Because man was created as a social creature, and yet was all alone as a human being created in the image of God, there was something missing in his life, something that would make him complete. When God brought all the animals before Adam to see how he would classify them, he found that there were none that met his specific needs of companionship fully. For man to have those needs fulfilled, God anesthetized him, took one of his ribs and made the perfect female companion from it. We can only imagine what this first woman might have looked like. Presumably she was as perfect as was the first man. What a simple but beautiful marriage ceremony it must have been when God gave away the bride!
Adam used two terms to describe his wife. The first described her origins. When the Lord brought her unto Adam, he named her “woman,” because she was taken out of man (Gen. 2:20). God gave the command to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth (Gen. 1:26,27). This command could not be obeyed by one man alone. Thus, the woman was necessary to help man fulfill God’s commands. In fulfilling this command, the woman became the mother of all living, that is, of all other human beings. The second term used was a personal name and it described her relationship to the rest of mankind. Adam called her “Eve,” which means “life giver” (Gen. 3:20).
Adam and Eve were both similar and yet different. Those differences and similarities still persist in the human race today. Unfortunately, Eve was the more emotional of the two and was more easily susceptible to persuasion. This is not a guess. Studies show this to be true. Furthermore, the Bible tells us Eve was the “weaker vessel” (I Pet. 3:7). Also, the Bible tells us that “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (I Tim. 2:14). Have you ever wondered why satan tempted Eve first? Why not go after Adam who was created by God? Might it stem from the fact that he knew the woman would be more susceptible to his temptation and that he could get to the man through her?
Which leads us to another fact which we glean from the Text about the woman, and that is that she exercised a great influence over the man. Adam knew God’s law and he knew the penalty for breaking it. Presumably, so did the woman, but Eve was apparently deceived by the serpent about the results of eating the forbidden fruit. She “saw” that the tree was “good for food” and a “tree to be desired to make one wise” and that it was “pleasant to the eyes.” She fell for diabolical lie that God was trying to hide something from her.
Adam’s failure to keep God’s command was apparently the result of his love for his wife. God’s condemnation of Adam was that he “hearkened unto the voice of his wife” (Gen. 3:17). Because of that attachment she was able to persuade the man to follow her into transgression. Let me make it clear, however, that nothing written here should be construed in any way as suggesting that man had no culpability in his own sins.
Women still hold that kind of influence over men today. Delilah was able to wrest the secret of Samson’s strength from him, Solomon’s many foreign wives turned his heart from the Lord and Salome cost John the Baptist his head. How many men today have been subject to the alluring influence of some woman? It is a good thing when a godly woman exercises influence over a man to keep him faithful to the Lord (I Pet. 3:1-6), but beware the strange woman (Prov. 5:3-20; 6:24; 7:5-23; 22:14; 23:27).
Eve’s transgression naturally resulted in her judgement. The devil lied as he always does. The fruit of sin was nowhere as sweet as promised. It never is. In fact, it was downright bitter! It always is. Beyond the bringing in of death into the world, Eve would bring forth children in sorrow and be made subject to her husband. One of the things wrong with the current attempts to alter the woman’s role in society is that it goes against God’s divine arrangement. At least partly because of her transgression, the woman is not allowed to usurp authority over the man in the church (I Tim. 2:11-14).
Not only did Eve complement and complete Adam’s life, because she was the mother of all living, she would also be the mother of the saviour of the world. God promised that through her the seed would come that would destroy the serpent (Gen. 3:15). The saviour was made of a woman (Gal. 4:4). In the New Testament, the church is described as the beautiful bride of Christ (Eph 5:24-32). Whereas the first Adam’s bride pulled Adam into transgression, the second Adam saves His bride from falling into transgression. “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9)!
Eric L. Padgett