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In our discussions on Genesis there has been one puzzling question. \u00a0If Adam alone sinned willfully and the woman fell into sin through deception, then why did God punish Eve so severely for her sin?<\/p>\n
I would like to propose that we have misunderstood what happened when God dealt with Adam, the woman and the serpent. \u00a0There are only two acts by God that deal with guilt and curses and not three as tradition has taught us. \u00a0Let\u2019s look carefully at the passage. \u00a0First of all let\u2019s look at how God dealt with the serpent:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Genesis 3:14 (NASB) \u00a0The LORD God said to the serpent,\u00a0\u201cBecause you have done this, \u00a0Cursed are you more than all cattle, \u00a0And more than every beast of the field; \u00a0On your belly you will go, \u00a0And dust you will eat \u00a0All the days of your life;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God speaks of\u00a0blame<\/strong><\/em> by saying \u201cBecause you have done this<\/em><\/strong>\u2026\u201d and the result of the blame to the serpent is a\u00a0curse<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0It isn\u2019t a guess that God cursed the serpent because the inspired text says \u201ccursed are you<\/em>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam is also blamed by God in a very similar way:<\/p>\n
Genesis 3:17 (NASB) \u00a0Then to Adam He said, \u201cBecause you have<\/em><\/strong> listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, \u2018You shall not eat from it\u2019; \u00a0Cursed<\/em><\/strong> is the ground\u00a0because of you<\/em><\/strong>;\u00a0In toil you will eat of it \u00a0All the days of your life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Notice again that God says \u201cBecause you have\u2026\u201d \u00a0This is\u00a0God\u2019s blame<\/em> and with the blame brings a curse. \u00a0\u201cCursed<\/em> is the ground because of you\u201d. \u00a0The \u201cyou\u201d here is singular masculine and the ground was cursed because of only one man\u2019s sin.<\/p>\n
Did God also express blame towards the woman and did He curse anything on her behalf? \u00a0Let\u2019s have a look. \u00a0The first mention of consequences for the future of the woman is in verse 15 and here God is speaking directly to the serpent:<\/p>\n
Genesis 3:15 (NASB) \u00a0And I will<\/em> put enmity\u00a0Between you and the woman,\u00a0And between your seed and her seed;\u00a0He shall bruise you on the head,\u00a0And you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Here God says \u201cI will\u2026\u201d \u00a0This is an act of\u00a0God\u2019s<\/em><\/strong> will<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0God says that He will initiate a struggle between the serpent and the woman and between the serpent\u2019s seed and the woman\u2019s seed. \u00a0This isn\u2019t a curse. \u00a0God determines the same\u00a0enmity, hostility or\u00a0antagonism between\u00a0 the serpent\u2019s seed and the Messiah (the seed of the woman). \u00a0This hostility results in a spiritual war and produces one victor. \u00a0Jesus as the promised seed of the woman ultimately triumphed in this hostility and he made public shame of the enemy.<\/div>\nColossians 2:15 (NASB) \u00a0When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So God\u2019s first words about the future of the woman is God\u2019s revealed will that places her on the\u00a0right side<\/em> of a spiritual conflict. \u00a0There is no curse here in this verse at all. \u00a0But what about the next direct words of God to the woman? \u00a0Does the woman then suffer a special \u201cpunishment\u201d from God? Let\u2019s look at verse 16.<\/p>\n
Genesis 3:16 (NKJV)\u00a0To the woman He said:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;\u00a0In pain you shall bring forth children;\u00a0Your desire shall be for your husband,\u00a0And he shall rule over you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We should be able to see something different in this verse. \u00a0Look carefully and you will see\u00a0no direct blame<\/strong><\/em> like the way that God spoke to both the serpent and the man. \u00a0God never said to the woman \u201cBecause<\/em> you have done this\u2026\u201d \u00a0God also does not say that anything is\u00a0cursed<\/em> on her behalf. What God does say to the woman is\u00a0different<\/em> than how He talks to either the serpent or the man. \u00a0Instead of the cycle of blame and curse, God reveals what will be\u00a0His own actions and then He reveals two future actions of the woman and a prophetic word about what her life will be like living in union with the first rebellious sinner.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s first examine God\u2019s actions. God said \u201cI will<\/em> greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception\u201d. \u00a0God said that He would\u00a0greatly multiply<\/em> two things. \u00a0The first thing to be greatly multiplied is her \u201csorrow\u201d. \u00a0The Hebrew word that is translated \u201csorrow\u201d means toil or hardship and it is the\u00a0exact same<\/strong><\/em>word that God used for the \u201ctoil\u201d that Adam will experience with the cursed earth. \u00a0God will\u00a0greatly multiply<\/em> the woman\u2019s work for a reason. The next part of what God greatly multiplied explains why the woman\u2019s work is greatly multiplied. God says that He will greatly multiply<\/em> her\u00a0conception<\/em>. The Hebrew word is \u201cheron\u201d which means conception or pregnancy.<\/p>\n
God will greatly increase her conception and with this greatly increased conception she will have greatly increased work. \u00a0God never calls this greatly increased conception a curse but there is a physical result from the changing of her body. Wwith the change to her body, she will also experience a painful delivery. Also\u00a0with her greatly increased conception, the woman will experience a greatly increased work load \u2013 much more than God had originally planned for her.<\/p>\n
So if a greatly increased conception isn\u2019t called a curse by God then what is the purpose for God to increase her conception? Let\u2019s think this one through. When the woman had a body that was meant to live forever there was no need for her to be pregnant right away or have multiple pregnancies one right after another. After all she was designed to live forever so there lots of years to fill the earth. Have you ever wondered why the woman did not get pregnant in the garden? Some think\u00a0erroneously that Adam and his wife did not consummate their marriage and because of this belief they look on the sexual union as something that is sinful because they believe the physical union only\u00a0happened\u00a0after the fall.\u00a0However God\u2019s words to the woman about the \u201cgreatly increased\u201d conception gives us a much better understanding why she did not conceive in the garden. Her rate of conception before the fall was much different than after the fall when God greatly increased it. \u00a0Just as God said, when the woman ate the fruit she started a process of dying and so the process of conception was changed by God so that the earth could be filled with people even though Adam and Eve would eventually die.<\/p>\n
Rather than bringing what some have thought was a curse on the woman, God looked on humanity with compassion by greatly increasing the woman\u2019s conception. The human race would not die out with what was the original conception design. Originally the woman was given freedom to fulfill her God-given function of ruling the world as her body was waiting for God\u2019s time for conception. But a dying body changed everything. God stepped in and made a change to her body so that she would start to conceive right away. Now instead of having children spaced a great distance apart she would now have to bear a greatly increased work load on the home front. As the original design of the woman\u2019s conception changed, Eve found herself with caring for child after child after child with no servants or nanny to help with the workload. It was a necessary consequence to God\u2019s\u00a0provision for maintaining the human race.<\/p>\n
One other thing happened when God changed the woman\u2019s body. As a result of the change in her conception, her body would give birth in pain. The dramatic shift in her conception would result in a change that would now bring pain, but it also brought a positive prophetic word. God\u2019s inspired words to the woman should be carefully followed to see the positive. God said \u201cyet\u201d. It is a little word, but highly important. After God said He would change her conception, and after this change was prophesied to bring pain, \u201cyet\u201d God says, you will still desire your husband. \u00a0The word \u201cdesire\u201d can also mean a turning toward, so that the woman would turn towards her husband even though she would experience pain as a result of their union.<\/p>\n
Genesis 3:16 (NASB)\u00a0To the woman He said,\u00a0\u201cI will greatly multiply\u00a0Your\u00a0pain<\/strong> in childbirth,\u00a0In pain you will bring forth children;\u00a0Yet<\/strong> your desire will be for your husband,\u00a0And he will rule over you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Unfortunately the NASB doesn\u2019t reveal that the two words rendered as \u201cpain\u201d in verse 16 are different words. The first word is the exact same word for \u201ctoil\u201d as in verse 17. Yet the NASB does keep the Hebrew word for \u201cyet\u201d and attaches it appropriately to the woman\u2019s desire for the man. The Hebrew term is a coordinating conjunction and it connects together the woman\u2019s pain with her desire for her husband. God in His infinite wisdom in speaking with the woman tells her that even though she will experience an increased work because He will increase her conception in order to bring about more babies in a shorter period of time, even though she will experience pain in bearing these children, she will still desire her husband\u00a0in spite of the pain <\/em>that having his children will cause her.<\/p>\n
The next link in the passage is the action of the man<\/em> that will happen in spite of her desire for him. In spite of her desire and attention for him, he will rule over her. The exact same word that is translated as \u201cyet\u201d in the NASB is in the text just before \u201che will rule\u201d. \u00a0\u201cYet\u201d he will do this. \u00a0The NCV renders this as \u201cbut\u201d.<\/p>\n
Genesis 3:16 (NCV)\u201d...<\/strong>but<\/strong><\/em> he will rule over you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So the woman will be having increased conception with multiple pregnancies and by that a much increased work load. The change that God makes to her body will result in her experiencing pain in childbirth yet<\/em><\/strong> she will still desire her husband even though there is pain attached to their union, but his reaction to her is to rule over or dominate her.<\/p>\n
So God\u2019s will in this passage is a compassionate act to preserve humanity because of the death process that has entered the world. Through all of this stress and strain that will come from the increased pregnancies and the increased workload, the woman will still come to the man and desire to be with him. \u00a0None of this is God\u2019s curse on the woman or the man and none of this is a punishment to the woman.<\/p>\n
The last thing to consider is whether the man\u2019s rule over the woman is a curse on her. \u00a0God\u00a0specifically\u00a0gives His prophecy regarding the future actions of the man and it is worded in the actions of the man\u2019s will only<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0He will<\/em> rule<\/em> over you. \u00a0Absent is God\u2019s\u00a0permission<\/em><\/strong> for one ruler to make himself an independent ruler and subject to himself his co-ruler.<\/p>\n
The word for rule means to have dominion over. \u00a0So while God gave the man and the woman dominion over the animals, the actions of the man\u2019s sin nature cause him to usurp her rulership and place it in his hands alone. \u00a0She is no longer an equal ruler in his eyes. She is one to be dominated and controlled like any of the animals under his rule.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s think this one through. \u00a0If it was God\u2019s will for the man to move out of his place as equal ruler into sole rulership with power to subdue the woman and put her under his rule, then why didn\u2019t God tell this to the man? \u00a0God gave the man no permission for an additional rule nor did He tell the woman that He had made Adam her ruler. God simply said what will be, not what must<\/em><\/strong> be.<\/p>\n
There is one last thing that we need to pay attention to in the Genesis account. \u00a0It is the fact that only the earth and the animals were cursed. \u00a0The man and the woman were not cursed. \u00a0They were still in the image of God and they had been marred by the process of death, but they were not cursed.<\/p>\n
Did God curse the earth on the man\u2019s behalf but leave no curse on him while placing a curse on his deceived wife? No, this is not like our just and righteous God. Genesis 3:16 has been a source of much confusion because we have not paid close enough attention to the exact words that God inspired. \u00a0Check it out for yourself. \u00a0You will see that the first word translated in many Bibles as \u201cpain\u201d for the woman is the exact same word that is translated as \u201ctoil\u201d for the man in verse 17. You will also find that although many English versions use the word \u201cpain\u201d twice in the passage, the qoesa are not the exact same Hebrew words. Not only are the Hebrew words different, but the context of hard work, or toil, is the context just as is used for Adam\u2019s work. Her toil was greatly increased because her conception was greatly increased. We have accepted for too long that a deceived woman was the only human to be cursed when God never said it. Rather than placing a curse on the woman, God gave a promise that the Messiah would come through her seed. Was God planning to bring the Messiah through a cursed woman?<\/p>\n
God Himself has released women to fulfill their destiny in Christ by gifting them and calling them into service. Their place is beside their brothers in Christ fighting the enemy together, speaking forth the gospel and using their spiritual gifts for the benefit of the body of Christ. \u00a0I would like to end this article with a challenge to our complementarian brothers. Will you fight your sisters in Christ wanting a place of dominion for yourself or will you walk with us as joint heirs in Christ?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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In our discussions on Genesis there has been one puzzling question. \u00a0If Adam alone sinned willfully and the woman fell into sin through deception, then why did God punish Eve so severely for her sin? I would like to propose that we have misunderstood what happened when God dealt with Adam, the woman and the serpent. \u00a0There are only two acts by God that deal with guilt and curses and not three as tradition has taught us. \u00a0Let\u2019s look carefully…<\/p>\n