Surely live or surely die??

[rwc109]

God tells Adam that he will sutrely die if he eats the fruit, Satan disagrees ... who was right?

Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Ezekiel seems to side with Satan's version! :-

Eze 33:13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
Eze 33:14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;
Eze 33:15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Eze 33:16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely

 

[Patristic]

In the Hebrew it is made clear that God and Satan are talking about different concepts of death. When God told Adam that he could not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he said that on the day that he ate of it he would die die. The Hebrew repeats the same word for death twice to point out that this would be a severe form of death. When the Serpent tells Eve that she would not die when she ate the fruit, he only says you will not die, not die die as God had said. Therefore, this has led most to believe that God was speaking of spiritual death, but Satan was speaking of physical death.