Tertullian strayed far from the meaning of Genesis 3:16 as Dr. Joy Fleming has shown in this translation summary.
“Genesis 3:16 in context pulls in content from the verses above and below it according to the sentence structure.” These portions are italicized:
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As a disobedient human,
I will cause you to have sorrowful toil doing fieldwork, as will the man, after I curse the earth.
But I promise you will conceive victorious Offspring, for I have confirmed you in your warfare against Satan.
Now that you are mortal, it will be with effort that you will deliver children.
Your loving desire is still for your husband but I warn you that in his ongoing rebellion against me he will rule over you.”
Tertullian Error Number 1. “And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: The guilt must of necessity live too,”
Tru316.com Correction Number 1: “The sentence of God…” What sentence? The sentence uttered by God was made to the man and applied to both. The Lord God had said that there was a death sentence for eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Both ate. Both became mortal and began dying, subject to pain and sickness and degeneration. Beyond that there was no specific sentence of God on the female or females, on the male or males.
Tertullian Error Number 2. “And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: The guilt must of necessity live too,”
Tru316.com Correction Number 2: “The guilt…” What guilt? If Tertullian was trying to criticize the woman for being guiltier than the man, then he was wrong. His claim is without merit. The man sinned with his eyes open. She only sinned after being deceived into sinning. In law courts “willful murder” is punished more harshly than unintentional manslaughter. The man’s disobedience was of the first-degree type. Hers was of the second-degree type. If anyone’s guilt “lives in this age” it is the man’s. Just as the curse on the ground that God imposed because of the man continues in force today.
