Lives of Scripture

Eve is formed by God from Adam's rib after none of the animals proves to be a companion "corresponding to" Adam (Genesis 2:18-23); Adam names her "Woman" and later "Eve," "because she was the mother of all the living" (3:20). She and Adam are together commanded not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it is Eve the serpent approaches, twisting God's word ("Indeed, has God said...?") until she believes the fruit is "good for food... a delight to the eyes, and... desirable to make one wise" (3:1-6). She eats, gives some to Adam, who eats without objection, and the couple's eyes are opened -- not to wisdom, but to shame (3:7). When God confronts her, Eve names the deception honestly: "The serpent deceived me, and I ate" (3:13); Paul later notes specifically that Eve, not Adam, was deceived, while Adam sinned with full knowledge (1 Timothy 2:14) -- Scripture assigns the two of them different, not lesser, culpability. God's judgment on the serpent includes the first gospel promise in Scripture: Eve's offspring will one day crush the serpent's head, at the cost of being struck himself (3:15) -- a promise that looks forward to Christ. Eve is driven with Adam from Eden, bears Cain, Abel, and later Seth, and calls Cain's birth a gift "with the help of the LORD" (4:1) -- even after the fall, still trusting God for life.