The Slanderer—for this is what the word "Devil" denotes—could not endure to tell the truth, and this is why he even slandered God. This is why he took the guise of the "most crafty of all the beasts on the earth" and said to the woman: "Wherefore hath God said, ‘Eat not of every tree of the garden?’" And the woman replied, "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"—that is, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’" And the serpent said to the woman, "Ye shall not surely die"—in other words, God is lying to you—"For God knew that in whatever day ye should eat of it, your eyes would be opened, and ye would be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:2-6).

But it is here precisely that the Devil lied and slandered God. In fact, it was indeed God’s ultimate purpose that man should become like unto Him, for as it says in the Wisdom of Solomon, "God created man for incorruption, and made him to be an image of His own eternity" (Wisdom 2:23); the sacred text then continues: "but by the envy of the devil death came into the world." And again, in the Psalms of David, it says, "I said: Ye are gods, and all of you the sons of the Most High," but, because of the malice of Satan, "like men ye die, and like one of the rulers do ye fall" (Ps. 81:6-7).

Thus, according to the Holy Scriptures, it was not God’s intent that man should become subject to corruption and death. As Saint Athanasius writes in his work, On the Incarnation of the Word of God, "God not only made us out of nothing, but He gave us freely—by the grace of the Word of God—a life corresponding to God’s" (On the Incarnation, 5:1). By grace, says the Saint, our life would correspond to God’s—that is, it would be incorruptible, immortal, everlasting, eternal. We would—by the grace of God—truly "be as gods."

God forbade Adam from partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not out of jealousy—as the serpent falsely declared to the woman—but because Adam was not yet sufficiently mature in discernment. When parents forbid their little children from touching something that is dangerously hot, for example, this prohibition is necessary as long as the children are immature and lacking in understanding. When the children have matured, the rule is superfluous.

Despite man’s fall, God was determined that His original plan for mankind should be accomplished, and this is why the great mystery of His Incarnation and Nativity as a man was brought to pass. Thus, as Saint Ephraim the Syrian writes:

Showing us the path to the Kingdom of everlasting life, the Most High God descended like a lightning bolt out of the clear sky (that is to say, He came forth from the holy Virgin) and in His own person being born as man, dying, and rising again, He destroyed the dominion of death, thereby restoring us to our original purpose: divine adoption.

In his Nativity Sermon, Saint Ephraim teaches us how those who are godlike servants of the Lord must follow Him Who has "sent redemption unto His people" (Ps. 110:8), and he says:

My beloved Orthodox Christians:

Nativity of Christ, 1999 Your fervent suppliant unto God,

Protocol Number 1620 X Metropolitan Ephraim