. He did say “You can eat of any tree, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. The serpent has lied and is seeking to cast doubt in the woman’s heart. This is a common trick of the devil. God had actually given them enormous freedom, with only one restriction, and that for our common good.