The back-story is here. The collection is here. You can subscribe over there. >>>

50. Who was to blame for original sin? 1 Timothy 2:14 vs. Romans 5:12

You know not what you ask …

1 Timothy 2:14
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned

C. Neither of the above!

If we’re really taking the question at face value, since the question is taking the text at face value, the answer is Satan. He did the tempting, and the deceiving, so Satan is “to blame” for original sin.

Or are we asking which of the two people is responsible for the first sin? Or which of the two people is responsible for sin entering the world?

Because the questions have different answers, as clearly explained by the two verses given.

Of course there really is no question, because no one is genuinely asking. There’s just an accusation that the scriptures given contradict one another.

But they can’t contradict, because they’re not really talking about the same thing.

1 Timothy 2:14 recounts the story as a mechanism for explaining to Pastor Timothy (Paul is writing) why women who are deceived are not to teach in the church. (Anyone who is deceived should not be teaching in the church, but Paul is addressing Timothy’s concerns.) A better, more literal, translation of the verse would read:

and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, having been deceived, into transgression came

We all know the story. Eve was deceived, and so she sinned. That was the point Paul was making in his letter to his prodigy, and so that’s where his example ended. Adam sinned, of course, it just didn’t suit his lesson.

In Romans 5, Paul is contrasting Jesus with Adam.

Adam brought sin into the world, Jesus defeated it.

Adam and Eve both sinned, but Adam – as we’re told – was not deceived. Adam sinned willfully. And while God gave dominion of the earth to both Adam and Eve, Adam was the head of his wife, so the dominion was ultimately his to maintain or give away. And he gave it away.

The two verses given reference the same event, but both incompletely, because their purposes are different. If we know the story, and we keep the verses in context, it’s pretty clear.