Tuesday
Tuesday
Denying God’s “Otherness”
The serpent said to the woman, “… God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 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.
Genesis 3:5–6
The devil’s third tactic was to deny the “otherness” of God. He had said to the woman, “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (v. 5).
He tempted Eve with the possibility of becoming like God. In this diabolical suggestion the very essence of sin is laid bare. For Adam and Eve had been created in the likeness of God and were already “like God” in every way in which God intended them to be Godlike—in those rational, moral, social, and spiritual capacities that he had given them.
The fundamental way in which Adam and Eve were unlike God and like the animals was in their creaturely dependence on him. God is self-dependent. He depends for himself on himself. All other beings depend on him as their Creator and Sustainer, including human beings. It is against this that Adam and Eve rebelled. Why should they continue in their humiliating position of dependence and subordination? Why should they not make a bid for independence and become equal with God? They would not die; they would become Godlike.
Many echoes of this spirit of proud independence are heard in our day. We are told that man has now “come of age.” He no longer needs God. He can learn to live without God. Indeed, he can himself become like God.
But this is the fundamental nature of sin. Sin is an unwillingness to let God be God, a refusal to acknowledge his “otherness” and our continuing dependence on him. Sin is a revolt against God’s unique authority; it is an attempt at self-deification.
For further reading: Isaiah 14:3, 11–15