§ 1.
For he had before used himself, for the deceiving of men, to tell lies against God. Thus, whereas God at the beginning had given to man abundance of food,1 and had commanded him concerning one tree alone, not to eat of it;—(as the Scripture relates that God said unto Adam,2 Of every tree that is in the garden thou shalt eat food, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, ye shall not eat of it; but in the day that ye shall eat thereof ye shall surely die;)—he, lying against the Lord, tempted man:3 as the Scripture saith that the Serpent said unto the woman, And why did God say, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And when she had exposed the lie,4 and simply repeated the commandment, in saying, Of every tree of the garden we may 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: he having been told by the woman the commandment of God, used craft and deceived her anew by a false tale, saying, Ye shall not surely die.5 For God did know, that in the day ye shall eat thereof your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil. First, you see, in God’s own Paradise he was disputing about God; as though He were absent; for he knew not the greatness of God. Then afterwards, learning from herself that the Lord had said, that if they tasted of the afore said tree they would die, the third thing was his telling a lie, and saying, Ye shall not surely die. But that God was true, and the serpent a liar, was shewn by the event, when death followed close upon those who had eaten. For together with the food they made death also their own, since they ate in disobedience, and disobedience to God bringeth death. For therefore of Him were they given over thereunto, having become liable to the debt of death.
§ 2.
In the same day accordingly they died,6 in which also they did eat, and became liable to the debt of death; because the day of the creature is one.7 For the evening and the morning, it saith, was made one day. And in that same day they did eat, and in the same also they died. But according to the round and course of the days, according to which one is called first, another second, another third; if any will diligently learn, he will find by the Lord’s Œconomy on what day of the seven days Adam died. For in gathering up the whole of man into Himself from the beginning to the end, He gathered also his death. It is plain then, that the Lord in obedience to the Father, endured death on the same day, in which Adam died, disobeying God. Now in what day he died, in the same he also did eat;8 because God said, In the day that ye shall eat thereof, ye shall surely die. This day accordingly our Lord would go over again with the rest, in His own person, and so came to His Passion the day before the Sabbath, which is the sixth-day of Creation, on which day man was formed: by His Passion conferring on man a second formation, that which is out of death. But some on the other hand refer Adam’s Death to the thousandth year:9 for (say they) a day of the Lord is as a thousand years, but Adam did not add on the thousand years, but died within them, fulfilling the sentence upon his transgression.
Whether then in respect of disobedience, which is death; or because from that time they were given over and made debtors to death:—whether on one and the same day on which they did eat, they also died, because there is but one day of Creation; or whether it were in respect of our own round of days, that they died in the same day in which also they did eat: (i.e., on the Preparation-day, which is called The pure supper, I mean the sixth day of the week, which our Lord also pointed out by suffering in it):—or in regard of his not having overpassed a thousand years, but died within them:—In regard, I say, of all the significations, both God is true (for they are dead who tasted of the tree); and the Serpent is proved to be a Liar and a Murderer, as our Lord saith of him,10 That he is a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth.