Auxano Ministry
By the grace of God I am what I am:
1 Cor. 15:10a
The Fall of Mankind…The Decision
Eve's Seduction & Adam's Decision
2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The word beguiled means to seduce, which is described by the dictionary as a process of leading a person away from their duty, or responsibilities, or commitments. Seduction is deceitful because you say one thing while leading a person in a completely different direction from what your words portray.
The word subtilty means to be crafty or sly in your dealings. A synonym for subtilty would be a lie. The Adversary lied to Eve in Genesis 3 and she was tricked, caught unaware. The Adversary likes to play word games that are really mind games to pervert and twist the Truth of God’s words.
1 Timothy 2:14b
…but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
What Eve did was sin. She sinned because her mind and heart were not prepared with the words of God, the words God had spoken. Because of this lack of preparation, she disobeyed God’s command and ate from the tree.
Ephesians 4:14
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive…
God has given us His Word so that we are not pushed around and led astray by the “cunning craftiness” of men. It is the same word translated “subtilty” when speaking of Eve in Corinthians. The Adversary's goal is to sidetrack you, to led you astray from your goals and objectives, to get you to switch loyalties.
Your defense is God’s Word.
The “sleight” of men is in reference to playing dice whereby the roller switches the real dice for loaded dice. These men play a game of bait and switch.
God’s words, God wisdom is our defense.
Acts 13:10
And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
The Apostle Paul came to speak to the ruler of an area about the Word of God. The ruler had invited Paul to come speak with him. The man called a “child of the devil” was his advisor. The advisor's goal is stated in verse 8 where he wants to “turn away” this ruler from believing. The word “pervert” means to turn aside or to turn away from, verse 8 and verse 10 have the same Greek word in the text.
This advisor’s job in life, as a child of the devil, like the men in Ephesians, was to stand as the enemy of everything that is righteous and turn people away from believing the words of God which are instruction in righteousness.
They do this through cleverly devised speeches that are filled with lies. They do this through empty promises that are more lies. This is no surprise since it is the same tactic the Adversary used in Genesis 3 on Eve.
They can be very sincere and act quite nice, but a liar is still a liar and his words are still corrupt, evil, and framed to hide his deceit. They will try to move you, thinking you are accomplishing one thing, but your actions cause a completely different result, a result of their choosing.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Eve was caught off-guard; by the craftiness, the subtil lies of the Adversary. She was tricked into betraying Adam and ultimately God. She was deceived because she was unprepared with God’s accurate word and because she went by her senses and the serpent “looked” good!
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
We begin chapter 3 acknowledging the Adversary’s subtilty, his craftiness. Then he begins his mind games, “hath God said…?”
Eve did not know what God had said!
Now, you can also see why it was so important to recognize God has never given this command to Eve, it has only been a command to Adam who had the responsibility to teach Eve, like a priest in Israel. The attack is not at God, but at Adam. The logic is simple, attack the man and kill the message.
In 1 Timothy chapter 2 God begins talking about authority.
1 Timothy 2:1-2
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
First, prayer for all men. Then, prayer for those in authority. Then it goes on to the authority of God, who wants all men to be saved and have True knowledge. Then in verses 5 and 6 it goes on to the authority of the man Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and mankind. Then in verses 7 and 8 we move on to the authority of the Apostle Paul as the one who received the revelation pertaining to our age, our time. Then in verses 9 through 15 we are talking about the authority of the husband and the wife.
Why does the husband have authority? Because he was formed first, and Eve was formed as his helper.
You did not see the authority of the husband, did you? That is due to mistranslations. The Greek word for woman is gyne and it is the same word for wife. The context is to determine if it is translated woman or wife.
By the same measure, the Greek word translated man is aner and is used for both a man and a husband. Again, it is the context that determines the translation. Now read it with some changes in translation.
1 Timothy 2:9-15
9 In like manner also, that wives adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.
10 But (which becometh wives professing godliness) with good works.
11 Let the wife learn in silence with all subjection.
12 But I suffer not a wife to teach, nor to usurp authority over the husband, but to be in silence.
13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
15 Notwithstanding she (the wife) shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
Translation using Husband and Wife
The context is a husband and wife when the husband has a ministry. When exercising that ministry, the wife is not to exercise authority over him but to learn silently.
We learn here that Eve was deceived in the area of the authority God had given to Adam because he was formed first. Eve was challenged by the Adversary concerning Adam’s authority, then turns around and exercises authority over Adam.
Adam being fully aware of what is taking place, not being deceived in the area of authority, ate also. The entire context concerns authority.
Genesis 3:1
…Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
God did not tell you about this, did God really say, you shall not eat?
“Did Adam give you this information? God never told you not to eat this fruit.” You can almost hear the words slide off the lips of the Adversary.
There are no words indicating a time frame in Genesis 3. But we do know it is a seduction of Eve and a seduction takes time. How many times did Eve talk with the serpent? How long did he plant his ideas in her head?
Genesis 3:2
And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Eve forgot the word freely. We have seen this problem come up in other teachings. How many words of God are important? Every word! (Matthew 4:4)
Again, we see that Eve is unprepared with the words of God.
Genesis 3:3
But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Everything is wrong with this statement.
God only declared one tree “in the midst” of the Garden, the Tree of Life.
God did not apply the label “do not touch” to any tree in the Garden.
Finally, “lest ye die” is a possibility, while “ye shall surely die” is an absolute.
Eve is greatly out of step with God’s Word.
Either she is a poor student, or she had a poor teacher.
We will see why I question the teacher in a moment.
Genesis 3:4-5
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Now the Adversary kicks it into high gear. Still, God was not her teacher and the Adversary is attacking the knowledge she received from her teacher.
“Adam is giving you information piece-meal and it is not even accurate,” declares the Adversary. “God knows the truth and Adam is holding you back from knowing it.”
Standard operating procedure for the Adversary, attack the man because you cannot attack the message. Recognizing that this is a seduction and a seduction takes more time than it takes to read these few verses we can see how the Adversary worked with Eve.
Again, God does not use any words in these verses that are indicative of time. So, time is not the emphasis here, a seduction is the emphasis. The craftiness of the Adversary is emphasized.
Four millennia after this, the last Adam, Jesus Christ comes on the scene. Notice how crafty the Adversary uses his words, even using God's words, to tempt Jesus to disobey God. But, unlike Eve, Jesus is prepared with God’s Word.
Jesus, like Adam before him, also heard God’s Word.
Hebrews 5:8
Though he [Jesus Christ] were a Son yet learned he obedience [hupakoe] by the things which he suffered.
“Learned” is the Greek word manthano and it means to learn, to understand the lesson to the point of application. Then what do you do with the lesson you have learned? You obey!
The result of all true learning is obedience.
In order to own and drive a car it is expected I learned from the manufacture about the car and I learned the rules of the road from the state. Therefore, every 3,000 miles I will change the oil in my car and when the street light turns red, I will stop. The result of true learning is obedience.
The word “obedience” is the Greek word hupakoe. It is a compound word from hupo which means under and akouo which means to hear. Together they carry the meaning of hearing words given by one who is superior.
The word suffered is better translated experienced.
All together Hebrews 5:8 is telling us Jesus learned his lessons to the point of obedience, to the point of carrying out what he learned. What did Jesus learn from his experience? That God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and that God’s ways are higher than our ways. So that Jesus did what God asked him to do. Jesus heard the words of God as words coming from a superior.
Now, what about Adam?
Romans 5:19
For as by one man's [Adam] disobedience [parakoe] many were made sinners, so by the obedience [hupakoe] of one [Jesus] shall many be made righteous.
The word for obedience here is the same as in Hebrews 5:8.
But what about the word for disobedience, what does that tell us?
Well, the Greek word for disobedience is parakoe. This is also a compound word from para meaning alongside of and akouo meaning to hear. Adam did not receive God’s words as words from a superior, Adam received God’s words alongside of his own. Adam held his own thoughts equal to the thoughts of God.
So was Eve a poor listener, a poor learner, or was Adam a poor teacher?
The only example I can give that perhaps equates is a teenage boy and his father. As puberty sets in for a boy testosterone levels increase. This results in the body producing hair, the voice growing deeper and more adult like, and a growth in muscle mass. Many times we see teenage boys feeling these changes in their bodies act to prove to their fathers that they also are now, A MAN!
But these physical changes do not result in increased knowledge or wisdom, the changes are all in the physical realm. Perhaps Adam was just trying to show God that He had learned, he had grown, he could do some things on his own. Resulting in laying God's words alongside his own words rather than elevating God's words to their rightful position.
The result for a teenage boy is rebellion against the authority of his father. Was Adam acting like a teenager?
If you have no integrity for God's Word, how well will you communicate it? If God's words are only laid alongside of your own words, your own thoughts, will you speak God's words with accuracy? Was Eve a poor learner or Adam a poor teacher? Consider the Pharisees.
Matthew 15:1-3
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
Adam took of the fruit without hesitation. He was not deceived by the Adversary or by Eve. He deliberately disobeyed the words of God. Adam’s arrogance and pride had far reaching consequences that Adam had never considered. He never considered them because man’s thoughts are not God’s thoughts, God’s thoughts are higher.
Adam was too smart for his own good and our good. Adam did not believe the words of his Father.
Proverbs 15:5a
A fool despiseth his father's instruction...
© Auxano Ministry 2020
All verses quoted in this teaching are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.
The Fall of Mankind
