Genesis 3:4

II. THE TEMPTATION

4. Ye shall not surely die.

The adversary puts the lie to God. The object of his insinuations and contradiction is to destroy faith in God. Spiritual life begins in and rests upon faith; unbelief is the beginning of disobedience and death. Whenever the tempter can disarm his victim of the shield of faith, he has already effected. conquest. In this case be first seeks to raise. doubt in the mind of the woman; then he insinuates. suspicion that God has made the prohibition from selfish motives; and thirdly, be declares that God has spoken falsely, and that the divine threat is impotent.