Who Sinned First – Adam Or Satan?
Bodie
Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical
Authority Ministries, June 27, 2025 (Donate)
When
Christians or others speak of Adam being the first sinner, this refers to Paul’s
reflection of Genesis saying:
Therefore,
just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and
so death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12, NKJV, all passages)
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 and a last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). When
we look back at Genesis 3, it is true that Satan had rebelled and also the
Woman (later named Eve) sinned prior to Adam.
The Sin Of The Woman (Eve)
There
were several things that Eve did wrong prior to eating the fruit. When 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’?” her response was
less than perfect:
And the woman
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; emphasis added)
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.”
Besides
mimicking the serpent’s use of “God” instead of “Lord God”, the Woman made four
mistakes in her response:
1. She added the command not to touch the fruit “Nor shall you touch it”. This is in direct contradiction with the
command of Adam to tend the Garden (Genesis 2:15) which would constitute
touching the tree and the fruit from time to time. It also makes the command
from God to be exceptionally harsh.
2. She amended that God allowed them to freely eat from every
tree. This makes God out to be less than gracious.
3. She amended that God allowed them to freely eat from every
tree. Again, this makes God out to be less than gracious.
4. 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
beginning of dying, an ingressive sense.
In other words, if they would have eaten the fruit, then Adam and Eve would
have began to die and would return to
dust (which is what happened when they ate per 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/cunningness 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 correct
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 2:17 against 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?
This
was very clever of Satan using God’s Words deceitfully against her. This is not
an isolated incident either. When Satan tempted Jesus (Matthew 4), 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 said.
As
mentioned, another point that can be brought out about the Woman 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 the Woman in Genesis
3:1. Satan had degraded God by not using the term God had used in Genesis
2:16-17 and the Woman followed suit.
From
her response though, she started down the slope into sin by being enticed by her
own thoughts about the fruit (James 1:14–15). This culminated with her eating
the forbidden fruit and giving some to her husband, who also ate.
The
Woman sinned against God by eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil prior to Adam. However, at a closer look at the text—their eyes
were not opened until after Adam ate (Genesis 3:7)—likely only moments later
after they had a discussion (Genesis 3:17, “…heeded the voice of your wife…”).
Since
Adam was created first (the Woman coming from him, but both being created in
God’s image) and had been given the command directly and being the responsible
party for his wife, it required his sin to bring about the Fall of mankind.[1]
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 this. His sin was pride in his beauty (Ezekiel
28:15–17) and in trying to ascend and be like God (Isaiah 14:14) while in
heaven (Isaiah 14:12). He was cast out when imperfection was found in him
(Isaiah 14:12; Revelation 12:9; Ezekiel 28:15) and then we find his influence
in the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 28:13; Genesis 3). His sin followed the same progression
we read about in James 1:14-15.
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 immediately for 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 the Woman happened quickly.
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).
Adam
also arguably failed to keep/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. But God even 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). But then
some have asked: “Why did we have to inherit sin nature from Adam, which is why
we sin?” We read in Hebrews:
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. (Hebrews 7:9–10)
If
we follow this logic, 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. The life that we (including Eve) have 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 this sin of Adam, we 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 feat shows that God truly loves mankind and wants to see us return to Him. God—being the Author of life, the Sustainer of life, and Redeemer of life—is truly the One we owe all things.
Originally here: https://answersingenesis.org/sin/original-sin/who-sinned-first-adam-or-satan/;
Edited; Republished by permission.
[1]
Further to this, there are two views. 1. The world and their perceptions were
not changed partially because Adam, who was still perfect and hadn’t eaten yet,
was also in a position of dominion. Had
Adam sinned first, then it is possible that the same type of scenario could
have occurred. In other words, had Adam eaten first, then when the Woman would
have eaten, then they would have been ashamed, sin enter, etc. When both of
those who had dominion fell, then the extend of their dominion also felt
repercussions, but so long as one of them still had perfection, then the world
did not appear subjected to it – likely for the sake of the other. This is why when Adam ate, they then felt
ashamed. 2. Another view though is
possible, in that Adam, being the federal head for both he and his wife (1
Corinthians 11:8-12), was the only one required to eat to cause sin and death
to enter. Regardless, when Adam ate, sin, shame, and death entered the creation
in full force (Romans 5:12).
