The devil is a master manipulator. Jesus warned in John 8:44 – "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it." From the get-go the devil demonstrated an amazing and alarming ability to take the clearest, most compelling and direct of God’s commands and convince human beings God didn’t really mean what He said. The first prohibition God placed on Adam is found in Genesis 2:17. After stating in verse 16 he [Adam] was free to eat of every tree in the luscious Garden of Eden, God immediately made one exception in verse 17, in unambiguous words – "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." That seems clear enough. In the words of a hit country song by singer Lori Morgan in 1992, "What part of no don’t you understand?" Didn’t Adam understand, and didn’t Eve "get it?" Genesis 3:1-3 makes clear Eve did, indeed, understand. When "the serpent" (the devil – see Revelation 12:9) asked Eve, "Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" she quoted to him the precise command God had given in Genesis 2:17 (see Genesis 3:1-3). She knew, and Adam did, too! Eve turned out to be the forerunner of people like Marla Maples, the "other woman" in the marital breakup of Donald Trump and his first wife Ivana. Maples told interviewers she believed in the Bible, then added this disclaimer – "but you can’t always take it literally and be happy."
Interestingly enough, the apostle Paul made a direct reference to the devil’s successful efforts to deceive Eve in 1 Timothy 2:13-14. On the heels of instruction that women in corporate church worship assemblies "learn quietly with all submissiveness" and "not teach or exercise authority over a man (1 Timothy 2:11-12 ESV), Paul stated two reasons why: "For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived , but the woman, being deceived, fell into transgression" (2:13-14). These days taking that literally leaves many folks unhappy! Today a lot of fancy arguments are being advanced insisting God didn’t really mean what He said through Paul – that it’s just too "sexist." Paul was dealing with a "cultural" situation when he wrote to Timothy in Ephesus. Since culture has changed and women are now more "equal" with men, that restriction no longer applies – so the argument goes. But Paul’s restrictions on women having authority over men in the church are not grounded in cultural conditions and practices. They are grounded in God’s sovereign creation order and the order in which the woman and man fell into sin. Logically, Biblically, and exegetically – so long as it is true Adam was formed first and the woman was the first to be deceived, it will be true that women are not to have authority over men in the church’s worship assemblies and leadership roles. Common sense is needed here. Women are truly equal to men in their and standing before God in Christ (see Galatians 3:26-29). They can – and do – serve God in many vital and powerful ways. But being equal is a far cry from being identical. God help women AND men in the church to be guided by Christ in their service to God, not culture.
– Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
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