Fathers

1 Timothy 2

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I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

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What the Fathers say

1 Timothy 2:14

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

But how was Adam not deceived? If he was not deceived, he did not then transgress? Attend carefully. The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me." But the man did not say, The woman deceived me, but, "she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." Now it is not the same thing to be deceived by a fellow-creature, one of the same kind, as by an inferior and subordinate animal. This is truly to be deceived. Compared therefore with the woman, he is spoken of as "not deceived." For she was beguiled by an inferior and subject, he by an equal. …

Homily on 1 Timothy 9 ↗

Gregory of Nyssa

And the fact too that this grace was revealed by means of a woman, itself agrees with the interpretation which we have given. For since, as the Apostle tells us, "the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression," and was by her disobedience foremost in the revolt from God, for this cause she is the first witness of the resurrection, that she might retrieve by her faith in the resurrection the overthrow caused by her disobedience, and that as, by making herself at the beginning a minister and advocate to her husband of the …

Against Eunomius 12.1 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Why does the apostle say that Adam was not deceived? Because Scripture does not say this either; on the contrary, the woman said, "the serpent beguiled me" (Gen. 3:13), but Adam does not say, "the woman deceived me," but rather, "she gave to me" (Gen. 3:12). It is not the same thing to be beguiled by a beast—a servant and subordinate. Therefore the latter is properly deception. So in comparison with the woman, the apostle says of Adam that he was not deceived. Adam did not even see "that the tree was good for food" (Gen. …

Commentary on 1 Timothy ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

So, too, we must believe that Adam transgressed the law of God, not because he was deceived into believing that the lie was true but because in obedience to a social compulsion he yielded to Eve, as husband to wife, as the only man in the world to the only woman. It was not without reason that the apostle wrote, "Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived." He means, no doubt, that Eve accepted the serpent's word as true, whereas Adam refused to be separated from his partner even in a union of sin. …

City of God 14.11.2 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Second, from the order of sinning. For the orders of coming to be and of ceasing to be are contrary, because that which is first in coming to be is last in ceasing to be. But sin is the ceasing to be of a nature. Therefore, coming to be first begins from Adam, and ceasing to be from the woman. Hence he says, Adam was not seduced, i.e., first, because he was the stronger; but the tempter approached the weaker in order that the stronger be seduced more readily. Here he alludes to Adam's words in Genesis. …

Commentary on 1 Timothy ↗

Bonaventure

The transgression of the precept was common to both, although from different causes, for it was not the man, but the woman who was deceived; in both, however, namely in the man and the woman, there was a disordering from the highest to the lowest, because first in the mind or in reason, then in sensuality, and lastly in deed. …

Breviloquium, Part 3, Chapter 3 ↗