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considered "good". This is the essential nature of evil. Evil is not pursued or practiced
for itself alone, however wicked the perpetrator; the evil course is followed, and its
consequences accepted, because it has been made to wear a false mask, and appear as
"good". The Tempter recognized this fact and acted accordingly.
"Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
Had the Serpent not intended to create in the mind the false idea that the prohibited
tree was really "good", he could have stated the same set of facts and have created an
opposite effect by presenting them in some such way as the following:
How kind of God to surround you with so many evidences of His love and care.
Every tree except one is at your disposal, and that one is evidently kept from you by the
same love that has so lavishly provided the rest.
To appreciate the significance of the Tempter's opening attack, emphasis should be
placed on the word "every":
"Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
Having slipped the mask of "good" over the features of "evil", the Tempter has only
to stand by and skillfully play upon the mind of man to accomplish his ends. The human
mind has been so constructed that it will seek that which appears to be "good". This lies
at the root of life itself, and without it the human species would die out.
Having stimulated the interest of the woman, the Tempter now proceeds to justify here
disobedience. This prohibited tree, he suggests, will enable you to reach the goal of your
very existence: "Ye shall be as God." From one point of view this aspiration could be
regarded as a blasphemous usurpation of the prerogative of Deity, but, from another
aspect, to be "like God" is the true goal of every believer and the very object of
redeeming grace itself.
Human activity and response now come into play. Satan has touched the inner springs
of action, and he can now leave the rest to work itself out.
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof"
(Gen. 3: 6).
Once the premises of Satan's argument are granted, no fault can be found with Eve's
subsequent response. If once "evil" can be made to appear "good", sin will inevitably
follow. Man is assailable through three avenues, and wherever "evil" can be made to
appear as "good" for either body, soul or spirit, man will naturally desire it and the
consequence will be sin.
(1)
HIS BODY . . . . . "Good for food."
(2)
HIS SOUL . . . . . "Pleasant to the eyes."
(3)
HIS MIND . . . . . "To make one wise."