There is a growing misconception that the original sin of man, committed by Adam and Eve, was having sex, rather than eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
To make this misconception make a bit of sense, people who hold to it also hold to the belief that there was no such thing as a physical tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden and that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a metaphor.
Before we can go on to disprove this misconception, first, it is expedient to ascertain that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was real. The Bible gives us a good description of the Garden of Eden itself; let’s see some details of the Garden of Eden:
The garden was planted by God Himself: 8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. (Genesis 2:8)
The location of the garden: Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden … (Genesis 2:8). According to Bible archeologists, the garden was planted in a place we now call Iraq in the Middle East.
The river and its tributaries: A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The names of the four headwaters or tributaries are Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates. (Genesis 2:10-14 KJV).
All kinds of trees in the garden: And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. …. (Genesis 2:9)
The middle of the garden: 9 …. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9).
God testified to the existence of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
The Bible says that God put the man He has created, Adam, in the garden He Himself has planted. Having put him there, this is what followed:
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 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.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
How do you think God would have ever mentioned the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and, in fact, give a command about it if it did not exist at the time? The command of God about the tree is enough confirmation that the tree existed in the garden.
According to these details, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not a metaphor – that tree really existed in the garden for the Bible yet testifies that there were many trees in the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was one of them and it was particularly found in the middle of the garden with the tree of life. Now if anyone argues against the existence of this tree, then that person is challenging the very existence of the Garden of Eden and has likewise accused God of lying.
Reasons why the original sin was not having sex but the eating of the forbidden fruit
1. The Command would not have made any sense
Sin is disobedience to God. Man is a sinner because he is disobedient. Adam and Eve sinned because they disobeyed the command of God. The command was …
17 “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.” (Genesis 2:17)
Seriously, how should anyone ever think this clear command has anything to do with sex? It does not come any close to expressing a sexual intention. God was just telling Adam not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, period.
Moreover, let us take note that at the time God commanded Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of God and evil, Eve was not yet created. In other words, God gave this command to Adam before He created Eve. Now if by this command God wanted to warn Adam not to have sex with Eve, then why would God give such a command to Adam at a time when no woman existed.
Moreover, Adam himself had no capacity to perceive what sex is. Therefore such a command of God would not have made any sense to Adam at all if it were referring to sex. In short, God was very referring to a tree in the garden from which he did not want Adam to eat.
2. Adam and Eve were a married couple
This is what we often observe in every marriage ceremony or wedding: the father of the bride holds her hand and personally presents her to the bridegroom, meaning he personally agrees and has given his daughter’s hand in marriage to the man.
This was precisely what God did with Eve. In the account, God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, took one of his ribs, and made it into a woman. Then after creating the woman, Eve, God personally brought her to Adam in a marriage style. It is written:
Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:22)
God gave Eve’s hand in marriage to Adam, uniting them in holy matrimony. It was every bit a marriage ceremony when God brought Eve to Adam; that is why the Bible continued that “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24).” After the marriage union recorded in Genesis 2:22, Adam and Eve were called husband and wife:
- And they were both naked, the man (Adam) and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:25)
- So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)
- And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8)
God Himself testified that Adam and Eve were a married couple:
- To the woman, He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16)
- Then to Adam, He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. (Genesis 3:17)
Now if Adam and Eve were married to each other and God himself confirmed them as husband and wife, why would it be a sin for Adam and Eve to have sex? Mind you, sex is a legitimate act for only married couples. Thus if it were sexual intercourse that had caused Adam and Eve’s eyes to open, it would have been a sheer act of injustice and cruelty for God to curse and, afterward, banish Adam and Eve from the garden.
Mind you, God is just and would never commit injustice. So if God did curse Adam and Eve, then He did that because they actually disobeyed Him and ate from a tree He forbade them to eat from; not because they had sex, for it is their legitimate right even if they did so.
3. Marital sex is a command from God to procreation
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27, 28)
Basically, God was telling the married couple, Adam and Eve, to give birth to other human beings to fill the earth. This command was a command to draw on their potential, in that God has already given them the reproductive materials by which they can reproduce. To Adam, He gave sperms, penis, etc.; to the woman – ovule, womb, vagina, etc.
All these reproductive materials are made use of through sexual intercourse to procreate. So when God commanded Adam and Eve to ‘be fruitful and multiply,’ He was aware of the fact that they have no other option than to make use of their reproductive materials, and that practically means having sex, before reproduction can occur.
Therefore it was neither a sin nor a fall for Adam and Eve to have sex, because, first, they are a married couple and God himself has given them the license to have sex through the command ‘be fruitful and multiply’. Thus, the original sin of man, Adam and Eve, was not sex but the disobedience of eating the forbidden fruit.
4. Diction
Genesis is one of the appropriate books of reference with regard to romance or sex or sexual intention. It has more recorded cases of sexual intercourse than any other book in the Bible. In all these cases the Bible uses certain words and phrases to express sexual intercourse. In the King James Version, in the book of Genesis alone, words and phrases such as ‘knew, go in unto, went in unto, come in unto, lay, know’ were used to express sexual intercourse or sexual intentions.
| knew | sex between Adam and Eve (Genesis 4:1), sex between Cain and his wife (Genesis 4:17), |
| go in unto | Jacob’s sexual intention (Genesis 29:21), sex between Jacob and Bilhah ( Genesis 30:3), Judah’s sexual intention (Genesis 38:8) |
| went in unto | sex between Jacob and Rachael (Genesis 29:30), sex between Abraham and Hagar (Genesis 16:4), sex between Jacob and Leah (Genesis 29:23), sex between Judah and Shua (Genesis 38:2), sex between Onan and Tamar (Genesis 38:9) |
| come in unto | Judah’s sexual intention (Genesis 38:16) |
| lay | sex between Reuben and Bilhah (Genesis 35:22) |
| know | The Sodomites’ sexual intention (Genesis 19:5) |
| lie | Potiphar’s wife’s sexual intention (Genesis 39:7) |
Other Bible versions use words such as ‘lay, lie, sleep, slept, have sex and know’ to express sexual intention or sexual intercourse in Genesis. But concerning the original sin of man, if what happened between Adam and Eve was sexual intercourse, the Bible would have been careful to use any one of these words or phrases above. However, we realized that the Bible used the phrase ‘did eat (KJV)’ to describe what Adam and Eve did. It is written –
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:6-7)
There has never been an instance where the Bible has ever used ‘eat’ or ‘did eat’ or ‘ate’ to express sexual intercourse or a sexual intention. ‘did eat’ is simply ‘did it’ – its meaning or application is on the physical consumption of food. Sexual intercourse can never be explained by the word ‘eat’ or from the phrase ‘did eat’.
Also, the Bible makes it too clear that what Adam and Eve did eat was food – real fruit. There has never been an instance in the Bible where sex is called food. In a nutshell, Adam and Eve actually ate something which is food, a forbidden fruit, to their disobedience and fall — the original sin.
5. God’s laws and commands are clear
For example, if you want to caution your child to abstain from promiscuity, I do not think you would tell him, “Stay away from the stew in the kitchen.” That would be quite misleading. How would he be able to decipher your true intention, or how would he read your mind to know what you really meant. And you cannot really blame him if he disobeys for you were not clear about your command.
God does not leave any room for excuses when He gives a command. He always makes His word clear enough. What is the point in God telling Adam to abstain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil when He actually wants to tell him to abstain from sex? Besides, if God wants to talk about nudity and sex, He really speaks about it clearly and plainly – read Ezekiel 23:1-49. If God wants to give a command about sex, He is plain about it – read Le 18:1-18; Le 18:19-30.
Now the Prophet Moses who wrote Genesis would not make the mistake of altering the word of God; where it had to do with sex, he would have been plain about it. Was it not Moses who wrote the love affairs of Jacob in Genesis 30:1-24 and was it not the same Moses who wrote all the love affairs and sexual intentions in Genesis, he just would not make the mistake of using eating fruit to express sexual intercourse.
If you read Genesis chapters 1 and 2, the Bible describes in detail the event of the fall of man with clarity that there is no room for ambiguity or misunderstanding. It is quite shocking that some people are misled to believe and think that the original sin of man had anything to do with having sex and not the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.