The “Problem”

The Genesis account of the Fall indicates that Eve ate the fruit first. This has led many people throughout history and even in our modern times to believe that she was the person responsible for ancestral sin (often called original sin). You have likely heard the old canard, “We wouldn’t be in this mess [meaning the general sinfulness of our fallen world] if it weren’t for a woman.” But is that an accurate statement? Is Eve to blame for ancestral sin?

> So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)

This verse makes it clear that Eve was the first to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God had told Adam not to eat from the tree, but Eve also had knowledge of this (Genesis 3:2–3). Adam ate but only after Eve. From this verse alone it might be easy to think that Eve is indeed to blame for ancestral sin since she sinned first. Some have said that verses in the New Testament also support the idea that Eve is to blame because Eve was deceived and Adam was not.

> For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Timothy 2:13–14)

> But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

The Solution

However, Eve being deceived does not necessarily imply that she is to blame for the entry of sin and death into the world. If anything it might be tempting to think the opposite—that because Eve was deceived while Adam knew full well what he was doing that his sin is worse, and he should be blamed. However, the Bible never states that Adam’s sin was worse than Eve’s. Both were punished for their sin, and humanity inherited the consequences: mortality and a fallen nature prone to sin (Genesis 3:16–19).

It is necessary to look at other passages in both the Old and New Testaments to understand why Adam is seen as the one through whom death entered the world.

Adam was created first from the dust of the ground, and Eve was created from a rib taken from Adam’s side (Genesis 2:7, 21–22). As the first-formed and head of his family, it was Adam’s responsibility to protect and provide for his family. This leadership role was clearly demonstrated when God talked with Adam and Eve following their sin. Even though Eve sinned before Adam, God questioned Adam first (Genesis 3:9). Adam was held responsible, not only for his own disobedience, but for the fall of the family.

In the New Testament, Adam is clearly presented as the progenitor of mankind through whom mortality entered. The following passages state that Adam is the person through whom sin and resulting death entered the world:

> For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
>
> And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:21–22, 45)

> Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
>
> For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (Romans 5:12, 15)

Just as sin and death came through one man, Adam, it is also through one man, Jesus Christ, that grace and life are given as free gifts to humanity. The naming of Christ as the Last Adam and the multiple comparisons of Adam to Christ would be invalid and nonsensical if the ancestral inheritance of death came primarily through Eve.

Interestingly, although Eve was the first to sin, the solution to sin came through “her Seed” (Genesis 3:15). The Seed, Jesus Christ, was born of a virgin named Mary. He defeated death and will redeem those who receive the salvation He offers.

Conclusion

Scripture makes it clear that sin and death entered this world through Adam, and thus he is the source of our ancestral inheritance of mortality, which Christ came to heal.