Bible Questions and Answers

The real serpent was just that — a real serpent. It was one of the animals that God had made, howbeit more perceptive than the rest and gifted with intelligence and the power of speech.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil (shrewd, crafty, sensible) than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

The serpent was part of the creation declared very good on the sixth day.

Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

The serpent was not morally evil but the argument from its limited reasoning capacity deceived Eve into thinking that she could eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and not die. We might suppose that having no moral faculty the serpent couldn’t understand the concept of death as a punishment for disobedience, but based his argument on the non-poisonous nature of the fruit. There was no restriction on the animals eating the fruit. Death would come not from the act of eating the fruit but as punishment for disobeying the commandment of God.

Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Eve was deceived but Adam was not.

1 Timothy 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

By his flawed reasoning the serpent became the author of Adam and Eve’s downfall. In this capacity the serpent (now long dead) is made the figure for the propensity to sin which resides in all of Adam’s offspring. The propensity to sin was a result of eating of the fruit.

The serpent is not the puppet of, or a cipher for, a fallen angel as is commonly believed.

The evil in the world comes from within man, not from a fallen angel.

Mark 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Temptation to sin is driven by lust within.

James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Here is a link to information which you will find helpful: Do You Believe in a Devil?

I hope you have found this helpful.

May God bless you,
Glenn