The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters.-Genesis 1:2.

“For on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:17

Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” 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.” Genesis 3:12‭-‬13. 

Not Entirely Free

Are you hiding your face from God
Feeling naked and exposed by your sin?
Are you feeling the need to be covered,
Afraid to allow God to step in?
Do you think the sins you’ve committed
Have closed God’s ears to your prayers?
Do you believe your sin is so egregious 
God can’t possibly continue to care?

We owe our Father remorse for our sin
And recompense for any damage we’ve done.
However, a simple “Forgive me, Father, I’m sorry.”
Will restore His grace to our fund.
It is written by Micah, the prophet,
That God is quick to pardon our sins.
For He delights in giving us mercy
From which the healing process begins.

Don’t you understand you’re already forgiven?
That’s why Jesus died on the cross.
Through His crucifixion, we won redemption:
When He rose, death’s power was lost.
Our faith indemnifies us from the penalty of sin
The finished work of the cross was enough.
But here on earth, sin still has the consequence
Of obscuring our view of God’s love.

God, who saved us from eternal hell
Is stung when we commit a sin.
For He wants us to live like His Son, 
By turning our whole life over to Him.
Yes, He gave us the gift of free will
But that is not freedom from everything
God, who is mercifully kind as our Father
Still demands respect as our sovereign King. 
Linda Troxell ©09/27/2021

 Was Eve a Scapegoat for the Fall?

The Bible begins with God creating our world. Genesis chapter one tells us that first, God created heaven and earth. His material was a soup of undifferentiated chaos (without form and void) over which only darkness existed. Then the Spirit of God, whom we call the Holy Spirit, moved over the dark soup, causing an agitation that separated the water from the earth. The particles that would become the earth were heavier than those that would become the water, and they sank, thus differentiating water from land. Genesis 1:2 tells us that there was no light. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters.-Genesis 1:2.

Chapter one of Genesis tells us that in the first four days, God essentially created everything needed to support the life of humankind. He separated the earth below from the sky above. Then He placed the sun and the moon in the sky to light the days and nights and added the stars to signal seasons and years. He created the sea and the earth. And to grow on the land, He created vegetation and trees capable of recreating themselves. On day five, God created creatures to swim in the waters and winged creatures to fly in the skies. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” Genesis 1:22. 

On day six, God created “…living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind” Genesis 1:24. Then he sat back and surveyed all He had created. He was satisfied that He had everything needed to support the life of His crown jewel of creation, humankind. On the sixth day, God created man in His image, giving him dominion over the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and the beasts, cattle, and creeping things of the earth. Then, He blessed man by telling him, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28. Satisfied with all He had created, on the seventh day, God rested. And He blessed and sanctified the seventh day as a day of rest for all time. 

Genesis 2:4 begins by filling in the details of man’s creation. First, we learn that God had not yet brought rain upon the land nor allowed plants needing cultivation to sprout because there was no one to cultivate the ground. After God created man, He planted a garden East of Eden where humankind would live and tend the garden. God filled the garden with beautiful trees that would also provide food. God told the man he could eat from any tree but not from the tree God called The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God warned the man, “For on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:17

As chapter 2 finishes, we learn about the creation of the first woman, Eve. God showed man, now called Adam, every animal God had created. He allowed Adam to name each animal, hoping to find a suitable helper for the man among them. However, that didn’t happen because a suitable helper was not found among all of God’s creations. But God did not give up. Instead, He created a helper for Adam. Using a rib He extracted from Adam, God fashioned the first woman. Then God brought this new creation to Adam as his suitable helper. When Adam saw this new human, he said, “”At last this is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘woman,’ Because she was taken out of man.” Genesis 2:23. God bound the two together in the first marriage. The chapter ends by telling us that the couple was naked without shame.

As chapters 1 and 2 tell the story of God creating, chapter 3 tells the story of destruction and the fall of man. We read in Genesis 3:5-6 of the serpent convincing Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and of Eve sharing the fruit with Adam. The Bible says they ate the fruit together. …she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 3:6. Once they had eaten the forbidden fruit, the couple quickly realized they were naked. Feeling ashamed, they scurried to cover themselves. Sin had entered the garden with its right-hand man, shame. Together they would do the work of breaking apart those who God had created and unified. 

When Adam and Eve heard God calling them, they were overwhelmed by their shame and desperate to deny the behavior responsible for it. So they hid from God. Of course, God knew where the couple was and why they were hiding. When He asked them why they were hiding, the couple said they were ashamed because they were naked. And when He asked them how they knew they were naked and suggested they had eaten from the forbidden tree, this is how the conversation went:: Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” 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.” Genesis 3:12‭-‬13. Thus the world’s first denial, rationalization, and blame-shifting took place in the garden. 

In this part of the story, I’ve always been bothered by how quickly Adam blames Eve. And I’ve been confused because God blames her too but says nothing to Adam, “Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” (3:13). This is unsettling because Eve had never been instructed not to eat from the tree. Yet, the Lord seems to join Adam in blaming Eve entirely for the sin. We may assume that Adam relayed the instruction to her. Still, if he did, the secondhand information would pale compared to hearing it directly from God. But Adam does not protect  Eve by knocking the fruit out of Eve’s hand. Nor does he say, “No, Eve, we cannot eat that fruit!”  No, Adam joins Eve in eating the fruit God had expressly told Adam not to eat.  

We know God intended for Eve to be Adam’s helper. This implies a power and status differential. I believe this unequal status gives Adam the responsibility to lead Eve and protect her. But for millennia, Eve alone has been blamed for the sin that separated humankind from God. Indirectly, she is blamed for every tragedy we read about in the Bible and for God’s need to sacrifice His Son to save humanity from eternal death. Those suppositions have played a part, overtly or covertly, in the effort to minimize the power of women ever since.  

Eve is not without blame; she doesn’t accept responsibility for her behavior but blames the serpent. And she is a main character in the part of the story that troubles me for a different reason. It amazes me to see that humans have refused to take responsibility for our sins from the moment sin became part of our lives. I am amazed, too, that from the beginning, we have consistently rationalized our behavior by shifting the blame from ourselves to someone or something else. Just as Adam shifted the blame to Eve, then Eve to the serpent. For the first time, I clearly saw that hiding our sins and shifting blame has been a reflex triggered by shame from the beginning. Shame is so terrifying, and we cannot tolerate it because it threatens death.  

Perhaps not physical death, but arguably, a more critical death, social, and/or spiritual death. Shame tells us we are so irreparably flawed we are unacceptable to God and our peers. And as spiritual beings created to be social, we cannot survive without God and our community of family and friends. So we try to hide from our shame as well as hide our sins from God and our community. This is precisely why shame is used successfully to manipulate human thoughts, beliefs, and behavior, especially those of children.

However, no matter its success, shame is a dangerous tool. Because, in the long run, the behaviors shame elicits are often more severe and dangerous than the behaviors it has been used to curtail. Recently I read a line in a devotional about man’s fall in the garden. In it, I found this compelling line, “Humans were in a hurry to become gods, so God became human.” This speaks to humanity’s many efforts to eliminate their need for God. 

When God stepped down from glory to live as a human, He spent His earthly life trying to convince us of God’s benevolence and our need for Him. Jesus taught that shining a light on our shame and accepting responsibility for the sin that caused it would not kill us. Through many parables and stories, He told us that the exact opposite is true. Hiding from our shame and the behavior that caused it is what will kill us. Because when we shine a light on our shameful behavior and acknowledge our responsibility to God, we can simply apologize to God in prayer and ask for His help in the future. And that’s all it will take to save our lives. As John told us in the first chapter of his gospel, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:3‭-‬5 

In all this time, darkness has not overcome the light. And it won’t unless we allow it to.

Let’s Pray,

Father, we come to you as children, our love is deep and faithful, but our behavior doesn’t always reflect our love. But like children, we need your continuous guidance whether or not we choose to take it. For that is part of what assures us of your unconditional love. Thank you, Father, for always loving us and for disciplining us when it is what we need. In our best times, we know that your discipline is necessary and proof of your overwhelming love for us. In those times, we know that your discipline is to correct, not punish. But we won’t accept correction unless it comes with discomfort. You gave us the gift of guilt to help us to know when we are violating your holy statutes. That guilt is meant to guide us back onto the path of your laws. But Lord, we understand that shame does not come from you. You would never give us anything that makes us feel unacceptable to you. Although you might see our behavior as unacceptable, we can never be. We are your children made holy by the blood of your son. To turn your back on us would negate Jesus’ finished work of the cross. We were made enough for you by his work, and by that same work, we have been saved from eternal death. Thank You, Lord, for all of your gifts, those that feel bad and those that feel good, for they all ultimately bring us joy. This we pray in the holy name of Jesus, Amen.

Points for Prayer and Pondering

Or

Perhaps for Putting Pen to Paper

1. Some might consider my theses concerning Eve and/or shame inappropriate. They are conclusions I reached from bringing my modern-day knowledge to my reading of the Bible. How do you feel about either or both of my theories? Write a bit about what you think and why.

2. Some people may also find reading the Bible through a lens informed by present-day knowledge, culture, and ethos unacceptable. What do you think? Write a bit about your thoughts on this. 

2a  Separating our thoughts and feelings from the present time, place, and culture is difficult. Considering this, do you intentionally bring any or all of these things to your reading of the Bible? How about unintentionally.?  Write a paragraph about whether and how you do or do not bring these things to your reading of the Bible.

3. Considering Genesis 3:6 and Genesis 3:12 & 13, what are your thoughts about whether or not God blames Eve more than Adam for the sin of eating the forbidden fruit? Write a few lines about what you think and why.

3a. Do you think perhaps God blames Eve solely for the sin of eating the forbidden fruit? Write a few lines about what you believe and why.

4. Finally, what are your thoughts about shame. Many people believe that shame and guilt are synonymous; therefore, there is a healthy and unhealthy shame just as there is healthy and unhealthy guilt. Mental health experts believe that guilt and shame are different. Guilt, they believe, tells us we’ve done something wrong. But shame tells us we are something wrong and cannot be forgiven. What are your thoughts about guilt and shame? Write a paragraph about what you think and why.