Who is to blame for the fall into sin in Eden?

When we are caught doing something wrong, it can be almost automatic—we blame someone else.

A guilty child points the finger at a brother or sister, hoping that someone else receives the consequence. An adult sails through a small town at 50 mph rather than 25 mph, and while the officer is walking toward the window, the driver’s mind is crafting an excuse.

Without hardly trying, we instinctively look to blame someone or something else.

Shifting the blame

When we are truly guilty of doing something wrong, shifting the blame is itself a sin. The apostle John offers this general warning: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). If we make shifting blame our natural response to sin, the danger is eternal.

This instinct to shift blame when we do something wrong is one thing. Asking who is to blame for the sin in the Garden of Eden would seem to be a completely different thing. Isn’t that just a question about whether the first sin was the devil’s fault or Eve’s fault or Adam’s fault?

As we are thousands of years removed from those early events of human existence, such a question might seem a mere question of curiosity. Whether the answer is the devil or Adam or something else might seem to have little impact on you or me. For a moment, though, move that question back to the beginning of time. As the event is playing out, ask the question, Who is to blame?

In fact, pinning blame was at the heart of the story.

God asks the man why he ate the forbidden fruit. The man blames the woman. The Lord asks the woman, “What have you done?” The woman blames the devil.

Who is guilty? The man or the woman or the devil? The list of potential culprits did not stop there. When God questioned Adam, Adam did not just blame Eve. Adam added a few words. “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Genesis 3:12, emphasis added).

Adam added the word “you.” Adam pinned blame on the one who had given Eve to him. Adam pointed the finger at God.

Understanding who deserves the blame

Here is where we come into the story.

We have been sinful from the moment of our conception. How did that happen? A biological chain connects every birth back to the very first humans. The very first child of those very first humans experienced something that had never been experienced before: The child was sinful from the very beginning of his existence. No longer were human beings created in the image of God, perfect and holy, with a will that naturally agreed with every part of God’s plan. Instead, that first child bore the image of his human father, a sinful father, Adam. The implications of this quickly became obvious. Cain killed Abel.

So profound was the impact of Adam and Eve’s sin that every human ever since has been conceived as a sinner. We all share guilt. We all share sinfulness. Not a one of us can say, “I am the exception. I have lived my life perfectly, conforming to the will of God in every way.”

As a result, each of us individually deserves judgment. But something about that might still seem unfair. Can’t we legitimately blame Adam and Eve?

God says no. There is a connection, surely. But God says that “the one who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:20). We die because of our own sinfulness. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). There is no one who does not sin. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The fact that we all live in dying bodies is evidence that all of us are personally sinful.

We cannot point a finger of blame at anyone but ourselves.

Continuing to blame God

That doesn’t mean we do not try. In this too, we follow the pattern of Adam. Even when thinking about the fall into sin in Eden, our focus is often not on whether blame should rest on the devil or on the humans (God did have consequences for both). Rather, we join Adam in blaming God. Adam implied that because God made Eve and Eve had sinned, therefore God was part of the problem. What does our version of this sound like? We wonder, Since God was in charge of creating everything in the world, the fact that something went wrong must be the Creator’s fault.

How dangerous to imply that God could be responsible for evil. When God created the world, it was very good. When God created angels, it was very good. When God created Adam, it was very good. When God created Eve, it was very good. It was all perfect. Whatever happened, the one thing we know for certain is that it was not God’s fault.

When we find some way to blame God, we follow the strategy of our ancestor Adam.

When we find some way to blame God, we follow the strategy of our ancestor Adam. God had shown Adam only love, yet Adam was ready to blame God for Adam’s own sin . . . to take the one who was guilty of nothing and imply that he was guilty of everything.

Witnessing God blame his son

With eternal judgment deserved, what a miracle to witness patience and mercy from the one falsely accused. In the midst of an illegitimate blame game, God does something even more seemingly illegitimate—he promises to point the finger of blame at his Son.

This is not fair. God blamed his Son for all you have done so that now no one—not even you—can point the finger of blame at you. The devil’s power has been defeated; the serpent’s head crushed. Your guilt has been paid by the innocent Son; his heel has been struck.

Who is to blame for the fall? The devil fell first, and God brought a consequence on the devil. The woman and the man fell next, and God brought a consequence on humans. While we were not responsible for the fall in Eden, we find ourselves repeating that very fall of our ancestors.

Where does that leave us? Where did that leave Adam and Eve?

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Praise God.

This is unexpected. This is overwhelming. All we can do, with Adam and Eve, is point the finger at God and say, “Thank you. We love you. We praise you.”

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Author: Stephen Geiger
Volume 113, Number 09
Issue: September 2026