God created the universe, the planets, plant life, and the animals. After that, he created the man and the woman, and placed them in Eden to work the garden. And God issued a command, that they were free to eat from any tree in the garden, but they must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that when they eat of it, they would surely die.

Here we glimpse the essence of the original relationship between God and man. First, it was founded on verbal communication – God talked to man. He talked to man in terms that conveyed definite ideas, both concrete and abstract, such as personal identity (“you”), eating, trees, garden, knowledge, good and evil, time (“when you eat”), and death. Second, it was an intimate but unequal relationship. Man benefited from God’s provision and generosity, but he also functioned under God’s authority, which placed restrictions on man’s activities. The standard of right and wrong rested solely on God’s authority, not as something outside of him, but as identical to his will, and expressed in his instructions and commands.

Some theological traditions maintain that God’s command to Adam involved, or amounted to, a covenant. This covenant declared a period of probation for man, so that if he proved to be obedient, he would inherit eternal life, but that if he proved to be disobedient, he would inherit everlasting death. However, there is no indication of probation in God’s instructions to Adam. And there is no promise of promotion to a higher life after a period of obedience. Neither is there any trace of the establishment of a covenant. The doctrine is a human invention, and must be discarded.

From the Genesis account, it seems that either Satan took control of a serpent and spoke through it, or he took the form of a serpent and spoke. He tempted Eve to transgress God’s command. Eve and the rest of Scripture would later describe his effort as deception. He lied to her. Temptations are characterized by false doctrines and false promises.

Temptation involves persuasion, which is a form of communication. This communication is different from causation, and in itself does not carry the power of causation. Satan persuaded Eve to sin, but he did not cause Eve to sin, for only God has the power to control a human soul. Likewise, Satan tempted Christ. He could not cause Christ to sin, but it is rightly said that he tempted Christ. Thus Satan is the tempter, but not the author of sin. The Bible calls him the “father” of lies, but this is said in a relational sense since it is already known that Satan is a mere creature. He is the chief representative of sin, but this is not to say that he has the power to cause sin in the metaphysical sense, because only God has the power to cause anything at all in this latter sense.

Someone once challenged this view by refusing to acknowledge a distinction between communication and causation. The exchange was confusing because he consistently employed the ideas of temptation and persuasion as if they always succeed. For him, the upshot was that if God is not the tempter, then neither can he be the author of sin. However, if he is correct – if we must identify communication with causation, and tempt-to-sin with cause-to-sin – then he must reject the biblical account of Christ’s temptation. The Bible says that Satan tempted Christ, but Christ did not sin. But if temptation (persuasion to sin) is identified with causation, so that temptation is always successful, then either Christ sinned when he was tempted, or he was never tempted in the first place. For this person to maintain his private and strange definition of temptation, he must call Christ a sinner or Scripture a lie, and thus make himself a non-Christian, and consign himself to hellfire.

Satan lied to Eve, and instead of holding on to God’s command, she succumbed and ate the forbidden fruit. She gave some to Adam, who, although he was not deceived, also ate the fruit. Thus the man and the woman sinned, and when they did, they were changed in themselves, and their relationship with God also changed. As God predicted, their spirits died right away – the divine light was snuffed out – and their bodies would also perish in time.

When they heard God walking in the garden, they hid themselves from him. This is a tremendous insight. Since then sinners have invented sophisticated methods of escape from this reality, but the basic motive and purpose are the same. They are terrified of God, and they want to hide from him, but they are too stupid and dishonest to admit that they cannot. They may have become loud and boastful, but in their hearts they are still like scared little chickens running for cover. They run toward unbelief, false religions, and various systems of thinking and living to alleviate their fear, to appease their conscience, to maintain the appearance that they are doing something good or spiritual.

Our message to non-Christians begins with this: God is the creator and ruler of mankind, but you have transgressed his command, and you will surely die. You can complain all you want, but he is coming for you. He is coming to get you and to punish you. You can run and hide, but he knows where you are, and he knows what you have done. According to his perfect justice, he will throw you into a lake of fire and cause you to suffer extreme and endless pain. There you will scream out, but there will be no help and no escape. You will plead for death, but alas, you have already died. O, non-Christian, weak and stupid. You cannot save yourself. O, unbeliever, condemned to the flames! You must not wait. Today is the day of salvation. There is one way to escape damnation. Do you want it? Will you take it?