Who Sinned
First—Adam or Satan?
by Bodie Hodge
When we look back
at Genesis, it is true that Satan rebelled, and also Eve sinned, prior to
Adam’s disobedience.
When Christians or
others speak of Adam as the first sinner, this comes from the Apostle Paul
where he states,
Therefore, just as through one man sin
entered into the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all
men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)
It means that sin
entered the world through Adam—that he is the one credited with sin’s entrance
and hence the subsequent entrance of death and suffering and the need for a
Savior—the last Adam (1 Corinthians
15:45).
When we look back
at Genesis, it is true that Satan rebelled, and also Eve sinned, prior to
Adam’s disobedience.
The Sin of Eve
There were several things that Eve did wrong prior to eating the fruit.
The serpent (who
was speaking the words of Satan) asked in Genesis
3:1, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat
of every tree of the garden’?”
Eve’s response was
less than perfect:
And the woman [Eve] said to the serpent, “We
may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it,
lest you die.’” (Genesis 3:2-3)
Compare this to
what God had commanded in Genesis
2:16-17:
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die.”
Eve made three
mistakes in her response:
1. She added the command not to touch the
fruit: “nor shall you touch it.” This
seems to be in direct contradiction with the command of Adam to tend the Garden
(Genesis 2:15), which would
probably constitute touching the tree and the fruit from time to time. It also
makes the command from God to be exceptionally harsh.
2. She omitted that God allowed them to freely eat
from every tree. This makes God out to be less
than gracious.
3. She amended the meaning of die. Let me explain. The Hebrew in Genesis
2:17 is “die die” (muwth–muwth), which is
often translated as “surely die” or literally as “dying you shall die,” which
indicates the
In other words, if they had eaten the fruit, then Adam and Eve would
have begun to die and would return to dust (which is
what happened when they ate in Genesis
3:19).
If they were meant to die right then, Genesis
2:17 should have used muwth only
once as is used in the Hebrew meaning dead, died, or die in an absolute sense,
and not beginning to die
or surely die as die-die is commonly used.
What Eve said was “die” (muwth) once instead
of the way God said it in Genesis 2:17 as
“die-die” (muwth–muwth). So she
changed God’s word to appear harsher again by saying they would die almost
immediately.
Often we are led
to believe that Satan merely deceived Eve with the statement that “You will not surely die?” in Genesis 3:4.
But we neglect the
cleverness and cunning that God indicates that the serpent had in Genesis 3:1.
Note also that the
exchange seems to suggest that Eve may have been willingly led. That is, she
had already changed what God had said.
If you take a
closer look, the serpent argued against Eve with an extremely clever ploy. He
went back and argued against her incorrect words using the phraseology that God
used in Genesis 2:17 (“die-die,
”muwth-muwth).
This, in a
deceptive way, used the proper sense of die that God stated in Genesis 2:17against Eve’s mistaken
view. Imagine the conversation in simplified terms like this:
God says: Don’t eat or you will begin to die.
Eve says: We can’t eat or we will die immediately.
Serpent says: You will not begin to die?
Eve says: We can’t eat or we will die immediately.
Serpent says: You will not begin to die?
This was very
clever of Satan—using God’s Words against her to deceive her. This is not an
isolated incident.
When Satan tempted
Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11), Jesus said, “It is written” and quoted Scripture (Matthew 4:4).
The second time,
Satan tried quoting Scripture (i.e., God) deceptively, just as he had done to Eve (Matthew 4:5-6).
Of course, Jesus
was not deceived, and corrected Satan’s twisted use of Scripture with a proper
use of Scripture (Matthew 4:7).
Because of Eve’s
mistaken response of God’s command, it was easier for her to be deceived by
Satan’s misuse of what God had said.
Another point that
can be brought out about Eve was her adoption of Satan’s reduction of “Lord God” to simply “God” in Genesis 3:3.
This mimicked the
way Satan addressed God when he questioned Eve in Genesis 3:1. Satan had degraded God by
not using the term God had used in Genesis
2:16-17 and Eve followed suit.
From her response,
though, she started down the slope into sin by
This culminated
with her eating the forbidden fruit and giving some to her husband, who also
ate. Eve sinned against God by eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil prior to Adam eating it.
However, upon a
closer look at the text, their eyes were not opened until after Adam ate—likely
only moments later (Genesis 3:7).
Since Adam was
created first (Eve coming from him, but both being created in God’s image), and
he had been given the command directly, and since he was the responsible party
for his wife, it required his sin to bring about the Fall of mankind.
When Adam ate and
sinned, they knew something was wrong and felt ashamed (Genesis 3:7).
Sin and death had
entered into the creation.
The Sin of Satan
Like Eve, Satan had sinned prior to Adam’s disobedience. His sin was
pride in his beauty (Ezekiel 28:15-17) and in trying to
ascend to be like God while in heaven (Isaiah 14:12-14). He was cast out when imperfection was
found in him (Isaiah 14:12; Ezekiel
28:15) and then we find his influence in the Garden
of Eden (Ezekiel 28:13; Genesis 3).
Unlike Adam, Satan
was never given dominion over the world (Genesis 1:28). So his sin did not affect the creation, but
merely his own person.
This is likely why
Satan went after those who were given dominion. Continuing in his path as an
enemy of God, he apparently wanted to do the most damage, so it was likely that
his deception of Eve happened soon after his own fall.
The Responsibility
of Adam
Adam failed at his responsibilities in two ways. He should have stopped
his wife from eating, since he was there to observe exactly what she was about
to eat (Genesis 3:6).
Instead of correcting the words of his wife (Genesis 3;17), he listened to
her and ate while not being deceived (1 Timothy 2:14).
We could also
argue that Adam failed to keep and guard the Garden as he was commanded in Genesis 2:15.
God, knowing Satan
would fall, gave this command to Adam, but Adam did not complete the task. God
knew that Adam would fall short and had a plan specially prepared.
Many people have
asked, “Why do we have to die for
something Adam did?”
The answer is
simple—we are without excuse since we sin, too (Romans 3:23, 5:12). This has caused
some to ask, “Why did we have to inherit
a sin nature from Adam, causing us to sin?”
We read the
following in Hebrews 7:9-10:
Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes
through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when
Melchizedek met him.
If we follow this
argument, then all of us were ultimately in Adam when he sinned. So, although
we often blame Adam, the life we have was in Adam when he sinned, and the sin
nature we received was because we were in Adam when he sinned. We share in the
blame and the sin, as well as the punishment.
But look back
further. Everyone’s life (including Eve’s) came through Adam and ultimately
came from God (Genesis 2:17).
God owns us and
gives us our very being (Hebrews 1:3), and it is He whom
we should follow instead of our own sinful inclinations.
Since the sin of
Adam, all men have had the need for a Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God who
would step into history to become a man and take the punishment for humanity’s
sin.
Such a loving act
shows that God truly loves mankind and wants to see us return to Him. God—as
the Author of life, the Sustainer of life, and Redeemer of life—is truly the
One to whom we owe all things.
Would you want to have a
deeper relationship with God?
God has made it possible for you to know Him
and experience
an amazing change in your own life by receiving His Son, Jesus Christ, and have
eternal life.
Say the following
prayer:
“Father God, I confess I
am a sinner and my sins have separated me from You.
I am truly sorry. I now want to turn
away from my past sinful life and live a new life pleasing to You.
Please forgive me, and
help me avoid sinning again.
I believe that Your Son,
Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and
hears my prayer.
I invite Jesus to become
the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Thank
You that according to your Word, I am now born again.
Please send Your Holy
Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. I
promise to study Your Word – the Bible.
Please use me for Your
glory.
In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.”
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THE ANSWER TO YOUR
PROBLEMS 
Is there evil at God’s hand?
Bodie
Hodge.
A
speaker, writer, and researcher for Answers in Genesis, Bodie Hodge has a
master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Southern Illinois University at
Carbondale.
https://answersingenesis.org/sin/original-sin/who-sinned-first-adam-or-satan/
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