The Order in Creation and the Roles and Responsibilities of Men and Women

I was asked recently by a friend to put down in words something that I have expressed in discussions regarding a biblical understanding of male and female roles and responsibilities from a look at God’s original intent at the point of creation. I hope that you find this helpful.

I start at the beginning. I understand revelation to be progressive in nature. What I mean by that is that the prophecy about a coming Messiah announced in Genesis 3 was not nearly as clear as the Messiah in flesh, nor not even as clear as the further explanations of the apostles in the epistles. Sure, we can look backwards and see Christ in the pronouncement of the curse to Adam and Eve, but how much clearer do we understand that prophecy in light of what Christ and the apostles have told us? So, let’s start at the beginning.

God, for some reason important to Him, chose to create Adam first. I don’t know why He did – we may never understand. But, God did just that and there are hints at a reason why He did it which I’ll explain as I go. So, Adam’s in the Garden and God shows up for a talk and tells Adam that he can eat from any tree in the garden but one. It is important to notice that Eve is not created yet.

Genesis 2:16-17 – “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

God now creates Eve. A perfect companion to Adam. A more perfect companion has never existed since. Then the snake pops into the picture and tempts Eve regarding the tree. Eve replies to the snake by saying,

Genesis 3:2-3 – “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 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.'”

A couple of variations:

God names the tree Adam can’t eat from. Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Eve is vague as to the tree itself. It is merely the tree in the middle of the garden.
Eve adds the words, “you shall not…touch it.”

What we don’t know is how Eve learned about the tree. Either God told her, or Adam told her. If God told her, I find it difficult that she couldn’t correctly name the tree or why she would add the command about not touching it. My speculation (and clearly that is all this is) is that Adam told her about the command. Whether he embellished the command about the tree or whether Eve added to it we may never know. The reason I mention this is that clearly God gave the direct command to Adam.

The implication of this direct command to Adam is then played out in the temptation itself.

Genesis 3:6-7 – 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. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Observations:

The woman eats first.
There is no apparent recognition of nakedness (if she did become aware of her nakedness immediately upon eating, then logic also dictates that she would have hid all on her own prior to giving the fruit to the man).
The woman gives the fruit to the man.
The man eats fruit.
Their eyes are opened to their nakedness (not until the man’s bite of the fruit were their eyes opened. The woman was not aware of her nakedness between the time of her bite of the fruit and the time of the man’s bite of the fruit).

Next set of verses:

Genesis 3:8-19 – 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. ⁹ Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; ¹⁵ And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” ¹⁶ To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” ¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. ¹⁸ “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; ¹⁹ By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

Further observations:

Both of them recognized their nakedness.
God calls out to the man.
The man replies – clarifying that it was, in fact, HE who was affected (…I heard…I was afraid…I was naked…I hid)
God, still addressing the man, asks how he knew he was naked.
God pointedly asks the man if he had done what He had told him not to – to eat from the tree “which I command you not to eat.”
The man deflects to the woman – somehow even implicating God! (since God made the woman!)
God turns His attention to the woman.
The woman deflects to the snake – also implicating God (since God made the snake!)
God turns His attention to the snake.
God turns His attention back to the woman.
God turns His attention back to the man.
God’s words to the man are personal to the man (you listened to your wife…you have eaten from the tree…you disobeyed a direct command)

It is absolutely clear in my mind that God dealt with His creation in a very ordered way. The commandment is always referred to as being given directly to the man. Even the revelation of their nakedness is not evident until the man eats. The point is that God addresses each of the three involved separately. And in each occasion, the man is the one who is targeted as the recipient of the command and for disobedience to that command.

So, that’s the foundation that Paul builds on in 1 Timothy 2 & 3. These chapters must be taken together as a continuing line of thought. So, in chapter two Paul describes what men are supposed to do and what women are supposed to do.

1 Timothy 2:8-3:11 – Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. ⁹ Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, ¹⁰ but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. ¹¹ A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. ¹² But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. ¹³ For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. ¹⁴ And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. ¹⁵ But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. ^3:1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. ² An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³ not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. ⁴ He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity ⁵ (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), ⁶ and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. ⁷ And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. ⁸ Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, ⁹ but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. ¹⁰ These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. ¹¹ Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.

Verse 12 states that a woman is not allowed to have authority over a man. For those who may say that Paul was merely following some cultural form, he clarifies for us that the declaration is based on the order of creation – man was created before woman. Going back to the Garden of Eden, we see exactly the picture that Paul is painting here with Timothy. I’m not going to go into the “deception” issue, I just want to clarify the authority issue. The reason that God chose man instead of woman in the order of creation is clearly beyond me and I must trust Him for His reasons. But, the bottom line is that He DID choose to create one before the other and it is apparently quite important to Him. I don’t think we’ll know the reason until we get to the other side of this life.

To sum up, the important idea that I have learned to see here is that God chooses to work through certain roles and responsibilities to affect His will. He chose man. I don’t know why, but He did. It’s not that man is superior to woman, but they do have certain roles and responsibilities that the other does not.

After landing on the line of thought I currently espouse, I came across a site that I have found to be typically solid in their presentation of the relationships between men and women in marriage and the church – The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood which can be found at http://www.cbmw.org. I think you’d enjoy a number of articles on the site.

What say you? Am I correctly representing the Word?