Has God Said?
How do we know what God has said? Why does it even matter? Before there was sin, Adam and Eve had a personal, intimate relationship with God, walking and talking with Him in the garden. Everything in the garden was created for man to enjoy…except one thing. God told Adam, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17).
Along came the serpent.
There are a lot of points that could be raised and might be interesting, maybe even fun to debate. But they all divert from the main issue, that being, did God speak about avoiding a certain tree? Right away, the serpent (Satan in disguise) calls God a liar. (And, as an aside, isn’t that what a lot of people do, accuse others of the thing they’re guilty of? But I digress.) Then he appeals to Eve’s pride: “You will be like God.”
You and I have an advantage that Eve didn’t. Millennia have given us broad and specific knowledge of the father of lies and his strategies to lure us into sin. Pride and the desire to be our own god are still our Achilles heel, and Satan has had those millennia to hone his pitch, which currently goes something like this: “That’s not what God meant. You know He loves you and wants you to be happy. So go ahead. If it feels good, it can’t be bad, can it?”
God spoke to Adam and Eve personally.
He speaks to us personally today through His word. And you’ll notice that He didn’t just deny them something that was “a delight to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise,” He also made known the consequences of not obeying the one and only commandment they had.
We have many warnings to keep us out of trouble. Here’s just one: Col. 2:8 “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men.” What is the tradition of men? Our answer is also in Scripture.
Mark 7:5-8 gives us Christ’s perspective on it,
“The Pharisees and Scribes asked Him ‘Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?’ And He said to them, ‘Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors Me with their lips but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.’”
What is the tradition of men?
Beliefs which are passed from generation to generation. “Just because people have believed something and handed it down through the years does not make it true. Tradition usually serves merely to perpetuate error.” (MacArthur commentary on Colossians 2:8). Consider first century Judaism with all its man-made requirements. Also, a good example of belief without knowledge is the Flat-Earth crowd. Even though this belief was debunked by the ancient Greeks, there are still those in this camp. Despite overwhelming evidence supporting a spherical Earth, this theory continues to have adherents who challenge established scientific understanding. (Hat tip RSQUARE Media)
Going back to our opening,
the answer to the first question is absolutely YES. God has said many things for our comfort, our future, to know His heart, and to guide us in our earthly pilgrimage. Why does that matter? God’s ultimate plan from eternity past is to fellowship with us for all eternity. He is holy and cannot tolerate sin. Left alone, we can’t not sin. We were born in sin and apart from God’s intervention through His Son’s death on our behalf, we will die in sin. Don’t let Satan’s lures appeal to your pride and cloud your seeking and finding the truth in Jesus Christ. Refer to the Appendix Steps To Salvation for a detailed plan to make sure you’re on the narrow path. Thanks for reading.