The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:12-13 ESV
This passage is generally used as an example of passing the blame on to others and not taking responsibility for your actions. But I would propose that that is not what is actually happening here. Rather than passing blame, I believe that Adam and Eve were confessing to God.
What first started me down this line of thought was looking at God’s response in verses 14 through 19, in particular God’s response to Eve. For both the serpent and Adam, God says to them “Because you have…” these things will happen. But to Eve, while there is a pronouncing of consequences, God simply declares that such and such will happen without any “because”.
This may be curious, but it does not by itself show that our first parents weren’t just blaming others. But it is worth asking if this response by God fits better with vv. 12-13 being Adam and Eve honestly relating what occurred, or if it fits better with a still deceptive Adam and Eve who are trying to bend the truth to God himself.
In looking at God’s side of this interaction, another thing that jumps out is that he questions Adam and then Eve, but he never bothers to question the serpent. God goes straight from Eve declaring that the serpent deceived her to saying to the serpent “Because you have done this”. Now this would certainly be an odd response to Eve denying responsibility and passing the blame onto someone else. On the other hand it would be quite a fitting response if she was honestly relating what had happened (especially when you think about what the “this” was that God was referring to in speaking to the serpent). Then we look at the response given to Eve, that there is no reason given, and note that that also fits better with someone who had just admitted to falling into sin through deception than it does with someone denying responsibility.
The parallel between how Adam describes the events and how God describes them, particularly in God's narrative of the events as given through Moses, is also quite striking. Adam declares "The woman ... gave me fruit of the tree and I ate." and God through Moses declares "she also gave some to her husband... and he ate". There is certainly sin on Adam's part going on, but it is in the eating of the fruit rather than in stating Eve's role in the matter in almost exactly the same way that God does.
Contrast this with Aaron and the golden calf in Exodus 32. When confronted by Moses, Aaron declares in verse 24 "So I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." However, unlike the inspired narrative depictions of the events of the fall that mirror the accounts given by Adam and Eve nearly word for word, the inspired narrative regarding the formation of the golden calf is rather different than the account given by Aaron. Verse 4 states that Aaron received their gold and fashioned it and "made a golden calf". And then again in verse 35 we read "Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made." There is a marked contrast between how God describes the formation of the golden calf in the inspired narrative and how Aaron describes it. Indeed, with verse 35 God seems to be making a point to refute Aaron's account of "and out came this calf".
Nothing in God’s response to Adam and Eve would seem to suggest that they are shifting blame and refusing to take responsibility. Rather, God’s response seems to take the account given by Adam and Eve as an accurate depiction of what occurred. He even procedes to give the first promise of the gospel and clothe their nakedness. And when we look earlier in chapter 3, we see the events unfolding as Adam and Eve described them. Indeed we see Eve’s statement further affirmed in the New Testament in 1 Timothy 2:13 where Paul declares that the woman (Eve) was deceived and became a transgressor (also 2 Cor. 11:3). Combine all of this with the fact that there is not a single word of rebuke or correction directed towards the statements of Adam and Eve in the Bible, be it in Genesis 3 or anywhere else.
Since the Bible never rejects the statements of Adam and Eve, and instead seems to agree with them in every instance, I find it hard to accept the idea that they were fudging the truth to make themselves look better.
So how ought we to take their words when they attribute the source of their fallen state to others? I would argue that we ought to take it in much the same way we take the words of the psalmist when he writes “In sin did my mother conceive me.” and “I was brought forth in iniquity.” In speaking of his fallen state, the psalmist is not denying his sin by speaking of its source outside of himself. Rather he is confessing his sinful lost estate to God by acknowledging its origin. This is what Adam and Eve were doing. They were confessing and acknowledging how they came to see their nakedness, and God responded by promising the Seed of the woman, condemning the serpent, and clothing their nakedness.
This has application for us as well. We, like the psalmist, inherit the fallen state into which our first parents fell. We were born outside of Eden. It is no impiety to confess that our need began outside of ourselves. Instead, we should acknowledge the truth of how we got where we are, and let God clothe our nakedness with the righteousness of Jesus the Seed of the woman and the savior of all men, especially those who believe.