Articles
The First Family - 2
Ideally, marriage is an intimate partnership wherein life’s joys are magnified and its burdens eased. Two people with common spiritual interests can support and encourage each other so that the sum of the relationship is greater than the individual parts. And when threats arise in the life of one, hopefully the other will serve as a stabilizing and protective force.
God has not revealed all of His precepts and expectations concerning Adam and Eve. What constituted their worship is not known. With only two people in existence, certain moral prohibitions would have been unnecessary (not coveting your neighbor’s wife, for instance). One particular law, however, is revealed: “… of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gn 2:17). The command was unambiguous and the implications of violating it were clearly understood (Gn 3:2-3).
Where Adam was and what he was doing when Satan tempted Eve is unknown. Whether he could have prevented Eve’s sin or whether he, himself, would have succumbed is pointless speculation. The facts, however, are clear: Satan enticed Eve to transgress through deception and denial of God’s law (Gn 3:4-6a). Thus, the one specially created as Adam’s help became the occasion of his downfall, for “she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (3:6b). Adam and Eve had done what God knew they would, but such foreknowledge surely didn’t blunt His disappointment.
Sin is rarely a singular event. It is like cancer, repeatedly multiplying and corrupting other healthy areas. And so the eating of the forbidden fruit metastasizes into concealment (3:8), lying (3:10) and shifting of blame (3:12-13). Sin has now infected the first couple with spiritual death.
Additionally, a whole new dimension of the relationship between male and female is assigned as a result of this moral failure. God declares to Eve: “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Gn 3:16). Paul concurs when discussing male leadership in worship: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Tim 2:14).
Rather than chafe over the fallout of these events, or worse yet to continue arguing over who was truly at fault, godly husbands and wives should pay attention to the inherent lessons. The greatest priority in marriage – and life in general – is to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Mt 6:33). This lays the foundation for effectively resolving all the issues that will inevitably arise in such an intimate union. It is the couple who truly puts God first in their lives that will be able to manage the stresses of life and deepen their love and appreciation of each other.
Self-seeking, often manifested in males by overindulgence in recreation, emotional detachment and sexual oppressiveness, and in females by materialism, hypercriticism and sexual defrauding, undermines marital strength. Selflessness, on the other hand, compels one to make the right choices because the spiritual welfare of the other depends upon it. When I sin, I fail my mate as well as God. Marriage is for the mature, for it is the mature who are able to relinquish selfish concerns and live for the betterment of others (adapted from Hueytown Bulletin, 1/16/2000).
