I think Adam and Eve sinned simultaneously
Question:
Dear Minister:
Adam and Eve Sinned Simultaneously. In "How Long Is A Day?" you said,
"If Eve was not the first to sin, then what do we do with Paul's proof in I Timothy 2:14?"
First, consider the source (Saul|Paul, aka 18 verses in Acts 22:24-29; 22:30; 23:1-5; 23:6-11).
Paul's argument started from the wrong place in the story. The original sin occurred when Adam and Eve heard the Serpent's word "gods/God." They were seduced simultaneously by the promise that they would be as gods, and they both sinned spiritually at the same time, lusting for godlike powers and eating and merging with the forbidden fruit in their hearts.
This understanding of the nature of sin comes straight from the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:28 regarding the commission of adultery in one's heart. Jesus raised the bar on sin. According to His doctrine, Eve did not sin first. If there is a physical component to sin, it is a secondary sin, downstream of the first appearance of that sin (the original sin) in the heart. So the world was already fallen, due to both Adam and Eve, by the time Eve physically ate the first bite of the forbidden fruit.
Also, Adam and Eve both knew God's command, so if Adam wasn't deceived, then neither was Eve. Did she say she was deceived? Liar. If Adam knew what he was doing, why did he do it? Did he say it was because Eve gave the fruit to him on a silver platter? Liar. Both of them were deflecting from the original sin in their hearts: the all-consuming desire to be God’s rivals.
Moreover, Adam was with Eve the whole time she was talking to the Serpent. He was ready and willing to eat when she gave the fruit to him. Why so fast? While she was eating, he was salivating, waiting to see if she would drop dead. He was already seduced by the Serpent and ready to act if she survived. She lived. He ate.
When God questioned Adam and Eve afterward, they each answered on the basis of their secondary physical sin (prompted by God: “Did you physically eat the fruit?”) and passed the buck. Jesus exploded this line of thinking. When Jesus stepped into the Garden of Eden story, He destroyed Sin and Death, rooting out all the lies, including the lies that Eve was deceived first and sinned first. He liberated women from the misogyny that flowed from such flawed thinking.
The Bible is a test. In I Timothy 2:14, Jewish pedagogue Saul|Paul presented the Old Testament view, casting the secondary sin as the original sin. This was a basic True or False question. As Christians, we need to study diligently to avoid falling into such traps.
Answer:
This elaborate argument's target is to justify ignoring what the apostle Paul stated about the role of women. Paul is a recognized apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
"Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction" (II Peter 3:14-16).
Peter classified Paul's writings among the Scriptures. We add to this the witness of Luke, who wrote both about Jesus (in Luke) and the early church (in Acts). You cited Luke's writings in Acts which document Paul's conversion from Judaism and his commission by Christ to preach to the Gentiles.
"If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment. But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized" (I Corinthians 14:37-38).
"For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:11-12).
Yet, here I find a woman who foolishly thinks that she has superior reasoning to that of a divinely inspired writer recording the words of God. You claim that Paul was teaching Judaism but Paul clearly states that he left Judaism (Galatians 1:13ff). You claim that Paul was teaching the Old Testament, but Paul proved on multiple occasions that the Old Law was finished (Romans 7:4; Galatians 3:26-27; Ephesians 2:14-15; Colossians 2:14).
Genesis 3:1-6 records the interaction between the serpent and Eve. Adam is not mentioned until the end of verse 6. But at the beginning of Genesis 3:6, we see that it specifically states that Eve lusted in three ways: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (I John 2:15-16). She then ate and gave some to Adam who also ate. You are not content with the account that God gave and added all sorts of imaginary details. And it is your made-up details that you argue your points.
"For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression" (I Timothy 2:13-14).
You stated that Eve wasn't deceived, Paul records that she was deceived. Who would any reasonable person accept? A proven apostle who had the power of the Holy Spirit, with multiple witnesses to back his claim, speaking the words of Christ or an unknown woman making assertions about events she knows almost nothing about?
Yes, Jesus stated that often sin originates with lust in Matthew 5:28. He elaborated on this in Mark 7:21-23. This doesn't change the fact that disobedient actions are also sins.
By the way, you overlooked something that God mentioned about Adam's sin: "Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life" " (Genesis 3:17). The reason Adam ate was that Eve persuaded him to eat. This means that Eve was convinced before Adam.
But there is another point that must be made: God condemned Adam for eating the fruit. He made no mention of Adam lusting. Adam and Eve were commanded not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16-17). There is no mention of a command to not lust, though we know that lust can proceed disobedience. Without a law, sin is not imputed to a person (Romans 5:12). "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds" (Romans 2:5-6).
All I see is a woman who can't stand the law of Christ that was recorded by Paul and so she makes up a story to convince herself that she doesn't have to listen to the portions of the New Testament that she doesn't like.
