I recently came across two different people referring to Adam & Eve’s act of eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden as an act of rebellion.
One said, “Humans chose to rebel while in paradise.” and the other said “Adam and Eve…rebelled against the wisdom and authority of the Creator…”. That prompted me to respond.
Did Adam & Eve really “rebel”?
In my mind “rebellion” is a strong word — a willful word. When I look up the word “rebel” as a verb, I find “resist” or “rise up in opposition”. It seems to me that behavior is more active than passive.
Also, typically, I think, a rebel is someone who doesn’t care about the consequences for their actions. And from what I see in that story Adam & Eve don’t strike me as not caring about the consequences.
The story opens with the serpent being the first to say something. He simply asked a question and Eve answered it. Then, when the Serpent contradicted what God had told them regarding the consequence for eating the forbidden fruit, she apparently believed they wouldn’t surely die and lent an ear to him.
I think some preachers & Bible teachers might home in on the serpent’s reference to “being as gods”, as if he was trying to play into some lustful power-hungry desire within Eve, but I don’t think that’s what was happening.
Eve was a woman, and I think the serpent was playing into her feminine attributes. He sought to dispel any fears she might have had about death and led her to consider becoming wise — which I don’t think desiring to be wise is a bad thing.
Eve’s mistake was believing the serpent when he said she wouldn’t surely die. Then, she used her own rationale and partook of the forbidden fruit.
I don’t think she was persuaded to rebel against God’s authority. I think she was dissuaded from avoiding what she thought was a good thing.
As for Adam, his mistake was heeding the voice of his wife despite what God had told him.
Yes, they both used their free will to eat the forbidden fruit, but I don’t think they did so with the intent of defying God’s wisdom & authority. I think they just believed the serpent rather than the word of their Maker and acted accordingly.
I’m not excusing them. I’m just pointing out a different perspective.
What do you think?
