Part Ten begins.
We return to Genesis 3.1-24, without reposting the entire chapter as we did last time. We do not apologize for that; with Cranmer, the administration of the Word of God has its own power.
We noted that the serpent was more cunning than other creatures in the field. We have slyness, clever operations, and something that is beguiling and dark. Nothing has been noted like this before in the creation. The very words of Genesis 3.1ff. suggest the intrusion of the malevolent, evil and dark presence.
By contrast, we are reminded of the words of Jesus who spoke with approval of the guileless Nathaniel, one who would become a disciple and one who would in time co-equally labour in missions work with the other disciple-apostles. Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile said Jesus.
There is nothing crafty or deceitful about Nathaniel. He is an honest human. There is nothing sinister here. This is how Nathaniel lives. The statement implies, We have excellence before us. This is quite a statement by our Saviour.
In contrast, in Genesis 3, we have a creature in whom there is nothing but guile. We have the quintessence of deceit. While a beast of the field, he is more cunning that other beasts or animals of he field. This is Genesis 3.1. We must respond to this by saying of the serpent, Behold, a serpent in whom there is guile. Correspondingly, we do not have excellence. This also is quite a statement by our God.
There is a helpful comparison of Genesis 3 with Matthew 4, the New Testament parallel passage in terms of Satanic operations.
In Matthew 4, Satan comes with essentially same question, Hath God Said? Genesis 3.1: And he [PV, the serpent] said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, `You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Has God indeed, has God really and truly, said? The King James says, Hath God Said?
This question to Eve is bathed in guile and is suffused with error, deceit, misinformation, and disinformation.
Satan bypasses the marriage ordinance by coming to Eve, bypassing and usurping the authority of the man. The man will be held accountable as well as Eve.
The serpent tempts Eve by emphasizing God’s prohibition and not the breadth and width of God’s provisions to eat from all the various trees and vegetative life in the Garden. He reduces God’s command to an interrogative. He casts doubt upon God’s goodness, provision, and generosity. He defames God’s motives. He bears false witness against His Majesty. He is a murderer from the beginning (John 8.44). He is a trespasser on divine territory. He denies God’s fidelity to his own word, the word of threat. Hath God Said?
Eve’s response is at 3.2-3, And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, `We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of th tree with is in the midst of the garden’, God has said, `You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
But here is the subtlety, and it is thinly veiled. In essence, the serpent implied “If God says no to you at any point, He has said no to your liberty of thought, mind and heart. If God has said no at any point, He has and is exercising Sovereignty over you and you have no true freedom. Is that what you want? How restrictive and confining! There no elbow room here, my dear. If God says, `Thou shalt not…’ then you are a slave, a puppet, and someone else’s tool.’”
This is necessary to see.
The point of attack was God and God’s Word. After forty days in the wilderness, the primordial Satanic attack was the Word of God. As with Eve, we see the same modus operandi in Matthew 4.
If you are the Son of God, turn these stones to bread. Satan attempts to turn a reality, e.g. Jesus is the Son of God (Mk.1.1), to a “if-then” proposition.
There is, repeat, there is no “if” here and the proposition from the outset is a lie. Satan evinces that he is a master of grammer, syntax, and vocabulary.
As an aside, this itself should steer us clear from the babblers and charisphonics. Regarding the sufficiency of Scriptures, Luke 16.31, But he said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' 1 Corinthians 14.19, Yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Satan was communicating clearly, but deceptively with a recognizable message.
Let's see what the old rogue is up to.
For a moment, we remind ourselves of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in Matthew 3, wherein by immersion or effusion Jesus was baptized. We hear of the essential Sonship of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit descends like a dove. This is one of the three times in the New Testament that we hear of the audible voice of God, two of which are the Baptism and Transfiguration of Jesus.
This is my beloved Son! Hear Him! Did Satan attend th
This is Matthew 3. Immediately the Holy Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness.
The eternal, infinite, sovereign, most wise, most holy, and most gracious God says, This is my beloved Son. In traipses the theological bonehead, Satan, and says, If you are the Son of God.
The depraved bonehead and enemy of humanity does not say, Since You, Jesus, are the Son of God or Believing that you are the Son of God, but If you are the Son of God.
May we never forget this expression that the theological stutterer, Satan, predictably uses, Hath God said? This bonehead and his minions routinely attend seminary and asks this question.
We have an expression. When we say the circumstances are “Iffy,” we are in doubt about the situation. There is no certainty. The circumstances are doubtful and we are without assurance.
Satan's point. Even though God Himself has declared Jesus His Son, can you really trust this word? Did God really say that?
This assault comes at us every day, to wit, the trustworthiness of His Word. The world, the devil and the flesh are daily realities. We see it in Romanism, Anglo-Romanism (with profound subtlety in these two species), liberalism (very blatantly so), charismania (often piously so), biblical illiteracy and indifference, and in secularism.
The point is always the same: Hath God really said?
The Satanic promise is always the same: Genuine freedom exists apart from and independent to God’s Word. The invitation is always the same: autonomy and genuine humanity. The battle is always the same: the sovereignty of God or the sovereignty of man?
There is no greater issue in the church today than the reliability, authority, clarity, sufficiency, and purpose of the Scriptures. There is, stated or unstated, no greater controversy.
As to Scripture, this will not be just two expressions of Satanic attack; there will be other attacks as well. Let the Church Militant watch the battlelines; He will come with grammar, syntax and reason, but with deception.
Thou only wise God, our Saviour, with whom are hid all the treasures of heavenly understanding; illuminate all schools and colleges and universities with the light that cometh from above; That those who teach may be taught of Thee, and those that learn may be led by Spirit; and grant, that by the increase of knowledge thy truth may be confirmed, and thy glory manifested; through Jesus Christ, Thy Living Word. Amen.
Part Ten ends.
We return to Genesis 3.1-24, without reposting the entire chapter as we did last time. We do not apologize for that; with Cranmer, the administration of the Word of God has its own power.
We noted that the serpent was more cunning than other creatures in the field. We have slyness, clever operations, and something that is beguiling and dark. Nothing has been noted like this before in the creation. The very words of Genesis 3.1ff. suggest the intrusion of the malevolent, evil and dark presence.
By contrast, we are reminded of the words of Jesus who spoke with approval of the guileless Nathaniel, one who would become a disciple and one who would in time co-equally labour in missions work with the other disciple-apostles. Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile said Jesus.
There is nothing crafty or deceitful about Nathaniel. He is an honest human. There is nothing sinister here. This is how Nathaniel lives. The statement implies, We have excellence before us. This is quite a statement by our Saviour.
In contrast, in Genesis 3, we have a creature in whom there is nothing but guile. We have the quintessence of deceit. While a beast of the field, he is more cunning that other beasts or animals of he field. This is Genesis 3.1. We must respond to this by saying of the serpent, Behold, a serpent in whom there is guile. Correspondingly, we do not have excellence. This also is quite a statement by our God.
There is a helpful comparison of Genesis 3 with Matthew 4, the New Testament parallel passage in terms of Satanic operations.
In Matthew 4, Satan comes with essentially same question, Hath God Said? Genesis 3.1: And he [PV, the serpent] said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, `You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Has God indeed, has God really and truly, said? The King James says, Hath God Said?
This question to Eve is bathed in guile and is suffused with error, deceit, misinformation, and disinformation.
Satan bypasses the marriage ordinance by coming to Eve, bypassing and usurping the authority of the man. The man will be held accountable as well as Eve.
The serpent tempts Eve by emphasizing God’s prohibition and not the breadth and width of God’s provisions to eat from all the various trees and vegetative life in the Garden. He reduces God’s command to an interrogative. He casts doubt upon God’s goodness, provision, and generosity. He defames God’s motives. He bears false witness against His Majesty. He is a murderer from the beginning (John 8.44). He is a trespasser on divine territory. He denies God’s fidelity to his own word, the word of threat. Hath God Said?
Eve’s response is at 3.2-3, And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, `We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of th tree with is in the midst of the garden’, God has said, `You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
But here is the subtlety, and it is thinly veiled. In essence, the serpent implied “If God says no to you at any point, He has said no to your liberty of thought, mind and heart. If God has said no at any point, He has and is exercising Sovereignty over you and you have no true freedom. Is that what you want? How restrictive and confining! There no elbow room here, my dear. If God says, `Thou shalt not…’ then you are a slave, a puppet, and someone else’s tool.’”
This is necessary to see.
The point of attack was God and God’s Word. After forty days in the wilderness, the primordial Satanic attack was the Word of God. As with Eve, we see the same modus operandi in Matthew 4.
If you are the Son of God, turn these stones to bread. Satan attempts to turn a reality, e.g. Jesus is the Son of God (Mk.1.1), to a “if-then” proposition.
There is, repeat, there is no “if” here and the proposition from the outset is a lie. Satan evinces that he is a master of grammer, syntax, and vocabulary.
As an aside, this itself should steer us clear from the babblers and charisphonics. Regarding the sufficiency of Scriptures, Luke 16.31, But he said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' 1 Corinthians 14.19, Yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Satan was communicating clearly, but deceptively with a recognizable message.
Let's see what the old rogue is up to.
For a moment, we remind ourselves of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in Matthew 3, wherein by immersion or effusion Jesus was baptized. We hear of the essential Sonship of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit descends like a dove. This is one of the three times in the New Testament that we hear of the audible voice of God, two of which are the Baptism and Transfiguration of Jesus.
This is my beloved Son! Hear Him! Did Satan attend th
This is Matthew 3. Immediately the Holy Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness.
The eternal, infinite, sovereign, most wise, most holy, and most gracious God says, This is my beloved Son. In traipses the theological bonehead, Satan, and says, If you are the Son of God.
The depraved bonehead and enemy of humanity does not say, Since You, Jesus, are the Son of God or Believing that you are the Son of God, but If you are the Son of God.
May we never forget this expression that the theological stutterer, Satan, predictably uses, Hath God said? This bonehead and his minions routinely attend seminary and asks this question.
We have an expression. When we say the circumstances are “Iffy,” we are in doubt about the situation. There is no certainty. The circumstances are doubtful and we are without assurance.
Satan's point. Even though God Himself has declared Jesus His Son, can you really trust this word? Did God really say that?
This assault comes at us every day, to wit, the trustworthiness of His Word. The world, the devil and the flesh are daily realities. We see it in Romanism, Anglo-Romanism (with profound subtlety in these two species), liberalism (very blatantly so), charismania (often piously so), biblical illiteracy and indifference, and in secularism.
The point is always the same: Hath God really said?
The Satanic promise is always the same: Genuine freedom exists apart from and independent to God’s Word. The invitation is always the same: autonomy and genuine humanity. The battle is always the same: the sovereignty of God or the sovereignty of man?
There is no greater issue in the church today than the reliability, authority, clarity, sufficiency, and purpose of the Scriptures. There is, stated or unstated, no greater controversy.
As to Scripture, this will not be just two expressions of Satanic attack; there will be other attacks as well. Let the Church Militant watch the battlelines; He will come with grammar, syntax and reason, but with deception.
Thou only wise God, our Saviour, with whom are hid all the treasures of heavenly understanding; illuminate all schools and colleges and universities with the light that cometh from above; That those who teach may be taught of Thee, and those that learn may be led by Spirit; and grant, that by the increase of knowledge thy truth may be confirmed, and thy glory manifested; through Jesus Christ, Thy Living Word. Amen.
Part Ten ends.
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