God created man upright; in mind and spirit reflecting the image and glory of God. "I have created him for my glory." (Isaiah 43:7)
God created the man to stand and to abide with Him eternally. Yet whether he would thus stand and abide, must be at the choice of the man himself. He was created free--to make his choice and decide his conduct for himself, spontaneously and voluntarily, in accordance with reasons or motives. He was created to stand--though free to fall, if he should so choose. Accordingly: "The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. ... And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:8-9,16-17) "With the mind I myself serve the law of God." (Romans 7:25)
The man was created to glorify God; that is, to receive of God and make it manifest. It was with the mind that the man was to receive the knowledge of God. God gave to the man His word and word is the expression of thought. Man receiving through the Spirit the word of God, the word containing the thought of God, which was the expression of the mind of God, the man would thus by the Spirit be constant partaker of the mind of God; would ever be at one with God; would ever be at one with God, and ever growing in the knowledge of God.
There came to the man another word: "The serpent ... said unto the woman, Yea, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" (Genesis 3:1)
"Yea? Is it so? Has God said?" The question is one suggesting doubt and distrust; and is expressed literally only by that sneering grunt that is familiar to all, but which cannot be indicated in any form of actual word. "The woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die: For God knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:2-5)
Here was another word, expressing another thought, the product of another mind. The two ways were now before her; the two words, the two thoughts, the two minds. The power of choice is fully and freely hers; which way now will she use that power? Will she choose the word, the thought, the mind of God, or that of Satan?
She knew the word of God; would she faithfully hold and trust that word, just as the word stood as the word of God? or would she allow herself to be drawn away from that word to an "interpretation" and a "meaning" suggested by a mind that was foreign to that word?
For note: though Satan did antagonize the word of God with his "you shall not surely die," yet he did not say flatly that it was a lie, and not to be followed at all. He concealed his antagonism under the suggestion that she did not have the correct idea of the word, that she had not caught the true meaning; and that what he was telling her was the true meaning and interpretation, as even God himself knew: "For God knows that in the day you eat thereof, instead of dying, as you suppose that the word means, you shall be like God, knowing good and evil. And He knows that what I am telling you is the true meaning and interpretation of the word that you have cited."
Here, then, is the first comment and the first commentator on the word of God; the first to suggest that the word of God does not mean what it says, and to offer to show the true meaning and interpretation by presenting something different from what the word says. There is the first, but unfortunately not by any means the last, of these.
But to it all forever the answer is, No, no, no. God is perfectly able to say exactly what He means; and is sufficiently intelligent to select the words by which He means exactly what He says. There is never any need, nor is there any room, for anybody to tell what the word of God means; for it means just what it says. Accordingly it is written, "Consider what I say, and the Lord give you understanding in all things." (2 Timothy 2:7)
Understanding of the word of God is the gift of God to the believer who reads that word. It comes from God direct to the believer, and not through comments and "meanings" and "interpretations" given through wild conjecture of men.
And it is by the Holy Spirit that God gives this understanding of His word to the one who will consider what He says. And so it is written, "The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26)
Please note that even when the divine Spirit gives understanding of the divine word, even He does not do this by attempting to tell what the Lord means, but only by bringing to the mind "whatsoever I have said."
Even the Holy Spirit, in teaching, and giving understanding in, the divine word sticks to what the word says. And only this, and such as this, is true teaching of that word forever. Let every one who stands as a teacher of the word of God, spend any length of time, and any degree of effort, that may ever be needed, to enable the people to see and consider what the good Word of God says; but never a moment in any attempt or suggestion to show what it means.
Just here is where lay Eve's salvation or her loss. If she had said to Satan this day: "Whether the word that I have cited may mean what you suggest, I know not, nor do I care to inquire. I know what the word says, and I shall take it for just what it says; and there I stand and will stand. I will not eat of the fruit of that tree, because the word says that I shall not."
If Eve had done just that simple thing, everybody knows that she would not have sinned. Yea, not only she would not have sinned, but so long as she should continue to do this simple thing, she could not have sinned.
And that simple thing is as true today and forever to every person now in the world as it was and as it would have proved itself to be that day to Eve. And in that simple thing lies the power of the divine word to keep the soul from sinning. That divine word thus simply held by Eve would forever have kept her from sin. That divine word thus simply held kept the Lord Jesus in human flesh from sinning. As it is written: "Concerning the works of men, by the word of your lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." (Psalm 17:4)
And that divine word thus simply held will keep every other one from sinning, just as it did Him, as it is written: "Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You." (Psalm 119:11)
And to all people forever there stand written the all-gracious words: "I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3) "Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding." (2 Timothy 2:7) "The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said unto you." (John 14:26)--Medical Missionary, June 17, 1908.