Gen 2:7 — “God formed man.”
We must beware of the poverty of human understanding lest we imagine that God fashioned man with hands, or spoke with lips, or did anything of that sort—which it is impious to think of God. For God is spirit, and therefore He is not distinguished by bodily members nor weighed down by the mass of a body, so that we should think or understand anything carnal about Him.
But when it says that He formed man from the clay, this means that by willing and commanding He brought him forth. And when it says “He breathed,” it must not be understood that He blew this corporeal air into man or infused it into him; rather, “He breathed” means that He enlivened him with rational life, which in what follows is called the breath of life. For in comparison with other animals, whose souls perish, man received a rational soul. Hence the Greeks, making a distinction among animals, call those that live only without reason zōa (ζῷα — living creatures), because zōē (ζωή) means life; but those that partake of reason they call psychika (ψυχικά — ensouled beings), from psychē (ψυχή — soul).
It is said that He breathed into the face of man because in the head all the senses are especially vigorous, though one of them—namely touch—is diffused through the whole body.
Gen 2:8 — “He had planted a paradise of delight from the beginning.”
That is, a garden of delight; for in Greek paradeisos means garden, and in Hebrew it is called Eden. “From the beginning,” that is, at the time when the waters had been removed from the surface of the earth and gathered into one place. Where we have “a paradise from the beginning,” some manuscripts read “Eden in the East,” from which we may infer that paradise is situated in the East.
But wherever in the world it may be, we know that it is earthly and, separated by ocean and mountains, very far removed from our world. For it is situated in a very lofty place, extending even to the lunar sphere. Hence it is said that the waters of the flood did not reach there.
“And He placed the man there.” From this, since man is said to have been placed in paradise, it is understood that he was not created there but in this our mortal earth, because divine foreknowledge knew that he would sin and for this reason be driven from that holy land into this valley of misery.
Gen 2:9 — “And He brought forth from the ground…”
Namely, of paradise: the tree of life and the rest. The tree of life was a kind of tree so called because it had naturally received this power—that if anyone ate of its fruit, he would be strengthened with perpetual firmness and clothed with blessed immortality, never thereafter to be oppressed by any infirmities or anxieties, nor worn down by the weariness or weakness of old age.
But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not to be believed to have been a definite species of tree; rather, its name was given from what was to come—namely from the quality of obedience or disobedience: for through obedience there would be knowledge of good, but through disobedience knowledge of evil, and thus, when one incurs the nerve of sin, knowledge of evil arises. Obedience alone is the virtue that reconciles man to God, just as, on the contrary, pride—that is, disobedience—separates him far from God. For what else is disobedience than unwillingness to submit to God and wishing to be under one’s own power?
Gen 3:11 — “Now the serpent was more crafty.”
Or “wiser,” as Theodotion says—not indeed by its own nature, since it does not have a rational soul capable of wisdom, but because it was filled with a demonic spirit by which, as by a kind of instrument, that wicked spirit made use of it. Therefore that craftiness or wisdom was not of the serpent but of the demon who spoke through the serpent, as demons are accustomed to speak through the possessed, fanatics, or their prophets; the serpent itself did not understand what it spoke, just as the possessed do not know what the evil spirit or enemy speaks through them.
It is characteristic of an evil spirit that whoever it invades it so weighs down with the burden of its assault that it takes away all understanding and reason and renders the person completely ignorant of what he says. On the contrary, the Holy Spirit makes those whom He deigns to make worthy and fills with His grace to be seeing—that is, understanding—so that they know not only present things but also future ones through the Spirit. Hence the Apostle says: “The spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets” (1 Cor 14:32).
“Why has God commanded you…?” The crafty enemy questions the woman so that after the transgression she might have some excuse for her guilt; for she might perhaps have said, “I forgot God’s command and therefore sinned.” Removing every excuse, he repeats and presses the command of God and brings it back to memory.
Gen 3:4 — “You shall not surely die.”
The devil deceitfully urges man to despise God’s command so that he would not wish to be subject to God but rather to be his own master.
Gen 3:5 — “For God knows that on whatever day you eat of it you shall be like gods.”
Many ask: if God foresaw that man could be deceived, why did He permit him to be tempted? But as blessed Augustine says, it would not be greatly praiseworthy if he lived well in paradise with no one persuading him otherwise. For, as the Apostle says, “He is not crowned unless he competes lawfully” (2 Tim 2:5). And certainly he had free will, so that if he wished he could resist the tempter; and if he had done so he would surely have been worthily rewarded.
With an artificial and subtle scheme the devil composed the deceits of his persuasion, saying, “You shall be like gods,” so that if he could not overthrow man through contempt of disobedience, at least he might corrupt his faith and, by persuading toward idolatry, glory as victor; but if he could seduce him to disobedience and contempt of God, he would be victorious in both.
Gen 3:6 — “The woman saw that the tree was good for food.”
Here it is plainly shown that the woman is inexcusable, for she could under such deliberation perceive the enemy’s deceit. She considered the beauty of the tree and that it was pleasant to eat. “She gave to her husband.” It is not said that she exhorted him to eat, but since it says she gave, it is understood that she urged him to eat—although there was no need to persuade him, since when he saw her eat and not die, he himself also ate confidently.
Gen 3:7 — “And their eyes were opened.”
Why is it said that their eyes were opened? Had God placed them in paradise without sight? Certainly not. Rather, their eyes were opened to concupiscence—to the awareness of a bestial movement which previously they had not known in themselves. For there is a certain kind of blindness which in Greek is called aorasia (ἀορασία — non-seeing), by which some things are seen and others not. With this blindness those two disciples were held when they went with the Lord toward Emmaus, of whom it is said, “Their eyes were kept from recognizing Him” (Luke 24:16).
“When they knew that they were naked.” They knew themselves to be naked in that they felt a bestial movement which they had not felt before. Hence they fled to the fig tree, because perhaps, as blessed Augustine says, they found this tree first after the transgression and from its leaves made for themselves perizomata (περιζώματα — coverings), that is, girdles or breeches, and placed them upon their genital members around the loins, in which the generative power is recognized to reside.
They are rightly said to have made these coverings from fig leaves, which are known to have a certain itching quality. This signifies the itching of the flesh and the incitement of lust, of which blessed Ambrose says: “Blessed are those who tie their horses to the vine, to the olive, to the trees of joy and peace—not to the fig, which is low in height, soft for labor, barren for fruit.”
CONTINUE
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