Adam and Eve

“Eve and Adam decide the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is more desirable than their relationship to God. God told them not to eat his fruit, but they decided to ignore God and focus on the fruit instead. In that action these first humans also idolized themselves and decided they could turn away from God and that they themselves could divinize humanity without God.  A strange decision since God had created them so they could become divinized and be united to God and share in God’s Triune life and love. God was not withholding the divine life from them, nor had God threatened to do so. Humans decide to love “the fruit – a created thing – rather than to love the Creator of the invaluable fruit. Idolizing creation and themselves, they decide they can live without God. That turns out to be a lie for God is the giver of life.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)

“… this forbidden fruit represented the heights of mystical knowledge, which God planned to give to Adam and Eve when they had matured. However, by trying to take it before she was ready to receive this knowledge in communion with God, Eve lost the possibility of having the very thing she desired…Many are under the mistaken assumption that God punishes us, that He caused Adam and Eve to die. No my brothers and sisters. God warned them and He warns us of the consequences of choosing a path apart from Him. He warns us of choosing a life without Him. It won’t end well. It can’t end well. He knows this because He is the author of life and the author of us.” (St. Gregory the Theologian, Dr. Mary S. Ford, Fr. James Guirguis)

“When Adam and Eve sinned, the physical world became untethered from human rulership, subject to the corrupting influences of chaos and disorder. At the same time, the human spirit lost its intimate connection to God’s Spirit. This meant that the bodies of men and women no longer obeyed their spirits but became subject to the fallen soul. Corruption resulted: a disintegration and pulling apart of the unity humans had enjoyed in Eden. This fragmentation manifests itself in everything from sickness and disease to our enslavement to sinful passions.” (Robin Phillips) 

“Adam and Eve don’t know what death is, though, so God kills an animal in front of them to show them what will happen. He clothes them in “garments of skin,” which does not mean that they start wearing leather made from the animal just killed, but rather that their bodies become mortal, changing to become like the bodies of animals (which are already mortal). This is the moment when death becomes part of human experience, and it has many implications, including that the simple act of obtaining food will now require hard labor and that childbirth will be painful.” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)

“Shame is the “unbearable” emotion. It is the deep pain we feel in association with “who we are.” It is an extreme vulnerability and nakedness. Our deepest instinct in the face of shame is to hide. That is precisely what Adam and Eve do after their sin in the Garden: So the man said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Gen 3:10). God Himself does not shame the man and woman. Indeed, in the conversation with Adam, God directs Adam’s attention to what he has done (guilt): “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat?” Adam’s attention is on his shame (nakedness). And his shame is a distraction. God’s direct attention is to the action and the need to understand and deal with its consequences. But even when Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden, God covers their nakedness, providing them “tunics of skin.” God covers their shame.” (Father Stephen Freeman)

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