God’s Word for You

Genesis 3:13 The devil made me do it

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, September 16, 2026

13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Now God turns to the woman, Eve. Adam was head of their family, so God naturally went to him first. Adam bore the responsibility for the sin, as Paul says: “In Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22), after the words of the prophet, “Like Adam, they have broken the covenant” (Hosea 6:7). In fact, in the account of the actual eating of the fruit, Moses tells us that Adam was right there with her. His responsibility as her husband was to love her, and to show that love by stopping her from sinning. But Adam did not stop her, and therefore he broke the command and sinned himself (Romans 5:14).

But Eve is still not without blame. God asks her a question, which (like the questions to Adam) is a call to repentance. Her “the devil made me do it” response is not much different from Adam’s. “It is as marked by the same total absence of remorse as the dialogue with Adam had been” (Deutschlander).

We might see something of the nature of Satan’s own sin in the way Adam and Eve deflect the blame from themselves. For sin acts the same way everywhere. It does not want to be named as a sin; it does not want to be sin. It wants to be something else. It becomes self-righteous, daring anyone to accuse it or condemn it. And if someone tries to point out the truth, then sin lashes out: “How dare you! How old-fashioned! You’re not modern, are you!? Who thinks that way anymore? You’re being insensitive to my right to be who I am!” And when sin gets backed into a corner with proof exposing it for what it is, then it blames God. “Sin accuses God of a lie when God accuses sin” (Luther). It was surely this way for Satan when he fell into his sin. “It’s not my fault!”—this is the shriek of his that the whole world hears with every temptation every day. Satan wants God to take the blame for Satan’s mistake. To repent is not his way, and so in his case repentance has been taken off of the table.

But God in his mercy still offers repentance to mankind. In repentance, he offers the gospel to each sinner. And it would be good for us to remember that the gospel is the same throughout the Bible. The message that is about to be spoken in front of Adam and Eve in just two verses (Genesis 3:15) is the same good news spoken through the prophets, the apostles, and through Christ himself.

• The work and power of Satan would be crushed by the descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15).
• This Savior would be a prophet like Moses, coming out of the nation of Israel (Numbers 24:17; Deuteronomy 18:18-19).
• This Savior would be the Son of God assuming a true human nature from the line of David, who would die for the sins of mankind, rise from the dead, ascend into heaven, and be placed at the right hand of God. This is foretold in the promise given to David (2 Samuel 7:1-17; 2 Chronicles 22) and is clearly stated in many places in the Psalms (Psalm 2, 8, 22, 45, 68, 89, 110).

Many other passages in the Old Testament depict this same saving Gospel, which of course is then revealed more clearly and directly in the Gospels and the Epistles of the New Testament. The ancient Levitical priesthood foreshadowed Christ (Hebrews 10:1). And Christ declared that “Moses wrote of me” (John 5:46). For salvation is found in no one else” (Acts 4:12). “We believe that we are saved through the grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord, just as the fathers also” (Acts 15:11).

When we put our trust in Jesus our Savior, we are throwing away all of our “Evy” and “Adamy” excuses. We are picking up the blame with our own hands, no longer laying it at each other’s feet, and especially not laying it at God’s feet, but confessing, “I have sinned, but I trust in Jesus my Savior to forgive me.” For if I ask for forgiveness, I cannot deny my guilt. This is why true repentance has its two parts: remorse and faith. For the wicked man “rages like the sea, casting up mire and mud” (Isaiah 57:20), but the righteous man who knows his guilt “cries for help in his distress” (Job 30:24). And God comforts us: “He who believes will not be ashamed” (Isaiah 49:23), and by “believes” the prophets can only mean “who believes in Christ for salvation.” For there is no salvation apart from Christ the Lamb of God (Revelation 7:10), there is no path to the Father except through him (John 14:6).

So we put our faith in him. We trust in him. We lay down our heads each night in sleep, asking him to watch over us. And this means that we can pray with absolute confidence, as my wife and I taught our children: “If I should die before I wake, I know that Lord my soul you’ll take.” Amen.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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