Genesis 3:14, commentary and pictures

God cursed the serpent because Satan had used it as his medium and instrument to beguile Eve and draw Adam also into eating what God had forbidden, degrading it from a beautiful winged creature exalted above every beast into the most groveling and detested, condemned to go on its belly and eat dust all its life. The judgment fell for a single small test of eating, showing that God's word must be implicitly obeyed and that disobedience against light brings sure punishment and death, for His law could not be changed to pardon the transgression. That disobedience opened the floodgates of woe, as Adam lost his glory, sovereignty and Eden home, was expelled under the curse, and brought upon his posterity and upon nature itself disease, suffering, defilement and increasing sin unto the flood and ever since. The debt required the sacrifice of God's Son, who became man's substitute and surety to redeem him from the prince of darkness, overcoming where Adam fell and opening hope and a way of escape. Safety now lies only in perfect obedience at whatever cost, living by every word from God, bringing appetite under strict control, and refusing to follow or become an instrument to lead others into disregard of heaven's commands.

Setting in Eden

The verse stands where Eve, having wandered alone away from her husband, lingered in curiosity and admiration at the forbidden tree and heard the serpent address her with questioning of God's prohibition. The serpent tempted Eve, Eve tempted Adam, and both ate from the forbidden tree, breaking God's command and becoming sinners.

The serpent beguiled Eve, and Adam joined her in disregarding God's single prohibition, with pleasurable feeling after eating doing nothing to undo the warning or make disobedience safe. Satan used that prohibition to insinuate evil and misrepresent God, and through that first transgression sin entered the world and death by sin, opening the floodgates of woe and leaving Adam without excuse for falling from his high estate. That fall brought Adam and Eve under the power of the prince of darkness and under sin's curse.

The fall came after Satan's disaffection in heaven, when he with his sympathizers was cast out for seeking a change in God's law, then cautiously worked upon the newly created Adam and Eve to seduce them from loyalty so that they disobeyed and fell. That fall began Satan's working against the human race since Adam's day by the same principles still at work in probationary time, when Satan plays the game of life for every soul and Christ works for every soul, and consenting to receive God's moral image and by faith laying hold of the Saviour decides whether heaven is gained or lost. After the fall Satan claimed to be prince of the power of the air controlling everything in nature, whom God permitted to work evil in nature while protecting those who seek to follow heaven's principles.

The transgression concerned one apparently small test over taking what God had forbidden, closing the gates of Paradise against Adam and Eve, yet it was not a simple thing unworthy of notice but disobedience bringing awful consequences as retribution in fall and expulsion and loss of Eden. It was Adam's failure to bear God's slight test, part of the terrible retribution that stands as a beacon of warning not to move on a so-called liberal plan, become careless in little matters, deviate from Christ's perfect example and pattern, and go on with defects of character instead of reforming. A very small sin opened the floodgates of woe to the world, for sinning against light and knowledge debases and corrupts the soul toward eternal ruin of thousands upon thousands, millions upon millions, calling for constant vigilance and giving no place to the devil, while divine benevolence has not been cut off and God's love and care still flow earthward amid ever-increasing sin.

Eve had fruit of every variety freely available, yet from intemperate desire wanted the forbidden fruit more than all the rest and ate, and through her influence Adam ate also, so that a curse rested on them both for disobedience and the earth also was cursed because of their sin. It was humanity's first surrender to appetite, beginning since the fall the course of disobedience and intemperance in almost every form in which appetite controls reason and men disregard God's prohibitions. Indulged appetite so weakens physical, mental and moral efficiency as to make it impossible to overcome temptation, and Eden was lost through intemperance in desire.

The verse belongs to the history of Adam and Eve's disobedience, fall, expulsion and loss, in which disobedience to God's law brings guilt and sorrow with grave consequences and breaks the hold of obedience so that men treat obedience as personal choice. It belongs to the account of the first parents' disobedience after listening to the tempter, connecting that disobedience with loss of the knowledge and joy God would have given, acquaintance with sin and its results, humanity's estrangement from God, separation of earth from heaven, the marring of humanity's likeness to God, and the coming of weakness and death. It stands in the Eden account in which disobedience brought dire results, and the Fall is the pattern repeated when men pass inherited disease and weakness to their children.

Curse on Serpent

God cursed the serpent because it had served as the medium, means and instrument through which Satan acted to beguile Eve and draw Adam and Eve into eating, and the curse falls in shared divine judgment with the tempter. The heavy curse rested on it in Eden because Satan used it to tempt the first parents to sin.

Before the curse the serpent did not crawl on the ground but was a beautiful, winged creature that flew through the air, ate fruit like a human, and stood exalted and admired above all cattle and every beast of the field. Because it had done this, it was cursed above all cattle and every beast of the field and degraded beneath them. It was changed from the most beautiful and admired creature of the field into the most groveling and detested, made to go upon its belly and eat dust all the days of its life, feared and hated by both man and beast.

The curse is not limited to that serpent, for all today who allow Satan to use them as his instruments to lead others to disregard the commands of heaven are under the curse of God. Those who make themselves instruments for leading others into sin will face a heavy curse. The serpent's track is seen in every place on earth and its venomous sting is felt everywhere as the curse for sin defiles the whole earth and increases as transgression increases.

Law and Justice

The curse on the serpent stands together with the judgments pronounced on the woman and on Adam as one penalty for disobeying the law given in Eden. That law in Eden is the basis of all right conduct, carrying a reward for obedience and a penalty for disobedience. Adam's transgression introduced sin into the fair world that had been created, and afterward men and women grew more and still more bold in disobeying that law. The account shows that God carries out His warnings, that transgressors will be punished, and that all in positions of responsibility, including rulers of nations and those united with them, are accountable to God's law and must obey all His requirements.

God's Word is to be sacredly respected and His requirements implicitly obeyed. God means what He says. Even a command that people might regard as a lesser requirement could not be broken without consequence, as shown when Adam and Eve, placed in beautiful Eden with permission to eat of every tree but one, ate the forbidden fruit, lost Eden, and opened the floodgates of woe upon the world. Their sin began a course in which sin grew worse until God destroyed the world by a flood saving only Noah and his sons, and since that time sin has been steadily increasing. Walking contrary to God causes Him to walk contrary to the disobedient.

Disobedience brings sad results and sure punishment. God's commands carry a real penalty and His retributive justice never fails. He exacts from His creatures a strict regard for His commandments. The warning given is that disobedience brings death, for the wages of sin is death.

Violation of God's law is the greatest loss and deepest injury that can be conceived, losing beautiful Eden for the first parents and opening the floodgates of woe to the world. Justice demands that sin's penalty be paid. The judgment pronounced upholds the principles of righteousness and does not abolish God's law to give unconditional pardon. Benevolence is not set forth at the expense of justice, but justice is maintained while the Son of God steps in and pledges His own life as the penalty for transgression so that man might have another trial, lest the sinner be exalted in impenitence and transgression be encouraged instead of abated. Through that sacrifice alone fallen man has been granted another trial, and the result of the transgression should lead every soul to avoid sin and abhor it as hateful, feeling in view of the sufferings sin is sure to inflict that it is better to suffer loss of all things than to depart from the least of God's commandments.

The law could not be changed and altered to meet man in his fallen condition in order to pardon Adam and retain his home in Eden. The penalty of transgression was death, so Adam lost Eden and was placed with all his posterity upon probation while Christ became man's substitute and surety, giving Himself as a sacrifice to save a fallen race. Sin is the transgression of the law, and the law is a transcript of God's character and of Christ's character. That law is as unchangeable as His character and throne, remaining with all its binding force upon every human being, so that obedience or disobedience decides eternal destiny. As Adam and Eve lost Eden by breaking the law, those who break it now will lose heaven, while Jesus came to save His people from that transgression by imparting His righteousness and His obedience to every requirement of the broken law, received by faith and not by human strength.

The verse belongs to the Bible's authentic history of the early world, the origin of the earth, the creation of man, his fall, the fall of the covering cherub, and the introduction of sin into the world. It records the disobedience of man and the just retribution for sin, following the time when the first parents stood in Eden in holy innocency enjoying communion with God and sinless angels. Without this history the mind is left to fables and conjectures, bewildered by false theories, subjected to the tyranny of superstition and falsehood, and enfeebled by entertaining error, but having it in possession there is no need to be hampered by human conjectures and unreliable theories. It is one of the great facts and pillars of the faith, standing with creation, the atonement, and the perpetuity of the law as truth to be accepted as the guide of life. It outlines the fall and shows the consequences of the sin that opened the floodgates of woe upon the world, a grand truth possessing amazing strength and beauty and reaching as far as eternity, whose knowledge is among the most important to be gained and to be exalted in every school, standing alongside the teaching of the first advent of Christ as a helpless babe born in a stable and cradled in a manger as definite truth flashing divine light and glory upon all who will receive it.

Ruin from Disobedience

The disobedience opened the floodgates of woe to the world, for through it sin entered the world and death by sin, leaving no excuse for the transgression. Adam fell from his high estate, losing his Edenic glory and sovereignty and his right to his Eden home. He was expelled from Eden and driven from Paradise, becoming a slave on earth subject to the curse, and with all his posterity was placed upon probation. The curse on the serpent stands together with the judgments on the woman and on Adam as the penalty carried out upon warning, showing that transgressors will be punished. That fall marks the beginning of sin's ruin and a fallen state in which people suffer sin's effects and face temptation.

Poverty, sickness and suffering became the lot of his descendants. The fall lessened human vital force and brought deformity, decrepitude, disease, imbecility, anguish and suffering into the world, transmitted as an inheritance of woe from father to son and from generation to generation. Disease, suffering and death rapidly increased afterward, after humanity fell from the perfect and holy state in which people were created through transgression of God's law. The race was left in a lower physical, mental and moral condition than if falling had stopped with Adam. Those evils were greatly aggravated by later violations of God's moral and physical laws, as fallen man persists in breaking God's law and present indulgence by surfeiting and drunkenness repeats the fall, leaving disease, enfeebled intellects and polluted morals as a legacy for the next generation.

Nature was marred and defiled by sin, for the brightness of God's presence departed from it and the earth was blighted. The earth also was cursed because of their sin, and beautiful Eden was degraded by the introduction of sin. Taking animal life for food and bloodshed entered as a consequence of transgression and not part of God's original plan, for had the first humans remained innocent and the curse not fallen the earth would have known no bloodshed or flesh-eating, yet the curse following sin brought death and suffering to humans and animals. The curse for sin defiles the whole earth and increases as transgression increases, until men fall under the sure result of sin entered into the world and death by sin, becoming diseased, depraved and dying, and the tainted, corrupted earth is prepared for purification by fire.

After the fall men and women became more and still more bold in disobeying His law. Sin grew worse until God destroyed the world by a flood saving only Noah and his sons. Ever since then sin has been increasing in volume and prevalence and is still increasing, in a succession of falls continuing ever since that began with Adam's disobedience, transgression and fall. That course shows that God means what He says, though divine benevolence has not been cut off and God's love and care still flow earthward.

Redemption in Christ

The transgression in Eden created a debt that could only be met by the valuable sacrifice of the Son of God from heaven for the saving of the fallen race. He became man's substitute and surety, stepping in to pledge His own life as the penalty for transgression so that man might have another trial. He took man's transgressions and their just penalty upon Himself, laying aside His robes of royalty and clothing His divinity with humanity. He came into the world and lived as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, suffering insult and reproach and mockery though He was the Majesty of heaven, and by this He opened a way of escape and hope.

Christ undertook to confront that enemy who had gained power over Adam and Eve and to redeem fallen humanity from the power of the prince of darkness. That redemption also delivers from subjection to death through the salvation God provided. It is exercised in His mediatorship between fallen man and his Creator. With the curse brought upon Satan by his deception, hope was opened for the fallen race through Christ as Redeemer.

Where Adam fell, Christ overcame Satan and redeemed Adam's disgraceful failure and fall. In the wilderness of temptation He passed over the same ground where Adam fell, meeting the temptation of appetite and gaining the victory. By that victory He placed the human family on vantage ground with God. By the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour and by the merits of the blood of Christ it is possible for fallen man to be elevated and to keep the law of God. It is possible for human beings to overcome in their own behalf by overcoming as Christ overcame in keeping His Father's commandments, so that the way back to the Eden home is not repeating transgression but perfect obedience to all God's requirements.

When Adam became a law to himself, discord and unhappiness came into his life and separation was made between him and God. This stands in contrast to Christ's life of perfect, constant obedience, which sets an example all can follow. Adam was commanded to teach the history of the fall from a holy and happy estate to his posterity in the way of the Lord, together with the sufferings pronounced as warning of the necessity of strict adherence to God's law and together with God's merciful provisions for salvation. He treasured what God had revealed and lived nearly a thousand years among men to the ninth generation as a witness to the results of sin, faithfully seeking to stem the tide of evil by describing Eden and repeating the account of the fall. Yet few gave heed to his words, and he was often met with bitter reproaches for the sin that had brought woe upon his posterity.

Call to Obedience

The only safe course is obedience to all requirements at whatever cost, for all requirements are founded in infinite love and wisdom. The way back to the Eden home is not by repeating transgression but by perfect obedience, overcoming as Christ overcame by keeping His Father's commandments. That obedience means obeying the light that comes on the binding claims of the law and lifting the cross in view of the whole world. It means ceasing to please self, repenting for time and talents given to the enemy, giving the whole soul to God, and with strong determination seeking the Lord without delay, for choosing the same disobedience by which the right to the Eden home was lost and remaining on the side of the great rebel forfeits the right to Eden restored.

Safety from the curse lies in whole-hearted belief in a Thus saith the Lord and in living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It requires refusing from any motive to leave the truth for a self-chosen path that leads to destruction, and staying in the truth instead of turning aside to a path of one's own choosing. Those who leave the truth follow a false leader into false paths, and both the leader and the one led are guilty before God and neither will be held guiltless. A promise contrary to the Scriptures must therefore be retracted without delay and repented of in humility before God rather than kept to dishonor Him, in order to gain heaven and shun the open path to perdition.

The judgment stands as a beacon of warning that even one wrong act brings death with all woe and loss of Eden. It declares the peril of even one departure from right both to the wrongdoer and to all whom his influence reaches, since the influence of every transgressor leads and sustains others in the same sin. Adam's disobedience in indulging appetite and passion and violating the express injunction stands as an example to warn later men to shun his example and not do as he did. The warning forbids moving out on a so-called liberal plan, becoming careless in little matters, deviating widely from the perfect example and pattern, talking of liberality and not being particular in regard to requirements, and going on with defects of character instead of reforming. Though the transgression may appear small and recoverable, sinning against light and knowledge debases and corrupts the soul unto eternal ruin of multitudes, so there must be watching with constant vigilance and giving no place to the devil.

The loss of Paradise through eating what was forbidden shows that bringing perverted appetite under strict control is necessary in preparing for Paradise restored. Indulgence of depraved appetite and passion weakens the power to resist evil and enables Satan to fasten evil habits upon man and ensnare him in the net of his devices. Present indulgence by surfeiting and drunkenness is no less than a repetition of the fall, leaving disease, enfeebled intellects and polluted morals as a legacy for the next generation, with accumulated suffering making the world a place of misery and lessened vital force transmitted as an inheritance of woe. Refusing light now is the same act as partaking the fruit of disobedience, turning from God and the light, selling the soul cheaply for success, making a bargain with Satan, and violating conscience which kept pure and upright would be worth more than the whole world.

Disobedience brings suffering, and parents are to keep this fact before the tender minds of their children to train them to be obedient to all statutes and commandments. The lesson of obedience to the law must be learned in order to become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, and to protect the human family the light of that law is to be made so clear that all can understand it. All are on trial during probationary time, with the game of life played for every soul, so that consenting to receive the moral image of God and by faith laying hold of the Saviour to perfect a character like His decides whether heaven is gained or lost. Everyone in responsibility, including rulers of nations and those united with them, is accountable to the law as the basis of all right conduct with reward for obedience and penalty for disobedience, and must obey all its requirements. To keep disobeying and set that example before the family perpetuates the first disobedience, and to choose that same disobedience and remain on the rebel's side forfeits the restored Eden, for transgressing the law brings sure and awful results still seen in the fallen race today and disproves that once in grace always in grace.