Genesis 3, the sin nature of women, good leadership, and female contentment

I’m going to wrap up the two posts a few days ago on Not curses but punishments (Genesis 3) Part 1 and Not curses but punishments (Genesis 3) Part 2 with this post.

There were a lot of core Truths that I investigated in these two posts:

• The serpent and the ground were cursed, not Adam and Eve.
• Adam and Eve were not cursed but punished.
• The punishments were not original. They had roots in the nature of man and woman and their responsibilities before the fall. These are:
• Death — man started from dust and returned to dust. God told Adam about this punishment prior to eating the fruit in Genesis 2.
• Toil and work — man stewarded the garden before the fall and had to work harder after the fall. In Genesis 2, God tells man to be a steward of the garden. His job is made more difficult by sin.
• Labor and pain — women had pain and labor in child birthing before the fall but it was multiplied more after the fall. Her job is made more difficult by sin.
• Submission — women desired to be like God, but God redirected the desire toward the husband thus giving woman a choice between good and evil. A woman can give into sin desire if she wants to usurp the husband’s position to be like man, or she can choose righteousness by submitting to her husband to be like woman. Her responsibility is made more difficult by sin.
• In context: Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve lived in perfect headship-submission in harmony. However, after the fall, Eve gets her just desserts punishment from eating of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil — the choice to choose between good (submission) or evil (usurpation, rebellion, desire to be like man) in her relationship toward her husband. Prior to the fall, her submission was present and easy; after the fall, her choice is more difficult, much like the other punishments.

It’s interesting because the patterning of the punishments given to Adam and Eve were more difficulty in responsibilities to what had been there prior to the fall. This is not common teaching within the Church because most people believe the pre-fall world was some type of utopia imagined from the deceptive lie of modernity or feminist where there was ‘equality’ or some other nebulous concept.

The sin nature of women

Now, let’s look at the core of this post by going back to the temptation of Eve.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from [a]any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

The temptation is a back and forth exchange between the Serpent and Eve, which we can glean a lot about the psychological nature of women.

Let me step back and bit and refer to one of Cane’s bests posts on women — they want different: a primer on womens’ sin and genius. In this, he makes the statement:

Men and women are even more different than that. Women are headstrong and challenging because they want what they want and they don’t give a damn about the whys and whatfors. In the female soul desire is mainlined. They want differently than we men do.

The typical desire of a typical man is weighed thus: “Can I get the goods without getting in trouble?” A woman says to herself, “How do I get the goods without getting in trouble?” While the difference in words is subtle to the ear; the meanings are widely separated. The thought of doing without is a secondary consideration at best. That’s just in the nature of a woman, and why they need a leader.

Due to the difference in how men and women approach temptation, the exchange between the serpent and Eve is very intriguing to examine.

1. Serpent: “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from [a]any tree of the garden’?”
2. Woman: “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
3. Serpent: “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
4. Woman: When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

First, questions strongly evoke women temptation in women. The serpent asks a question which draws in Eve into a temptation. For example, gossip and envy are some of the most overt and rampant sins among women. How it starts: “Did you hear about so and so?”

Second, details are easily distorted when women are tempted. What God told Adam in the garden was to not eat from the tree or he would die. What Eve told the serpent was to not eat from or touch the tree or you would die. Now, I’ve seen this argument used to denigrate Adam’s headship because he didn’t communicate the command to Eve right. However, we simply don’t know. What we do know is that Eve got some of the details wrong when she was being tempted. Thus, women have a weakness under temptation where the truth can become distorted.

Third, when a woman wants something, it is easy to convince her to do it if you remove negative consequences. There were 3 things that led her to indulging in temptation.

When the woman saw that the tree (1) was good for food, and (2) that it was a delight to the eyes, and (3) that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

If we look at what Eve did eventually, we see that she was already tempted by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil prior to the serpent speaking to her. It looked like good food and it was a delight to the eyes. The only thing that happened was that the serpent convinced her that instead of dying she would become like God by being wise. The negative consequence of eating the tree was removed in her mind, and all that was left were positives.

1. Questions were asked
2. Details were subtly changed
3. Negative consequences were omitted in her mind

Psychologically, this follows the script of “how do I get the goods without getting in trouble.”

In women, we can say that temptation is directing her attention to her surrounds off of the narrow road (questions especially via comparisons), changing small details to allow a deviation from the straight and narrow (a change in course), and finally covering up the negative end point (to coax her down the deviant path). In effect, it’s window dressing bad things as good. Hence, why women are more likely to be deceived.

Good leadership

Now, let me take a quick detour into how men and husbands are good leadership with women. If you look at the ways women are easily tempted, you can glean some valuable concepts of good leadership from them.

1. Don’t ask questions. Good leaders lead by example and make statements if they need to do something. For example, if you’re dating you make the plans and choose the restaurant. Women will often get exasperated if they have to make a decision. As you may know, asking women decision questions can often lead you to a place of exasperation and conflict.
2. Keep firm to the Truth. Details are small things which are important. This is stewardship 101. Luke 16:10 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
3. Always weigh and explain negative consequences. Women are more prone to being deceived. Thus, it is important to remind of negative consequences. For instance, many of feminism teachings that trap women such as sex without consequences, birth control,  fat acceptance, attention whoring, immodesty, vulgarity, and other immoralities are easy traps for daughters because the negative consequences for such actions are lauded as positives.

It should be obvious that these 3 things are big factors to take into account so as to lead women away from temptation and toward Christ. Of course, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. So any choices she makes where she has been made aware of the temptation and succumbs to it are on her.

Female contentment

Finally, Genesis 3 speaks most about female contentment. Obviously, the passages about the initial temptation and the punishment shows that women, as a whole, tend to let their desires run wild.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from [a]any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain [e]in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”

Hypergamy, in particular, has the capacity to run roughshod all over women to their own detriment. Women need to be encouraged to be content, especially to avoid falling into temptation.

1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not [d]agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he [e]has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that [f]godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. 8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all [g]sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Since women are the primary consumers in society, striving for contentment will affect them the most. This is a very, very difficult thing for women to learn, but once they learn how to be content in any situation they have the capacity to be a virtuous woman of God.