I learned Satan tricks us and often does this by including a morsel of truth in his lies, as well as withholding information. God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or they would die. Here is how Satan spun this truth: “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die (this was a partial truth). For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened (this was the morsel of truth) and you will be like God (lie), knowing good and evil (truth).’” (Genesis 3:4 Berean Study Bible).
The partial truth? Man’s body would not die. The morsel of truth? Man’s eyes would be opened. The full truth? Man would know good and evil. And the truth that was withheld? Man’s body would not immediately die from eating the forbidden fruit, but his spirit would, permanently separating man from God. Up until this time, man was not exposed to evil. By eating the fruit, evil was now revealed.
God was protecting us from the truth of evil, just as a parent protects a child by sometimes telling them “no” for their own good. If a child disobeys, they then suffer the consequence of that disobedience, with either temporary or permanent harm to themselves. God knew if man ate from the tree of good and evil, man would now SEE evil. Physical and spiritual death would enter the world, sin would enter man, and man would become separated from God’s presence. God was trying to protect man and keep him FROM evil. But that protection would only come through man’s obedience to God. This passage reminds us of the greatest risk God took when creating man. He gave us a free will to choose our own way, and the way man chose leads to death.