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| Chapter XXIII.—The devil is well practised in falsehood, by which Adam having been led astray, sinned on the sixth day of the creation, in which day also he has been renewed by Christ.
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Chapter XXIII.—The devil is well
practised in falsehood, by which Adam having been led astray, sinned on the
sixth day of the creation, in which day also he has been renewed by Christ.
1. He had indeed been
already accustomed to lie against God, for the purpose of leading men
astray. For at the beginning, when God had given to man a variety of
things for food, while He commanded him not to eat of one tree only, as
the Scripture tells us that God said to Adam: “From every tree
which is in the garden thou shalt eat food; but from the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, from this ye shall not eat: for in the day
that ye shall eat of it, ye shall die by death;”4648
he then, lying against the Lord, tempted man, as the Scripture
says that the serpent said to the woman: “Has God indeed said this,
Ye shall not eat from every tree of the garden?”4649
And when she had exposed the falsehood, and simply related the
command, as He had said, “From every tree of the garden we shall
eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye
die:”4650
when he had [thus]
learned from the woman the command of God, having brought his cunning
into play, he finally deceived her by a falsehood, saying, “Ye
shall not die by death; for God knew that in the day ye shall eat of it
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil.”4651
In the first place, then,
in the garden of God he disputed about God, as if God was not there, for
he was ignorant of the greatness of God; and then, in the next place,
after he had learned from the woman that God had said that they should
die if they tasted the aforesaid tree, opening his mouth, he uttered the
third falsehood, “Ye shall not die by death.” But that God
was true, and the serpent a liar, was proved by the result, death having
passed upon them who had eaten. For along with the fruit they did also
fall under the power of death, because they did eat in disobedience; and
disobedience to God entails death. Wherefore, as they became forfeit to
death, from that [moment] they were handed over to it.
2. Thus, then, in the day
that they did eat, in the same did they die, and became death’s
debtors, since it was one day of the creation. For it is said,
“There was made in the evening, and there was made in the morning,
one day.” Now in this same day that they did eat, in that also did
they die. But according to the cycle and progress of the days, after
which one is termed first, another second, and another third, if anybody
seeks diligently to learn upon what day out of the seven it was that Adam
died, he will find it by examining the dispensation of the Lord. For by
summing up in Himself the whole human race from the beginning to the end,
He has also summed up its death. From this it is clear that the Lord
suffered death, in obedience to His Father, upon that day on which Adam
died while he disobeyed God. Now he died on the same day in which he did
eat. For God said, “In that day on which ye shall eat of it, ye
shall die by death.” The Lord, therefore, recapitulating in Himself
this day, underwent His sufferings upon the day preceding the Sabbath,
that is, the sixth day of the creation, on which day man was created;
thus granting him a second creation by means of His passion, which is
that [creation] out of death. And there are some, again, who relegate the
death of Adam to the thousandth year; for since “a day of the Lord
is as a thousand years,”4652
he did
not overstep the thousand years, but died within them, thus bearing out
the sentence of his sin. Whether, therefore, with respect to
disobedience, which is death; whether
[we consider] that, on
account of that, they were delivered over to death, and made debtors to
it; whether with respect to [the fact that on] one and the same day on
which they ate they also died (for it is one day of the creation);
whether [we regard this point], that, with respect to this cycle of days,
they died on the day in which they did also eat, that is, the day of the
preparation, which is termed “the pure supper,” that is, the
sixth day of the feast, which the Lord also exhibited when He suffered on
that day; or whether [we reflect] that he (Adam) did not overstep the
thousand years, but died within their limit,—it follows that, in
regard to all these significations, God is indeed true. For they died who
tasted of the tree; and the serpent is proved a liar and a murderer, as
the Lord said of him: “For he is a murderer from the beginning, and
the truth is not in him.”4653
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