Verse 22. And he said, Behold, Adam has become as one of us, knowing good and evil.¹

VERS. 22. Et ait, Ecce Adam quasi unus ex nobis factus est, sciens bonum & malum.

'This,' he says, 'is not to be understood otherwise than that, on account of the Trinity, the plural number is taken, as was said before, Let us make man; and the Lord says of himself and his Father, We will come to him, and make a mansion with him. It was therefore turned back upon the head of the proud one, by what outcome he had coveted what was said by the serpent, You shall be as gods: Behold, he says, Adam has become as one of us. These words are of God not so much insulting this one, as deterring the others lest they be so proud — for whose sake these things were written. For what else is to be understood, than that an example of striking fear was set forth: that he not only did not become such as he wished to be, but did not even preserve that which he had been made?' Thus Augustine.³

Hoc, inquit, non aliter intelligendum est, nisi ut propter Trinitatem numerus pluralis accipiatur, sicut prius dictum est, Faciamus hominem. & Dominus de se & Patre suo ait, Ad eum veniemus, & mansionem apud eum faciemus: Replicatum igitur est in caput superbi, quo exitu concupiverit, quod dictum est a serpente, Eritis sicut Dii: Ecce, inquit, Adam factus est quasi unus ex nobis. Verba sunt haec Dei non tam huic insultantis, quam ceteros ne ita superbiant, deterrentis, propter quos ista conscripta sunt. Quid enim aliud intelligendum est, nisi exemplum timoris incutiendi esse propositum, quod non solum non fuerit factus, qualis esse voluit, sed nec illud quod factus fuerat, conservavit? Haec Augustinus.

'So then, the man being now spiritually dead, and about to die bodily too, and made needy also of food and clothing alike, the same Lord God exclaims, Behold, Adam has become as one of us, knowing good and evil. "Behold" — which is the adverb of one pointing out — when the Lord God said it, strikes a great crash in the present to all who have ears for hearing. For what does he point out? Adam, he says, has become as one of us. In "Adam," which is interpreted "earthy," understand both the man and the woman together, because it is the common name of man and woman alike, as has already been said. What is, "He has become as one of us"? He has become as God. For the same Trinity here speaks, which also above spoke plurally to itself, saying, Let us make man to our image and likeness. The same Trinity, I say, here shows of what sort Adam has become by his own fault, as it had above proposed of what sort it wished to make him. It says therefore, As one of us: namely, of the three persons of the Trinity, one is the Father, one is the Son, one is the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. For the Father is one, the Son another, the Holy Spirit another. Adam therefore, says the Lord God, has become as one of us: so that we are now not a Trinity but a Quaternity — although not as God with God, but against God, did he aim to be God. This is a most grave, and (in the manner of the Lord God) too bitter, irony. For who, or of what sort, is Adam? Adam, already dead in soul and soon to die in body too, needy of food, and necessarily covered and to be covered with clothing. But any of us, whether Father, or Son, or Holy Spirit, is neither dead, nor will die, nor needs food for hunger, nor clothing for shame or cold. Therefore it is said, or to be said, not truly but ironically, that Adam has here become such — as if he has become one of us — and with such irony he is to be mocked. Namely, because foolishly and proudly he believed the most deceitful devil saying, And you shall be as gods: Behold how he has become "like God," or "as one of us"; how he has become "knowing good and evil." Not in the way he himself hoped, but this was done in the way the deceiver willed. He does not know good and evil in the way that God, foreseeing all things, does; but having now experienced the good, so now having experienced the evil too — in the way that not-God does. Said in this manner, as if by an affirmative statement, with the gravity of the speaker aiding, it is much more bitterly denied than if he had exclaimed with a negative expression...'⁷

Ita demum iam spiritualiter homine mortuo, & corporaliter morituro, victu quoque pariter & vestitu indigente facto, idem Dominus Deus exclamat, Ecce Adam quasi unus ex nobis factus est, sciens bonum & malum. Ecce, quod est ostendentis adverbium, cum dixit Dominus Deus, magnum in praesenti fragorem incutit cunctis aures audiendi habentibus. Quid enim ostendit? Adam, inquit, quasi unus ex nobis factus est. In Adam, quod interpretatur terrenus, virum simul & mulierem intellige, quia viri pariter & mulieris commune nomen est, sicut iam dictum est. Quid est, Quasi unus ex nobis factus est? quasi Deus factus est. Eadem enim Trinitas hic loquitur, qua & superius locuta est pluraliter ad semetipsam dicendo, Faciamus hominem ad imaginem & similitudinem nostram. Eadem, inquam, Trinitas hic ostendit, qualis Adam vitio suo factus sit, qua supra proposuerat, qualem illum facere voluerit. Dicit ergo, Quasi unus ex nobis: nempe, ex tribus personis Trinitatis, unus est Pater, unus est Filius, unus est Spiritus sanctus: Et hi tres unum sunt. Alius est enim Pater, alius Filius, alius Spiritus sanctus. Adam ergo, inquit, Dominus Deus, quasi unus ex nobis factus est: ut iam non simus nos Trinitas, sed Quaternitas: quanquam non cum Deo Deus, sed contra Deum affectaverit esse Deus. Gravissima haec, more Domini Dei, & acerba nimis ironia est. Quis enim, vel qualis Adam? Adam in anima iam mortuus & corpore quoque in brevi moriturus, indigens victu, & necessario coopertus, atque cooperiendus vestitu. Sed enim quilibet ex nobis, sive Pater, sive Filius, sive Spiritus sanctus, neque mortuus est, neque morietur, neque propter famem victu, neque propter turpitudinem, aut frigus, indiget vestitu. Ergo non vere, sed ironice dictum, aut dicendum est, quia Adam factus est hic talis, quasi unus ex nobis factus est, & cum tali ironia irridendus est. Videlicet, quia stulte & superbe fallacissimo diabolo credidit dicenti, Et eritis sicut dii: Ecce quomodo sicut Deus, vel quasi unus ex nobis factus est: quomodo sciens bonum & malum factus est. Non quomodo ipse speravit, sed sic factum est istud quomodo deceptor voluit. Non scit bonum & malum: quomodo omnium prospiciens Deus, sed iam expertus bonum, sic nunc expertus & malum: quomodo non Deus. Hoc modo quasi affirmativa enunciatione dictum, gravitate dicentis adiuvante, multo acerbius denegatum est, quam si negativa dictione excla...

'...had exclaimed, saying thus: Behold, Adam has by no means, as had been promised to him, become as one of us. And indeed he had become not only by no means like God, but almost like the devil: but the merciful Lord God hastened and forestalled it, lest man, dead to God, should so remain immortal, like the devil.' Thus Rupert.⁸

masset, sic dicendo: Ecce Adam nequaquam, ut sibi promissum fuerat, quasi unus ex nobis factus est. Et quidem ille non solum nequaquam sicut Deus, sed paene factus erat sicut diabolus: sed acceleravit & praevenit miserator dominus Deus, ne Deo mortuus, sic immortalis permaneret homo, sicut diabolus. Haec Rupertus.