The story of Eve is considered strong “evidence of the frailty” of women and a contributing factor to the notion that the Bible (and God) is misogynistic. In this piece, we’ll take another look at events in Genesis.
First, God described all of creation as good, except the absence of a woman¹. God had never described anything he created as “not good” except for the cause of Adam’s loneliness-the absence of the woman (Eve): “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 1:18, NIV, emphasis mine). God saw that there was the need for a woman, and He created Eve, At the end of the creation story, God “saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (1:31).
Secondly, I think blaming Eve (and all women for that matter) for what happened is indirectly blaming God too. When Adam was questioned, he blamed God in his reply: “The woman you put here with me — she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (3:12, emphasis mine). Like Adam, I think we blame God subtly when we lay the fall at the feet of women. Is Eve truly to “blame” for the fall, or is there more?
At first glance, it seems that the devil could have either tempted Adam or Eve with the same probability. After all, He created them both in His image and charged them both to manage the Earth’s resources (Genesis 1:27–28). Yet, in God’s order of creation, He created Adam first, then Eve, as Adam’s helper. Adam was the one directly charged with not eating the fruit. Satan undermined that order and it led to the fall. And in it, both Adam and Eve are at fault². “Eve usurped Adam’s headship and led the way into sin. And Adam, who (it seems) had stood by passively, allowing the deception to process without decisive intervention — Adam, for his part, abandoned his post as head. Eve was deceived; Adam forsook his responsibility”² (citing Ortlund).
God had given Adam the original, primary responsibility to lead, and for Eve to be his helper, not the other way around².* If this order had worked, with each member doing their part, the story may have turned out differently. So in retrospect, God had already set up a way to avoid the fall had His order been maintained. Yet, even in the light of this failure and departure from God’s original order, God’s infinite wisdom still prevailed…His infinite wisdom of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.
*I recognize the controversial nature of men as head, women as helpers and submission in general. I plan to explore these later.
**I will also explore Paul’s charge in 1 Timothy 2:11–15 and how it relates to the fall and male-female interactions in Christianity.
References:
1. Crown, Z. (2020, October 22). What Did Paul Teach 18. Food In Due Season (Facebook Post). Retrieved October 22, 2020, from https://www.facebook.com/100019239917232/posts/685544678763523/?d=n
2. Mathis, D. (2020, June 26). Why Did Satan Target Eve? Desiring God. Retrieved May 2, 2021, from https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/why-did-satan-target-eve
