ray stedman
Raymond Charles Stedman (October 5, 1917 – October 7, 1992) was an evangelical Christian pastor, and author. He was a long-time pastor of Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California, and author of several books.
Ray Stedman Files
I am sorry that this word in the Hebrew was ever translated "serpent," because it has given rise to a very false idea about this story -- that there was in the Garden of Eden a talking snake. I have no doubt in my own mind that if God chose to make a snake talk, he could. I accept fully the other account in the Bible of a talking animal, when God opened the mouth of Balaam's ass and spoke to the prophet through the donkey. I have no problem with this. Even man can teach animals to talk, and surely God can do so. But the interesting thing is that this account does not really say that there was a snake in the Garden of Eden. The Hebrew word here is nachash, which means literally "to shine," or in the noun form here, "a shining one." If you read it that way, an entirely different being emerges.
Now the shining one was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made...
Thus, the first description that we have of the Tempter is that he appeared to Eve as a shining one. Undoubtedly, as is true about other animals, snakes were created to represent this being who appeared in the Garden as the shining one.
For instance, in the rest of Scripture we can see that wolves were deliberately designed by God to represent and symbolize rapacious human beings, vicious people. Sheep, I believe, were designed deliberately by God to represent believers. If you ever get to feeling proud of yourself, go study some sheep for awhile. I come from Montana and feel somewhat of an expert in this area. It is clear from the Scriptures that pigs were designed by God to symbolize unbelievers, unregenerate people. They are used consistently in this way throughout Scripture.
It is no wonder then that snakes have become the universal symbol of Satan. When I was in the Orient a few years ago, I was struck by the number of times that snakes appear in pagan temples as representative of Satan. But here it was not a snake that appeared but a shining one, of whom snakes have become symbols. You will recall that Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians speaks of the serpent that tempted Eve and then goes on to speak of him as "an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). So it was the Nachash that appeared, the shining one. He is also called in the Book of Revelation that "ancient serpent" (Revelation 12:9 RSV), i.e., the original serpent, the Devil. There is thus no question about the identity of the one who suddenly appears here. It is the Devil in his character as an angel of light, a shining being, all glorious to behold, who now confronts the woman in the Garden of Eden.
We are also told here that he was "more subtle than any other wild creature." The word subtle means "crafty or cunning." He had a craftiness about him greater than any other living creature (literally, rather than "wild creature"), any other being that God had made. This shining one was far more subtle, more cunning or crafty.
Here then is the being whom Jesus Christ called "the ruler of this world" (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11), and whom Paul refers to as "the god of this age" 1 Corinthians 1:20), the malevolent being who is behind the philosophy of men, who dominates the thinking of the world, who has the ear of humanity and whispers into it a lie, an outrageous but very attractive lie, that makes men drool with desire. Here is the introduction of that being into the history of man.
This is the one of whom Martin Luther properly said, "On earth is not his equal." No man is able to outwit the Devil. He has defeated the greatest saints of God at times throughout all of history, except for the Son of God himself: "On earth is not his equal."
His craftiness is evident right from the beginning in that he sought out the woman to make his play to her. As we saw last week, woman was created with a greater "emoter" than man. It was a desire to play on this emotional nature that led the Devil to seek out the woman and to begin his temptation with her. He comes, as he always does, in disguise. He never appears with horns and hoof and a tail, announcing that he is Satan. If he came that way, everyone would reject him. No one wants to be evil, in that defiant open sense. But the devil appears in disguise as he does here, as an angel of light, appearing not to be bad but good, a shining being of wholesome character and benevolent purpose. --Ray Stedman: The Enticement of Evil
Now the shining one was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made...
Thus, the first description that we have of the Tempter is that he appeared to Eve as a shining one. Undoubtedly, as is true about other animals, snakes were created to represent this being who appeared in the Garden as the shining one.
For instance, in the rest of Scripture we can see that wolves were deliberately designed by God to represent and symbolize rapacious human beings, vicious people. Sheep, I believe, were designed deliberately by God to represent believers. If you ever get to feeling proud of yourself, go study some sheep for awhile. I come from Montana and feel somewhat of an expert in this area. It is clear from the Scriptures that pigs were designed by God to symbolize unbelievers, unregenerate people. They are used consistently in this way throughout Scripture.
It is no wonder then that snakes have become the universal symbol of Satan. When I was in the Orient a few years ago, I was struck by the number of times that snakes appear in pagan temples as representative of Satan. But here it was not a snake that appeared but a shining one, of whom snakes have become symbols. You will recall that Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians speaks of the serpent that tempted Eve and then goes on to speak of him as "an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). So it was the Nachash that appeared, the shining one. He is also called in the Book of Revelation that "ancient serpent" (Revelation 12:9 RSV), i.e., the original serpent, the Devil. There is thus no question about the identity of the one who suddenly appears here. It is the Devil in his character as an angel of light, a shining being, all glorious to behold, who now confronts the woman in the Garden of Eden.
We are also told here that he was "more subtle than any other wild creature." The word subtle means "crafty or cunning." He had a craftiness about him greater than any other living creature (literally, rather than "wild creature"), any other being that God had made. This shining one was far more subtle, more cunning or crafty.
Here then is the being whom Jesus Christ called "the ruler of this world" (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11), and whom Paul refers to as "the god of this age" 1 Corinthians 1:20), the malevolent being who is behind the philosophy of men, who dominates the thinking of the world, who has the ear of humanity and whispers into it a lie, an outrageous but very attractive lie, that makes men drool with desire. Here is the introduction of that being into the history of man.
This is the one of whom Martin Luther properly said, "On earth is not his equal." No man is able to outwit the Devil. He has defeated the greatest saints of God at times throughout all of history, except for the Son of God himself: "On earth is not his equal."
His craftiness is evident right from the beginning in that he sought out the woman to make his play to her. As we saw last week, woman was created with a greater "emoter" than man. It was a desire to play on this emotional nature that led the Devil to seek out the woman and to begin his temptation with her. He comes, as he always does, in disguise. He never appears with horns and hoof and a tail, announcing that he is Satan. If he came that way, everyone would reject him. No one wants to be evil, in that defiant open sense. But the devil appears in disguise as he does here, as an angel of light, appearing not to be bad but good, a shining being of wholesome character and benevolent purpose. --Ray Stedman: The Enticement of Evil
“God comforts us to make us comforters, not to make us comfortable.” ― Ray C. Stedman, Let God Be God: Life-Changing Truths from the Book of Job
Ray Stedman Files
RayStedman.org: In The Beginning
The word Genesis means "beginning," so it is a very apt title for this book. We shall content ourselves with looking only at the first verse, and this will serve as an introduction to our whole series.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 RSV)
That has been called one of the most profound statements ever made in the hearing of men. If you think about it a bit, as we propose to do, you will see that it is true. Surely this statement is exactly where the Bible ought to begin. It gathers up in ten English words (seven in Hebrew) the answers to the four fundamental questions which every person faces when he really begins to think seriously about his life and the universe in which he lives.
Each of us began life as a baby and as such we paid little attention to what was going on around us or to what the world was like. But as we grew older we started to take note of the world -- the sky, the sea, the winds, the birds, the flowers, the animals, the trees, and all of life around us. As we became aware of the world, we inevitably asked some questions about it. It is those questions which are answered for us in very brief compass here in these opening words of the book of Genesis.
What are the questions?
First, we ask ourselves, "What is all this?" Driven by an insatiable curiosity, man has been attempting to answer that question ever since he first appeared on earth. He seeks to explore the universe and the world in which he lives.
Second, we ask, "How did it begin?" The question of how is the question, primarily, which occupies science. Then we ask, "When did it begin?" When did it all start? How long has the world been going on like this? Finally, we come to the great philosophical question, "Who is behind it?" Who is back of these strange and remarkable processes? These four questions are answered here in this verse, and thus it serves as a tremendous introduction to the great themes of the Bible.
Take the first question, the one most obvious to us -- the wonder of the universe itself. "In the beginning," we read, "God created the heavens and the earth," (Genesis 1:1 RSV). There we have them -- the heavens and the earth. Someone has said that this phrase is the beginning of true science because a fundamental part of the task of science is to observe and classify all that can be observed in the makeup of the world of nature. Here is a very early attempt at classification. What do you see around you? You see two great classes of things -- the heavens and the earth.
One of the marvels of the Bible is that it uses language that communicates with people of the most primitive and limited understanding, while at the same time it still has significance, and inexhaustible meaning, to the most erudite and learned of men. It addresses itself with equal ease to all classes of mankind. No other book that I know of has that distinction.
This universality is evident in this phrase, "the heavens and the earth." It has meaning for a savage in the jungle, simply perceiving the land in which he lives and the sky over his head. He notes the earth, with its yield of trees, plants and animal life, and he notes the heavens with the birds flying and the wind blowing, the clouds, and the stars. That may be all he is concerned about but he describes it as 'the heavens and the earth.' On the other hand, a modern astronomer, looking out into the far reaches of the universe through a great telescope, would also use the phrase, 'the heavens and the earth,' i.e., the planet on which he lives with its relationship to the solar system in which it moves, and beyond that the illimitable reaches of sidereal space, involving vast galaxies almost unimaginably removed from one another. But either is described by this simple phrase, 'the heavens and the earth.' That is the beauty of Bible language.
The Bible completely avoids the utter ridiculousness of some of the early myths about creation and origin, found in other religions. In this creation account there is nothing that needs to be laid aside as man's knowledge increases. This is true of the entire opening chapter of Genesis -- a most remarkable passage in that respect. Later, the Bible takes these two words, the heavens and the earth, and expands both, disclosing a remarkable knowledge of nature which anticipates by many, many centuries the discoveries of modern science. That is another proof that this book is not of man. It comes through man, but from God.
The word Genesis means "beginning," so it is a very apt title for this book. We shall content ourselves with looking only at the first verse, and this will serve as an introduction to our whole series.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 RSV)
That has been called one of the most profound statements ever made in the hearing of men. If you think about it a bit, as we propose to do, you will see that it is true. Surely this statement is exactly where the Bible ought to begin. It gathers up in ten English words (seven in Hebrew) the answers to the four fundamental questions which every person faces when he really begins to think seriously about his life and the universe in which he lives.
Each of us began life as a baby and as such we paid little attention to what was going on around us or to what the world was like. But as we grew older we started to take note of the world -- the sky, the sea, the winds, the birds, the flowers, the animals, the trees, and all of life around us. As we became aware of the world, we inevitably asked some questions about it. It is those questions which are answered for us in very brief compass here in these opening words of the book of Genesis.
What are the questions?
First, we ask ourselves, "What is all this?" Driven by an insatiable curiosity, man has been attempting to answer that question ever since he first appeared on earth. He seeks to explore the universe and the world in which he lives.
Second, we ask, "How did it begin?" The question of how is the question, primarily, which occupies science. Then we ask, "When did it begin?" When did it all start? How long has the world been going on like this? Finally, we come to the great philosophical question, "Who is behind it?" Who is back of these strange and remarkable processes? These four questions are answered here in this verse, and thus it serves as a tremendous introduction to the great themes of the Bible.
Take the first question, the one most obvious to us -- the wonder of the universe itself. "In the beginning," we read, "God created the heavens and the earth," (Genesis 1:1 RSV). There we have them -- the heavens and the earth. Someone has said that this phrase is the beginning of true science because a fundamental part of the task of science is to observe and classify all that can be observed in the makeup of the world of nature. Here is a very early attempt at classification. What do you see around you? You see two great classes of things -- the heavens and the earth.
One of the marvels of the Bible is that it uses language that communicates with people of the most primitive and limited understanding, while at the same time it still has significance, and inexhaustible meaning, to the most erudite and learned of men. It addresses itself with equal ease to all classes of mankind. No other book that I know of has that distinction.
This universality is evident in this phrase, "the heavens and the earth." It has meaning for a savage in the jungle, simply perceiving the land in which he lives and the sky over his head. He notes the earth, with its yield of trees, plants and animal life, and he notes the heavens with the birds flying and the wind blowing, the clouds, and the stars. That may be all he is concerned about but he describes it as 'the heavens and the earth.' On the other hand, a modern astronomer, looking out into the far reaches of the universe through a great telescope, would also use the phrase, 'the heavens and the earth,' i.e., the planet on which he lives with its relationship to the solar system in which it moves, and beyond that the illimitable reaches of sidereal space, involving vast galaxies almost unimaginably removed from one another. But either is described by this simple phrase, 'the heavens and the earth.' That is the beauty of Bible language.
The Bible completely avoids the utter ridiculousness of some of the early myths about creation and origin, found in other religions. In this creation account there is nothing that needs to be laid aside as man's knowledge increases. This is true of the entire opening chapter of Genesis -- a most remarkable passage in that respect. Later, the Bible takes these two words, the heavens and the earth, and expands both, disclosing a remarkable knowledge of nature which anticipates by many, many centuries the discoveries of modern science. That is another proof that this book is not of man. It comes through man, but from God.
Ray Stedman Files
“A man who walks in the sight of God is more interested in his inner reality than his outer reputation.”
― Ray C. Stedman, Authentic Christianity: The Classic Bestseller on Living the Life of Faith with Integrity
Ray Stedman Files
“It's a weak faith that only serves God in times of blessing. The book of Job teaches us that true faith, genuine faith, great faith is revealed only when we serve and trust God in the hard times, the times of suffering, loss, and opposition. That's the kind of faith that makes the world sit up and take notice.”
― Ray C. Stedman, Let God Be God: Life-Changing Truths from the Book of Job
Ray Stedman Files
You find these mystic cults arising in many of the movements of our day. The New Age Movement, for instance, intrigues people with revelations of powerful spirit beings who can impart information that ordinary people do not have. These are what Jesus calls "the deep things of Satan." In Paul's letter to the Corinthians he speaks of the "deep things of God," (1 Corinthians 2:10). Whenever God has something good, Satan imitates it. These dark and hidden matters are Satan's imitation of the wonderfully deep truths in the Word of God. Now to those who refuse these, Jesus says, "Hold fast what you have." Do not let it go. Do not accept these degrading moral standards. It may be difficult to live for Christ in a worldly church, but hang on to your moral standards at least. Do not go along with sexual immorality. Do not accept the idea that adultery is only a minor sin, that you need to have affairs now and then. Hold on," Jesus says, "until I come." --Ray Stedman
Ray Stedman
“God is never impressed with the phony. He has no time or patience for the false; God deals only with truth. He says that to trust His Word as a plain statement of truth, ignoring all the mocking taunts of those who think they know better, will not be an easy path but it will be an absolutely sure one. That is what Hebrews 11 says to us.”
― Ray C. Stedman, How to Live What You Believe: A Life-Related Study in Hebrews
― Ray C. Stedman, How to Live What You Believe: A Life-Related Study in Hebrews
Ray Stedman
But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. (2 Corinthians 10:17-18)
Whenever anybody boasts, Paul says, it is to be in what the Lord has done. How that wipes out with one stroke all the proud evaluations you see people making of their own ministries! You never hear that from Paul. In the very next section he will tell us some of the things that happened in his ministry, but he does it with the most abject apologies. He is distressed that he has to talk about what he has done. He only defends his ministry because that is the kind of argument the Corinthians have been listening to from false teachers, and they seem to think it is important. A brief example of Paul's approach occurs in 1 Corinthians 15:10, where he says this about himself: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Some may think this sounds like boasting. But notice what Paul says: Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me (1 Corinthians 15:10). Paul always recognizes that the only thing that counts is what Christ does in him, not what he does for Christ. --Ray Stedman
Whenever anybody boasts, Paul says, it is to be in what the Lord has done. How that wipes out with one stroke all the proud evaluations you see people making of their own ministries! You never hear that from Paul. In the very next section he will tell us some of the things that happened in his ministry, but he does it with the most abject apologies. He is distressed that he has to talk about what he has done. He only defends his ministry because that is the kind of argument the Corinthians have been listening to from false teachers, and they seem to think it is important. A brief example of Paul's approach occurs in 1 Corinthians 15:10, where he says this about himself: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Some may think this sounds like boasting. But notice what Paul says: Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me (1 Corinthians 15:10). Paul always recognizes that the only thing that counts is what Christ does in him, not what he does for Christ. --Ray Stedman