God’s love and energies created Man* in His image and after His likeness, with a living soul, so that we could share in His divinity for all eternity. Did God then use the Serpent to trick Adam and Eve so He could banish them over a fruit? No mainstream Christianity endorses this, and yet, it is a frequently heard criticism of God that may stem from some Western “fire and brimstone” teachings that portray God as strict, unforgiving, even sadistic. However, a careful and balanced study of Genesis does not endorse this characterization of God. While the Orthodox Church affirms the reality of the Fall and the historicity of Adam and Eve, it also recognizes multiple levels of interpretation within the text, as seen in the writings of St. Irenaeus, St. Ephrem and others. These and other Fathers of the Church saw layers of meaning in Genesis 1-3, including literal, allegorical, symbolic and typological layers. We shall examine some of these below. https://orthodoxreflections.com/falling-for-the-fruit-of-spiritual-adultery/