The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 3:13,
"Then the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'"
Following their rejection of God as a result of Satan's (the serpent's) deception, God called out Adam and Eve and made them confess what they had done.
Adam made an attempt to implicate God himself in their fall by pointing to Eve. Afterall, God had put Eve there with him. He points to Eve and says she was the one who gave him the forbidden fruit. (A lame attempt at passing the buck.) Eve may have been deceived, but Adam had plunged right ahead in rejecting what God had told them with eyes wide open when he ate the forbidden fruit.
However, as the above verse points out, Eve was the one who was deceived, and following the successful deception Satan used on her (notice he did not approach Adam with the deception, but Eve) Eve convinces Adam to partake in rejecting what God had commanded by eating the fruit God had forbidden them. She led him astray.
We live in a day when these cold hard realities are anathema in our cultural context. However, being the half-wit I am I don't care much and so I'll make the point many avoid these days.
There are two, and only two genders among mankind. The gender we are born with never changes. We read in Genesis 1:27, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." The fantasy is LGBTQIA. The reality is MF. Male or Female. Along with this is the reality that there are differences between the two genders, differences that extend beyond chromosomes and what is tucked inside our undergarments. Our passage in Genesis 3:13 points to one of these: women are more easily deceived than men (generally speaking!) And, to be fair, Adam appears to be easily led astray while knowing better.
Paul points to this reality when he counsels his young protege, Timothy. In 1 Timothy 2:11-14 we read, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner."
"Then the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'"
Following their rejection of God as a result of Satan's (the serpent's) deception, God called out Adam and Eve and made them confess what they had done.
Adam made an attempt to implicate God himself in their fall by pointing to Eve. Afterall, God had put Eve there with him. He points to Eve and says she was the one who gave him the forbidden fruit. (A lame attempt at passing the buck.) Eve may have been deceived, but Adam had plunged right ahead in rejecting what God had told them with eyes wide open when he ate the forbidden fruit.
However, as the above verse points out, Eve was the one who was deceived, and following the successful deception Satan used on her (notice he did not approach Adam with the deception, but Eve) Eve convinces Adam to partake in rejecting what God had commanded by eating the fruit God had forbidden them. She led him astray.
We live in a day when these cold hard realities are anathema in our cultural context. However, being the half-wit I am I don't care much and so I'll make the point many avoid these days.
There are two, and only two genders among mankind. The gender we are born with never changes. We read in Genesis 1:27, "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." The fantasy is LGBTQIA. The reality is MF. Male or Female. Along with this is the reality that there are differences between the two genders, differences that extend beyond chromosomes and what is tucked inside our undergarments. Our passage in Genesis 3:13 points to one of these: women are more easily deceived than men (generally speaking!) And, to be fair, Adam appears to be easily led astray while knowing better.
Paul points to this reality when he counsels his young protege, Timothy. In 1 Timothy 2:11-14 we read, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner."
There you have it. Paul points to the difference of which is more vulnerable among the two genders to deception. He points all the way back to Adam and Eve, lifting his concern out of the current cultural context of his day, and of any age, as he points to the progenitors of all mankind.
When Paul speaks of not permitting women to teach or to assume authority over a man, I think many misunderstand what he is saying. He is not talking about who is up front in a classroom doing the instructing. He is talking about authority within the church: who determines appropriate doctrine the Lord wants the church to be built on. The Greek word for "to teach" can refer to instructing, but in this context, with the focus on authority within the church, it refers to the development of doctrine within the church. 1 Timothy 1:10-11 is an example of this where Paul, in his first letter to Timothy, talks about behaviour that is contrary to "sound doctrine."
Paul didn't want the more easily deceived people within the fellowship to be looked to for correct doctrine. Particularly while the body of Scripture in the New Testament was still being produced! False teachers abounded in Paul's day, just as they do today. Paul's guidance is that it is the men in the fellowship that should determine what is consistent with good doctrine, not because they are infallible, but because they are the ones less easily deceived, all things being equal.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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