{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/001/0010861.htm","path":"chr/ecf/001/0010861.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/001/0010861.htm","text":"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: \u201cFrom 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;\u201d 4648 he then, lying against the Lord, tempted man, as the Scripture says that the serpent said to the woman: \u201cHas God indeed said this, Ye shall not eat from every tree of the garden?\u201d 4649 And when she had exposed the falsehood, and simply related the command, as He had said, \u201cFrom 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:\u201d 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, \u201cYe 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.\u201d 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, \u201cYe shall not die by death.\u201d 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.\n2. Thus, then, in the day that they did eat, in the same did they die, and became death\u2019s debtors, since it was one day of the creation. For it is said, \u201cThere was made in the evening, and there was made in the morning, one day.\u201d 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, \u201cIn that day on which ye shall eat of it, ye shall die by death.\u201d 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 \u201ca day of the Lord is as a thousand years,\u201d 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 p. 552 [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 \u201cthe pure supper,\u201d 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,\u2014it 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: \u201cFor he is a murderer from the beginning, and the truth is not in him.\u201d 4653","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol I: IREN\u00c6US: Chapter XXIII.\u2014The devil is well...","type":"page"}