Adam and Eve

The Divine Plurality and the Imago Dei

The creation of humanity as a dyad, Adam and Eve, is understood not merely as the biological propagation of the species, but as a reflection of the ontological nature of the Divine.

The Genesis narrative records the Creator’s deliberation to make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. The use of the plural pronouns Us and Our, alongside the Hebrew noun Elohim which is grammatically plural, suggests that the creation of mankind mirrors a plural Godhead.

Consequently, the male and the female constitute the two images and likenesses of the God family on earth. Neither the man nor the woman bears the full image in isolation; rather, the fullness of the image is found in their communion, reflecting the relational nature of the Creator.

This duality is essential for the representation of the Divine character of love. As representatives of God, Adam and Eve were tasked with displaying this character through their interaction and joint dominion over the earth.

The distinction between male and female is not a defect or a temporary concession, but as a direct will of God essential for proper human life and activity as reflective of the Divine. The two exist together in a union of being, life, and love, functioning as a necessary complement to one another for the fulfilment of human nature.

The Cosmic Mediators and the Fifth Division

In the cosmological synthesis of Saint Maximus the Confessor, the human couple occupies a central role in the unification of the created order. The division between male and female is identified as one of the five fundamental divisions within creation that humanity was vocationally tasked to transcend. The human person, functioning as a laboratory in which all of creation is concentrated, naturally mediates between these extremities.

The harmonious tension intended to bind them in unity dissolved into discord, necessitating a restoration that would only be achieved when the New Adam, Christ, would unite the nature of man and woman, removing the difference and division of nature into male and female in the spiritual sense.

The Descent from the Holy Mountain

Syriac Christian tradition, particularly in the hymns of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, situates Adam and Eve within a sacred geography that underscores their priestly function.

The Garden of Eden is depicted as a great mountain, with the Tree of Life positioned at the summit, corresponding to the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Adam and Eve resided in the middle section of this mountain, corresponding to the Holy Place, where they were to serve and eventually ascend to the summit to partake of the glory of God.

The Fall is described as a descent from this ontological height. The couple attempted to grasp the knowledge of good and evil prematurely, an act of prideful overreach akin to biting off more than one could chew or acquiring knowledge on credit without the spiritual capital to cover the cost.

This transgression resulted in their expulsion from the mountain, descending into the lower foothills and eventually to the level of the wild animals.

The Joint Inheritance of the Garments of Skin

Following the transgression, the Lord fashioned garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. While Patristic exegesis often interprets these garments as the addition of biological mortality and the irrational animal nature, Jewish and other interpretative traditions invest these physical objects with a lineage of their own. It is suggested that these specific garments were items of immense significance, passed down from Adam to his son Seth, and subsequently worn by Noah on the Ark.

Further traditions trace these garments to Nimrod, and eventually to Esau, who is said to have acquired them by killing Nimrod. In this narrative lineage, Rebecca takes these precious garments and gives them to Jacob, allowing him to deceive Isaac and secure the blessing. This trajectory highlights the garments not merely as badges of shame or signs of mortality, but as objects of power and protection given by God to accompany the couple and their descendants through the trials of the fallen world.

The garments also serve as a constant reminder of the sacrificial dynamic introduced into the world. Just as the skins required the death of an animal, the covering of Adam and Eve’s shame prefigured the necessity of a greater sacrifice. They symbolize the protective stances and defensive postures—such as fear, anger, and self-preservation—that the couple and their progeny must adopt to survive in a hostile environment, yet which ultimately must be shed to re-enter the divine presence.