Church of Christ Articles

Well, let’s begin by looking at Gen. 3:1-2, 4-5, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden . . . And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”  Now, one of the things that I want to point out about these four verses, is that when we look at Eve, what we do not see, very easily, is that both of them (Adam and Eve) were here together.  I say this because of the word, “eat” is an imperfect, second person plural, masculine verb.  When Satan speaks to Eve, because of the form of verb he uses, it makes us ask the question, why did he use that form of speech?  It is because Adam is standing there by Eve.  How do we know?  From the Hebrew language.

Now, if Adam was not there, Satan would have spoken to Eve in the second person, singular, feminine form.  However, in Hebrew, if two or more people are there, it is always the masculine forum.  Also, when men are present, it is always masculine.  Second, in vs. 3, we have Eve saying, “we may eat.”  Now, I understand that in the English, people think that a private conversation is taking place between Eve and Satan.  And, many think that Adam was elsewhere.  But, that simply is not supported by the text.

So, Adam is there, but let’s also take a look at Adam and Eve being ejected from the Garden of Eden, because after Satan has talked to Eve, look what God said that helps us to understand the first sin.  In vs. 9, notice that God did not ask for both of them, but just Adam, “Where art thou?”  But, why not ask for both since both sinned?  Well, just before this, in vs. 5-6, it states, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”  Now, notice that the text says that Eve gave to her husband who was with her.

Again, while this shows that Adam was with Eve, I do not believe this is why God called for just Adam in vs. 9.  Look at vs. 17 which says, “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;” Adam did not accidentally eat here.  He hearkened, meaning, he followed Eve’s leadership.  Now, who made her to be the leader?  In vs. 16, Adam was to rule over Eve.  In 1 Tim. 2:13, speaking of the woman and how she is to not be the leader, Paul reminds Timothy that Adam was formed first by God, then Eve, making him the leader.  Thus, the wife is to be submissive.

So, God was saying to Adam in Gen. 3:17, “I gave you the authority.”  But, Adam allowed Eve to battle the serpent all by herself.  Adam said nothing despite the fact that he was suppose to be the spiritual leader, the head of the house.  God created woman for Adam’s companionship and for him to lead her.  And so, when Adam did nothing, that was his sin.

Now, many believe that eating the fruit was the first sin, but not according to God.  Now, I know in Gen. 3, is shows that Eve ate the first fruit, but look at Rom. 5:12-19.  In the text here, it shows that sin came into the world through Adam.  So, if the 1st sin was eating fruit, Eve would have been guilty of committing the 1st sin.  But, this is not true.  The 1st sin was done by Adam by not being the leader and because of it, Eve was deceived.  Adam sat there like a bump on a log.  Now, some say, how could Adam do that?  Well, men do it all the time.  In many congregations, it is the women who drag the children to church.

Now, getting back to Genesis 3 and these forms in the Hebrew language, some say, why didn’t Satan use the right form of words?  Again, the serpent was addressing both of them, but only Eve responded to him.  Now, something strange here is that, you will never find in the Bible Eve being called a sinner.  Adam is called the sinner because Adam transgressed.  And, the closest you will find in the Bible to Eve being called a sinner is found in 1 Tim. 2:14 where it states, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”  So, for Eve, she finds herself deceived and tricked.  Adam tripped, he was suppose to make the decisions, standing between Eve and Satan.  But, he was a coward.

So, knowing this, who does God remove from the garden in Gen. 3?  Who does he banish?  I don’t think it was Adam and Eve.  Look at vs. 21, it states that God clothed “them.”  However, in vs. 23, the text says that God sent him forth,”him” that is, Adam.  Now, this word “him,” in Hebrew, is the 3rd person, singular, masculine pronoun.  God did not banish them, God banished him.  It is not the Hebrew word otam “them.”  It is the Hebrew word otah “him.”  And, this is further shown in vs. 24, where it states, “So he drove out the man . . .” This is a masculine, singular noun.

So, Adam sinned, hearkening to his wife (giving her the authority) who brought sin in and was ejected from the Garden of Eden.  But, this brings up another question: how did Eve end up leaving?  Well, Eve has to go because she is with Adam.  She is Adam’s aid or “helpmeet” and as we know in Gen. 2:24, the two, both Adam and Eve, became one flesh.  So, where he went, she went.

Now, as to the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, this was also violation of God’s commands in which it cost both Adam and Eve the possibility of spiritually being separated from God for all eternity.  Which is why in Gen. 3:15, we have God pointing to the cross of Christ, the Redeemer.