Understand, that in the biblical texts, when the serpent first entered the Garden and began his sales pitch to Eve, Adam was not off fishing somewhere, he was not taking a siesta, nor was he away on business – he was right there with his wife while the worm was picking at the mental locks in their heads.
He was standing right there as Eve debated with that fork tongued devil, AND, Adam was NOT deceived by his slick wordplay. Adam did not fall for his game, he didn’t take the bait.
What Adam DID do, was to submit to his wife, when she gave him the fruit to eat, he let her tell him to do something, something he knew (Not being deceived) was wrong for him to do, and he submitted to his wife and followed her instructions.
It has been very widely taught, and generally accepted with a very large portion of Christian denominations and other adherents of the faith that when Eve ate, she committed the first sin and thereby ruined everything for everybody. This has been so deeply rooted within Christianity that over the generations Eve has been outright vilified from many pulpits, and still worse, ALL women have been seen as being less worthy of love and respect than men – it has greatly fostered real misogyny within the faith over the centuries. But, lest we forget, the greatest evangelist wrote in the book of Romans:
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)
On the odd occasion when someone points to the fact that this verse states specifically that Adam sinned first (by one MAN), and the Bible nowhere states that Eve sinned FIRST – it has been taught by so many for so long, that the best explanation is that Paul was speaking of Adam’s Federal Headship, I.E, he was simply saying that since Adam was the “head” of our first family, that he bore the weight of the sins committed by his family members (in this case: Eve’s sin), just as husbands bear that responsibility before God today for their wives and children.
Often, others will then go on to say that the Bible doesn’t say in Genesis that Adam was side-by-side with his wife during the incident. And that where it uses “with her” could really mean any number of things, which quite honestly, further weakens their argument. Could “with her” have meant that she had to hop on a horse, ride back to the ranch, and stuff the fruit in his mouth? Not in anything resembling reality it couldn’t, and besides which, there’s that nagging little verse in 1Timothy that tells us that Adam was NOT DECIEVED. And DEATH entered the world and it reigned over the earth until the time of Moses because of Adam’s sin:
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (Romans 5:14)
It in no way detracts from Eve’s culpability regarding the serpent to admit that sin began with Adam. Had Adam kicked the serpent out of the garden at the start, protecting his home and his wife as he should have done, there may have been a very different several hundreds of years that came afterward. Failing to do that, had Adam stood his ground as a man and husband, and told his wife to not touch the fruit, or even at the least had he refused to join her in her sin by eating the fruit too… a very, very different world may have occurred.
So, we should all be able to agree that while Eve certainly does not get a pass for her sinful actions in the Garden, she also does not deserve to be vilified throughout history while Adam’s contributions to “The Fall” tend to get…overlooked for the most part.
The human condition of sin can be attributed to our original Mom & Dad, and the repercussions carried on for generations, while death reigned on all of mankind, and the Creation with it. Even after God wiped the slate of the earth clean by water, we returned to our same selfish sinful ways all over again, proving our need for a Savior.
Thankfully, God acted in unspeakable mercy and provided us that Savior by the incarnation, birth, ministry, sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Christ. Think about that for a moment…
Jesus stepped out of eternity and into our reality – for us. Jesus was birthed as a fully human man – for us. Jesus lived sinlessly, and endured temptation and suffering – for us. Jesus submitted to ridicule, to horrible physical torture, and to an ignoble and highly painful death hanging from a cross – for us. And then, three days later, he rose again to life, conquering the grave, conquering death itself – for us.
And, so we don’t get uppity about it, he did all to glorify the Father!
As tiny as our ability to truly comprehend all of this is, it is more than enough for all of us to know, at our very cores, just how much Jesus loves us. He offers us complete and total forgiveness, for every wrong thing we have ever done, or WILL ever do, and washing us in His blood, we are regenerated, clean and new – clean and new – and gifted with eternal life with Him in Heaven. THAT is worth pondering every single time it comes up, for believers as well as the unsaved.
Jesus has paid for it all, and all we need to do, is believe and repent. Having been redeemed by our Savior, we ought to know full well that men and women are equally important, equally valid, and equally loved by God – who knew exactly what He was doing when He created us as we are meant to be: together in unity under Christ. And we cannot do that while we continue to hold the idea that one gender is less worthy than the other. If we are truly honest with ourselves, we know that absolutely NONE of us has ever been worthy of anything except damnation, except…that a merciful Creator chooses to make us so by covering us in His worthiness. Not me, not you, none of us!
Jacob knew this to be true:
I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; (Genesis 32:10a).
John the Baptist said in Matthew 8:8, Mark 1:7, John 1:27 and Acts 13:25, that he was not worthy to carry Christ’s shoes! It was such an important statement that the Bible writers felt it necessary to include it four times, and we somehow think that we are better than John? We truly need to get over ourselves brothers and sisters!
We men and women need to admit that we each are no better than the other, that we were created to compliment one another, working together in unison, to be something more together than we can ever possibly be alone.
Circling back to that nonsense about Adam’s Headship being what Paul meant regarding his sin – he did not – we need to address what Federal Headship DOES mean. Chances are, very few who read this next part, will like what it says, as it does not sit well in society today where we are constantly bombarded with the false idea that being equal means being the same, being identical in abilities, rather than being the same in value. We are not made so.
If we were,…there’d be NO argument against transgender folks competing in female sports. If we are all equally endowed, then there would be no discernable difference on the track, or in the pool, or even on a football field. Imagine, a healthy and very fit young female athlete trying to pay Center for the Jaguars, or Outside Line Backer for Green Bay – she’d get killed!
I’m not going to belabor this point for too much longer, but, while men and women are one as good – or bad – as the other is, we are different, with different talents, skills, and physical attributes. We need one another, or else nothing works. Look around you at the world today, look at the dissolution of the family, and look at what has become of our “modern” society.
Knowing this would be the result, God in His infinite wisdom, deemed it necessary for the man to be the head of his family, and his wife to submit to his position and be his helper in all things. God did not do this because Adam was worthy of anything more than Eve was, but because a major intention of God’s creation of marriage is that we should be emulating Christ by Adam leading as Christ, and Eve following as His bride.
When a man acts as Christ does towards his wife, family, and others he reflects Christ to his wife and the world. When a woman submits to her husbands leadership, she reflects Christ by showing how we are to follow, AND by doing as Christ did when He submitted to the Father by incarnating and then dying on the cross.
He said in Luke 22:42,
“Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done”.
Jesus did not desire to be crucified and killed anymore than you or I would, BUT, he submitted to the will of Father God.
Everything in the Bible, all of it, in one way or another – usually in several ways – points to God. All the stories ultimately tell us one story: His.
As I said, we could continue on for a good long time, in a handful of directions, especially given just how little we humans truly want to follow anyone – let alone Jesus; but I’m going to stop here with just this – like it or not, men do not bear the “honor” of leading their families, they bear the responsibility. And it is a greater weight than is often understood by either husbands or wives.
Wives, your submission to your husband is not to enslave you, or belittle you, it is for you to reflect to your children and the world around you how we all are supposed to live under loving submission to our Lord and Master. As you follow Jesus – Women, obey your husbands.
Husbands, your headship of the family, just like your dominion over creation is not a license to commit tyranny, it is not to set yourself on a pedestal for worship, or to elevate yourself in any way by the mistreatment of your wives – and children. Look up how many times the Bible tells us men that we are to love our wives. Yes, there are a number of specific verses stating that, BUT, the Bible is FILLED with examples of men loving their wives, their brides, as Jesus loves His bride: Us! You think not? Well my friend, there are 14 chapters in the book of Hosea, almost 200 verses, that say otherwise! As Jesus loves His bride – Men, love your wives.
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.(Eph. 5:33)
Men, Women, Husbands, Wives – LOVE one another as Christ commands us to do, just as Christ LOVES every one of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment