The Lord God
took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely
eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die”(Genesis 2:15).
My grandson, when very young, asked, “Who made God
first?” And then proudly answered, “Adam.”
We are often like my grandson and ask questions
incorrectly, or sometimes, simply ask the wrong question. But let’s consider
the question my grandson attempted to ask. He had meant to say, “Who did God
make first?” Even my two-year-old grandson knew the answer—Adam. Why is this
significant to our study? In the passage above, we see that God gives Adam instructions about the tree of
knowledge before forming Eve. It’s not until verse 22, we read:
And
the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a
woman and brought her to the man.
Eve is not yet in existence when God gives the
instructions, and probably, Adam passes along the information to the newly
formed Eve. It’s also possible God gave her the instructions face to face.
Regardless, she becomes confused, whether it's her fault or Adam's. We know this because she tells the serpent in Genesis chapter
three, “You shall not eat of the fruit of
the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”(emphasis mine)
God’s instructions to Adam did not include neither shall you touch it.
Thus, the
serpent targets Eve, knowing she is armed with incorrect teaching. The story
continues:
So
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight
to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she
took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate
(Genesis 3:6, emphasis mine).
Adam stands by and watches the scene unfold without speaking up. Adam sins along with Eve. Throughout the
Bible, scripture says man is the one
through whom sin entered the world.
For example, Romans 5:12 tells us: Therefore, just as sin came into the world
through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because
all sinned.
Remember that Adam and Eve formed one flesh, one man, one human, if you will. The Bible reiterates again and again
that sin entered the world through one person, and that is the
united Adam and Eve. The word translated “man” in Romans 5:12, is anthrópo.
According to Strong’s
Concordance, the definition is one of the
human race.
Why, then, is Eve alone often blamed? Perhaps the
verses below have led to our confusion.
I
do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she
is to remain quiet. ~1 Timothy 2:12
I
do not permit a woman to teach cannot be a blanket
statement since women are seen throughout scripture as teachers. And no one
would argue today that women cannot teach other women or children. This
statement, therefore, must mean not to teach in such a way as to exercise authority over a man. But
does that mean what some think? Scholars agree that the Greek word authentein, translated here as “to exercise authority,” carries with
it the idea of force to assume
authority.
Based on a (mis)understanding of the text, women
have been told throughout the ages that men are to lead and women are to
follow.
But what if we look at these verses from a woman’s
viewpoint at that time? What if women,
with their new-found freedom in Christ, believe they are the ones chosen by God
to assume authority?
These early
Christian women know salvation, in the form of Jesus, has entered the world through a woman.
They know Mary had given birth to the Christ! A
woman had been part of God’s great purpose.
Hope to have this book completed in a month or so. Look for it soon!
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Thanks for sitting a spell and chatting!