Later text
For Adam was formed first, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
For Adam was formed first, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
Earlier text
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.
Earlier text
15BSB
Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.
Earlier text
The LORD God also said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper." And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man's ribs and closed up the area with flesh. And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. And the man said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for out of man she was taken."
Earlier text
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'" The woman answered the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.'" "You will not surely die," the serpent told her. "For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called out to the man, "Where are you?" "I heard Your voice in the garden," he replied, "and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." "Who told you that you were naked?" asked the LORD God. "Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" And the man answered, "The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" "The serpent deceived me," she replied, "and I ate."
Paul draws on both creation (Gen. 2) and fall (Gen. 3) narratives through specific verbal links: the verb "form" (plassō) connecting to Genesis 2:7-8, 15 where God formed Adam, the sequence "first...then" emphasizing creation order, and the verb "deceived" (apataō/exapataō) recalling Eve's statement in Genesis 3:13. The function of this OT material likely addresses heretical speculation on Genesis in Ephesus—if false teaching promoted an overrealized eschatology leading women to think they were free from fall constraints, Paul's allusion reminds them that creation order remains in effect and the present age is still marked by fall consequences. This interpretation coheres with women's vital ministry roles elsewhere in Paul's churches while explaining his specific instructions to the Ephesian context. The allusion aptly illustrates how women in Ephesus were being deceived by false teachers just as Eve was deceived by the serpent (cf. 2 Cor. 11:3).