Was the Serpent right?
DAN PHILLIPS:
God told Adam, “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). In response to the Serpent, Eve more or less quoted God: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but 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'” (Gen. 3:2-3).
Satan flatly denied this threat: “You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4).
Well, what happened? Eve ate, Adam ate. Did they die? We read, “she took of its fruit and ate” (v. 6) — are the next words, “and she died”? No; they are “and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” Oh. Okay; so are the next words, “and he died,” or “and they died”? No again; they are “Then the eyes of both were opened,” and so forth.
So… what happened? Did that bomb fizzle? Was the threat empty, or forestalled?
Or was the Serpent right?