Was Eve Lying?

When she said God told her not to touch the fruit?

Women have been maligned by theologians since the beginning. Take, for instance, the myth that the first woman added to the Word of God by lying to the serpent when she said The Lord God told her not to even touch the fruit of tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We can be certain the first woman did not lie by adding to the Word of God. She repeated exactly what she heard.

Is every word the Lord God ever said to the first couple recorded in scripture? Of course not! In fact, very few of his words to them made it into the Bible.

Every word God ever said is not recorded in scripture. Some of His words we only know because someone else heard them and repeated them and in that way were preserved, as is the case of the first women and the serpent.

Martha told Mary that Jesus called for her when we have no scriptural proof that he did, other than the fact that Martha said he did. Was Martha lying? To this day she is accused of doing so. But she probably wasn’t.

Before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, would it not have been completely in character for him to tell Martha to go get her disappointed and grieving sister and bring her to the tomb?

There is no way every word God ever spoke to the first couple was recorded. In fact, we have very few words recorded about their conversations in the cool of the day. The instance of the woman’s conversation with the serpent is a malignant rumor complementarians and traditional-role-religionists continue to spread against the first woman.

We can be certain that God did indeed tell the first woman not to touch the fruit because His words were repeated by a sinless human being. If He hadn’t said this, then the woman would have been lying, and that would have been the first sin. I chose to believe the words of a sinless woman.

It’s time to put this spiteful myth to rest.

Jocelyn Andersen writes and speaks about a variety of topics with an emphasis on the subjects of domestic violence awareness and God and Women. She is working on her first novel and is the author of several non-fiction books including, "Woman Submit! Christians & Domestic Violence" and "Woman this is WAR! Gender, Slavery, and the Evangelical Caste System." Her work has been featured in magazines, newspapers, radio, and television. She is open to requests for writing assignments, anthology contributions, and conference speaker.

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