[B]ut God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”
Genesis 3:3
Why did Eve add, neither shall you touch it, to God’s instruction in Genesis 3:3? What might that say about her perspective? How might that have contributed to her sin?
One could say that Eve was showing the first signs of legalism. Like the Pharisees, she was so focused on what God prohibited that she made it even more difficult. God said you cannot eat from that tree. Eve thought, if you want to be holy, you should not touch it. God said not to work on the Sabbath. Therefore, the Pharisees reasoned that you should not heal a sick person on the Sabbath.
We are not much different than Eve or the Pharisees. Legalism lives in us all in one way or another. In this first encounter with it, we see its destructiveness.
Eve’s embellishment was all the devil needed to get a foothold. If she can add to the prohibition, why can Satan not question it altogether? Eve redefined it and made it better in her eyes. In doing so, she introduced the idea that God can be wrong. And, if that is the case, could He not also be a liar? “You will not die! No, you will be like Him, and that is what He is afraid of.”
So, we must take God at His Word. We must resist the urge to improve or correct His Word. We must never add to it or subtract from it. It is in our best interest to study it, seek understanding, and humbly follow it. That goes for the instances where it calls us to a higher standard than we like or shows more grace than we prefer to show ourselves.
