was goodfor the eyes to see and to gain knowledge (Gn 3:6). How could she see,
86 On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees
The value ofnoting how the serpent succeeded
15, 22. The way, though, in which the serpent succeeded in putting across the sin calls for careful consideration, as it directly concerns our salvation; the reason all this is written down, after all, is to put us on our guard against such things at the present time. So when the woman told him in answer to his question what command they had been given, he came back with: You will not die the death; for God knew that on the day you take a bite from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil (Gn 3:4-5). In these words we can see it was through pride that the sin was put across—I mean, that's the catch in the words, you will be like gods. As also with the whole assertion,/or God knew that on the day you take a bitefrom it your eyes will be opened; what else is to be understood but a suggestion that they should refuse to be under God any longer, but should be their own masters instead without the Lord, that they should not keep a rule apparently laid down by him out of ajealous refusal to let them be in control of their own lives, no longer needing inner enlightenment from him, but using their own wits, their own eyes so to say, to tell the difference between good and evil, which he had wanted to stop them doing?
So that then is how it was put across to them to be too fond of their own power, and by wishing to be God's equals, to make bad use of that halfway centrality, represented by the fruit of the tree set in the middle of paradise, by which they were subject to God, and had their own bodies subject to themselves; to act, that is, against God's law, and so forfeit what they had received, while they had wanted to grab what they had not received. Human nature, you see, did not receive the power to enjoy the state of bliss independently of God's control, because only God is able to enjoy blessedness and bliss by his own power inde pendently of anyone else's control.
23. And the woman saw, he says, that the tree was goodfor eating, and that it was goodfor the eyes to see and to gain knowledge (Gn 3:6). How could she see, if their eyes were closed? But what we are meant to understand by these words is that after they had taken some of the fruit for themselves, those eyes were opened with which they saw that they were naked and were displeased at the sight: the eyes, that is, of cunning which are displeased at simplicity. When anybody falls away from that innermost, hidden light of truth, there is nothing that pride is ready to be pleased with except fraudulent pretenses. This is where hypocrisy too is born, which makes people think they are very clever, when they can deceive and take in anyone they want to.
The woman, you see, gave to her husband, and they both took a bite, and their eyes were opened, eyes we have just explained. And that is when they saw that they were naked, but with eyes asquint, to which the simplicity signified by nakedness seemed something to be ashamed of. And so, as they were no longer simple, they made themselves aprons from fig leaves, to cover their private