Adam’s Problematic Princess

(4 Minute Read)

Yahweh’s gift of Eve to Adam as his wife and the mother of the human race was a Huge Blessing, but she was also a Huge Problem.

Every one of the world’s global problems, all our national problems, and each person’s individual problems, all result from Adam’s choice to eat the Forbidden Fruit. But what led Adam to make this disastrous choice? It was Adam’s Problematic Princess! Adam “listened to the voice of [his] wife” and ate the Forbidden Fruit.

Yahweh rebuked Adam:
“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. …” (Genesis 3:17 NASB)

Yahweh scolded Adam for listening to the voice of his wife over the word of his Creator. She persuaded him to eat the Forbidden Fruit and disobey God. This caused a HUGE PROBLEM.

Apparently Eve used words of persuasion to entice Adam to eat the Forbidden Fruit.

The fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil did not tempt Adam, and Satan did not tempt Adam. But Adam succumbed to temptation from his problematic princess who was herself deceived by Satan.

Was Eating the Forbidden Fruit Adam’s First Sin?

It seems that Adam’s initial sin came before he ate the Forbidden Fruit. Listening to his wife’s counsel to ignore Yahweh’s command was a sin for which Yahweh rebuked him. A subsequent sin was his internal decision to eat the Forbidden Fruit. These internal sins of attitude and thinking culminated in the act of disobedience to eat the Forbidden Fruit.

Isn’t this the way sin always occurs? Sins of thought and sins of the will always precede the outward act of sin.

In listening to his wife, Adam sinned by abdicating the leadership position in which God had placed him. Eve was designed and given to Adam as his helper, not his leader:
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18 NASB)

What should Adam have done?

Genesis seems to indicate that Adam was present when Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit:
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. (Genesis 3:6 NASB)

Instead of watching Eve eat and then heeding her persuasive words to eat himself, Adam should have physically intervened to stop Eve from eating, reminding her of Yahweh’s orders:

“STOP Eve, STOP! I told you the Creator commanded us not to eat from that tree on pain of death!”

If Adam could not stop Eve from eating the Forbidden Fruit, then he should have resisted her enticingly persuasive words and instead interceded with the Creator on her behalf:

“Lord, I specifically instructed the woman You gave me not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the middle of the Garden. But she has disobeyed and eaten, and I couldn’t stop her. What shall we do with her? I beg you to forgive her, and I ask that her life be spared. I love her and don’t want to lose her. What can You do?”

It might have been possible for Adam to “undo” Eve’s disobedience through an act of obedience and faith, by obeying God and refusing to eat the forbidden fruit. Just as the Second Adam’s act of obedience resulted in life to all his spiritual progeny, so the First Adam might have been able to save Eve and the entire human race through an act of faith and obedience.
So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19 NASB)

Adam had to choose between obeying Yahweh’s command or heeding the words of his gorgeous, curvaceous wife. Adam did not choose wisely. All his offspring have suffered as a result of his sin.

How Was Eve Deceived?

The serpent deceived Eve:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” … 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 3:1,13 NASB)

Eve knew God’s command, given to Adam before she was created. The serpent deceived Eve by first questioning God’s command and then denying it. (Genesis 3:1-4)

Why did the serpent approach Eve instead of Adam, the leader of the couple? Probably because he correctly discerned that Eve was more easily deceived than Adam (1 Timothy 2:14). In general, women are more emotional, sensitive, and feelings-oriented than men, and thus are more easily led astray through appeals to their feelings. The serpent appealed to Eve’s desire to be wise like God. He reached Eve through the visual appeal of the tree’s fruit.

How can you avoid being deceived like Eve?
Study, believe, and obey Scripture
from Genesis to Revelation.

There is no indication that Eve ran through an analytical evaluation of the consequences of disobeying God and eating the Forbidden Fruit. She did report the death consequence to the serpent, but immediately accepted his denial of that truth. And then she acted on her feelings in response to the appeal of the Forbidden Fruit.

But Adam sinned knowingly; he was not deceived (1 Timothy 2:14). The entire human race fell when Adam sinned, not when Eve disobeyed. (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22)

Because Satan deceived Eve (but not Adam) and because Adam was created first, Paul forbids women to teach men or to have authority over men in the church. Apparently women by created nature are more vulnerable to spiritual deception (1 Timothy 2:11-14; 3:15). Instead, Scripture instructs women to teach younger women and children (Titus 2:3-5; Proverbs 1:8).

It is vital to heed Paul’s warning not to let our minds be led astray the way Eve was deceived by Satan (2 Corinthians 11:3). Many allow their minds to be corrupted exactly as Eve did through questioning and denying God’s Word. Today many doubt or deny the reliability and authority of Genesis. Since Genesis is the foundation for Scripture, doubting Genesis logically calls into question the entire Bible.

How can you avoid being deceived like Eve? Study, believe, and obey Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Pray to Yahweh as Jesus taught us to pray:
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matthew 6:13 NASB)

Questions to Ponder

1. In what area are you vulnerable to Satan’s temptations? Where will he attack you?
2. What will you do to avoid being deceived as Eve was?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the 20th article in a weekly series on Adam.
Read the prequels:
1. Was Adam in the Garden of Eden?
2. Did Moses Believe in Adam?
3. Did Jesus Believe in Adam?
4. Did Paul Believe in Adam?
5. Does Belief in Adam Matter?
6. Adam and Puppies
7. Why Did Adam Sin?
8. What Should Adam Have Done?
9. What Did Adam Cause?
10. What Was Adam’s Forbidden Fruit?
11. How Long Was Adam in Eden?
12. Was Adam’s Garden of Eden Real?
13. Christmas & Adam (with videos)
14. Where Was Adam’s Garden of Eden?
15. Did Adam Wear Clothes in Eden?
16. Was Adam Backward or Brilliant? (with video)
17. Who Was Mrs. Adam?
18. Adam’s Dream Girl
19. Adam’s Prolific Princess

Read the sequels:
21. How Many Children Did Adam Have?
22. Whom Did Adam’s Sons Marry?
23. Did Adam Ride a Unicorn?
24. How Long Did Adam Live?
25. Did Adam Swat Mosquitoes in Eden?
26. Did Adam’s Garden Have a Talking Snake?
27. Why Should Adam’s Sin Affect Me?
28. Did Roses Have Thorns in Adam’s Garden?
29. Adam the Image-Bearer & Harambe the Gorilla
30. Did Adam Ever Return to Eden?
31. What Was Adam’s Tree of Life?
32. Will Adam Be in Heaven?
33. Did Adam See the Big Dipper?
34. Did Adam Know Earth Is Round?
35. Did Jesus Say When Adam Was Created?
36. Did Adam See Dinosaurs?
37. Did Adam Like Steak?
38. Could Adam Read & Write?
39. Did God Use Evolution to Make Adam?
40. Adam & the Olympics
41. Adam and the Gospel
42. Adam and the Genesis Road

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday March 30, 2016 A.D.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh….Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. (Genesis 2:18-24; 3:20 NASB)