Mike Criswell
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).
Logic is an interesting concept. Basically, it’s the process of assembling information in a manner so as to arrive at a correct conclusion. But therein is the problem. Just because something may “seem” logical, doesn’t mean that it’s true. If one starts with the wrong premise, it can logically lead to the wrong conclusion.
So let’s take a look at the old Snake in the Garden of Eden. The Genesis account has so many ironies woven into its very fabric and I want to notice just one irony before we launch off into our study of “Snake Logic.”
The word “logic” we’ve been considering comes from the Greek word Logos. If you’re a bible student, that Greek word is probably familiar. In the New Testament we learn from John 1:1 that in the beginning it was the “WORD” (Gk: Logos) by which ALL things were created. See also Colossians 1:16.
Later we find that it was this same WORD that took on flesh and “tented” among mankind. The WORD is Jesus! He is the Divine Logos. This Divine Logos was the communicative tool by which God spoke everything into existence. In other words, God’s “Logic” was creative.
Now, as the Snake comes along, he is going to use “His Word” (logic?) for evil. His “word” is always destructive. The Snake (Satan) is everything that God is NOT. He is the communicative tool by which evil was literally spoken into existence. While Satan’s words may seem logical, in reality he is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Lying is Satan’s mother tongue.
But back to our story. Satan appears to Eve and quickly gets her to sin. How does he do this? One word at a time! In general, this is the way most evil develops. Let me give you an example. How do marital affairs occur? Generally, one word at a time; as innocent “talk” eventually turns into inappropriate actions.
Satan reeled Eve in one word at a time. All it took was a question here, a doubt there, and “Boom!” – the damage was done.
Here are a few things to consider. First, Satan tried to make God’s words more restrictive than they were. Satan asked if God had forbidden EVERY tree of the garden. Well, certainly not! Just one tree had been forbidden. Satan’s words are aimed at making God too “rule oriented.”
Second, after Eve responds that eating would bring death, Satan adds the word “not” to the mix. You shall surely NOT die! Having questioned the goodness of God, Satan flat out denies the truthfulness of God. As an aside, to Eve this may have seemed logical. She had never seen death so how could she really understand it? Given that she was alive, logically she could assume that it would always be that way.
Third, Satan offers the one thing that humans crave. Knowledge! Knowledge that puts man on par with God. Satan says, YOU will have open eyes knowing good and evil. That may have seemed logical too. After all, if an all-knowing God created them, then why should they not share in some of that ominousness?
Satan was partly right in offering knowledge. Eve’s eyes were certainly opened, but she and Adam saw much more than nakedness on that tragic day. They looked sin right straight in the eye and it was ugly. Blinded by Satan’s words and the beauty and desirousness of the “fruit,” Eve ate, gave to Adam, and the rest is history.
Well, it would have been history had God not promised to send the Messiah who would pay the price for our rebellion. Satan still uses all of these age-old tactics today. But when we look to God’s Word, we can protect ourselves with “the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).
Don’t be fooled by Snake Logic. In fact, don’t even be fooled by human logic. Stick to the pure Word of God as it has never led anyone astray.
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