When was the last time you considered Satan’s first move on the “chess board”?
It is easy for us to skip right over Genesis chapter 3 without grasping ALL that is packed into that chapter. Now I’m not here to unpack the whole thing. But I am here to draw our attention once again to 1) What Satan’s first move was. And 2) Who his first victim was. And 3) How Christ fixed the problem.
If we keep these in mind whenever we read the Bible, it may add insights we have never noticed before.
I want to ask you to be really, really, brutally honest with yourself for a moment. How much do you value truth, in general? Is truth something way up there on your priority list or kinda in the middle? You will know the answer by looking at how honest you are. Does it kill you inside to fudge the truth, or depending on the consequences involved, might you fudge here and there if needed? Whatever your answer, it’s VERY good for us that God “cannot lie” even the tiniest amount. It’s simply against His nature. Beginning at Genesis chapter 3, we see some things can never, ever mix: Truth and error, light and darkness, and good and evil. One is inherent in God’s nature and the other in Satan’s. Our Bible never, ever mixes these, anywhere.
From Genesis chapter 3 the Father of Lies began his finely orchestrated strategy with his first move: his first move was to cast a “shadow” on Truth itself. Shadows obscure images don’t they? They’re not the real thing, only a perception of it. But he didn’t go to Adam, he went to Eve, Why? I know you “might” be tempted to stop reading, but if you’ll hang with me, it will not only help in understanding certain statements made in the New Testament about women but also bless you! First, we know that Peter tells us that the woman is the weaker vessel: “husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 5:7). Next, we see that Paul says: “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Timothy 2:11-15). If you’re still with me, I will break those passages down in a moment. But first, let’s look at what God said to Eve after she ate from the “forbidden” tree in the Garden of Eden. God goes through the consequences of having eaten from the tree, both for Adam and then Eve. He says that “as a consequence” (remember that) that Adam will “rule” his wife. But not only that, but Eve will “desire” her husband. To desire her husband sounds nice, right? WRONG. If you remember the story of Cain and Abel, you will remember that Cain killed his brother because he was jealous. But before Cain killed his brother, God goes to Cain and says: sin is crouching at your door. Its “desire” is for you, but you must master it. The Hebrew word used in Genesis 3 to explain how Eve’s desire will be for her husband is the exact same word used for sin’s desire to have Cain. Get it? Sin “wanted” Cain, it wanted to “control” him, and it did! With this as the backdrop, we now can go back to those verses from 1 Peter and 1 Timothy I quoted above. First, Peter’s use of “weaker vessel” in 1 Peter means in my opinion, though it is debated, that Eve was more prone to deception than Adam. And since Eve is the symbol of womankind in the Bible, if I’m correct about the meaning of “weaker vessel” then we will naturally see this idea in the writings of Peter and Paul. But I’ll admit that some believe it means only physically weaker. Next, we see that Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy that it was the woman who was “deceived” and not the man. But wait, wasn’t the man then deceived by the woman? Well, not if Adam was a “type” of the One who was to come later, as Paul says here: “…Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (Romans 5:14b). When “type” is used in a verse like this it means a prophetic pattern that points to something greater. So, could have Adam “willingly” and intentionally laid down his life for Eve in order to be with her by taking her sin upon himself, and joining her in it? Possibly. Adam may have become “sin” in order that one day the next Adam (Christ) would fix this problem. Anyway, back to the point. Could it “possibly” be within the sinful nature of all women to “desire” the place of Man? Could women secretly resent Man’s authority over her? Since part of the curse was that Man would “rule over” Woman, as God said.
BUT PRAISE GOD that, as Paul said to Timothy, “She shall be saved through childbearing.” Now going back to Genesis 3. We see that after this tragic event, God gave Adam and Eve HOPE. He said the Woman would bear a Seed and this Seed would crush the Serpent’s head! Hallelujah! You see, Salvation for the entire world came through….A WOMAN. God in His great grace has reversed the curse of Man “ruling” Woman and of Woman “striving to rule” Man. YET, not for those without a new nature. Only Christians have this reversed for them. But we may ask: why then do Peter and Paul still speak like it hasn’t been reversed? Well, to answer that I would need you to be really, really, brutally honest! Remember, I asked this at the beginning? So, how valuable is truth to you? If I’m to be brutally honest, I see many Christians, both men and women, who have not “perfected” God’s new and perfect design regarding Man and Woman, including myself. Why? It’s because sin still creeps at the door of our hearts and its desire is to master us. So we still need these “rules of order” in place to protect our relationships. Some relationships do this whole “husbands love your wives like Christ loves the Church, and wives submit to your husbands” thing exceptionally well. Which, if you have not already understood how this plays itself out when done correctly, it looks like “two becoming one” in love and respect. There is NO ONE “ruling” anyone at the end of the day. But, we are not always honest, are we? But in truth, humility begins with …HONESTY. And there’s the key to reversing the curse in our relationships. Truth is honest, always! We must be honest with our weaknesses and allow truth to have its way in our hearts. So until we’re “perfect,” our old sinful “curse” of desiring to rule one another still lives in us. And since from the beginning, God created Adam first, it’s right according to God’s original “good” design (meaning before sin came) that man is the head of the woman until we’re made complete on that final day. But in TRUTH, these “roles” in marriage and the Church have absolutely NO bearing on anything beyond “roles” that are played out, but which are there for our good and to protect us! Because, “in Christ,” there is NO male and female (Galatians 3:28).
So, it all began then when truth was distorted and a shadow cast, and what was originally good appeared evil, and light appeared dark, and God became the “bad guy.” And the only solution was to create a new Adam. One ruled by Truth and honesty. One humble and having a servant’s heart. One who qualified to redeem the Woman and restore Her glory.
Aletheia: Truth in the Darkness 