EVE (Heb. Chawwâh; the name probably denotes ‘life’: other proposed explanations are ‘life-giving,’ ‘living,’ ‘kinship,’ and some would connect it with an Arah. word for ‘serpent’). 1 . Eve is little more, in Genesis, than a personification of human life which is perpetuated by woman. See Adam. 2 . In the NT Eve is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11:3 , 1 Timothy 2:13-15 . The former is a reference to her deception by the serpent. The latter teaches that since ‘Adam was first formed, then Eve,’ women must live in quiet subordination to their husbands. And a second reason seems to be added, i.e . that Adam was ‘not deceived,’ in the fundamental manner that Eve was, for ‘the woman being completely deceived has come into [a state of] transgression.’ Here St. Paul distinctly takes Eve to be a personification of all women. The personification continues in 1 Timothy 2:15 , which is obscure, and must be studied in the commentaries.
A. H. M‘Neile.