Re: Eve's First Response

Recently, Bob Gonzales, dean of Reformed Baptist Seminary, wrote an article titled "Did Eve's First Response to the Serpent Betray a Sinful Attitude?" I encourage anyone reading this post to read Dean Gonzales' article, which is found HERE.

In a recent post on sola Scriptura, I wrote the following on Eve's first response to the Serpent:

We see the project of adding to God's commands initiated during the first temptation. Whereas God had said, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:" (Gen 2:17a), in relating God's command to the serpent, under pressure, Eve added to God's command and said, "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it" (Gen 3:3b, emphasis added). By adding to God's words, the sufficiency of what God had said was called into question. The addition of "neither shall ye touch it" seemed to be a good idea (it is certainly hard to eat fruit off of a tree if you never touch the fruit), but such a prohibition added an extra burden to the conscience, and thus the woman had been placed in a position to do exactly what the tempter desired: namely, to question the goodness of God.

Now, obviously, my take on the text differs somewhat from what Dean Gonzales has written. Whereas Gonzales believes Eve's response to be (it seems) entirely appropriate, I would argue that the way Eve represented what God had said was inaccurate and that this inaccurate representation left Eve vulnerable to the Serpent's continuing temptation.

I agree with Dean Gonzales that Eve's response did not betray a sinful attitude. I think that Gonzales makes a good point in saying, "Eve does not experience shame and guilt until after eating the fruit (3:7)." So to speak of Eve's response as if it arose from a sinful heart is inaccurate; I do believe that some preachers have go too far in the inferences that they draw from this text concerning the reasons for Eve's statements.

On the other hand, Paul clearly writes, "the woman being deceived fell into transgression" (1 Tim 2:14b). So the woman was deceived before she fell into transgression. I believe that the way Eve spoke to the Serpent did not come from a sinful attitude, but it does seem to come from confusion, which was brought about by the Deceiver.