Don’t Even Touch It!

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any sermons have been preached that have given sound instruction for those seeking to live the way of God. Sermons are a powerful form of sharing the message of the Holy Text. Still there is room for individual interpretations and personal agendas to be expressed. That may not be a bad thing. Just because a teacher has an agenda or a misinformed interpretation, doesn’t mean that his or her teaching is false. And sometimes it does. This is why hermeneutics plays such an important and helpful role in the sermon preparation process.

Let’s consider one passage of Scripture where a lack of background may have allowed for a bit of false teaching.

Genesis 3 is a wonderfully interesting passage of Scripture. It has been taught for centuries, and has carried with it great mysteries and lots of opinions. I want to focus specifically on verse 3, which reads, “but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

How many times have we heard that Eve lied and put words into the mouth of God by exaggerating His instructions? God did say to Adam, “…you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). In this passage, “touching the fruit” is not mentioned; however, not all of Adam’s conversations with God are recorded in the text. That is because much of the Bible is laconic. If it weren’t, we’d have a few thousand years worth of daily journals to sift through. Even the Gospels include very little of the 30-something years of Jesus’ life on earth (see John 21:25).

So what is my point about Genesis 3:3? As Dr. Jeff Niehaus, Professor of Old Testament Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, believes, it is very likely that Adam did tell her that God said the tree was not even to be touched. And God very likely did say that to Adam.

Why does it matter? It matters because if she lied before she ate the fruit, then she sinned before she sinned. To teach that Eve lied by exaggerating God’s message, is to teach that she didn’t have to eat the fruit to sin; she already fell when she lied about what God said.

This may seem a bit petty to some, but the point is that the story is not written to teach us that Eve was a sinner before she took the fruit and ate it. The story is written to teach that she and Adam brought sin into the world when they ate the forbidden fruit.

Adam and Eve were both deceived by the serpent, and both knew, just as we do, that a temptation should not be received by a follower of God, and it is best, if we don’t even touch it.

Many blessings,
Johnny

Writer: Capt. Jonathan Gainey was born in Jacksonville, FL in June, 1969. He has been married to Staci, the daughter of retired Salvation Army officers, for twenty years and they have four children ages 18, 16, 12, and 4. Jonathan was commissioned as an officer in June of 2002, and is currently serving in his third appointment in New Bern, NC, USA. He is working on a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is the creator and manager of the Flocks Diner website, where his passion for learning and teaching is expressed and shared through writing and a weekly podcast.

4 Comments to Don’t Even Touch It!

1. Raises the interesting question of whether sin is possible in Heaven. If it is possible that sin can occur at any time, even with a very low probability approaching zero, then over the course of an eternity the probability that sin will happen must approach certainty.

   But if God can create a heaven without the possibility of sin, why didn’t He create earth like that in the first place?

   David.
David on March 2nd, 2010

2. David, that is an interesting question. And one that I’ve asked myself in the past too. In my mind, the important thing is that the question of choice hinges on love, rather than the focus on sin. Because Jesus has taken upon Himself all sin: past, present and future (which encompasses eternity), the question of sin becomes null, because it has already been accounted for and forgiven. God gives us the same choice He gave Adam and Eve: Do we want to eat from the tree of Life and live forever in Christ, or to eat from the tree of “knowledge of good and evil,” which essentially means we choose self over submission. Only as we submit to God and abide in Christ can we begin to experience His grace and love which transcend the question of sin.

   Johnny, Thanks for this insight. In reading this passage today, it was the first time that the added direction of “do not touch” jumped out at me (I am a relatively new Christian), so I Googled it and there you were. I agree that the additional insight is not meant to suggest that Eve “lied”, but is a help to us in times of temptation. I often find myself being lured into the gray area. As we allow God to transform us, this is a helpful step to pause and accept His will over ours. When the flesh tempts us, we can choose to turn away at the very sight of temptation… Being tempted is not a sin. God gives us several steps along the way to turn away from entertaining the temptation. Either way, the turning away is for our best interest, not a “have to” that comes with strings of guilt and condemnation. Grace and peace to all!
Anj on March 7th, 2010

3. I find it hard to believe perfect Adam and Eve were even capable of lying. They had not eaten from the tree and therefore had no knowledge of evil.

   Personally, I do not think this “do not touch” was a part of the original and only command.

   Adam may have taken it upon himself to add onto the command, as a safety measure. Satan would have been aware of this conversation and used it to his advantage. It ultimately became a “gateway” to eating it, if nothing bad happened when Eve touched the fruit.

   Kam
Kam on November 7th, 2010

4. Hmm, that’s an interesting point. I was just about to write a post called “Eve vs. the Lord” on that very subject but I better do some more thinking…

   Thanks for some food for thought.

   Wulf.
Wulf on November 10th, 2010

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