All blaming and even with the devil lying about Eve would not surely die…
What lie?
Do we believe in the state of eternal life being promised for the elect before the foundation of the world or not? IF Eve was elect then she could not die the eternal death of hell could she? Her body would die but SHE WOULD NOT!
Did the serpent and Eve both know she as an elect? IF so, "Thou shalt not die!" is NOT a lie, and our understanding of the whole story must shift a little. Her not dying was the truth but it was a truth used to deceive her into bodily death by enticing her to disobedience.
Safe (no consequences) disobedience was the lie, not her being liable to eternal death.
WE know her being able to die was not a lie but did they know? Why not? Because Eve was a newly created innocent as
tabula rasa, and knew nothing at all? IF so, then why did YHWH not discuss with her the dangers the serpent presented? Why did HE even allow the serpent access to her? HIS reaction to the serpent could be construed as a very unloving thing to do with HIS newly created innocent elect member of HIS Church, HIS Bride ! since HE obviously knew she would obviously be deceived and defiled by the serpent's evil intent.
So I ask, "Why would GOD treat Eve so? Why permit her to go through this experience with the serpent and be deceived and defiled?" Side questions would be: Why did the Church ignore this pov and doddle along as if Satan was lying about her not dying? It is like even though they knew she was elect and predestined to be HIS Bride they just had to call the serpent's words,
"Thou shalt not die!" a lie because she used them to break the law.
This reminds me of
1 Timothy 1:9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful...etc, etc. Why were Adam and Eve given a command if they were righteous in their innocence when the law is only given to sinners to convict them of sin?
Romans 3:20 Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the Law. For the Law merely brings awareness of / convicts of sin. ?? Awareness is S1922
epígnōsis, "knowledge gained through first-hand relationship".
When this verse is applied to Adam and Eve It would seem to say that they were already sinful even though they had not eaten of the tree yet and the command was given to bring them to the awareness, the knowledge gained through first-hand experience, that they were sinners. The reference to their not being ashamed is weird if they have nothing to be ashamed of, ie if they were just created in innocence BUT if they were indeed sinful but thought that they were righteous ( as most sinners think they are) then having their eyes opened to their sinfulness by breaking the command not to eat, they realized their sinfulness and became ashamed.
While
naked is a metaphor used in the Bible for sinfulness, it is notable that the word chosen to refer to their nakedness is the same word used to describe the evil of the serpent's cunning, ie, they are homonyms, the same word with two meanings. The vowel marks that differentiate the word
naked from the word
cunning were added by the Masoretes ç600AD. Thus verse
Genesis 2:25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. could be as easily read:
Genesis 2:25 Adam and his wife were both cunning in an evil way, but they felt no shame.
So, if we limit ourselves to just these hints (ignoring the others) that Adam and Eve were already sinful in the garden before eating, we can see an obvious reason for GOD allowing the evil serpent access to HIS not so innocent daughter, ie, to open her eyes to her sinfulness so she could become ashamed, repent and come to Christ. Neither is it too far a leap to suggest her sin before eating had to do with her willingness to accept the serpent as a mentor or even a pastor and to follow his logic into disobedience, opening her eyes to his total lack of caring for her , that is, that to him she was only a pawn in his game against GOD.
After letting him trick her out of Paradise with the truth, you can bet that she never gave him another opportunity to defile her again and was quite willing to see him damned and condemned, out of her life. This is the story of all the elect, the lesson we are to learn writ large in the first story of the Bible; the serpent is a liar though he may tell the truth to foster the lie, we are sinners and we will never return to Paradise until our holiness allows the demons to be all banished to the outer darkness.
