Some look upon the whole narrative as being an _allegory_.
Adam is the rational part of man; Eve, the sensual; the serpent,
external excitements to evil. But the simplicity and artlessness
of the narrative militates against this view.
Others, again, designate the narrative as being a _myth_. It
is regarded as a truth invested in poetic form; something made up
from the folklore of the times. But why should these few verses be
snatched out of the chapter in which they are found and be called
mythical, while the remaining verses are indisputably literal?
Then there is the _literal interpretation_, which takes the
account as it reads, in its perfectly natural sense, just as in the
case of the other parts of the same chapter. There is no intimation
in the account itself that it is not to be regarded as literal
history. It certainly is part of a historical book. The geographical
locations in connection with the story are historic. The curse upon
the man, upon the woman, and upon the ground are certainly literal.
It is a fact that death is in the world as the wages of sin.
Unquestionably Christ, and the other Scripture writers regard the
event as historical and literal: of. Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6; 2 Cor.
11:3; I Tim. 2:13-15; I Cor. 15:56.