Who Sinned First?

[William]

Adam or Eve?

[Miles]

What about the other version I mentioned. Do you still think Eve was the first to sin? After all Adam was with her and didn't say a word while the Serpent was tempting her. One sin lead to the other...

Your version.

Genesis 3:6, NASB: "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." Genesis 3:6, NLT:

Yes, I do think Eve was the first to sin. Considering that other translators do firmly establish the sequence by using the word "then," Eve followed by Adam; PLUS the way in which the whole verse is constructed, putting Eve's eating before Adam's eating (each separated by a semicolon no less in the NASB version) indicates she ate of the apple before Adam did. Moreover, some Bibles even separate the two by a period. denoting a separate action after her eating.

"The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it". ERV

If they had eaten of the fruit at the same time the verse would have better read ". . . . So she took some of the fruit from the tree and gave her husband, who was with her, some of it, and they ate it." But it doesn't!!


So, I see no reason to conclude Adam ate first or that they ate at the same time. However, I do see good reason to conclude that Eve ate first.


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[William]

What about the other version I mentioned. Do you still think Eve was the first to sin? After all Adam was with her and didn't say a word while the Serpent was tempting her. One sin lead to the other...

Your version.

Genesis 3:6, NASB: "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." Genesis 3:6, NLT:

Yes, I do think Eve was the first to sin. Considering that other translators do firmly establish the sequence by using the word "then," Eve followed by Adam; PLUS the way in which the whole verse is constructed, putting Eve's eating before Adam's eating (each separated by a semicolon no less in the NASB version) indicates she ate of the apple before Adam did. Moreover, some Bibles even separate the two by a period. denoting a separate action after her eating.

"The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it". ERV

If they had eaten of the fruit at the same time the verse would have better read ". . . . So she took some of the fruit from the tree and gave her husband, who was with her, some of it, and they ate it." But it doesn't!!


So, I see no reason to conclude Adam ate first or that they ate at the same time. However, I do see good reason to conclude that Eve ate first.


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The question wasn't who ate first. The question was who sinned first.

[PinSeeker]

The first sin was Adam's. Eve was merely deceived. Genesis 1:13 and says precisely this, and Paul is very clear about this, too, in 2 Corinthians 11:3 and 1 Timothy 2:14. Adam was not deceived, but deliberately disobeyed God. And I would assert that the second sin was Adam's also, for not acknowledging his sin and trying to shift fault to Eve. But Eve did not sin in eating -- because of Satan's deception -- and merely (<chuckles> "merely" ) became a sinner upon eating. This condition was bequeathed to all those who came after by Adam the federal head and progenitor of the human race.

Grace and peace to all.

[2timothy316]

[Replying to William in post #1]

Why does this matter? Eve sinned, Adam sinned. The sin of mankind is complete. Who cares who sinned first or second? The only reason the whole thread would matter is if one didn't sin. But that didn't happen did it. So, what is the point of this thread?

[theophile]

[Replying to William in post #1]

It was a joint action.

I asked "Who sinned first?" In relation to "joint action", which of the pair sinned first? Who crossed the line first. Who was first over the line?

They turned and hid from God together.

I asked "Who sinned first?" not "Who hid first?".

The bible does not specify who crossed the line first. Why does it matter?

That aside, the only way you're going to answer the question is by understanding what sin is (of which you've now received multiple responses).

For my part, I would argue that sin is not simply a matter of disobeying God (like eating the fruit against God's command). And that sin wasn't even possible until Adam and Eve's eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked. (Before this, Adam and Eve were children, and while children can misbehave and disobey they cannot be blamed.)

Rather, sin is a matter of what we do once our eyes are opened and we have knowledge of good and evil. It is in our reaction to realizing our nakedness / vulnerability / exposure to evil. Do we setup barriers between ourselves and the world / God, to keep the evil out and the good in? Like fig leaves or rocks that we run from God and hide behind? Or do we conquer the fear of being naked and take the risk of sharing what we have with the world? ...

With all respect to other posts in this thread, the serpent isn't the craftiest of wild creatures / a deceiver. Rather, it is the wisest of wild creatures because it was the nakedest. It was the only wild creature willing to overcome its fear of being naked and to come out into the open to share what it knew with Eve. (The original Hebrew and wordplays at work in the text attest to this.)

The problem, again, is when barriers are setup. When one sets oneself against the other as a result. When blame starts to fly back and forth, enmities form, and life becomes harder as a result. That is sin. And it was something, so far as the biblical testimony goes, that was done jointly by Adam and Eve at the moment they covered up and hid from God.

[Miles]

What about the other version I mentioned. Do you still think Eve was the first to sin? After all Adam was with her and didn't say a word while the Serpent was tempting her. One sin lead to the other...

Your version.

Genesis 3:6, NASB: "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate." Genesis 3:6, NLT:

Yes, I do think Eve was the first to sin. Considering that other translators do firmly establish the sequence by using the word "then," Eve followed by Adam; PLUS the way in which the whole verse is constructed, putting Eve's eating before Adam's eating (each separated by a semicolon no less in the NASB version) indicates she ate of the apple before Adam did. Moreover, some Bibles even separate the two by a period. denoting a separate action after her eating.

"The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it". ERV

If they had eaten of the fruit at the same time the verse would have better read ". . . . So she took some of the fruit from the tree and gave her husband, who was with her, some of it, and they ate it." But it doesn't!!


So, I see no reason to conclude Adam ate first or that they ate at the same time. However, I do see good reason to conclude that Eve ate first.


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The question wasn't who ate first. The question was who sinned first.

In post 6 I said, "Assuming that eating the fruit was a sin, it would be the word "then."

Your reply in post 7 was "So you are saying that according to the version you used...Eve was the first to sin?"

To which I said, "Yup."

And you replied in post 10, "What about the other version I mentioned. Do you still think Eve was the first to sin? After all Adam was with her and didn't say a word while the Serpent was tempting her. One sin lead to the other..."

Now, in as much as you never denied my assumption in post 6, and have continued the discussion as if I was correct, why should I consider that eating the fruit doesn't coexist with sinning? I shouldn't. So I'm taking your remark here as pointless baiting.

Have a good day.


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[William]

I will remind folk that the thread question is "Who sinned first?"

I am interested in the differing interpretations offered in answer to that particular question.

The question "Why does it matter who sinned first?" is for another thread.

[John Bauer]

Eve was merely deceived. ... But Eve did not sin in eating ...

I must interject here with a disagreement. Eve was deceived, yes, but she was not "merely" deceived. She knew what God had commanded and she deliberately disobeyed, as did Adam. That means she sinned in eating, making her a transgressor: "the woman was deceived and became a transgressor" (1 Tim. 2:14; cf. Rom. 7:7). Transgressions are willfull, deliberate, intentional sins (1 John 3:4; cf. James 4:17; Rom. 4:7 [Ps. 32:1] equates sin with lawlessness).

[William]

Eve was merely deceived. ... But Eve did not sin in eating ...

I must interject here with a disagreement. Eve was deceived, yes, but she was not "merely" deceived. She knew what God had commanded and she deliberately disobeyed, as did Adam. That means she sinned in eating, making her a transgressor: "the woman was deceived and became a transgressor" (1 Tim. 2:14; cf. Rom. 7:7). Transgressions are willfull, deliberate, intentional sins (1 John 3:4; cf. James 4:17; Rom. 4:7 [Ps. 32:1] equates sin with lawlessness).

1 Timothy 2:14, NIV: "And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner." ... 1 Timothy 2:14, NASB: "And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression."

This supports the understanding that Eve was deceived by the Serpent AND her husband who was with her at the time. According to the story. Therefore it could be said that Adam was the first to sin.

Romans 7:7, KJV: "What shall we say then? ... On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COVET.

Back in the garden, there was no law about coveting. Indeed there was no law mentioned about betraying Eve. Does that equate to Adam not sinning because there was no law which said he shouldn't use his wife in the way that he did?

[PinSeeker]

Eve was merely deceived. ... But Eve did not sin in eating ...

I must interject here with a disagreement. Eve was deceived, yes, but she was not "merely" deceived. She knew what God had commanded and she deliberately disobeyed, as did Adam. That means she sinned in eating, making her a transgressor: "the woman was deceived and became a transgressor" (1 Tim. 2:14; cf. Rom. 7:7). Transgressions are willfull, deliberate, intentional sins (1 John 3:4; cf. James 4:17; Rom. 4:7 [Ps. 32:1] equates sin with lawlessness).

Okay, point taken, sure. Regarding Eve, I did put "merely" in quotes, attempting, at least, to convey that what Eve did was no mere thing. She sinned, despite being the victim of deception; she became a transgressor.

So, I'll restate it thusly:

Adam, as husband and spiritual head of the wife...

• "...the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior..." (Paul, Ephesians 5:23)

...abdicated and failed in his God-given responsibility to Eve -- which he was well aware of -- as her husband and spiritual head to minister to her and keep her from sinning (or at least the attempt to do so). And further-- again drawing from what Paul says in Ephesians 5, namely in verses 25-27, that husbands are to...

• "...love (our) wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for Her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish..."

...Adam failed to own up to the responsibility he knew God had given him, even trying to shift blame to her and absolve himself of any wrongdoing. In short, Adam utterly failed at all this -- to be the protector, sanctifier, and redeemer of his wife that he was supposed to be. He only thought of his own self-justification, self-redemption, and self-preservation. And we can sum this up by saying that where Adam utterly failed, Christ, the second Adam, succeeded. And for this we can draw from Paul again in Romans 5 (emphasis added):

• "...just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned... death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come... For if many died through one mans trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one mans sin... For if, because of one mans trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one mans disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one mans obedience the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:12-19)

Incidentally, this should also answer 2timothy316's question above ("Why does it matter?") regarding the original question at hand ("who sinned first?").

Grace and peace to all.