Spellbound! #10

Monday, August 28, 2023

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple” (Romans 16:17,18 KJV).

Let us analyze these “good words and fair speeches.”

One useful Bible study principle is “the law of first mention.” For instance, to obtain a summary of Satan’s “ministry,” we locate the Bible passage where he first appears. We now pay close attention to how the first false teacher methodically fascinated and manipulated his audience.

“Now the serpent was more subtil 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 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. 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 opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1-4).

Note how this “serpent” was “subtil”—crafty, cunning, sneaky, or sly (Hebrew word translated “crafty” in Job 5:12 and Job 15:5). This creature confronted Eve (the first woman), aiming to move her from her Creator. However, it was not a blatant denial of God or His revelation. The serpent made no claims such as “There is no God” or “God has not spoken.” Rather, he took an indirect approach to challenging the LORD God and ruining His creation. According to our English Bible in Genesis 3:1, the first word Satan spoke in the Scriptures is “yea.” The “yea” is an affirmation, as in, “Indeed, hath God said?;” “Is it even so that God hath said?;” or “So hath God said?” Satan, admitting there was a God and that God had certainly spoken, pretended (!) like (!) he (!) agreed (!) with that God and that spoken Word of God….