Did any of you notice this about Adam?
Satan told Eve she would not die if she ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She ate it.
“And the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
…To the woman He said:
‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you'" (Gen 3:13, 16, Unless otherwise stated: Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Used by permission. All rights reserved).
In an inspired commentary on this section, thousands of years later, Paul wrote, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Tim 2:14).
If Adam wasn’t deceived, what happened?
“And to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it:’” (Gen 3:17)
Adam was not deceived. He heeded the voice of his wife.
Let’s put aside our “tee-he” woman jokes and grasp a sobering fact. Eve was the first of all women, the prototype of a special creation that was meant to be the perfect counterpart to man. As such a creation, a woman is unique (she wasn’t even made like the rest of creation!), important, and powerful. So powerful, in fact, that all too often a man will choose to follow her rather than God.
Adam wasn’t deceived. He listened to his wife to the rejection of God’s will.
The challenges of the first marriage are echoed endlessly today. The world is full of men who lack the knowledge, faith, or spiritual backbone to be the godly leaders in their homes. The family, if it is still intact, will tend to do whatever the wife and mother does. If she is a faithful Christian, her husband will follow along. Her kids – though greatly inhibited by their father’s lackluster example – will also accompany her while they are home. Maybe they will even come to maturity in their own faith someday. However, if she is deceived, the cowardly husband and poor children usually follow in her footsteps.
Men, step up. Don’t be domineering and ignorant. Lead your home (or prepare to) as you were designed. Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her (Eph 5:25). Raise your children with such an example (Eph 6:4).
Van
