Cheryl Schatz

Gazza,
You said:

Thanks for your patience I have finally joined all the dots and can see what you are saying.

No problem and I am very glad to hear that you are understanding the point that I have brought out regarding the inspired words of Scripture. That makes me feel like it is worth the effort to try to explain things. Your questions really help me to understand where the gaps still exist that I haven’t filled in for you yet. Much appreciated.

It leaves me with a further question – if knowledge of good and evil is entirely part of being made in the image of God then would Eve not be culpable for allowing herself to be deceived.

Again this is an excellent question!

First of all I should explain that there there is a basic knowledge given to both that is part of the essence of being in God’s image. This is the thing that we call the conscience. It informs us of good and evil and it is something that God has told that we must not overlook. Those who go against their conscience in such a way that they “sear” their conscience have made this gift of God to us of no effect.

So both Adam and Eve had the very basics of the knowledge of good and evil. But Eve had her knowledge by-passed by the deception of the serpent. She did not go against her conscience and act in rebellion. She had her conscience bypassed by trickery. I believe that this happened because she lacked a piece of information that Adam had in his experience with God before she was created.

Paul explains in 1 Timothy 1 that some sin is committed not through rebellion or outright hostility to God but because of ignorance and this ignorance brings unbelief.

If she already knew about evil and that it was wrong then surely choosing to believe the lies of the serpent is a willful act of rebellion?

Scripture never describe Eve’s actions as willful rebellion. Let’s deal with the verse you quoted to show the difference between us and Eve.

Eph 5:6 “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”

We have two safety factors set up for us – our conscience and God’s Word. Eve had her conscience and she had her husband’s experience of God’s nature as Creator before she was created if he had shared his knowledge with her. He was the safety zone for her so that she would not have been deceived, but he failed her. He did not correct the false representation of God and he knew the truth. In Genesis 2 we see Adam created outside the garden and the garden created for the benefit of Adam after his creation. Seeing the work of the Creator through both the special garden and the animals and then finally his own wife solidified the uniqueness of the Creator for Adam. He was a being that was created from the dirt and there was nothing in that field when he was created. He literally saw the creation of the garden of Eden and some of the animals as God formed them from the ground and brought them to Adam to name. What was barrenness at his creation was brought to life by the Creator. He saw first hand the different between the God who creates all things and himself who had no creative power as a “god”. He was not deceived.

My DVD set brings out all of this to help people understand the amazing things that one man alone was privileged to see. It takes us back to the inspired words of the Scripture that should not be missed to see the full picture of what God really did for the first man. There is no wonder why Adam was not deceived.

If what you are saying is true then Eve like the Ephesians knew what was right from wrong before she was deceived by the “empty words” of the Serpent and was “disobedient”, leaving her under Gods wrath. Or am I missing something else?

You are missing something. Look at the verse just before the one you quoted. Look at Ephesians 5:5 along with 5:6

Ephesians 5:5–6 (NASB)
5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

The Ephesians knew with certainty because they had the words of God. They had the gospel brought to them and it was taught to them from the Old Testament record along with signs and wonders and the testimony of the apostles (a good three witnesses).

But think about Eve. She had God’s word in what she could eat but she had never experienced Him as Creator since everything was created by the time she arrived on the scene. She was ripe for deception because she was missing both the experience that Adam had and sound doctrine about God’s nature in Creation. This is one reason why Paul gives the solution of learning sound doctrine as an antidote to deception.

So what did Eve know about God’s creative actions as the one and only Creator? It appears that she is missing all of the knowledge that Adam had in his experience with God before she came along. All it would have taken is for Adam to share his experience with the Creator who is separate and not like His creation and the lies would have unraveled. But she didn’t have one who was willing to be the watchman on the wall to save her from the enemy. She so was taken captive not as a result of ignoring the knowledge of the Creator. She was taken captive by the things that she didn’t know. If the Ephesians set aside their knowledge of the truth to accept the empty, useless words of liars, they will experience God’s wrath.

Do you see the difference?

I would really recommend the entire teaching on my DVD set. The DVD setting with the teaching done with graphics and visual examples has really helped a lot of people to understand the complete picture. I am going to be recreating it in a slightly different way through my book.