Short Answer: Who did man become more like when he ate of the forbidden fruit?

In Genesis 2:7, when God breathed the breath of life into man, he became a living soul. However, when man sinned, he lost one of his lives. The Hebrew word “chayiym” (חַיִּים) — translated life in verse 7 — is a plural noun, signifying that God gave man not just a singular kind of life but plural lives: both a natural life and a spiritual life. The devil deceived Adam, promising him godlike qualities through eating the forbidden fruit, but in reality, Adam experienced death that very day, losing part of his divine essence, because he ate the forbidden fruit. Sin always leads to death (Romans 6:23).

In Genesis 3:22, when God remarked that man had become like “one of us,” it wasn’t a reference to becoming like God but rather resembling the devil, who was in the garden and is characterized by deception and disobedience. When man sins, he falls into the devil’s trap, granting him a temporary victory. Jesus accurately identified the devil as a murderer and the father of lies (John 8:44). Ephesians 2:2 speaks of the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, alluding to the devil’s influence on those who reject God’s ways. Eating the forbidden fruit made man move further from God, towards evil.

scripture Outline:

• Gen. 2:7 when God breathed into man the breath of life man became a living soul but when ma sinned he lost one of his lives
  • Life in v. 7 – chayiym (חַיִּים)
    • Yod & Mem ים or Mem ם at the end of a word can make that word plural (like our “s”
      • Ex. Elohim םי הלא ended with yod and mem — the plurality of God
      • Abraham ended with mem — father, son (generations) to come from him
        • Ab בא – father
          • א Aleph
          • ב Beth
        • Bar ב – son
          • ב Beth
          • ר Resh
        • Mem ם – plurality
• When God breathed into him the breath of life (not singular), but He breathed into man giving him plural life — chayiym חַיִּ֑םי
  • Chayiym חַיִּ֑םי is spelled (from right to left)
    • ח Chet
    • י Yod
    • י Yod
    • ם Mem
• Chayiym (life) is a Hebrew PLURAL noun because God breathed into him not a singular kind of life but PLURAL LIFE (a natural life and a spiritual life)
• The devil promised Adam when he ate the forbidden fruit he would become more like God but in reality the day he ate he died, lost part of the godness he had
  • The wages of sin is always death (Rom. 6:23)
• Gen. 3:22 – “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us…”
  • The serpent, the devil, was the one in the garden who man became more like
  • When man sins, he gets tricked and the devil wins a victory for a moment
  • God didn’t say he became like ALL of us but he only became like “ONE of us”
• Sin made us more like the devil
  • Jesus was accurate when he said, “Ye are of your father the devil… He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him…” (John 8:44)
  • Eph. 2:2 – “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience”