Sentence:  Because he interprets the primitive state of man as one of mere potentiality or capacity and believes that <WSD>Adam</WSD> and Eve were created as children , Irenaeus often seems inclined to extenuate their disobedience as being `` due , no doubt , to carelessness , but still wicked '' . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (Old Testament) in Judeo-Christian mythology; the first man and the husband of Eve and the progenitor of the human race