The Wiles of the Devil

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the wiles of the devil (Eph 6:11).

Wiles ... schemes. Just what are the schemes of the devil?

In Scripture, we first meet Satan in the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent. He was "more crafty than any beast of the field" (Gen 3:1). We can see his primary schemes in his exchange with Eve.

"Did God say ...?" (Gen 3:1). Step One: Question God. Oh, not likely an overt questioning. Not an outright denial. Today's version is more like "Is that what God said, or is that your opinion?" Very popular is "Jesus never said ..." The current trend is "Just how reliable, authoritative, or sufficient is the Bible?" They will sprinkle nice sounding phrases where they assure us that being too reliant on clear Scripture is "arrogant" and it's best not to be certain. The humble man will always be questioning. It all amounts to the same thing. "Did God say ...?"

"You surely will not die!" (Gen 3:4). Step Two: Having brought into question the reliability of God's Word without actually denying it, it is time now to play off that question and get to the point. You may have thought God said something, but it is abundantly clear that it's not true. We are inundated with this these days. The Bible (read "God") was wrong when it said God created the world (because, as Science well knows, the world created itself) and wrong when it spoke of the myth of the Flood and wrong with that whole Israel/Egypt thing and ... well, you get the idea. Science and its sister, History, assure us that none of this actually happened. And if it did, God (and this time it's overt) was wrong when He commanded Israel to kill every man, woman, and child (and their animals, the deaths of adulterers and homosexual offenders, or regulations on marriage, slavery, and other things we all know are wrong. I mean, the Bible says "There is none who does good; no, not one" (Psa 14:1, 3; 53:1, 3; Eccl 7:20; Rom 3:12) but we all know that people are basically good and everyone does something good at some time or another. So we end up in genuine denial. "Did God say sexual relations between two people of the same sex is sin? He was wrong!" Just a current example. Pick your own.

"Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God" (Gen 3:5). Step Three: Nature abhors a vacuum. You can't rip out the truth and just leave a hole. Fill it with a lie. The best translation of Rom 1:25 -- "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie" -- would actually be "for the lie", because there is really only one necessary. That lie is "You will be like God." It filters through in various forms, of course, but it's the same in the end. You'll be wiser, better, stronger, richer, happier, more powerful, better liked ... fill in the blank. Having established that you're not clear on what God actually said and having denied that God is right in what you're not clear He said, it's just a small step to appeal to your lusts (James 1:14-15; 4:1-3). You want it. You know it. You can take it from God because, after all, He can't be trusted. Isn't that clear? So, do it!

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate (Gen 3:6).

The response echoes John's description of all that is in the world.

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world" (1 John 2:16).

She saw it was good for food -- lust of the flesh -- and that it was a delight to the eyes -- lust of the eyes -- and desirable to make one wise -- pride of life. She swallowed it, hook, line, and sinker. She gave it to Adam. She succumbed to Satan's simple yet effective wiles. 1) Question God. 2) Deny God's reliability. 3) Affirm that something is better than He is. I guarantee that when you struggle with sin in your life, you're struggling with the same thing. Perhaps if you understand the basic mechanism, you can come up with a better response than Eve did. Jesus's response was "It is written" (Matt 4:4, 7, 10). "God did say ..." Agree with God. Deny the denial. Affirm God's supremacy. But, as Paul indicates in Ephesians, you may need some armor for that.