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DID GOD REALLY SAY THAT?

October 28, 2013

I have read and re read theses passages and noticed that Satan used the same strategy when tempting both the first Adam, and the second Adam – Christ.
Gen 3: 1-6 Matt 4

Gen 3: 1-6
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

By questioning the literal word of God and offering Eve spiritual benefits that she could attain, in effect, I think we see Satan here, originating the allegorical approach as a way to understand what God really said!
Likewise, when Satan tempted our Lord, he questioned the literal word of God, and then proceeded to allegorize and offer spiritual and physical blessings.

Mathew 4 1-41 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”

I have looked at many proponents of the allegorical/ spiritualizing approach, all the way from Augustine, Origen, and down through Piper, Sproul, Robertson, Keller and Doriani.

However, I have found compelling evidence in the scripture to use the literal interpretation method for all genres of the word, as the safest, and best method to avoid the introduction of heresy. Jesus summed it up well:

Mathew 4:4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”

 

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