Bible Study Genesis Part 34-The Father of Lies

One sentence can flip your whole view of temptation: “Has God said?” We open Genesis 3 and slow down long enough to see what the serpent is actually doing and why the first attack on humanity is not flashy sin, but a subtle suggestion that God is holding out on you. If you’ve ever felt doubt creep in under the cover of “being reasonable,” this study helps you name it, test it, and answer it with Scripture.

We also dig into a striking claim about the fall of man: sin doesn’t originate from inside humanity’s original design, it enters from the outside. That idea reshapes how we think about human nature, spiritual vulnerability, and hope. To make it concrete, we use the image of a silver coin that was meant to shine, then becomes tarnished by exposure to the elements. Tarnish is real, but it isn’t permanent and it isn’t the coin’s true purpose. In the same way, sin stains, but redemption restores.

From there we tackle details people skip but shouldn’t: what “subtle” means in Genesis 3:1 (crafty, not delicate), why it matters that the serpent is Satan, and how Revelation 12:9 connects “that old serpent” to the devil. We even take a hard look at church culture and the way sensational testimonies can train us to ignore “ordinary” sins like hypocrisy and quiet unbelief while the enemy does his most effective work.

If you care about Bible Study, the authority of God’s Word, the meaning of Genesis, and how temptation works in real life, listen through and sit with the question at the center of it all. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s skeptical about Genesis, and leave a review so more people can find the study.

Transcript

Welcome And Why Scripture Matters

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Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel. God's Word is supreme at Chapel Ministries. We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God. We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day. The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture. Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible. It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision. Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us. It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word. We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death. In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death. Never treat what God has said lightly. There's truly nothing more important to you. Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

Why Genesis Gets Dismissed

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Alright, the book of Genesis, it is a fascinating study. The entire Bible is fascinating, if you ask me. I know you didn't, but I'm going to tell you the Bible is fascinating. You know, we've been led to believe that the Bible is just silly. It's there's nothing to it. It's it's kind of a neat, there's a few neat stories, and there's a couple of nice things that you can learn from it. But, you know, to use it as a guide for your life, forget about it. That's especially true about the book of Genesis. If you're a modern human being, like we all are, you're told to dis you're told to not believe in what the book of Genesis is telling you. It's just a bunch of cavemen that came up with these stories and they plop them down on some papyrus sometime. And, you know, it's I guess it's nice to learn a few things, but none of it's true. Science will help us. Science will tell us about the origin of things and where we're going and all that sort of stuff. Don't believe it. God's word is true. God's word has sustained us all the way through. God's word has lasted all the way through. It will continue to last. As I said, we are in the book of Genesis here. We are still in the third chapter. We're really kind of trying to get out of the first few verses, but there is so much to talk about. And that's why it's taking us a little bit longer to get started with all of these special little nuances that we'll find in this relatively short chapter, to be honest. It's not a very long chapter, but a lot going on here. So let's get started.

Reading Genesis 3:1-6

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Chapter 3, verse 1. You've heard me read this a few times already. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Verse 2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die. Verse 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

Sin Comes From Outside Us

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Now I want to start out tonight's lesson by pointing out the important fact that the origin, the cause, the source of the sin of man originated from the outside. Sin did not come from inside mankind. The attack came via an external source. Now, why is that important? There are two reasons, and I'll be brief. The fact that temptation to sin came from without and not from within, says that man's nature, his propensity at creation was not to cause himself to sin. Sin is outside the nature of pure humanity. Our original design, which is now corrupted, our original design is sin free. That's one of the reasons why it's so difficult for us to handle. We are not equipped with any natural defense mechanisms with which we can respond to it. And secondly, that was number one. Secondly, and this is related, because sin is not a part of our creation and had to enter from the outside, it also means, now listen, because this is important. Since sin came from the outside, then it can be expelled back to the outside somehow, thereby freeing mankind from sin forever. Let me repeat that. Spoiler alert, that's exactly what's going to happen. That's the entire message of the Bible. And once more, listen to me. Once sin is banished from man's insides, he can return to his created state and created potential.

The Tarnished Silver Coin Picture

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When I was a kid, I had a friend that liked to collect coins. Have you ever found a silver coin? It's kind of exciting when you do. Well, if you did recently, no doubt it probably didn't look brand new since the last time silver coins were in circulation in the US was sometime in the 1960s. So that silver coin you picked up most likely didn't look all that silver. You see, there's a chemical process that happens in the air from outside the coin that over time causes silver to become covered with what is known as tarnish. Silver coins, listen to me, silver coins were designed to be shiny. They were meant to be shiny. Silver coins came out of the mint. That's where silver coins are created. The person who created those coins worked in the mint. Silver coins coming out of the mint shine beautifully. But when the silver in the coin becomes tarnished, its natural shininess becomes muted. If silver were kept in the right environment, the external process of tarnish would never reach it. But expose it to the elements, tarnish will develop, and that designed to be shiny coin loses its beauty. But there's good news. Tarnish isn't permanent, it can be removed, and the coin can be restored. You got it? I'll say it again. Tarnish is not permanent, it can be rectified. Once the tarnish, once the effect of the outside influence is removed, that silver coin returns to the brilliance that its maker intended from the beginning. Sin stains mankind's nature, but that stain can be removed. And once it is, he'll look like the day God created him. And that is exactly, I'll say it again, that is exactly what's going to happen. But we're getting way ahead of the story. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And

What Subtle Really Means

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he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. You know, sometimes I find it difficult to stick with my favorite Bible version, the King James. That is especially the case when studying these very ancient books. Genesis, though not the oldest, is one of the oldest books ever written. Wait a minute, the book of Genesis is talking about the beginning. How could it not be the oldest? Well, just because the subject is the beginning doesn't mean it was written in the beginning. By the way, probably Job is the oldest book. Just because it was written about a certain time doesn't mean that was when it was written. George Orwell's novel 1984 was written in 1949. Gone with the Wind about the United States during the Civil War was written in 1936. The subject matter and the time of authorship don't have to match. Genesis was written long after most of the events contained therein. Shh John, shot don't tell people that. Listen, if God is telling you a story, buddy, you can believe it's accurate, no matter when the events took place. Back to Genesis 3. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field when the Lord which the Lord God had made. Now the word subtle there. If you have a King James, you'll notice that it's spelled differently than what we'd expect today. S-U-B-T-I-L would not earn you a spot in the next round of a modern day spelling B. Maybe in the 17th century, but not in the 21st. As you know, today we write it S-U-B-T-L-E. Well, the spelling is not the only difference between the old usage and the new. There is, in fact, a fairly sizable difference in meaning. It's the same word etymologically, but as is the case with so many words, it has evolved. We use the word S-U-B-T-L-E, subtle, and probably most of your books, most of your Bibles, it'll say subtle or something like that. And it'll spell it right, S U-B-T-L-E. But subtle, we use that word subtle today to mean something that's understated or delicate or so precise as to be difficult to analyze. But the word as it's used here in Genesis 3.1 means cunning or crafty. Isn't that interesting? The original English word, and by that I mean as found in the King James, that word can be used either positively or negatively. If you are S-U-B-T-I-L, then you are clever or wise. That's the positive use of the word. Or you can be subtle, meaning tricky or calculating. Now, rest assured, it's the latter use of the word that is employed here in Genesis 3.1. The serpent was more subtle, more sneaky, more underhanded than any beast of the field. And again, some English language Bibles actually use those types of phrases instead of the word subtle. They get a little bit more to the point for the modern English speaker. Now,

Identifying The Serpent As Satan

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let's talk about this serpent. If I were to conduct a short survey that asks, who is the serpent of chapter three? I think a very large percentage of the respondents, maybe even the majority, would say it was a snake. Now that doesn't apply to the most of the people that are involved with this ministry and this program because you guys know your Bible. But that is the case out there. Even in the church world, they they think that this serpent was actually a snake. And then if I asked them, did this snake have a name? The most common response would either be no or I don't know. Now, not knowing the answer to that question is a very dangerous state to be in. It's important that we know this to be Satan, because knowing that this is Satan himself makes us realize how grievous these lies really are. This isn't just some wily yet charming garden dweller. This isn't a harmless little jokester, though the devil would love for you to think that, and has actually been trying to get the world to come to that conclusion since the very beginning. You must believe that this is none other than the enemy of all that is good, Lucifer. There can be no doubt about that if we just do a little analysis of what's going on here. You see, the devil knows by experience of the absolute danger of disobeying God. He knows by experience that God always keeps his word, and that if God said you shall surely die, then you shall surely die, and he knows that. Pretending this was someone other than the devil is to lessen the evil of those lies, the insidiousness of the lies, and to give more sympathy than is due the tempter by assuming the poor creature was just ignorant but not disobedient. Listen, God told us specifically that this was no dummy, and this wasn't just the actions of a silly head-free spirit who didn't like to be told what to do. This was Satan because we can see, listen, this is important for you. We can see this as Satan because we can see the intention behind the lies. Not only did Satan wish to incite rebellion, he wanted to completely destroy God's highest creation out of jealousy and malice toward God and vengeance upon him. To say this was just an innocent and ignorant snake takes away the deviousness of this. This was Satan, the father of lies, doing all he can to stop God from creating a world of pure truth and righteousness. From Matthew Henry's commentary, quote, he had broken the law of his creation and had found to his cost that he could not prosper in it. And yet he tells our first parents they shall not die. He knew better. He wanted to destroy us. He wanted to destroy God's plans. But I don't want to leave you with the impression that this conclusion that I've just come up with was simply my opinion or the outcome of a lot of detective work. I'm not Sherlock Holmes or Hercul Perot or Charlie Chan. I wish I was. I'm not piecing together a few obscure clues to formulate some murky identity of a suspect. Yes, the evidence in chapter three makes a pretty good case, but that isn't all we have to go on. And I want you to understand that. We're not just making a guess here. We don't have to guess this is Satan and not just some common old gullible garden snake. This is Satan, not just because we put a pretty good case together. We know this is Satan because the Bible says it is. Not here in Genesis 3, no. Instead, we have to go to the other end of the book. Let me read it. Revelation 12, 9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Seems pretty clear to me that there, but there are some who question this association. Some deny the serpent of Genesis chapter 3 is what Revelation chapter 12 is talking about. Well, we're not going to wade into that debate, though we could. Instead, we'll leave it here for now. We may pick this back up again in verse 15. We'll see how it goes. For now, let's get back to verse 1. There's still a lot to talk about. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which why do you keep reading it, John? Because the world wants you to ignore it. I don't. The most subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden.

The Trouble With Church Testimonies

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I was raised Catholic, as most of you know. I didn't start going to evangelical churches until well into adulthood. However, once I did, I noticed so many dissimilarities between Catholic plus even some mainstream Protestant. Don't let anyone fool you. You can walk into some Protestant churches and wonder if you've walked into a Roman Catholic church. Nonetheless, there are a few different goings-on in the evangelical churches as opposed to some of those big name denominations. And as I said, I'm lumping the Catholics with some well-known Protestants, and you'll see why in a minute. Anyhow, some things in these non-denominational churches took some getting used to for me. For example, the whole shouting out in the middle of the sermon, that was new. First time I heard someone yell, Amen, to something the pastor said, I thought, rude. The whole hand raising thing was something I never saw very often at Mass, you know, the eyes closed and the fingers spread apart, that slow waving thing. I'm still not used to that one. And then there's the whole flow of the service that is so completely different than anything I knew as a kid. In Catholic Church, and again, many Protestant faiths, there is a predetermined and, shall I say, rigorous set of steps. One event is sure to follow another. Deviation from the program is not expected. For example, there's the procession at the beginning. The servers come in carrying candles and crosses first. Then the lectors come in. Those are those who read some of the Bible passages during the service. Now, some of this, of course, varies depending on the day of the year, the local leadership, et cetera. But it's always scripted and it's always followed. Then, lastly, comes the priest or the minister. Once that procession has made its way to the altar area and everyone is settled into their positions, what follows is the greeting by the minister. Next, some group prayers for forgiveness, praise, etc. The collection follows that. And then on and on it goes every week. Well, there's none of that in evangelical churches. Now, to be sure, there are certain things that they do with regularity, and with this I've arrived at my point. One of the things you're certain to experience if you spend enough time in a fundamental evangelical church or some other well-attended gathering of those of this faith is the giving of testimony. Have you ever heard of this? Have you ever seen any of this going on? Now, I have to tell you, this one really gets under my skin, but let me tell you quickly what it's like. This is only going to take a second. Somewhere during the service or the event, an invited guest gets up on stage and begins to tell his or her story. For the next several minutes, we hear about the sordid life of this former sinner. And let me tell you, this is a real crowd pleaser. A lot of these repressed fundamentalists love to hear about the various types of sins out there. I know my sarcasm is leaking. Let me get to my point. After the lengthy description of the wantonness of this person's past, we learn that they stumbled into a church while drunk, or a believing passerby stooped to pick them up when they were passed out and proceeded to tell them about Jesus, or the classic version, which involves flipping through the channels late at night in a drug haze while at some seedy hotel, only to happen upon a TV preacher who looked right at me and said, Jesus loves you. Now, I suppose I should once again apologize for my shameless cynicism. As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan of this sort of thing. But here's why I'm bringing this up in this discussion. Among other reasons, this getting up and giving your testimony in church is a bad idea. The very nature of this type of what I call confession event is that it tends towards spectacle. No one is ever invited to give their testimony unless they're an ex-terrorist or a drug dealer, a bank robber, or a pimp. Now, I understand the demonstrat the desire to demonstrate the power of the blood of the Lamb to save the vilest of sinners, but the truth is we all sin and we all need to be washed white as snow, whether or not we made the FBI's most wanted list. The serpent in the garden didn't tempt Eve to have an affair. He didn't suggest she drink fermented honey. The serpent didn't try and propose to Eve conch Adam on the noggin and take over the rulership of the earth. In fact, all he did was suggest to Eve that God had been less than honest. Now, to God, that's as heinous as it gets, but to you and me, we're not all that impressed, are we? If that serpent or Eve got up on the stage on Sunday and confessed that their biggest sin was thinking God was a liar, we'd hear a resounding next from the congregation. No salaciousness, no graphic details, seriously lacking in juicy goriness. So we sort of give a yawning wave to such pedestrian sins. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden.

Small Sins And Big Damage

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The fact that the serpent is subtle tells us that his attacks are not going to be obvious. The serpent is not going to tempt you into committing mass murder. And that's the point of this testimony. Why I brought the testimony up. When you keep telling people that real sinners are prostitutes and real sinners rob banks, and real sinners are the people that run moonshine down in the South, those are the real sinners I'm not, because all I do is cheat on my taxes or steal cable or secretly lust after my neighbor's Mercedes. When you start thinking that the devil's got you because nothing makes God look bad quite like hypocrisy. And the devil loves when you make God look bad, saves him the trouble, and makes his job a lot easier. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. We were told that specifically. But you can do what you want to in my classroom. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said, Rightfully so, she said it right. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the tree, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open, and you should know this. Why are you trusting God? Why are you trusting what he says? He's trying to keep something from you. The devil knows that he can break your back with a twig, and that's why you and I should never undermine the value of the Genesis account of the fall of man. It's a clear demonstration of mankind's fatal vulnerability. And all the devil did was make a mere suggestion. And can I say that same suggestion, that same temptation has not dissipated one bit, even down to this very day. The devil, Satan, that old serpent, is still doing what he did in the very beginning. And why not? He was wildly successful back there in the garden, and his subsequent attempts have likewise yielded satisfying to him wonderful results.

Modern Doubt And The Same Old Lie

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One time a friend of mine asked me if I thought homosexuality was wrong, and I said, Yes, it was. And it's certainly not something that should be held up as an authority on anything. Now, I almost never get into such debates because frankly, it's just not something one can attempt in an afternoon over sandwiches and soup. And so, in this instance, I didn't respond to my friend's criticism with some sort of treatise on the reliability of scripture. And I'm only bringing this story up to illustrate that the devil is still making the same suggestions about what God hath said since the days of his encounter with Eve with great success. I've challenged you before. Go to work tomorrow, hang out in the break room, and ask them what they think of Genesis 3:1. If they even know what you're talking about, they will laugh on their way out as they grab their tofu. In fact, I find it the height of irony that most modern, sophisticated, educated or not, human beings reject the idea that this passage actually happened. Isn't that funny? The very event where the devil seeds into the minds and hearts of men that we can for ourselves judge whether or not God has said something or said something that's truthful or not, is in itself touted by the world as not a truthful account. The devil is so skilled that he can even get us to doubt that he's the very king of doubt. You gotta admit, that's pretty incredible. Now, I'm not complimenting Satan or anything, I'm just saying he's good at what he does. In fact, it's more of a warning than anything else. It's a lot to talk about, it's a lot to think about. So, how

Closing Encouragement And How To Follow

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about we stop here for tonight? Lots more to talk about in these early verses of chapter three. We'll pick it up right there next time.

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We hope this study has blessed you. God's word is a great treasure, and it's our belief that a thorough, purposeful study of it will bring all of God's children to an understanding of his eternal plan of redemption. It is our prayer that this will be so for all of our listeners. Please join us again soon. New content is being added all the time, so make sure you check back often. For more information on Chapel Ministries, including our YouTube channel and podcasts, please visit www.chapelontheweb.com. And if God has laid it upon your heart to share materially with us, we encourage you to follow the links to our secure giving page. Please note, Chapel Ministries is not an IRS registered nonprofit organization, and your donations to this program are not tax deductible. It's our hope that you do not rely on taxing authorities to decide for you who is worthy of your generosity.