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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Six — the temptation and fall

QUESTION II. Whose sin was graver, Adam's or Eve's

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QUESTION II. Whose sin was graver, Adam's or Eve's.1

QUAESTIO II. Utrius peccatum gravius fuerit, Adami ne, an Evae.

Sed age, peccatum Adami cum Evae peccato comparemus. Enimvero si ad personam utriusque & ad damnum ex utriusque peccato consecutum respectus habeatur, non est dubitandum, quin multo gravius fuerit peccatum Adami, quam Evae: etenim longe sapientior erat Adamus quam Eva, & perspicacior ad internoscendum bonum a malo, omnesque diaboli etiam occultissimas artes & fraudes dispiciendas atque discutiendas, fortior item erat ad omnes tentationes superandas, pluribusque ac maioribus Deo beneficiis obligatus cum esset, observantiore eum divinorum praeceptorum, atque obsequentiorem esse oportebat, denique constituerat eum Deus quasi caput Evae, quam scilicet, ipse ignorantem erudiret, errantem corrigeret, vacillantem confirmaret, lapsam erigeret.
But come, let us compare Adam's sin with Eve's. Indeed, if regard is had to the person of each and to the harm that followed from the sin of each, there is no doubt that Adam's sin was much graver than Eve's: for Adam was far wiser than Eve, and more perspicacious in distinguishing good from evil, and in discerning and scrutinizing all even the most hidden arts and frauds of the devil; he was likewise stronger in overcoming all temptations; and since he was bound to God by more and greater benefits, he ought to have been the more observant of the divine precepts and the more obedient; finally, God had appointed him as it were the head of Eve, whom he was to instruct when ignorant, correct when erring, confirm when wavering, and raise up when fallen.2
Iam vero, iustitiae originalis & immortalitatis amissio, necessitas moriendi, & innumerabilia mala perpetiendi, contagioque peccati in omnem transfusi posteritatem, denique totius corruptela naturae, non ob Evae, sed ob Adami peccatum consecuta sunt. Si enim Adamus non peccasset, nihil peccatum Evae, aut ipsi Adamo aut posteris eius nocuisset. Nam quod in lib. Eccl. c. 25. proditum est, Propter mulierem, id est, propter Evam, omnes homines mori: intelligendum est, sicut in scholis loquimur, occasionaliter, non causaliter seu meritorie. Eva enim occasionem Adamo praebuit peccandi, ex cuius peccato accidit mors, sicut dixit Paulus ad Ro. 5. Per unum hominem peccatum in hunc mundum intravit: & per peccatum mors. atque hoc ipsum non obscure indicatur illo ipso loco Ecclesiastici, cum prius dicitur, A muliere initium peccati: Et deinde subditur, Per illam enim omnes morimur.
Now indeed, the loss of original justice and immortality, the necessity of dying and of suffering innumerable evils, the contagion of sin transfused into all posterity, and finally the corruption of the whole nature, followed not on account of Eve's sin, but on account of Adam's. For if Adam had not sinned, Eve's sin would have harmed nothing — neither Adam himself nor his posterity. For what is reported in the book of Ecclesiasticus, chapter 25, 'On account of the woman' (that is, on account of Eve) 'all men die,' must be understood, as we say in the schools, occasionally, not causally or meritoriously. For Eve provided Adam the occasion of sinning, from whose sin death came about, as Paul said (Romans 5): 'By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death.' And this very thing is not obscurely indicated in that same passage of Ecclesiasticus, when first it is said, 'From a woman is the beginning of sin,' and then is added, 'For through her we all die.'3
Auctor quaestionum Veteris & novi Testamenti, vulgo existimatus, sed falso, Augustinus, inter cuius scripta volumen illud fertur, in q. 83. scribit Adamum peccasse peccato idololatriae, quia voluit se Deum fieri: quod profecto falsum est. Non aliter dici potest Adamus peccasse peccato idololatriae, quam quivis hominum peccans mortaliter: ea scilicet, ratione, ut alium sibi quam Deum constituit ultimum finem, quem super omnia diligit, & ad quem sua omnia refert: quemadmodum Paulus de nonnullis dixit, Quorum Deus venter est: & alio loco avaritiam, idolorum servitutem appellavit. Non enim ita concupivit Adamus similitudinem Dei, ut Deus fieri vellet, & quasi Deus coli & adorari. S. Ambrosius in libro de Paradiso cap. 13. putat, diabolum voluisse Evam inducere ad idololatriam, iniecta animo eius multorum deorum opinione ac fide, cum dixit: Eritis sicut Dii, scientes bonum & malum.
The author of the Questions on the Old and New Testament — commonly, but falsely, thought to be Augustine, among whose writings that volume is reckoned — in question 83 writes that Adam sinned with the sin of idolatry, because he wished to make himself God: which is certainly false. Adam cannot be said to have sinned with the sin of idolatry otherwise than as anyone whatsoever who sins mortally: namely, in the sense that he set up for himself as his ultimate end something other than God, which he loves above all and to which he refers all his affairs — just as Paul said of some, 'Whose God is the belly,' and in another place called avarice 'the service of idols.' For Adam did not so covet likeness to God as to wish to become God, and to be worshiped and adored as God. St. Ambrose, in his book On Paradise, chapter 13, thinks that the devil wished to lead Eve into idolatry, by injecting into her mind the opinion and belief of many gods, when he said, 'You shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.'4
Verba eius sic habent: In quo licet advertere, idololatriae auctorem esse serpentem, eo quod plures Deos induxisse in hominum videatur errorem, quadam serpentis astutia, &c. Verum vox illa Dii, seu ut Hebraice est אלהים Elohim, posita est pro uno & vero Deo, sumpto nempe, quod nonnunquam fit in Sacris litteris, plurali numero pro singulari, vel ad denotandas divinas personas, ad quas pertinet, quod paulo infra dixit Deus, Ecce Adam quasi unus ex nobis factus est.
His words run thus: 'In which one may note that the serpent is the author of idolatry, in that he seems to have introduced many Gods into the error of men, by a certain craft of the serpent,' etc. But that word 'Dii' (Gods), or as it is in Hebrew אלהים (Elohim), is put for the one and true God — taken, namely (as sometimes happens in the sacred letters), in the plural number for the singular, or to denote the divine Persons, to which pertains what God said a little below, 'Behold, Adam is become as one of us.'5
Hugo sancti Victoris dixit, Adamum peccato avaritiae peccasse. Sed ample sumpsit nomen avaritiae, pro immoderata videlicet cupiditate habendi quodlibet bonum plus quam oportet. Qua significatione utitur nonnunquam vocabulo avaritiae Paulus, veluti sub finem primi capitis epistolae ad Romanos, & in quarto capite epistolae ad Ephesios, quibus locis Graece est vocabulum πλεονεξία, ductum a πλεονεκτεῖν, id est, a plus habendo: significans vitium, quo sibi quis plus arrogat, vel affectat quam ius est: aut potiores partes, fraudatis ceteris, occupat, aut saltem occupare studet tam in divitiis, quam in honoribus aliisque rebus. Vocabulum autem πλεονεξία, Latinus interpres alicubi vertit rapinam, aliubi fraudem, saepe avaritiam. De ea voce legendus est commentarius Hieronymi super illis verbis Pauli, capitis quarti epistolae ad Ephesios, In operatione omnis immunditiae, in avaritia: & rursus, Nec avaritia dominetur in vobis. Patet igitur quemadmodum Adami peccatum, quam Evae gravius fuerit.
Hugh of St. Victor said that Adam sinned with the sin of avarice. But he took the name 'avarice' broadly, namely for the immoderate desire of having any good whatever more than one ought. Paul sometimes uses the word 'avarice' with this signification, as toward the end of the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians — in which places the Greek word is πλεονεξία (pleonexia), derived from πλεονεκτεῖν (pleonektein), that is, from 'having more': signifying the vice by which one arrogates or affects to himself more than is right, or seizes the better portions, defrauding others, or at least strives to seize, as much in riches as in honors and other things. Now the Latin translator renders the word πλεονεξία in one place as 'rapine,' in another as 'fraud,' often as 'avarice.' On that word the commentary of Jerome should be read, on those words of Paul (Ephesians 4): 'In the working of all uncleanness, in avarice'; and again, 'Nor let avarice rule among you.' It is plain, therefore, how much graver Adam's sin was than Eve's.6
Peccatum autem Evae Caietanus leve admodum facit: explanans enim illa verba tertij capitis, Tulit mulier de fructu arboris, & comedit: affirmat primum illud Evae peccatum fuisse minimum, tum ex radice, hoc est, affectu libertatis: tum ex ratione peccandi, appetitu, scilicet similitudinis divinae: tum ex re appetita, quae fuit scientia boni & mali, tum ex specie actus exterioris, qui fuit comedere fructum pulchrum oculis, & ad vescendum suavem: tum ex causa peccandi, nimirum seductione serpentis: tum denique ex conditione peccantis, quia mulier erat. sic Caietanus.
But Cajetan makes Eve's sin quite light: for, explaining those words of the third chapter, 'The woman took of the fruit of the tree, and ate,' he affirms that that first sin of Eve was very small — both from its root (that is, the affection of liberty); from the reason of the sinning (namely the appetite of divine likeness); from the thing desired (which was the knowledge of good and evil); from the species of the external act (which was to eat a fruit beautiful to the eyes and sweet to eat); from the cause of sinning (namely the seduction of the serpent); and finally from the condition of the sinner, because she was a woman. Thus Cajetan.7
Veruntamen, si peccatum utriusque parentis nostri simpliciter & absolute pensemus, non modo grave fuisse peccatum Evae, sed etiam tribus de causis gravius quam Adami intelligemus. Primo enim peccavit infidelitate, id est, contra fidem, quae est virtus supernaturalis & Theologica: credens serpenti falsa, & impia de Deo loquenti, quinetiam mendacij, atque invidiae Deum insimulanti. Peccavit item ingenti stultitia & vaecordia, sperans se scientiam boni & mali, ac similitudinem Dei per esum fructus corporalis posse consequi. Denique peccavit in virum suum, blandis eum verbis & importunis precibus ad comedendum fructum vetitum illiciens atque impellens. Itaque prima omnis peccati & mortis, quae universum genus humanum pervasit occasio, ex Eva fuit.
Nevertheless, if we weigh the sin of each of our parents simply and absolutely, we shall understand not only that Eve's sin was grave, but even that for three reasons it was graver than Adam's. For first she sinned by infidelity, that is, against faith, which is a supernatural and theological virtue: believing the serpent as he spoke false and impious things about God — indeed, accusing God of lying and of envy. She sinned likewise with enormous folly and madness, hoping that she could attain the knowledge of good and evil, and likeness to God, by eating a bodily fruit. Finally she sinned against her own husband, enticing and impelling him with flattering words and importunate entreaties to eat the forbidden fruit. And so the first occasion of all sin and death, which pervaded the whole human race, was from Eve.8
Si quis autem propterea contendat, peccatum primorum hominum fuisse gravissimum omnium, quod gravissima poena sit mulctatum, id est, tot tantorumque bonorum amissione, & necessitate tot tantisque malis animi & corporis subiaciendi: sciat is eiusmodi poenam non respondisse peccato Adami secundum quantitatem propriae speciei, sic enim respondit poena aeterna inferni, quae non erat omnium maxima: sed ea duntaxat ratione, ut fuit primum peccatum, per quod, scilicet, sublata est iustitia originalis, & felix ille status innocentiae deperditus: cui malo, necessario cetera damna consequentia & connexa erant. Lege B. Thomam in 2.2. quaestione 165. articul. 3.
But if anyone should on that account contend that the sin of the first human beings was the gravest of all, because it was punished with the gravest penalty — that is, the loss of so many and so great goods, and the necessity of being subjected to so many and so great evils of soul and body — let him know that such a penalty did not correspond to Adam's sin according to the magnitude of its own species (for in that respect the eternal penalty of hell corresponds, which was not the greatest of all), but only in this respect, that it was the first sin, through which, namely, original justice was taken away and that happy state of innocence lost: to which evil the other consequent and connected harms were necessarily attached. Read St. Thomas in the Secunda secundae, question 165, article 3.9

Translator’s notes

  1. Second Quaestio of the disputation (set off by a horizontal rule). Catchword: 'Sed' (the answer begins on the next page). ↩
  2. QUAESTIO II answered: Adam's sin was graver — he was wiser, stronger, more obligated, and was appointed head of Eve. Marginal gloss: 'Peccatum Adami fuit gravius peccato Evae.' Running head misprinted '651'; true printed page 661. ↩
  3. The ruin of the race followed from Adam's sin, not Eve's. Sirach 25:33 ('Propter mulierem... omnes homines mori'; 'A muliere initium peccati... per illam omnes morimur') is read 'occasionally, not causally.' Rom 5:12. Marginal gloss: 'Si Adamus non peccasset, peccatum Evae non nobis nocuisset.' ↩
  4. Pseudo-Augustine (Quaestiones Veteris et Novi Testamenti, q.83) wrongly claims Adam sinned by idolatry; refuted (he sinned by idolatry only in the sense any mortal sin sets up a false ultimate end: Phil 3:19 'Quorum Deus venter est'; Col 3:5 avarice = idolatry). Ambrose, De paradiso 13. Marginal glosses: 'Adam non peccavit... peccato idololatriae'; 'Philipp. 3.' ↩
  5. Ambrose (De paradiso 13) on the serpent as author of idolatry, refuted: 'Dii' / אלהים (Elohim) denotes the one true God in the plural of majesty, or the divine Persons (cf. Gen 3:22, 'Ecce Adam quasi unus ex nobis'). HEBREW GLYPH verified by magnification: reads right-to-left א-ל-ה-י-ם = אלהים (Elohim, 'God'); printed immediately followed by its Latin transliteration 'Elohim' (the same word seen earlier on printed p. 639). Marginal gloss: 'Ambrosius censuit serpentem voluisse inducere Evam in errorem & impietatem idololatriae.' Catchword: 'HUGO'; page footer signature 'OOO 3'. ↩
  6. QUAESTIO II continued. Hugh of St. Victor held Adam sinned by 'avarice' (taken broadly = Greek πλεονεξία, covetousness), as in Paul (Rom 1:29; Eph 4:19; cf. Eph 5:3). GREEK GLYPHS verified by magnification: πλεονεξία (pleonexia, π-λ-ε-ο-ν-ε-ξ-ί-α, 'covetousness/greed', appears twice) and the verb πλεονεκτεῖν (the print shows the early-modern form πλεονεχτεῖν, 'to have more'). Marginal glosses: 'Hugo S. Victoris, quomodo dixerit Adamum peccasse per avaritiam'; 'Πλεονεξία quid' (What pleonexia is). Jerome on Eph 4:19 / 5:3. Running head misprinted '652'; true printed page 662. ↩
  7. Cajetan (Thomas de Vio), on Gen 3:6, judged Eve's first sin very light, on six counts (root, reason, object, species, cause, condition). Marginal gloss: 'Caietanus de levi peccato Evae cur existimet.' ↩
  8. Against Cajetan: considered simply and absolutely, Eve's sin was graver than Adam's in three respects — (1) infidelity (against the theological virtue of faith), (2) enormous folly, (3) corrupting her husband. Eve was the first occasion of all sin and death. Marginal gloss: 'Tripliciter gravius peccatum Evae, quam Adami.' (Note: this nuances QUAESTIO II — by person and effect Adam's sin was graver, but considered in itself Eve's was graver in these three ways.) ↩
  9. The penalty's severity reflects not the species of the sin but that it was the FIRST sin (which removed original justice and entailed all the consequent harms). Citation: Aquinas, Summa 2a2ae q.165 a.3. Marginal gloss: 'Peccatum primorum hominum cur non fuerit omnium gravissimum, gravissima tamen poena sit mulctatum.' Catchword: 'Aperti' (the next lemma begins on the next page). ↩