Genesis 3 describes a story in the Garden of Eden.
In a common traditional Protestant interpretation, Satan, in the form of a
snake, convinces Eve that God has lied to her and her partner Adam concerning
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It convinces her to eat the
fruit of the tree so that they will become as gods. . Adam later follows suit.
By this act, sin entered the world for the first time. With it, death also
enters the world. (The Church has taught that before this event, animals lived
forever, and without bloodshed.) God curses the snake, Adam, Eve and even the
earth itself. The sin of Adam and Eve becomes imputed to all of the
descendents of the original couple i.e. the entire human race to the present
day. This is often described as the fall of humanity. A massive gulf was
created by Adam and Eve's disobedience which can only be bridged by the
salvation offered by Jesus Christ.
The Roman Catholic Church deviates somewhat from the
Protestant interpretation. They acknowledge that Genesis 3 is not a precise
historical account of the events involving the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil. However, they teach that it is based on a historical event.
"The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms
a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of
man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human
history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents."
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In a liberal interpretation, the entire story is viewed as a religious
myth: a legend that is spiritually significant, but is of a series of events that never
happened. This approach leads to many possible interpretations of Genesis 3.
Three are:
It describes the rise, not the fall, of humanity. It portrays God as having created Adam and Eve
as proto-humans. They were not fully human because they lacked a moral sense
-- the main difference between humans and the rest of the animal world.
They had no concept of right or wrong. God deceived Adam and Eve into
believing that the fruit of the tree was poisonous. A very intelligent and
helpful animal, a snake, convinced Eve of the truth: that the fruit was not
poisonous, but that she would gain knowledge of good and evil if she ate it.
Both Eve and Adam ate the fruit and did indeed develop a moral sense for the
first time. This was an attribute previously restricted to the gods. God was
enraged and in a fit of rage cursed the snake, Adam, Eve and even the
ground itself. The snake is the hero of the story. Adam and Eve advanced
from an animal-like status with no moral sense into full humanity.
Genesis is an allegory. It describes the process that every
generation of humans goes through as they mature into adulthood. The
start in a family of origin, helpless, innocent, in an atmosphere of
security, and blindly following the expectations of their parents. When
they become teens, they start to build up a head of steam. They question
their parents, experience new levels of conflict within the family,
develop their own goals and ethics, and finally leave their home to
strike out on their own.
Genesis is an allegory. It describes the transition of the human
race from a state of innocence, where people lived as near-animals. They
were initially unaware of their own mortality; they had no concept of a
moral sense; they were nomadic hunters and gatherers who lived off the
land. After the transition they had a moral sense. They realized that
their life on earth was finite. They settled down and became farmers.
We will deal in depth with the first of these interpretations.
