passed on him, because he is incapable of confessing to sin, and also has abso
88 On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees
Lord said in reply, though, is to be seen as really sublime: Who toldyou that you are naked—unless it's that you have taken a bitefrom the treefrom which l had toldyoufrom it alone not to take a bite? (Gn 3:11). He had been naked, you see, of pretense, but clothed with divine light. Having turned away from this and turned to himself, which is the meaning of taking a bite from that tree, he saw his own nakedness, and was displeased with himself as not having anything he could call his very own.
Putting the blame on others, in the last resort on God
17, 25. Next, as is the way with pride, he doesn't plead guilty to being the woman's accomplice, but instead puts all the blame for his own fault on the woman; and in this way, with a subtlety seeming to spring from the cunning the poor wretch had conceived, he wanted to lay his sinning at the door of God himself. He didn't just say, you see, "The woman gave it to me," but more fully: The woman whom you gave me (Gn 3:12). Indeed nothing is so characteristic of sinners as wishing to put whatever they are accused ofdown to God. This comes from that vein of pride by which the man sinned in wishing to be equal to God, free that is from his controljust as God, being the Lord and master of all things, is free from any outside control. But because the man was simply unable to be God's equal in majesty and greatness, as he lay there in the sin he had fallen into, he attempted to make God his equal, or indeed his inferior, by showing that God had sinned while he himself was innocent.
And when the woman is questioned, she puts the blame on the serpent. So in each case it' s as if the man had received a wife in order to comply with her direc tions instead of making her comply with his, or as if she had been unable to keep God's command instead of going along with the serpent's words.
The sentence passed on the serpent, representing the devil
26. The serpent for his part is not questioned, but immediately has sentence passed on him, because he is incapable of confessing to sin, and also has abso lutely no possible excuse. It is not here, though, a matter of that condemnation of the devil which is being reserved for the last judgment, referred to by the Lord when he says: Go into the eternalfire which has been preparedfor the devil and his angels (Mt 25:41); but it is the reason why he is to be shunned by us that is here said to be his punishment. His punishment consists, you see, in his having in his power those who ignore God's commandments. This is in fact clearly hinted at in the very words in which sentence is passed on him; and what makes the punishment all the greater is that he actually rejoices in this oh so unlucky power