The First Sin

I started reading Genesis again today. Sometimes I like to go back to the beginning. It is interesting to see what you notice, when you read at different times of your life. As I read the second chapter, these verses jumped out at me. 

Genesis 2:15-24

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁵ The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. ¹⁶ But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— ¹⁷ except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” ¹⁹ So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man^[a] to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. ²⁰ He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs^[d] and closed up the opening. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
²³ “At last!” the man exclaimed.

“This one is bone from my bone,
    and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
    because she was taken from ‘man.’”

²⁴ This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

Yes, I have known this story since pre-K Sunday School. I always saw it as just the order of creation, but today I saw something else. 

Eve's sin was the first time a woman rebelled against her husband; she wasn't yet created when God told Adam what they could eat and to stay away from that particular tree. Adam was the one to pass that information on to Eve, because he heard from God and knew it was truth. As we know, Eve was beguiled by the serpent, and Adam was beguiled by his wife, but, as I read that, I thought of how often we, as wives, think we know better than our husbands, and even after he has made a decision, we not only disobey, but we work fervently to convince him why we are right. 

Why does scripture tell us repeatedly to submit to the authority of our husbands? Because, since the beginning of time, we have usurped that authority. What a crafty enemy was Satan to put a curse on women to cause us to believe we knew more than God, and more than our husbands, for whom God created us. 

As I speak across the country, I hear women say, "If my husband were more godly, it would be easier for me to submit." 

Really? Could we have a more godly husband than Adam, a man who had never known sin to that point. Let's look at the attributes of Adam for a moment. 

We know from scripture that he was made in the image of God by God's own hand. The only man we know of, to never pass through a mother's womb. We know he did not know sin. He didn't even know about sin, so there was no abuse, no neglect and no adultery in that relationship. He didn't struggle with pornography, overeating, or spending too much time at the office. He walked and talked with God in an extremely personal relationship. Adam was likely the most godly man in the history of the world, besides Jesus, of course. But, he was created, as we all are, with free-will. And, Adam loved his wife. 

What do we know about Eve? She was created from Adam's rib, she was lovely to him, and she also walked and talked with God. Like Adam, she was created with free-will. 
Then comes the third player - Satan. Some believe he took the form of a serpent, I rather believe he possessed the serpent. Either way, his plan was not simply to destroy Eve and lead her to eternal death. His plan was to destroy God's plan for mankind, and  he knew the destruction of the family God created was key to the stronghold he would place on all of us. He may not have known he was defeated, until the resurrection of Christ, many centuries later, but he knew he didn't want these newly created beings to spend eternity with God. He was already kicked out, already filled with rebellion and already the opposite of all that was good. 

God created women with a need to be loved and desired. It is that need that should draw us to our husbands in love and respect for them. When we honor the man God gives us, we are more likely to receive the kind of love we crave. But, we live in a fallen world and that isn't always what happens in our lives. Why? Is it because Eve at a piece of fruit and suddenly knew she was naked? Was it because she took the fruit to Adam, and he ate it too? 

I don't think so. I think the first sin was the rebellion of Eve against her husband; followed by the fact that she forgot her authority; the authority God gave mankind over the other creation in the Garden. A serpent should not have been able to convince her of anything, because she and Adam were given dominion over the animals. Finally, their sin of disobedience to God sealed the deal. God never wanted us to know sin. He wanted us to be protected from the pain and anguish that comes with spiritual death.

So what does that mean for me? For you? Ladies, we cannot take sin from the world. But, we can guard our hearts against the rebellion that tells us to usurp the authority God gave our husbands for our lives. We can honor the one to whom we are supposed to be the help mate (meet). We can stay in constant prayer and study of God's Word so that we can fight temptation from the enemy of our souls, no matter what form he takes or what beguiling thing he decides to possess. We who are in Christ,under the new covenant provided by Jesus, have authority over sin and death. We don't have to be bound by it. Jesus broke the curse that bound us to sin. Let's walk in it.