10/09/2024
Title: 1. Why did Eve eat first? 2. Why did Adam not eat first?
Genesis 3:6 (NKJV), *6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.*
1. These are things that some of us wrestle with in the matter of gospel telling from Old Testament scriptures. Others, wrestle with them as to find some moral applications, but that is the same issue that the Jews did for which they got a strong rebuke and lesson from the Lord. *"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”* John 5:39. The Lord was saying, unless one uses Him as the grid or lens to interpret the OT scriptures, anyone who reads, reads in vain.
2. So, with a gospel-Christ centered hermeneutic I have both the liberty and confidence to interpret the story of Adam and Eve. I would like to answer the matter of why Eve ate first of what God had forbidden. Many do not rise to think about these things, because they have been taught to bash Adam and Eve and unfortunately miss the gospel understanding. God is always purposeful in the writing of His script. And if God is writing a script and dramatizing it, IT MUST BE ABOUT JESUS.
3. So, the story of Adam and Eve is about Christ Jesus. And we have that license from Paul who said: Romans 5:14 (NKJV), 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Adam was a type of Him who was to come, that is, Christ Jesus. And by extension, Eve was a type of the church that was to be birthed by His water and blood on the cross.
4. Apostle Paul also expanded and defined the matter of Adam and Eve and called it a great mystery. Ephesians 5:30-32 (NKJV), 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 *"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." *32 THIS IS A GREAT MYSTERY, BUT I SPEAK CONCERNING CHRIST AND THE CHURCH, not about our marriages.
5. So, Adam and Eve were a mystery that needed to be interpreted and given full meaning in the appearance of Christ. And it is Christ, not Adam, who LEFT HIS FATHER by way of the incarnation that He could be joined to His bride through the marriage of the cross. Romans 7:4 (NKJV), *4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another--to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.”*
6. Now to the matter of entry of sin. In Romans 5: 12 & 17, Paul said, sin entered through the one man, Adam. And yet, Paul also said this: 1 Timothy 2:13-14 (NKJV)
13 *For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.”* How did sin enter through Adam, when it was the woman who fell into transgression? It is because of the hidden gospel mystery. This was not saying women have a greater propensity to sin than man.
7. Rather, Eve is she who is said to have transgressed and yet her sin was not accounted to her, but to Adam in the development of the gospel testimony. But why did God say, Adam was not deceived? It is because he was a type of the Christ who was to come? Also, Adam and Eve did not eat at the exact same time. She ate first and Adam blamed her-and said the WOMAN WHOM YOU GAVE ME-meaning the church is the woman that would get Christ in trouble. VERY IMPORTANT to appreciate for a gospel mystery. EVE must eat first, because it is the church that sinned.
8. But God had said, the two who had been joined together COULD NOT be separated. But if Eve has eaten, then she will be separated from her husband by her sin and condemnation. So, what is the solution? Adam MUST then EAT ON ACCOUNT OF HER. He must remain joined to his bride, IN CONDEMNATION AND AS THE REPRESENTATIVE MAN, SIN IS SAID TO HAVE COME BY HIM. And this was looking to Jesus, who did not sin, but had a bride given Him by the Father who had as it were eaten from the tree and transgressed.
9. So, the ordering of the eating was VERY IMPORTANT TO PRESERVE God’s revelation of Christ Jesus as the 2nd Adam who would appear and be joined to the condemnation of His bride, the church. That is why He was eating with publicans and sinners. He was identifying with their condemnation, but yet without sin.
10. If the ordering of eating from the tree was reversed, that would have preached that it is Christ who would come and sin. But Christ’s “sinning” was ONLY THROUGH A LEGAL IMPUTATION. And pay attention to what I said and understand correctly. I did not say, Jesus could sin. And I did not say, Jesus would need redemption. I am saying, the ordering of the eating was important in God’s preaching of the matter of the gospel, that Christ the redeemer would ONLY BE CONDEMNED ON ACCOUNT OF THE SIN OF HIS BRIDE BY WAY OF IMPUTATION.
A BEREAN GOSPEL MESSAGE: BY PJG
