The narrative of the first man and the first woman, placed in a garden with every tree permitted to them but one, of the persuasion that leads them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and of the shame, the questioning and the expulsion that follow. Genesis tells it with a speaking serpent, a curse laid on the ground and on childbirth, and cherubim set at the entrance so that the way to the tree of life is closed. The three traditions that inherit the story read its consequences very differently: Christianity develops from it a doctrine of a fallen human nature transmitted to all descendants, Judaism reads it as the beginning of human moral responsibility rather than of inherited guilt, and Islam places the garden outside the earth, names Iblis rather than a serpent as the tempter, and holds that Adam repented and was forgiven, so that no guilt passes to those born after him.
Facts
History
Historical NoteThe doctrine of original sin transmitted to all descendants, which Christianity draws from this narrative, was substantially developed by Augustine of Hippo in the early fifth century, in debate with Pelagius, rather than being fully articulated in the text of Genesis itself. 3 Historical NoteThe serpent that persuades Eve is not named as Satan anywhere in the Genesis text itself, an identification that develops later, chiefly through the Book of Revelation and subsequent Christian interpretation, and is absent from the earliest Jewish reading of the same passage. 1 Text
Source TextQur'an 2:35 to 2:38, 7:19 to 7:25 and 20:115 to 20:123 2 Scholarship and Forensics
Scholarly NoteChristianity draws a doctrine of inherited fallenness from the episode, Judaism does not, and Islam holds that Adam repented and was forgiven so that no guilt is inherited 3 Scholarly NoteThe Hebrew word tsela, translated rib in most English versions of the account of Eve's creation, is used elsewhere in the Bible to mean a side or a chamber wall, so some translators and commentators read the passage as describing Eve formed from one whole side of the primal human rather than from a single bone. 1 Meaning
Central MotifA prohibition, a persuasion, and an expulsion from a garden 1 Controversy
Point in DisputeGenesis itself gives two different orders of creation: in the first account humankind, male and female together, is made last, after the animals, while in the second Adam is formed first, the animals after him, and Eve last of all from his rib. 1 Sources
Primary SourceThe Genesis narrative survives complete in the Masoretic Hebrew text and, in an earlier and sometimes divergent form, among the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran, some copied more than a thousand years before the Masoretic tradition was fixed. 1 Learn More
The Tree, the Serpent, and the Expulsion
The man is placed in a garden planted eastward in Eden and told to work it and keep it. Every tree is his to eat from except one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the penalty attached to it is death on the day he eats. A woman is made because it is not good for the man to be alone and because none of the animals is a fit counterpart. The serpent, described only as the most subtle of the creatures God had made, opens by misquoting the prohibition as covering every tree, draws the correction out of the woman, and then contradicts the penalty directly: they will not die, but their eyes will be opened and they will be like God, knowing good and evil. She eats, gives to the man who is with her, and their eyes are opened, at which the first thing they know is that they are naked.
What follows is a scene of questioning rather than of immediate punishment. God walks in the garden at the breeze of the day, calls, and receives evasion: the man blames the woman and, in the same breath, the God who gave her to him; the woman blames the serpent. Sentences are then pronounced in reverse order of the eating, on the serpent, on the woman and on the ground for the man's sake, and the pair are put out of the garden lest they eat also of the tree of life and live for ever, with cherubim and a turning sword of flame set to guard the way back.
Three Traditions, Three Consequences
The three traditions that inherit the narrative disagree less about what happens in it than about what it does to everyone afterward. Christian theology, working from a line in Paul about death entering the world through one man, developed the doctrine that human nature itself was damaged by the act and that the damage is transmitted, a position given its most influential form by Augustine and carried into Western Christianity through the debates over baptism and grace. Eastern Christian traditions inherited the same texts but generally emphasise inherited mortality rather than inherited guilt, which is one of the older differences between East and West.
Jewish reading has no doctrine of original sin. The rabbis treat the episode as the beginning of human moral responsibility and of the struggle between competing inclinations within each person, and hold that every individual stands or falls on their own account; the passage is not read in synagogue as an explanation of a fallen condition. Islamic tradition places the garden outside the earth rather than in it, has Iblis rather than a serpent do the tempting, and holds that both the man and his wife were addressed together, which removes the asymmetry of blame that Western Christian reading built on the order of the eating. Adam then receives words from his Lord and turns in repentance, and is forgiven, so that in Islamic theology no descendant inherits any guilt at all and each person is born in an original disposition toward God.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Iblis, Figures The tempter in the Qur'anic telling, where no serpent appears
Belongs to Tradition
Originated In
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.