(1Timothy 2:14) “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”
Suffering is part of everyday life for both the believer as well as the unbeliever. We all suffer because of “sins fruit” which is ultimately death. Where did this all start for mankind? Well historically, it was around six thousand years ago that this happened, mankind lived without the “knowledge of good and evil”, they were oblivious to it, they lived in a state of fellowship with God, Adam probably walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. I make that supposition on the basis that God walked in His garden that He had just created and when He walked with Adam living in the same garden, they would have often crossed paths and had fellowship, in fact after they had sinned and eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil whilst God was walking in the garden they had to hide themselves to avoid an encounter.
“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)
How our minds endeavour to depict that scene of God walking in the garden may differ from person to person, but all I can tell you is that is exactly what happened. This awesome almighty omnipresent only true God somehow and in some form walked with a man in a garden called Eden and they spoke as friends would speak as they had fellowship. Yet their fellowship was never about death as death was a foreign subject to Adam. He understood no shame as he was not yet alive to the “knowledge of good and evil”. If fact they (Adam and Eve) walked around naked without any further thought to their nakedness. Until Eve was lured into a trap by the serpent; the tempter, and that was the devil, in the shape and likeness of a serpent. When we think serpent, our minds automatically associate that with a snake that wriggles on its belly as the slimy creature it now is. We very seldom give much thought to its existence prior to the fall of mankind in the area of sin as they became sinners. It is certain; it was the devil that beguiled Eve. “The devil and Satan is the old serpent a malignant spirit, by creation an angel of light and an immediate attendant upon God's throne, but by sin became an apostate from his first state and a rebel against God's crown and dignity.” He now in the form of a serpent comes to beguile Eve, his intention to deceive her, to get her to believe a lie! Let us consider that event, let us try and unpack what it must have looked like. The Word gives us some clues to how the serpent may have made his entry, it would have been spectacular, and does not the lure of sin always look spectacular on the outside? It is like a plump rosy apple but once you bite into it, you end up with a mouth full of worms. They were originally unseen to the naked eye but yet very much alive inside the “apple of life”. We must remember that Eve was unaware of what the devils intention was, she was blind to the concept of good and evil, her understanding had not yet been awakened too it. He appears as an angel of light, maybe this is how he chosen to tempt Eve, what we do know is the devil appeared in the likeness of a serpent. Whether it was only the visible shape and appearance of a serpent or whether it was a real living serpent, actuated and possessed by the devil, is not certain. The devil chose to act his part in a serpent, maybe because it is an erroneous creature, has a mottled skin, and then went erect like the king cobra rears up prior to its strike. It may have had legs and even possibly wings, I make such a bold statement, because once the serpent received its curse from God it began to slither on its belly and eat dust all the days of its life, not before that! Punishment never improves one condition but it makes it more difficult to endure. I like to think that perhaps it was a flying serpent, which seemed to come from on high as a messenger from the upper world, one of the seraphim; for the fiery serpents were flying, reference to fiery serpents is found in the book of (Isaiah 14:29). Either way, his entrance would have been grand! He had one intention and that was to beguile Eve! For the sake of time we are unable to unpack the rest of the immense detail we could yet uncover in this encounter, but life itself should have taught us many lessons around our own experience in this area of life, sin and its lure! The serpent achieved his objective and he deceived Eve. Somewhere along their discourse Eve believed Satan and forgot what God had told them, which if they ate from that tree, they would surely die! She was deceived into believing a lie, let us think about that statement; in other words she believed what she was doing was now the right thing to do. Satan had lied and he hid the truth from her. Deceive means; to mislead or deliberately hide the truth from somebody.
So maybe just maybe we should pay attention to the Apostle Pauls instruction to Timothy, maybe we should all forget our pride and our self-worth and our arrogance and remember that God is true and that every man is a liar. Just maybe, Paul was not a dictator who had it in for woman, but rather a watchman that God himself had appointed. He obviously loved God’s children with such love that he was willing to protect them with the truth regardless of his popularity being tainted. When he instructs me through his pen and on behalf of God, I better pay attention or it will be to my own peril. So when he said, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” It was not because he felt threatened by woman or that they did not have anything to give from a spiritual stand point, he makes it quite clear why he makes such a statement, it is to protect the bride of Christ, the church.
He wants us to understand what happened in the Garden of Eden and what we must learn from that encounter, we must not make the same mistake. This encounter between Eve and Satan back in the garden was all Satan’s manipulation, Eve had nothing to do with his manipulation, she was the innocent bystander until she was deceived and entered into that which was forbidden. She then was guilty of transgression and was punished for it, which is why child birth is painful. I trust you see the pattern; she was lured into doing something that was forbidden. She did not deliberately go out of her way to defile God, as she was deceived, in other words she believed a lie to be true. Adam on the other hand made a conscious decision because of his love for Eve, which he must of placed above his love for God. He was not deluded or deceived! Tragic, but the weakness of many men, woman! And the weakness of woman, deception! That is why we must guard our hearts and cling to God’s Word with all we have, so when we read verses like this as hard as they may be to accept for some, it is written to protect us.
“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.” (1Timothy 2:12-14)
It has nothing to do with the customs of their times as I have heard some say, it was the time of Roman rule; reference is clearly made to the Garden of Eden. It is important to understand why scripture sometimes make such hard statements for us to swallow at times; there is always a reason for what is penned. Father be merciful I pray that we will have eyes to see and that the pride of life will be kept at bay even now; however one thing I am convinced of, your sheep will hear your voice. Help us find grace to overcome, we all have our cross to bear, one in this area and another in that. I ask for your name sake!
All honour praise and glory belongs to our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jehovah God, the only true and living God, the Triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
With shouts of acclamation I say praise the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, yes sing praises to Jesus Christ our King for He alone is worthy of all praise, praise Him all you saint and again I say praise Him, hallelujah, Amen!
Signing off
Tyrone
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