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NASB | Genesis 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree]." [2 Cor 11:3; 1 Tim 2:14] |
Subject: Would Adam and Eve have fallen? |
Bible Note: Dear Brian, Pre-fallen man, did, indeed, have the freedom (i.e., unfettered, un-predisposed will) to choose to obey. However, it was not a simple matter of human intellect. We know that Eve was deceived (1 Timothy 2:13-14). When the fundamental premises in a syllogism are false, no matter how proper the logic, the outcome cannot be dependable. Furthermore, we know from the account in Genesis 3:6 that the three broad categories of sin (lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16)) were all contributing factors. A far more difficult question is why Adam, and Satan before him, voluntarily chose sin. How can a will that is right -- as their wills were originally created in them -- become perverted to sin while it is still right? This is a mystery, and I am not fully persuaded that theologians -- regardless of their predispositional camp -- have adequately settled it. (I was reading R. L. Dabney on the topic this afternoon, but I am not sufficiently acquainted with some of the philosophical language to fully grasp what he has to say on the topic.) However, I do understand basic causality. Consequently, I can assert that Scripture holds the formal cause of the fall to be Satan's influence, while the material cause was the disobedience of our First Parents. Satan originated sin, not man, because of his original rebellion (see Ezekiel 28:11-19; Jude 6a; 1 John 3:8; etc.). In Him, Doc |