Views: 3<\/p>
[Note:\u00a0<\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our Manuscripts<\/strong>\u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No one can successfully deny that all but the briefest beginning of the history of humanity is one long tale of wickedness and woe, suffering and sin. The Bible is a book about sin and a Savior. But exactly when did this miserable condition begin, and how did this sad state of affairs come to be, from which mankind needed salvation? Did we not have Genesis 3, we would not know the origin\u2014either as to time or circumstances\u2014of the plague of sin that curses mankind on earth and that will damn him for eternity if not overcome. Genesis 3 is therefore at the same time one of the most important and one of the most remarkable chapters in the Bible.<\/span><\/p>\n The Temptation<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verses 1\u20135: <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verse 1: <\/strong>Genesis 2 ends with Adam and Eve in the blissful paradise of Eden, literally without a worry in the infant world, which their Creator had placed under their dominion. They were in absolute innocence and at perfect peace with God and with one another. We have no means of knowing how long this state of perfection existed. However, with the beginning of chapter 3, this bliss is soon to be shattered, never to be restored in time and on earth.<\/span><\/p>\n The serpent is set forth as the Grand Tempter of mankind and is described as \u201csubtle\u201d (i.e., shrewd, cunning, and crafty) and a being with intelligence sufficient to reason and communicate. Because of this description some have decided that his conversation with Eve is an allegory, rather than an actual historical narrative. However, there is nothing whatsoever in the text of Genesis 3 to suggest allegorical language. Moreover, Paul, by inspiration, attributed historical authenticity to the serpent\u2019s conversation with Eve: \u201cBut I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ\u201d (2 Cor. 11:3; cf. Rom. 16:20).1<\/sup>\u00a0Indirectly, John does the same by identifying the serpent as the Devil and Satan (Rev. 12:9; 20:2). We reject all explanations of the material in Genesis 3 as mere allegory. Rather, we accept the record as a historical occurrence.<\/span><\/p>\n How true the words are\u2014and were from the beginning: \u201cThe devil never sleeps!\u201d We are introduced to him in the form of a serpent. We do not claim to be able to understand how Satan could speak through a serpent. We may observe that Satan was given some limited powers in ancient times to suspend or control certain natural laws (e.g., in Job\u2019s case [Job 1:6\u201319; 2:6\u20138] and in the cases of demon possession). Perhaps by some such means the devil was able to speak and act through a snake.<\/span><\/p>\n The serpent did not come with a frontal attack at first, but with a sly insinuation\u2014thus we see his subtlety. We might paraphrase his question as follows: \u201cI hear the rumor that God has forbidden you to eat of a certain tree in the garden. Surely He would not be so restrictive.\u201d His approach was certainly intended to stir doubt, dissatisfaction, and resentment in Eve\u2019s mind. It was designed to cause her to think that God must be, by the restriction, unjustly withholding some deserved blessing. The Tempter desired her to become dissatisfied with the fact that this one tree was forbidden them, rather than considering the abundance of all of the fruitful trees God had provided and permitted. Satan still often turns the hearts of men more by wily and cunning strategies than by obvious assaults on God, Truth, and righteousness (e.g., theistic evolution). He yet tempts men to gaze with desire upon the things that His perfect holiness forbids, rather than to fix our gaze upon the numberless blessings He provides for us.<\/span><\/p>\n Verses 2\u20133: <\/strong>The warning was given to Adam before God created Eve (Gen. 2:16\u201318). It appears obvious that Adam had carefully passed on to Eve God\u2019s warning concerning the forbidden fruit and the consequence of eating it. Though Eve knew the warning well, she made no attempt to rebut Satan\u2019s implied complaint against God. She replied to Satan as if she were conversing with a person of honor and integrity. All who misjudge Satan\u2019s tactics or motives make a deadly mistake, as Eve learned to her deep regret (and to our awful consequence). She acknowledged that God had allowed her and Adam to eat of all of the trees in Eden, except one. God had indeed placed a restriction on eating the fruit of the tree in the garden\u2019s midst (\u201cthe tree of the knowledge of good and evil\u201d [2:17]). Not only were they not to eat its fruit, they dare not even touch it lest they die.<\/span><\/p>\n Here was man\u2019s first test of loyalty to God\u2014the simple test of obedience. As creatures of volition and personal free will, they were not forced either to obey or to disobey God\u2019s command. Every accountable person since Adam and Eve has had to make the same choice because God has given commands and has required man\u2019s obedience to them in every generation. It is impossible to define faithfulness, loyalty, <\/em>and love <\/em>toward God and His Son apart from obedience (1 Sam. 15:22; Ecc. 12:13; John 14:15; et al.). In the first great test God gave man, he failed and failed miserably because of disobedience. Those who curl the lip, look at us in derision, and accuse us of \u201clegalism\u201d when we insist upon strict obedience to God\u2019s revealed Word need to go back to the very beginning. They are literally making the oldest mistake in the Book when they despise God\u2019s commands!<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 4: <\/strong>Satan changed his tactic here. No longer subtle, he boldly and blatantly contradicted God\u2019s threat of death: \u201cYe shall not <\/strong>surely die\u201d (emph. DM). We now see that Satan knew exactly what God had originally told Adam. He did not quote back to Eve God\u2019s order that they were neither to eat nor even to touch the tree \u201clest ye die.\u201d He must have been lurking nearby somewhere in Eden\u2019s shadows when God said to Adam, \u201cThou shalt surely die\u201d (2:17), for this he quoted to Eve! He has not changed at all. He is ever-lurking, observing, biding his time until he can spring from his lair and devour his victims (1 Pet. 5:8). He still ensnares men with his wiles (Eph. 6:11).<\/span><\/p>\n Jesus identified the devil as the father of all liars (John 8:44), and in Genesis 3 we see him first plying his wicked craft. He wears this ignoble distinction in two senses: (1) He told the first lie in history, and (2) it was the lie of all lies. He only added one word to God\u2019s statement, but that one word produced the most horrible and far-reaching consequences of any single word ever spoken, as he doubtless hoped it would.<\/span><\/p>\n May we never forget the folly of altering God\u2019s Word in even the slightest respect. If the Lord Himself was concerned that not \u201cone jot or one tittle\u201d should be altered in God\u2019s currently applicable law during His earthly life, then we should quake at the thought of making any alteration whatsoever. We are equally cursed whether we add to it or subtract from it (Rev. 22:18\u201319). We can only marvel at the way in which Billy Graham and thousands of others like him high-handedly omit baptism as they pretend to quote Mark 16:15\u201316 and Acts 2:38. As does Satan, they in effect cry, \u201cHe that believeth and is not <\/strong>baptized shall be saved.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Some like to add to God\u2019s Word such things as instrumental music in worship, infant \u201cbaptism,\u201d and\/or hundreds of other innovations. Then there are the creators and publishers of modern Bible \u201ctranslations\u201d who make the Bible say what they want it to say, instead of faithfully reproducing what God actually said. All who engage in such nefarious maltreatment of Holy Writ are simply following the example of their father, the original perverter of God\u2019s Word. Paul\u2019s inspired statement is plain: We cannot be approved of God without \u201chandling aright the word of truth\u201d (2 Tim. 2:15), which includes not altering it in any fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 5: <\/strong>Here we have part two of Satan\u2019s original lie: \u201cGod has lied to your husband. He has withheld this fruit from you because he does not want you to be happy and because eating it will give you abilities that He alone now has. He has given you this cruel and unjust injunction, not to spare your lives, but simply because He is jealous of His prerogatives.\u201d The devil promised Eve that, rather than dying if they disobeyed God, the fruit would open their eyes and that they would become God-like in their sense of good and evil. Since Eve and Adam were both able to see physically, the \u201ceye-opening\u201d Satan promised is a metaphor for being able to perceive and discern things they previously could not. Since they already had some sense of good and evil (i.e., they had to know that obeying God\u2019s law was good and that disobedience would be evil), the serpent\u2019s promise implied a fullness of understanding possessed only by God. Having sown his seeds of doubt and uttered his outrageous lies, it appears that Satan de- parted, waiting (and perhaps watching) to see if he succeeded in his fatal mission.<\/span><\/p>\n The Infraction and the Reaction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verses 6\u201311<\/em><\/strong>:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Verse 6:\u00a0 <\/strong>Satan\u2019s open contradiction of God\u2019s warning (v. 4) should have been a sufficient clue for Eve to utterly reject any further word from the tempter. Eve\u2019s fundamental mistake was in trying to converse with the devil and in listening to his spiel. The first law of dealing with Satan is resistance: \u201cBe subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you\u201d (Jas. 4:7). When Satan tempted the Lord, He flung God\u2019s Word into Satan\u2019s face each time (Matt. 4:1\u201310). What was the result? \u201cThen the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him\u201d (v. 11). Rather than resisting Satan, Eve listened to and was seduced by him.<\/span><\/p>\n We can envision Eve\u2019s turning from Satan to find the mysterious, forbidden tree. We can see her looking longingly at its fruit and imagining how sweet that forbidden fruit might taste. Further, we can see her admiring the appearance of the fruit, perhaps because of its beautiful color and shape. Then selfish ambition and pride, engendered by the devil\u2019s lies, took over and struck the final blow. It has long been observed that Satan has only three avenues of temptation at his disposal, which he uses over and over. John lists them as \u201cthe lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life,\u201d and says that they constitute \u201call that is in the world\u201d (1 John 2:16)\u2014all forbidden pursuits are encompassed in these three approaches.<\/span><\/p>\n Satan need not employ all of these to cause some folk to fall. However, in crucial cases, he unleashes all of his weapons. Eve\u2019s case was certainly crucial to his plan to alienate mankind from his Creator and doom him to an eternal separation. She allowed herself to be swayed by all three lusts. Her flesh lusted for the taste of the fruit. Her eyes lusted after its appearance. Her untoward ambition vaingloriously lusted for the attribute of wisdom like God\u2019s. By her fall, Satan gained the mastery over mankind. Some of the saddest words in the Bible are in Genesis 3:6: \u201cShe took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.\u201d She was the first to demonstrate James\u2019s detailed description of the temptation-enticement-lust-sin-death <\/em>process:<\/span><\/p>\n But each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death (Jas. 1:14-15).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The second crucial person in the devil\u2019s master plan to enslave mankind irreparably was the Christ of God. He must stop this One Who threatened to remedy the awful sin-curse Satan foisted upon the world. If He could not be made to fall, Satan\u2019s mastery would be broken. We should not wonder that the Tempter thus used every weapon in his arsenal against the innocent Jesus in the great temptation drama (Mat. 4:1\u201311). He appealed to the famished Lord\u2019s fleshly lust for food by suggesting that He turn stones to bread. He showed and offered Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world if He would but bow before him, thus appealing to what His eyes could see and desire. Finally, he tempted Him to jump from the temple pinnacle, thereby attempting to appeal to vainglory or pride in the Lord by proving that He could thus jump without being harmed. He failed just as miserably in His temptations of Jesus as he had succeeded with Eve in the beginning. We should never cease in our thanksgivings to God that His Son, though \u201cin all points tempted like as we are, [was] yet without sin\u201d (Heb. 4:15).<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps the second saddest statement in the Bible is also in Genesis 3:6: \u201cAnd she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.\u201d We must assume that Eve repeated Satan\u2019s evil propaganda to Adam in a very convincing way. Just as Eve apparently offered no resistance to Satan\u2019s overtures to her, neither did Adam resist the temptation that came from his wife. Eve may have given first thought to get Adam to eat the fruit in order to share with him whatever blessings came from eating it. However, after she ate, she may have wanted him to share the misery of the guilt-burden that she must have felt immediately. Her behavior may be the first expression of the old adage, \u201cmisery loves company.\u201d The very one whom God created to be the fitting helper of man has now become the agent of his destruction. Satan personally tempted Eve, but he apparently has acted thus only rarely through history. Ordinarily, Satan uses others as his agents of temptation to draw others into a web of sin, as did Eve with Adam. As with Adam, those nearest to us may sometimes be the most powerful sources of temptation.<\/span><\/p>\n Let us not pass from this verse without emphasizing the root of all sin, namely selfishness. Every reason Moses gives for Eve\u2019s disobedience is rooted in selfishness. While he does not give us the details of the appeal of the fruit to Adam, it is beyond argument that he likewise ate out of selfishness. We do not believe that either Adam or Eve ate the fruit from the motive of selling their souls to Satan. Their motive was most certainly not to please their Creator. Rather, they were well aware that eating the fruit would constitute blatant rebellion against God\u2019s command. So, why did they do it? They were moved by the desire that all men have to some degree\u2014to gain some sort of blessing, advantage, or prestige beyond what they have.<\/span><\/p>\n These ambitions are not wrong in the proper context and under careful control. The Scriptures encourage men to serve God because of the blessings and advantages of becoming His children, living God-fearing lives, and finally inheriting eternal life with Him. God\u2019s Word also appeals to us to do what God requires of us in order to achieve \u201cprestige\u201d with Him\u2014the only prestige that really matters. These are honorable motives, or God would not employ them. However, when these motives are not kept in check by spiritual limits, without exception they lead to sinful and soul-destroying behavior. We have issued the challenge many times through the years for anyone to name a single sin (except those that we commit through ignorance) that does not have selfishness at its root. None have ever been named simply because there are none. Name them all\u2014murder, theft, lying, rape, negligence, profanity, indecent dress, gambling, drunkenness, illicit drug usage, fornication, anger, ad infinitum<\/em>\u2014selfishness is the motive for them all.<\/span><\/p>\n Does the foregoing fact help us to see why so many statements of Holy Writ are aimed at bringing and keeping under control our selfish instincts? Jesus\u2019 great discipleship challenge aims squarely at our selfish natures:<\/span><\/p>\n And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself<\/strong>, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it (Luke 9:23\u201324, emph. DM).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n We are not merely to deny ourselves of some things<\/strong>, but we are to say of self just what Peter said of the Lord when he denied Him: \u201cI know him not\u201d (Luke 22:57 uses the same Greek word for deny <\/em>as in 9:23).<\/span><\/p>\n Our premise concerning the primacy of selfishness in causing sin is underscored by the\u00a0<\/span>numerous passages that urge self-control (\u201ctemperance,\u201d KJV) upon us (e.g., Acts 24:25; 1 Cor.\u00a0<\/span>9:25; Gal. 5:23; 2 Tim. 3:2\u20133; Tit. 1:8; 2 Pet. 1:6; et al.) Additional passages condemn being\u00a0<\/span>self-willed (e.g., Tit. 1:7; 2 Pet. 2:10; et al.). The inspired writers frequently warn us against\u00a0<\/span>seeking our own wills and ways (e.g., Rom. 10:3; 11:25; 12:16; 16:18; 1 Cor. 10:24; 13:5; Phi.\u00a0<\/span>2:4, 21; 2 Tim. 4:3; Jas. 1:14; 2 Pet. 3:3; Jude 18; et al.). Our Lord was the primary example of\u00a0<\/span>utter selflessness, as He \u201cemptied himself\u201d to come to our low land of sin and sorrow. As He\u00a0<\/span>thought of the welfare of others before that of Himself, so should we:<\/span><\/p>\n Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself<\/strong>, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself<\/strong>, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross (Phil. 2:4\u20138, emph. DM).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The secret of Paul\u2019s exceptional dedication to the Lord and to His Word is found in this same victory over self:<\/span><\/p>\n I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live<\/strong>, but Christ living in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me (Gal. 2:20, emph. DM).<\/span><\/p>\n Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ<\/strong>. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things<\/strong>, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ (Phi. 3:7\u20138, emph. DM).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Paul\u2019s attitude was (as ours should be) that, since Christ gave Himself selflessly for me, I can do no less for Him. Surely, the more we control self, the less we will sin.<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 7: <\/strong>At least a part of Satan\u2019s speech to Eve was true. As he promised, their eyes were opened when they ate the fruit. Adam and Eve could already see physically. Adam had named all of the animals and birds (2:20), and Eve saw and lusted after the forbidden fruit (3:6).<\/span><\/p>\n Therefore, the opening of their eyes is a figurative reference to the enlightenment of their minds, the quickening of their consciences, and the broadening of their abilities to understand and discern.<\/span><\/p>\n They are now able to perceive things they had not known before, but not as Eve had hoped. She had thought Satan\u2019s promise of new vision would be to their glory and advantage, but it was to their utter grief and shame. Our primitive parents had never felt or known guilt, but now that they were transgressors, they felt the burden of the displeasure and wrath of their gracious and loving Creator. In their sinless world they had never worn any clothing, yet they knew no more shame in their innocent nakedness than does an infant. Now that they had a consciousness of guilt, their nakedness became a source of shame. To cover their bare bodies, they fashioned fig leaves into the first clothes ever to be worn. Their sense of modesty is a forceful rebuke for millions of modern worldlings and for more than a few Christians. As it was in Eden, so it ever will be until that blessed Day to end all days.<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 8: <\/strong>God\u2019s next visit in the Garden struck terror to the hearts of Adam and Eve. In an anthropomorphism, Moses depicts God as \u201cwalking\u201d in the Garden. Actually, he says they heard His voice \u201cwalking.\u201d This highly figurative expression may refer to the noise of footfalls, the thunder that may have accompanied His approach (cf. Exo. 9:23), or His actual voice. Without doubt, the meaning is that they knew He was approaching. \u201cThe cool of the day\u201d could refer to either the early morning or the early evening. There may be a hint that this was the customary time for Jehovah to visit the Garden.<\/span><\/p>\n We could almost weep at the difference disobedience made in the lives of Adam and Eve. Before their sin they had wonderful and intimate fellowship with their Creator. They could boldly stand in His presence with His pleasure because they were absolutely free of sin. But now we see them crouching and cowering, fearful to stand before the Creator and Ruler against Whom they have rebelled. And yet, there is an appropriateness to such behavior in sinners. Men who have rebelled against Heaven ought to be both ashamed and fearful to come into the presence of the Almighty.<\/span><\/p>\n Jehovah had warned that they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit, and here the spiritual element of that promised death occurred. Death involves separation. The moment they ate they sinned, and the moment they sinned their blessed fellowship with their Creator was severed\u2014they died spiritually. From the first sin in Eden until now, sin has ever been the wedge that separates men from God (Isa. 59:1\u20132; John 9:31; et al.).<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 9: <\/strong>It appears obvious that Adam was not where God was accustomed to finding him. He had always before eagerly welcomed God\u2019s presence, but now he did not come out to meet Him. Clearly, something was amiss. Adam must have greatly dreaded to hear God\u2019s question, \u201cWhere art thou?\u201d He did not ask the question to gain unknown information, but to bring forth Adam\u2019s explanation and confession. God may have asked this question not only concerning Adam\u2019s hiding place, but concerning his spiritual condition, as well. It is a question every person would do well to ask himself and answer candidly. Am I in the awful slavery of sin? Am I futilely trying to run and hide from God? Am I a rotten husband\/father\/son or wife\/mother\/daughter? Am I an unfaithful child of God? Am I serving God with all of my might? \u201cWhere art thou?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 10: <\/strong>Adam\u2019s response was rather pitiful. He heard God coming and hid in fear. He had not done this before, because in his perfect innocence of any defilement of flesh or spirit, he had not needed to. His initial explanations for hiding were weak excuses that skirted the real cause. He was afraid all right, but the fear that caused him to hide sprang not from hearing God\u2019s voice or from his nakedness.<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 11: <\/strong>Once again, God questioned Adam, not to gain information, but to force him to see the awfulness of his disobedience. God let Adam wear his fashionable new fig-leaf suit for a while, but He stripped his soul bare by His questions. By asking how Adam knew he was naked, God made him to know that He <\/strong>knew Adam could not still be innocent of sin and know the meaning of nakedness<\/em>. Adam\u2019s consciousness of nakedness implied his sin. God\u2019s second question in this verse should have cut Adam to the heart. This question directly confronts Adam with His sin, leaving him nowhere to turn or flee, and eliciting a partial confession, as seen below.<\/span><\/p>\n The Mitigation<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verses 12\u201313: <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verse 12: <\/strong>Our modern world is plagued with irresponsibility. It sometimes appears that few are willing to accept blame for anything anymore. This verse proves that mankind learned early to make excuses and shirk personal responsibility. Adam cast blame directly upon Eve for giving him the fruit; but worse, he indirectly blamed God: \u201cGod, if you had not made this woman and given her to me, she could not have given me the fruit and none of this would have happened.\u201d Besides the irresponsible and misplaced blame, there is an absence, or at least a marked coldness, of feeling toward Eve in his words. Rebellion against God in other areas often leads to the absence of natural affection for those most closely related to us (Rom. 1:30\u201331; Eph. 6:1\u20134; 1 Tim. 5:4, 8; 2 Tim. 3:2\u20133; et al.).<\/span><\/p>\n Adam confessed that he had eaten that which God had forbidden, but he had his rationalization ready. So what if Eve encouraged him to eat the fruit which God forbade? Did she force him to eat it? He could and should have resisted her temptation, rebuked her, and refused. As Eve had vested more confidence in Satan than in God, so Adam vested more confidence in his wife than in God.<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 13: <\/strong>Again, God did not ask Eve what she had done because He was ignorant, but in order to bring Eve to admission of her guilt. The sense of God\u2019s question perhaps is, \u201cHow could you have done such a thing?\u201d She ignored the part she played in Adam\u2019s sin and had her excuse ready, also: \u201cIt was not my fault; that wily serpent you created beguiled me. He made the benefits of eating the fruit sound so good I just could not resist. Yes, I ate the fruit you for- bade, but I am not to blame.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Their admissions that they did indeed eat the fruit are praiseworthy but notice how mildly stated the admissions are. We would think that the enormity of their transgressions would have dawned upon them by God\u2019s heart-piercing questions, if not before. However, we earnestly examine their words, \u201cI did eat,\u201d but we see no sign of grief, shame, remorse, or repentance in them. Rather than prostrating themselves before God and begging for forgiveness, they tried to shield themselves from blame by shifting it to others. We are made to wonder if they would ever have admitted their awful deeds had God not exposed them. How like them are almost all of their posterity!<\/span><\/p>\n The Denunciation<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verses 14\u201319: <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verse 14: <\/strong>With this verse God turns to the three characters in this dreadful drama, and, one by one, denounces them with respective and appropriate sentences. God first pronounced a two-fold curse upon both the serpent and Satan as punishment for their wicked work of beguiling Mother Eve\u2014\u201cBecause thou hast done this.\u201d The first curse is upon the serpent. This creature apparently had some standing in the animal kingdom before entering the service of Satan, but that was now lost forever. God debased him and made him contemptible above all other animal forms. The curse perhaps implies that he originally possessed legs for moving about or even for walking upright. If this were not the case, it is difficult to see wherein this part of the sentence was any sort of curse. He would never walk again, but was doomed to slither on his belly when he wished to move about and to eat the dust in which he slithered. The consequences of the sins of Adam and Eve were so far-reaching that they even affected the lower forms of life.<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 15: <\/strong>Here it seems that Jehovah turns to the malevolent spirit who had worked through the serpent\u2014Satan himself. There would be perpetual warfare between him and his seed and Eve and her seed. There may be an initial reference here to the constant warfare that the devil and his angels wage against humankind. However, more particularly, God immediately narrowed her seed <\/em>to a single \u201che\u201d who would engage Satan himself in a do-or-die struggle. God announced the outcome of the contest: The seed of woman would deal a deathblow to the head of Satan, while he would inflict a relatively insignificant wound to his enemy\u2019s heel.<\/span><\/p>\n This part of the Lord\u2019s curse has for centuries been credited as the first Messianic.\u00a0<\/span>prophecy, and we believe correctly so. This view of the verse has been so long and so widely\u00a0<\/span>held that it has been given the name, the protevangelium<\/em>\u2014 \u201cthe first gospel.\u201d Note the expression, the seed of woman<\/em>. Generally, in the discussion of procreation, seed <\/em>is attributed to the\u00a0<\/span>man, rather than to the woman. There has been one exceptional case in which a woman brought\u00a0<\/span>forth a son without the implantation of seed by a man\u2014the birth of Jesus, the Christ:<\/span><\/p>\n And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God\u201d (Luke 1:34\u201335).<\/span><\/p>\n But when he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins (Mat. 1:20\u201321).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n God promised Abraham that \u201cin thy seed <\/strong>shall all the nations of the earth be blessed\u201d (Gen. 22:18, emph. DM). Paul, by inspiration, bases an argument upon the singularity of the term seed <\/em>in this promise, declaring that it refers solely to the Christ:<\/span><\/p>\n Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ (Gal. 3:16).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n When God promised David he would have a son who would set up an everlasting kingdom, He described the Davidic descendant as seed<\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed <\/strong>after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son (2 Sam. 7:12\u201314a; cf. Psa. 89:3\u20134, 29, 36; emph. DM).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n To whom does this \u201cseed\u201d refer? Some say to Solomon alone. While there are some things in this context that refer to Solomon, who was to inherit David\u2019s earthly throne, some parts of the prophecy cannot <\/strong>refer to Solomon. In arguing the superiority of Christ over the angels, the writer of Hebrews quotes the first part of verse 14 above and applies it to the Christ: \u201cFor unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee? and again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?\u201d (Heb. 1:5). On Pentecost Peter said that God\u2019s promise to David\u2014that \u201cof the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne\u201d\u2014was spoken of the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:30). David\u2019s \u201cseed\u201d was to be established on his throne when David\u2019s life was over (2 Sam. 7:12). Peter made a point of the fact that David was dead and that his tomb was still nearby (Acts 2:29). Peter went on to argue that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ who had now ascended to sit upon His promised throne at God\u2019s right hand (vv. 32\u201336). Only the rankest skeptic and\/or the premillennialist would deny that Christ is the \u201cseed\u201d of David Who has established his kingdom and has ascended to His eternal throne.<\/span><\/p>\n Satan had introduced death, disease, and destruction into the world and shattered man\u2019s innocence and its consequent peace between himself and God. Adam and Eve must have felt somewhat like the Pentecostians who, in the misery of their guilt, cried out, \u201cBrethren, what shall we do?\u201d (Acts 2:37). Our first parents must have wondered if that which they had done could ever be reversed or remedied. God\u2019s curse upon Satan is an indication that it can and will be. This statement from God shone a ray of light and hope, dim as it must have seemed at the time, upon an otherwise dark and sin-cursed world. The beam of this light grows ever broader as we move through the Old Testament, till at last, \u201cwhen the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman… that we might receive the adoption of sons\u201d (Gal. 4:4-5). With His coming, \u201cThere was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world\u201d (John 1:9).<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of that tragic garden temptation and fall, Paul wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n So then as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justification of life. For as through the one man\u2019s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous (Rom. 5:18\u201319).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Although it appeared that the Arch Adversary had prevailed over the Seed of Woman at\u00a0<\/span>Calvary, the death of Christ was but a comparative heel bruise. In the irony of all ironies, it was\u00a0<\/span>the death of Christ, in which His sacrificial blood was shed, that gave Christ the power over Satan and sin:<\/span><\/p>\n Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. 2:14\u201315).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n There was no adequate redemptive agent for sin and sinners before He offered up His sinless blood: \u201cApart from shedding of blood there is no remission…. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins\u201d (Heb. 9:22; 10:4).<\/span><\/p>\n When Christ arose from the dead, He struck a deadly blow to Satan\u2019s head, from which he can never recover. When the Lord returns to claim His own, He will forever seal the devil\u2019s doom by casting him and all of his servants into the lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:10; 21:8). Dim though it may be, God\u2019s statement to Satan in Genesis 3:15 is distinct enough for us see in it the glorious promise of hope and reconciliation to God.<\/span><\/p>\n Mere mortals can only marvel at their Creator, Who would have been completely justified in destroying the parents of our race, but Who tempered His wrath at their sin with mercy. A subject of even greater wonder is that God and His Son would be willing to make such a momentous sacrifice that They might extend grace and redeem hopeless and helpless mankind. Genesis 3:15 announces the first hint of all this astounding plan.<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 16: <\/strong>God\u2019s first sentence against human sin was appropriately meted out to Eve, since she was first in the transgression. Her sentence is two-fold: first suffering, then subordination. The first part of her sentence relates to her children. However, much suffering and sorrow in conception, gestation, and childbirth might have been hers before, because of her sin, these would not only be multiplied, but greatly <\/strong>so. This language seems to imply that God had originally planned for all that is involved in childbirth to be relatively simple, painless, and anxiety-free. However, this sentence so changed the experience that \u201cas a woman in travail\u201d became the most frequently used phrase by inspired writers to describe anyone in great distress: \u201cAnd they shall be dismayed; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail (Isa. 13:8a; cf. 21:3; 54:1; Jer. 4:31; 6:24; Mic. 4:9\u201310; John 16:21; 1 The. 5:3; et al.).<\/span><\/p>\n The second part of Eve\u2019s sentence relates to her husband. Her desire would be to him, and he was to rule over her. Almost with one voice, the commentators agree that desire <\/em>here does not refer specifically to sexual yearning (although it might include such), but to the turning and yielding of her will to her husband\u2019s and of her dependence upon him. She was therefore to be subordinate to him. Eve had seized leadership by being first in the transgression and then tempting her husband to follow her (cf. 1 Tim. 2:13). God\u2019s statement to her is not only the announcement of her perpetual subjection to her husband, but a confirmation of his perpetual authority over her.<\/span><\/p>\n This sentence does not imply any lesser worth, intelligence, or ability of womankind. Subjection and subordination do not equal inferiority. Just as an employee may be vastly superior to an employer in various ways, so may a wife be vastly superior to her husband, yet in both cases, the former must still be subordinate to the latter. This sentence gives absolutely no excuse for any husband to abuse his wife, whether physically, verbally, or emotionally. That the sentence delivered to Eve for her transgression is permanent is proved by its repetition in the New Testament. The perfect balance of the submission of wife to husband and of the loving care of husband to wife is seen in Paul\u2019s lovely statement of it:<\/span><\/p>\n Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ also is the head of the church, being himself the saviour of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it…. Even so ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his own wife loveth himself: for no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the church (Eph. 5:22-29; cf. Col. 3:18\u201319; 1 Pet. 3:1\u20137).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n All the objecting, protesting, and screaming by radical activists, opposition from theological liberals, or even legislation which seeks to destroy this mandate from God notwithstanding, it still stands, and will stand until the Lord returns for His own.<\/span><\/p>\n Further, God superimposed upon the church the principle of male leadership, and the corresponding female submission. Admittedly, there are some exegetical difficulties in I Corinthians 11:1\u201316. However, Paul\u2019s major point in this passage is clear: God has placed men in authority and women in subjection in the church, even as in the home. He later reinforces this\u00a0<\/span>principle in a Corinthian worship setting:<\/span><\/p>\n As in all the churches of the saints, let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. And if they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home: for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church (1 Cor. 14:33b\u201335).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Paul stresses this edict again as it relates to a worship assembly in Ephesus:<\/span><\/p>\n I desire therefore that the men [i.e., males, not merely mankind, DM] pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment; but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works. Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression: but she shall be saved through her child- bearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety (1 Tim. 2:8\u201315).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As in 1 Corinthians 11, so in the passage above, there are some expressions difficult to interpret. However, the main point is clear: Males are to lead in worship assemblies that involve both adult males and females (i.e., preaching\/teaching, leading prayers, and, by implication, other worship activities), and females are to be in submission rather than in leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n This same principle is emphasized by implication in the qualifications of elders and deacons (1 Tim. 3:1\u201313; Tit. 1:5\u20139), both of which are leadership roles in the church:<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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