Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which God had made…
“in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God”…
“…she took of its fruit and ate…and he ate.” Gen. 3:1, 5, 6
When you get right down to the crux-of-the-matter there are really only two religions in the world. Those two are God’s Word and the other being man’s word. We get a clear and concise picture of human struggle between these two in the Garden. Tragically Adam & Eve bought into questioning the validity of God’s Word.
We are no different than our relatives Adam and Eve. We inherited countless characteristics from them… unfortunately one being their sin-nature. A part of this inherited sin-nature is our natural reluctance to readily believe God and His Word. We actually bring a bias against God’s Word. Why are we so prone to this error, knowing it is foolish? Why are we so very quick to believe what a person says…knowing it contradicts God’s Word? It is our sin-nature.
It is wisdom to remember and trust that when someone, or something contradicts the Word of God—make sure to read the Bible with care and interpret it in the way it was intended. Beware of allowing it to be reinterpreted to fit a goal for which it was not intended. Be wary of those who say “We can’t trust what the Bible states here— we need to reinterpret it.”
When man’s word contradicts God’s Word, then there is something wrong with man’s word— even if uncertain as to what it exactly might be. Often and foolishly men attempt to suggest the problem is with God’s Word. We fail to have all the answers… we can’t, and never will. Only God has all the answers…and we are not Him. But oh, the temptation to be like God. Such temptation was deathly attractive to Eve, and we are no different. Beware of those who knowingly place doubt in God’s infallible Word to try to fit in man’s fallible understanding of things.
There can be no richer counsel than what Paul gives to the Colossian believers. From JB Phillips paraphrase of Colossians 2:3-4…
May your spiritual experience become richer as you see more and more fully God’s great secret, Christ himself! For it is in Him, and in Him alone, that men will find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I write like this to prevent you from being led astray by someone or other’s attractive arguments. Continuing in verse 8—Be careful that nobody spoils your faith through intellectualism, or high-sounding nonsense. Such stuff is best founded on men’s ideas of the nature of the world and disregards Christ! Yet it is in Him that God gives a full and complete expression of Himself (within the physical limits that He set Himself in Christ). Moreover, your own completeness is only realized in Him, who is the authority over all authorities, and the supreme power over all powers.
As has been wisely stated— Keep the main thing, the main thing! And the main thing is Christ!
Maranatha!