"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Gen 3:4-5)."

This was how the ancient serpent tempted Eve. He merely tempted her, and it was Eve herself who, with her own free will, made a decision to eat the fruit. The serpent did not force her to eat it, nor did he directly suggest that she should eat it. First, he said to her, “You will not surely die,” which was a big lie. Then, he explained why she would not die even if she ate it by giving three more statements as to why God told her not to eat it. Those three statements were given telling what would be the results if she ate it. According to the serpent, God knew: 1) her eyes would be opened, 2) she would be like God, and 3) she would come to know good and evil. And later in the passage, we find the following words:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves (v. 7).

And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil (v. 22).

This means that Satan was right about those three statements. But, of course, because the very first statement “You will not sure die” was not right, everything he said afterward was wrong. It should be noted that he only made Eve think by giving those statements, and did not tell her to do anything. It was Eve who came up by herself with the idea that God is so selfish and stingy that he does not want humans to be like him. This is how he always tempts us so that we are the ones who sin and need to be judged by God.

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 (v. 6).

Since then, this world has been filled with this idea of a stingy God who does not love us enough. To such an idea we owe our lifestyle that is so dominant in our world today: since God does not love us and provide much of what we need, we need to work hard for ourselves trying to meet our own needs. Yet, it is a great surprise to know that the Bible teaches us a truth that is completely the opposite of what we normally think concerning who God is and his love for us. From the Bible, we learn that our way of living on earth today is way off the standard that God originally set for his children whom he created in his own image. Jesus said:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? … So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them (Mat 6:26 – 32).