41: The Great Deception

In the Garden of Eden, a great deception took place. Adam and Eve believed the greatest lie of all humanity.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 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, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)¹

Both satan and Eve misquoted God and perverted what He said. The devil portrayed God as stingy when he claimed that God had said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden.” God had actually said, “Of EVERY tree of the garden you may FREELY eat…” He only gave one boundary: do not eat from ONE tree. Eve also perverted what God has said when she described the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as being in the midst, “tavek,” of the garden. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil wasn’t the center of the world. The Tree of Life (Jesus Christ) was, and still is, the center of the universe today.

These perversions of what God said were the beginning of the end of the innocence in the garden. Whenever truth is twisted, we will see freedom begin to slip away.

Eve’s motive for eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was to be like God. How could that be sin? Think about how that applies to us. Isn’t that the goal of Christianity? Aren’t we supposed to be moving towards being more righteous and holy and Christ-like? Actually, no. If we think that we can be MORE like Christ by our own righteousness, it is actually the sin of unbelief in His righteousness that was given as a gift. It’s an insult to the cross of Jesus to think that we can make ourselves more godly by our own disciplines and self-efforts.

Adam and Eve were already made in the likeness of God’s image. They bought into the lie that they had to do something to be like something that they already were! The greatest sin of mankind is trying to be like God independent of God by endeavoring to know good and evil and attempting to do our best to be good. That was the great satanic lie in the garden.

True Christianity is about receiving the gift of Christ’s righteousness and walking by faith in that gift. It’s not about aspiring to be more like Him. It’s about believing that you have been transformed by the Holy Spirit in your spirit into complete holiness as a new creation in Him.

(from pages 85-86 of Unveiling Jesus)

Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!

Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.

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¹Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.