Welcome to the Faithful Men website hosted on The Tuinstra’s URL. I (Roger) have had the opportunity to teach adult Sunday School classes and Bible studies for almost 60 years. Before I retired, I seemed to have enough time to post to my blog here quite regularly. For a while, a very short while, I thought I could post once a day like Challies does. But that dream didn’t last a week! Since retiring, I have even less time to write regularly, although I have kept up with my Bible study and teaching responsibilities.
As many of you retired folks can attest, we men often struggle with our goals and purpose in life after retirement. God reminded me of what Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians in Phil. 1:25. Here is my paraphrase: Since God has me still here, I know that I will remain and continue here for the progress and joy of faith in the lives of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
In our study of Genesis, we have come to chapter 3 and the account of the fall of man. This is where Satan, working through the serpent, tempts Adam and Eve to follow his counsel rather than God’s command.
The passage opens with these words:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?’”
That first question is important. The serpent’s purpose was clearly to introduce doubt into Eve’s mind. He wanted her to reconsider what God had actually said. Notice also how he framed the question. He made it sound as though God had forbidden all the trees of the garden, as though God were withholding everything from them.
Eve immediately corrected him. She replied that they were free to eat from the trees of the garden except for one. Concerning the tree in the midst of the garden, she said:
“God said, you shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.”
That raises an interesting observation. God had not said anything about touching the tree. Eve had not been present when God originally gave Adam the command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam had received that instruction directly.
I have sometimes wondered whether Adam, in explaining God’s command to Eve, may have added something similar to what parents often say to children. When something is dangerous, parents sometimes tell a child not merely to avoid it but to stay completely away from it. Perhaps Adam had done something like that. Or perhaps Eve herself concluded that avoiding the tree entirely would be wise. Scripture does not tell us, so we cannot be certain. What is clear is that the serpent approached the woman with his question and began to challenge God’s word.
The Tree in the Midst of the Garden
When Eve refers to the tree in the midst of the garden, it is worth remembering something from Genesis 2.
There we are told:
“Out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food, and the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
The tree of life was in the midst of the garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was there as well. Yet Eve’s attention had become fixed on the forbidden tree rather than on the tree of life.
The serpent then directly contradicted God:
“You surely will not die.”
In Hebrew, emphasis is often created by repeating a word. Rather than saying “surely,” the language intensifies the statement by repeating the idea. In English it might be written like this: “Dying you will not die!” The serpent was emphatically denying God’s warning.
Then he added:
“God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
At first glance, that sounds like a complete lie. Yet later in the chapter, after the fall, God says:
“Behold, the man has become like one of us to know good and evil.”
That does not mean Satan was telling the truth in a righteous way, but it does show that there was a sense in which Adam and Eve gained a knowledge they had not previously possessed. They came to know both good and evil. The tragedy is that such knowledge was not a blessing.
The Pattern of Temptation
Verse 6 describes Eve’s response to the temptation:
“Then 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.”
Three observations are given.
The tree was good for food.
It was a delight to the eyes.
It was desirable to make one wise.
That reminds me of what John wrote in 1 John 2:16. There he describes the world system and the ways in which it appeals to fallen humanity:
“The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.”
The same pattern seems to be present here.
The fruit appeared good for food. That relates to the desires of the flesh. Desire itself is not necessarily sinful. God created us with desires. We see food and want to eat. That is normal. The problem comes when those desires are stretched beyond God’s boundaries and become sinful.
The fruit was also a delight to the eyes. Satan regularly works through what we see. The world system Satan has constructed constantly appeals to our eyes. Advertisements, entertainment, and countless other influences are built around that reality.
Finally, the tree was desirable to make one wise. There is an appeal to pride there, a promise of gaining something, becoming something, rising above one’s present condition.
We talked about how Satan later tempted Jesus in the wilderness. One temptation involved food after forty days of fasting. Another involved offering Him the kingdoms of the world. While we may not be able to fit every detail neatly into categories, the same kinds of temptations appear repeatedly throughout Scripture and throughout life.
These are things worth recognizing as we face temptation ourselves.
The First Response to Sin
After Adam and Eve ate the fruit, Scripture says:
“The eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”
Immediately they became aware of their condition. They felt vulnerable. They knew they had disobeyed God, and their first instinct was to cover themselves.
Then came one of the most striking moments in the chapter.
“They heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.”
The expression literally refers to the breeze of the day, likely the morning breeze that comes as the day begins. When they heard Him coming, Adam and Eve hid themselves among the trees. I suspect this was not the first time God had come to meet with them. God has always desired fellowship with His people. He wanted to be with them.
That is important to remember. When sin entered the world, God could have immediately destroyed Adam and Eve. Instead, He showed mercy. He allowed them to live. He allowed them to have children. He continued His purposes through them.
The same pattern appears later in the days of Noah. God judged the world, but Noah found grace in His eyes.
God is merciful, and He desires fellowship with His people.
“Where Are You?”
God called to Adam and said:
“Where are you?”
Obviously God knew where they were.
One possibility is that He asked the question for their benefit. He wanted them to know He was seeking them.
Another possibility comes from the way we sometimes use similar language. Suppose you always hang your car keys on the same rack. One day you place them somewhere else. When you go looking for them, you say, “Where are my keys?” You do not mean they are lost forever. You mean they are not where they are supposed to be. Perhaps there is something of that idea here. Adam and Eve were not where they ought to have been.
Adam answered:
“I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
I find it interesting that he did not say he was ashamed. He said he was afraid. Fear had entered the relationship.
God had warned them that death would result from disobedience. Adam and Eve had never seen death. They may not have fully understood what it meant, but they knew they had violated God’s command and they feared the consequences.
God then asked:
“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten the tree which I commanded you not to eat?”
Immediately the blame-shifting began.
Adam answered:
“The woman you gave me to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate.”
He managed to point in two directions at once. The woman was responsible, and God was responsible for giving him the woman. We do that sometimes, don’t we? We blame God for the circumstances we’re in, and those circumstances may have been caused by our decisions.
God then turned to Eve.
She answered:
“The serpent deceived me and I ate.”
She acknowledged that she had been deceived, but she also shifted responsibility to the serpent.
The Curse on the Serpent
God then addressed the serpent.
Because of what he had done, he would be cursed above the animals and would crawl on his belly and eat dust all the days of his life.
Then comes a remarkable prophecy:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
There would be hostility between the serpent and the woman’s offspring.
Ultimately this points forward to Christ, who would come as a descendant of Eve.
In Hebrew the same word is used in both parts of the statement – the bruising of the head and the bruising of the heel. The difference is not in the action itself but in where the blow lands. A crushing blow to the heel is not normally fatal. A crushing blow to the head is.
Satan would strike at Christ, and Christ would ultimately crush Satan.
The attempt made against Christ did not succeed. Christ’s victory did.
The Woman and Her Husband
God then turned to Eve and said:
“Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.”
To understand that statement, it helps to compare it with Genesis 4.
There God warned Cain:
“Sin is lying at the door and its desire is for you, but you shall rule over it.”
The structure of the language is essentially the same.
Sin desired to control Cain, but Cain was responsible to rule over it.
In Genesis 3, the woman’s desire is said to be for her husband, and he is said to rule over her.
I understand this in light of the relationship God originally established between man and woman. Earlier in Genesis, the woman was created as a suitable helper for the man. I compared that idea to a stepladder. One side supports the other. The support stands opposite the climbing side, yet it exists for the benefit of the whole structure.
A wife was created to help and support her husband. Sometimes that support may involve disagreement or caution. A husband may be moving too quickly in some direction, and a wise wife may help him think more carefully. A husband can do the same for his wife.
The problem described here is not healthy support. It is conflict within the relationship.
The man may abuse his role by becoming harsh, bossy, or dictatorial.
The woman may push against his leadership in ways that undermine and subvert it. In doing so she may step out of her legitimate role as a supportive helper and become competitor for leadership.
That tension becomes part of the curse.
God had given leadership responsibility to the man, but now the relationship would be marked by struggle instead of harmony.
Pain, Childbearing, and the Effects of the Fall
Before speaking of the relationship between husband and wife, God said:
“I will greatly multiply your pain and conception.”
I had not thought much about that phrase before studying it. One possibility is that the language simply combines conception and childbirth into a single idea. The whole process would now be marked by pain and difficulty.
Another possibility relates to the dramatic changes brought about by the fall.
Before sin entered the world, people were apparently intended to live indefinitely. Even after the fall, the earliest generations lived extraordinarily long lives.
There would have been no need for childbearing to be concentrated into a relatively brief span of years. But once lifespans began to shorten, the command to be fruitful and multiply had to be fulfilled within a much narrower timeframe.
The fall also introduced sickness, miscarriage, and death into human experience.
Whether the phrase refers simply to the pain associated with childbirth or to the broader difficulties connected with conception and bearing children in a fallen world, the point is clear: the whole process would now be harder because of sin.
The consequences of the fall would touch every area of life, including marriage, family, and the bearing of children.
The next section of Genesis turns to Adam and to the curse placed upon the ground itself, but that takes us beyond the passage we considered during this session.
*Some articles on this publication or website are adapted from my recorded Bible teaching. I use transcription and editing tools (including AI-assisted editing) to convert spoken lectures into readable written form. The ideas, interpretations, and theological conclusions are my own and come directly from my teaching.
We’re still meditating on First Peter. Today let’s think about 1 Peter 1:18-19:
… knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Peter focuses on the fact that we are a redeemed people. Then he describes what we were redeemed from and what we are redeemed with. To “redeem” means to gain or regain possession of something by means of a payment. If your car gets towed because you were parked in the wrong place, you often have to pay to get it back. One time we were parked overnight at our son’s apartment building and we had failed to get the proper permit. Late that night we heard some commotion outside and a tow truck was getting ready to tow our car away! Tim hurried out there to find out how much it would cost to have them put the car back down in its spot. He redeemed our car. Christians are redeemed people. Peter tells us that it was Christ’s precious blood that was the redemption cost. He paid it willingly and graciously to buy us back. He loves us that much!
The redemption of our car got it back from a potential lockup in some impounding lot somewhere. Peter tells us our redemption is from our aimless conduct we inherited from our forefathers. Peter was writing primarily to Jewish believers who had inherited the traditions of Judaism. Some of us received godly, basically Christian traditions from our ancestors. Some of us received the traditions of lost, non-Christian ancestors. Either way, we are all born in sin having inherited the lost condition that every human being is born with. Every one of us, no matter our traditions, needs to be redeemed from our lost and fallen condition. Peter is letting us know that our natural state is one of lostness and aimlessness. We need to be bought back and brought back into the right relationship with God. It is the precious blood of Christ that was the payment God made to accomplish that redemption. For that we all ought to be exceedingly grateful. It might seem like a trite comparison, but if my car had been successfully impounded, I would not have been able to have the right relationship with my car as its owner until I had paid the redemption price. For God and us to have the right relationship with each other, God also had to pay a redemption price, but it wasn’t with money (i.e. silver or gold), it was with the precious life-blood of His son.
Today and through the next week or two, I would like us to take a look at 1 Peter 1:17-19 “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Today we’ll focus on verse 17. Go back and read it again.
The first thought I had is that this verse speaks of God evaluating our works. But works are not part of the evaluation process for those who are in Christ, are they? Peter goes on to emphasize it even more by telling us to conduct ourselves with fear during our stay here.
The Bible clearly teaches that we are saved by grace and not by works. Romans 8:1 teaches us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So Peter is not talking about a salvation issue here.
However, we do know that God is going to evaluate our lives and hand out awards according to the deeds we have done. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” 2 Corinthians 5:10. Since we are redeemed by the very valuable and precious blood of Christ, we belong to God. We are not our own. We are here to serve God and not ourselves. It’s reasonable and biblical to recognize that we should be careful how we live for God during our short stay here. There should be some level of fear. This fear is not a terrorizing fear of losing our salvation. But, it is also not a superficial respect for God. Our father is God almighty who rules from heaven, and He knows not only what we do but what our motivation for doing it is. There is coming a day when we will give an account to Him as to how we used the gifts and abilities He has given us, including how we used our time and money. There should be some level of fear even as we face our Heavenly Father who we know loves us.
Let us each ask God to give us the desire to serve Him in a way that pleases Him, realizing that all the blessings of life are ours because of His generous grace.
The passage we are thinking about today is 1 Peter 1:14–16: “As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’”
Here are just a couple of thoughts:
Obedient non-conformance is assumed. The opening phrases assume that the readers are children of God, and therefore obedient and non-conforming. To conform means to be shaped by a mold. Everything that goes through the mold comes out looking the same. God does not want us to be shaped by the ways of the natural, unsaved man. Peter mentions the “former lusts.” These believers had once lived as unsaved people before coming to know Christ. We should no longer be shaped by those natural desires that bring so much damage. Later, in chapter 2, Peter urges believers to abstain from fleshly lusts that “war against the soul.” We should not let those desires shape us. This also reminds me of what Paul says in Romans 12:2, that we are not to be conformed to this world. This matters greatly to God.
In contrast, God has called us to be holy as He is holy. Instead of being conformed to the world through worldly desires, we are to be conformed to God. That is what it means to be godly. Sometimes we think of the word “holy” as meaning perfect or righteous. But at its root, the word means separate, distinct, and unique. God is holy because He is unlike anyone or anything else. He is completely different. There are many ways a person can be unique, but from a Christian perspective we are to be different because we are set apart for God and for His glory. We are not to live like those who are serving themselves, seeking recognition, or trying to be the center of attention. Instead, we are to follow the example of Jesus, who came to serve rather than to be served. That kind of life is radically different from what the world values.
So, these three verses present two directions our lives can take. Either we will allow ourselves to be shaped by the world and its desires, or we will seek to be shaped by the character of God. When we are conformed to God’s character, we become distinct in a godless world.
Good Morning. It’s time to get back into our meditation on the book of First Peter. We’re looking at 1:13 this morning. If you have been following closely, you will discover that this post should have been posted before the Memorial Day devotional. I guess my age is catching up with me.
“Therefore, having girded the loins of your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Peter has been writing about the amazing inheritance and salvation that has been secured for us and is reserved and guarded in heaven awaiting our arrival. The prophets who wrote about this in the Old Testament, and even angels were trying to figure out what this salvation was all about. Then he writes, “Therefore.” Because of all that he has written he issues a challenge. The actual command of the challenge is, “Rest (or set) your hope ….” Now if you look back at the verse, you’ll notice that there are a few steps of preparation that come ahead of “setting your hope.” Let’s take a look at those.
First, Peter says, “having girded the loins of your mind.” In New Testament times, men wore long robes. When it came time to run or fight, it was necessary to gather up the robes and tie them in place around the waist so that the man’s legs would be free to run and maneuver. That’s what the expression “gird up your loins” meant in those days. In this passage Peter says to do this with our minds. That means we need to gather our thoughts in place, clear our heads, get focused on what the objectives are so that our minds are ready for action. In this case it’s not necessarily a physical action, although it might be. But our minds need to be ready for mental action, for thinking, understanding, and planning. Along with that we are to be sure our minds are sober-minded. In other words our minds need to be under control so that we don’t have thoughts running all over the place out of control. Our minds need to be controlled and ready for action before we can really be ready for some spiritual work.
The spiritual work here is what Peter tells us to do. With our minds ready for action and in control, we are to set our hope. We are to plant our hope firmly in the ground fixed in a way that it can fully function. What is the ground where we are to set our hope? Set it fully and completely on the grace that is coming our way when Jesus Christ returns. Certainly we are recipients of grace now. But when Christ comes back, that grace will be on full display and fully operational in all aspects of our lives. Because we have the grace of God at work now, we have some experience and understanding of it and we are to fix our hope on the future full revelation of that grace that we now know only in part.
The main point I want to make is that it is not a leisurely, sort of careless unthinking planting of our hope on the promise of future grace. That is the way we often handle spiritual truths. But what Peter is saying here is that it must be done with our minds fully engaged for action. And our minds must be sober and clear-headed. It is a very conscious action that is being called for here. When a man wants to put a stake in the ground in a way and in a place where it will stay, he finds the right spot and then uses a sledge hammer to drive it firmly into the ground so that it won’t move. That’s the picture here. Take hold of your hope and plant it firmly in the ground of the grace that you have received as it will be fully brought into focus when Christ comes back for us. Do it intentionally! And, you might have to do it more than once, because unlike a physical stake, our hope is sometimes uprooted by circumstances and our minds traveling in all sorts of directions because of the cares of life. Plant your hope and do it as often as necessary.
We are continuing our study in Genesis, but one of the things I want to do as we move through the Old Testament is bring the New Testament alongside it. The New Testament frequently reaches back into Genesis, and when it does, it often helps us understand why these early passages are so important.
In Genesis 2 we have just come to the creation of Eve. God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, took from his side, and formed a woman for him. Before that, God had brought the animals before Adam and given him the responsibility of naming them.
That matter of naming is significant. We do it all the time. We name our children. We name our inventions. Every time something new is created, we give it a name. Naming reflects responsibility and authority. Adam had been given stewardship over the created world and over the garden, and part of that stewardship was expressed through naming the animals.
Yet among all the creatures there was none corresponding to Adam. None were like him. That is why Adam responds the way he does when God brings Eve to him:
“This one finally is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called woman because this one was taken out of man.”
For the first time Adam encounters someone who truly corresponds to him.
A Man Shall Leave His Father and Mother
Genesis then gives us a statement that becomes very important throughout the rest of Scripture:
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
What is interesting is that when this statement appears, there is not yet a father and mother in existence. There are only Adam and Eve.
Because of that, I understand this as Moses, under the inspiration of Scripture, providing an explanatory comment as he records the account. Moses was writing many years later, when marriage, parents, and families already existed. He is connecting the creation account to the institution of marriage as his readers knew it.
Something else has always struck me about the verse. It says the man shall leave his father and mother. It does not say the wife shall leave her father and mother.
I think there is significance there. From the beginning, the man was intended to lead, provide, and take responsibility. The emphasis seems to be on the husband establishing a new primary loyalty. Whatever attachment existed to father and mother must now give way to a new union with his wife.
Different cultures may express that in different ways. In the ancient world families often lived very close together, sometimes even adding living quarters onto an existing family compound. The command does not necessarily require a great geographical separation. But even if families remained close physically, there still had to be a shift in relationship. The man was to cleave to his wife.
That emotional and practical transfer of loyalty appears to be part of what the passage is emphasizing.
Jesus Appeals to Genesis
When we come to Matthew 19, Jesus quotes this very passage while answering a question about divorce.
The Pharisees came to Him and asked:
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”
Jesus immediately directed them to Scripture:
“Have you not read…?”
That was His authority. He did the same thing during His temptation. He continually appealed to what God had said.
Jesus answers by going all the way back to creation:
“He who created them from the beginning made them male and female.”
Then He quotes Genesis:
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
Notice what Jesus is doing. He is affirming the authority of Genesis and grounding His teaching in God’s original design.
This is especially important in a culture that increasingly rejects God’s created order. The biblical teaching is straightforward: God made humanity male and female. That is not merely a social arrangement. It is part of God’s design from the beginning.
Jesus continues:
“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
Marriage is not merely a human arrangement. God joins husband and wife together.
The Pharisees responded by asking why Moses allowed divorce. Jesus explained that Moses permitted it because of the hardness of people’s hearts, but that it was not God’s original intention.
From the beginning, God’s design was permanence and faithfulness.
This is not simply an abstract issue. Divorce leaves real wounds. It affects husbands and wives, children and families. God’s design was not casual separation but covenant union.
Paul’s Use of Marriage in Romans
Although we did not turn there, it is worth remembering that Paul also uses marriage imagery in Romans 7.
His purpose there is not primarily to teach about marriage. Instead, he uses marriage as an illustration of the believer’s relationship to the law.
When a spouse dies, the surviving spouse is free from the legal bond of that marriage. Paul uses that principle to explain what has happened to believers in Christ.
All the judgment of the law was carried out on Christ. The law declared that sin deserved death, and Christ died in our place. Because of that, the law has no further jurisdiction over those who are in Him.
The demands of the law have been fully satisfied through Christ’s death.
One Flesh and Sexual Purity
Paul reaches back to Genesis again in 1 Corinthians 6.
The Corinthian church struggled with many moral problems, and Paul addresses sexual immorality directly.
He reminds believers that their bodies are members of Christ.
That is an astonishing truth. Sometimes we speak of the church as the body of Christ almost as a figure of speech, but Paul presses the idea further. Our bodies themselves belong to Christ.
Because of that, Paul asks:
“Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?”
His answer is immediate:
“May it never be.”
Then he quotes Genesis once again:
“The two shall become one flesh.”
Paul applies the language of Genesis to sexual immorality. A physical union creates a one-flesh relationship. That is why sexual sin is so serious. It involves the body that belongs to Christ.
He contrasts this with the believer’s union with Christ:
“The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
Our bodies belong to God. We are not our own.
Paul says:
“You were bought with a price.”
Therefore:
“Glorify God in your body.”
Not merely in some inward spiritual sense, but in the actual use of our bodies.
Our eyes belong to Him. Our hands belong to Him. Our feet belong to Him.
When we use our bodies, we are using what belongs to Christ.
That old children’s song comes to mind:
“Be careful little eyes what you see.”
There is more truth in that song than we sometimes realize.
If our bodies are members of Christ, then what we watch, where we go, and what we do with our bodies all matter.
The Great Mystery
The most fascinating use of Genesis 2 may be found in Ephesians 5.
Paul begins with instructions to husbands:
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”
Christ loved the church sacrificially. He gave Himself for her in order to sanctify her and present her to Himself in glory.
Paul then applies that principle to husbands.
A husband should minister to his wife in such a way that she becomes more beautiful spiritually, more mature, more holy, and more Christlike through the years.
He should nourish and cherish her just as Christ does the church.
Then Paul quotes Genesis again:
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
At that point he says something remarkable:
“This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”
Ultimately, Paul says, Genesis 2 is pointing beyond human marriage.
Marriage is a picture of Christ and the church.
That means every Christian marriage carries with it a testimony. The relationship between husband and wife reflects something about Christ’s relationship with His people.
When a husband loves his wife as Christ loves the church, and when a marriage reflects grace, faithfulness, and commitment, it becomes a picture of the gospel.
On the other hand, when a marriage is characterized by selfishness, bitterness, constant conflict, and disregard for one another, it distorts that picture.
Marriage was designed to point beyond itself.
It was designed to tell the truth about Christ and His church.
Returning to Genesis 3
As we come to Genesis 3, everything changes.
The chapter opens with these words:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made.”
The serpent approaches Eve and asks:
“Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Why that question?
The answer seems obvious. He is attempting to create doubt. He is questioning God’s word and planting uncertainty in Eve’s mind.
Another question naturally arises. Why did he approach Eve rather than Adam?
Several possibilities come to mind.
Adam had personally received God’s original command. Eve was not yet present when that command was first given. We do not know whether God later repeated it directly to her. Scripture does not tell us.
What we do know is that Adam had heard it firsthand.
Perhaps that is part of the reason the serpent approached Eve.
Whatever the reason, the strategy was clear. The serpent’s first move was not an outright denial. It was a question designed to make God’s word seem uncertain.
As we move into the account of the fall, it is worth reading the passage carefully and thinking through the details. The text invites us to engage with it, to ask questions, and to consider what is taking place as sin enters the human story.
The following post was written in commemoration of Memorial Day 2026. It was part of my series on First Peter because of Peter’s reflection on the death of Christ on our behalf.
The Apostle Paul wrote the following words in Romans 5:7-8: “For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Memorial Day was set aside as a day to remember — to remember those who sacrificed their lives for us and for our freedom. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” This is what Jesus Himself did for us, isn’t it? While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
The Apostle Peter wrote: “…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, … but with the precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” In this passage, Peter reminds us that Jesus did this for our redemption. We human beings came into this world lost and without God and without hope. We don’t keep God’s commandments, and most of the time, we don’t even try. But even when we were in that condition of rebellion, Jesus redeemed us for Himself. He bought us back and offers us full pardon and reconciliation with Himself. He simply asks us to believe it, and accept the pardon. John wrote, “And we have known and believed the love that God has or us” (1 John 4:16).
As you celebrate Memorial Day and remember those who gave their lives that we might live in freedom, don’t forget The One who died for you and rose again to save you from eternal damnation. Believe His promise and believe the love He has for you. There is no greater love than this!
We’re in Genesis 2, picking up at verse 8. This is a different angle on creation than Genesis 1. There, we were given the broad account. Here, the focus narrows, especially on man and the place God prepared for him.
“And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden toward the east, and there He placed the man whom He had formed.”
That word “placed” is worth pausing on. It’s more than just setting someone down somewhere. It carries the idea of settling, even resting. God didn’t just drop Adam into the garden—He settled him there. It was a place for him to be, to belong, to rest in a sense.
Then we’re told what God caused to grow:
“Every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food.”
That’s an expansive description. Every tree that looks good and is good for food. You start thinking through what that could include—apples, pears, cherries, nuts, things we know—but this is before the fall. Whatever existed then would have been untouched by decay. It’s hard to even imagine the fullness of it.
In the middle of the garden were two specific trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There was no prohibition given about the tree of life. It seems they could have eaten from it. The restriction was tied only to the other tree.
The Setting of Eden
The passage goes on to describe rivers flowing out of Eden—Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. That places the region somewhere in what we would now call the Mesopotamian area, around modern-day Iraq.
At the same time, we have to remember the flood changed everything—river courses, land formations, the whole topography. So while we can approximate, we can’t be precise.
There’s also that brief note about gold, bdellium, and onyx. It’s simply stated. No explanation is given. But God included it, so it mattered in some way.
Work Before the Fall
In verse 15, we read:
“Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”
That’s before sin enters the picture. Adam was given work to do. The word “cultivate” means to work it—to tend the garden. But this wouldn’t have been burdensome work. Later, after the fall, God says that work will come by the sweat of the brow. So this earlier work was different—still effort, but not toil.
“Keep it” means to guard it, to take responsibility for it. There’s even the possibility that part of this involved beautifying it—arranging, tending, shaping what was already there.
This tells me something important: work itself is not a result of sin. Work is good. Even in a perfect environment, man was not meant to sit idle. There was purpose built into his existence.
The Command and the Warning
God then gives a clear command:
“From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat from it, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
That phrase “surely die” in Hebrew is expressed by repetition—“dying you shall die.” It’s a way of emphasizing certainty.
Later, when Eve speaks, she adds something God didn’t say—“neither shall you touch it.” Since she wasn’t there when the commandment came down, her response likely came from Adam, passing along the command with an added safeguard. We don’t know for certain, but it would make sense.
When they eventually ate, they didn’t drop dead physically that day. So what did God mean? Some suggest this shows God’s grace—death began, decay began, but it wasn’t immediate physical death. Others say it refers to spiritual death. The text leaves some room there, and we shouldn’t force more precision than it gives.
“Not Good for Man to Be Alone”
Then comes a striking statement:
“It is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Everything up to this point has been called good. Now, for the first time, something is “not good.”
The phrase “helper suitable” carries more depth than it might sound like at first. “Helper” can mean assistant, but “suitable” has a range of meaning—corresponding, opposite, even in some sense contrary.
Think of something like a step ladder. One side supports the other, but it does so by being set opposite it. That opposition is what makes the structure stand.
So this helper would be one who supports, corresponds, and at times even stands in a kind of necessary contrast. Not opposition in a hostile sense, but in a way that strengthens. After the fall, that opposing role sometimes takes the form of outright opposition. That then is a sinful twisting of God’s loving design for marriage.
Naming the Animals and Learning the Lack
Before creating the woman, God does something that raises a question.
He brings all the animals to Adam for naming:
“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.”
Why do this?
It seems God was showing Adam something. As he named each creature, he would have seen pairs, distinctions, categories. And through that process, he would have come to recognize that none of them corresponded to him.
Naming itself is an act of dominion. To name something is to classify it, to organize understanding. It’s part of ruling over creation. That’s what we humans do all the time. Everything needs a name. A plant for example will have a common name for identification purposes, and a scientist will have a more specific Latin name for the same plant. A young child is constantly pointing at things and asking, “What’s that?”
But all of that activity—purposeful as it was—did not meet his deepest need. There was still no one suitable for him, someone like him but different.
The Formation of the Woman
Then God acts:
“So Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man… and He took one of his ribs… and Yahweh God fashioned the rib… into a woman, and He brought her to the man.”
Adam was formed from the dust. The woman was formed from the man. Neither was created out of nothing.
When Adam sees her, there’s an immediate recognition:
“This one finally is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”
After all the animals, this is the one who corresponds.
He names her “woman”—in Hebrew, ishah, taken from ish (man). Even in the language, there’s a connection that reflects her origin.
The Foundation of Marriage
The passage then gives us the foundational statement:
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
This verse is picked up later in the New Testament, but even here, it establishes the pattern—leaving, cleaving, and becoming one flesh.
A Closing Reflection on Design
What we see in all of this is design. Intentional, ordered, purposeful design. Male and female, corresponding to one another, formed in a way that fits together.
When that design is rejected or redefined, it’s not a small shift. It’s a fundamental departure from what God established at the beginning. And when that happens, the results are not neutral. They lead somewhere.
This passage brings us back to the foundation—how God made man, how He made woman, and how He intended them to live together in His created order.
*Some articles on this publication or website are adapted from my recorded Bible teaching. I use transcription and editing tools (including AI-assisted editing) to convert spoken lectures into readable written form. The ideas, interpretations, and theological conclusions are my own and come directly from my teaching.
So, last time I left you hanging with prophets and angels trying to figure out what the gospel was all about. That’s kind of an interesting picture to me visualizing prophets trying to figure out what they are writing about. But let’s see if there are a couple of things that can encourage us personally today. I’d be interested to hear if you thought of anything.
The first thing for me is that the prophets were writing about our salvation. The text says they realized that it was not for them, but for us. Verse10 mentions prophesies about the grace we would receive. When one reads the Old Testament, the sense is that there is a lot of law there and not too much grace. After Saul was converted and became Paul, he wrote abundantly about grace, and we sometimes wonder if that was something new that he just made up. His background was in the Old Testament law, and so when he was converted, he had new eyes to see the manifold grace of God revealed in the Old Testament by the prophets.
In verse 11 the Bible calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Christ. It’s interesting to visualize Jesus’ spirit inside of prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah pointing out and predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow from that. The whole of the Bible is a unified narrative of God at work to accomplish His purposes.
And finally, in verse 12, we find that the gospel that has been proclaimed to us by a pastor, or parent, or someone else, are the very things that the prophets were writing about so long ago. And that gospel that we hear that draws us to Christ was proclaimed by the Holy Spirit. When the gospel is preached, it’s not just another kind of lesson like you might hear a lecture on World War I or how to solve algebra problems. When the Word of God is preached, the Holy Spirit is at work along with the Word He inspired to bring salvation to people. It is a powerful thing that Peter is describing here – something that spans the centuries and millennia of time just to reach you.
Last time we looked at 1 Peter 1:9 where we discovered that as we love and rejoice in a Savior we have never seen, we are receiving the purpose and goal of faith, the salvation of our souls. Today we are going to begin thinking about verses 10-12. Here is verse 10 of that section:
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully…”
In order to really grasp what Peter is saying here, you should read verses 10-12 several times. I don’t want to go too deeply into this, but I do want to draw several important truths from it. Since I don’t want to make this too long, I’ll give you the gist this week and draw the lessons from it next time.
What Peter is saying here is that the prophets of the Old Testament – people like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, etc. – these prophets tried really hard to figure out what kind of salvation they were prophesying about. The Spirit of Christ was inspiring them to write, but they didn’t understand what they were writing about, and so they took out their imaginary magnifying glass and tried to dig deep to understand.
What God revealed to them was that they were not writing about something related to them, but they were writing about the things you and I would be taught centuries later. And at the end of verse 12 we find out that even the angels really wanted to look into this as well to figure out what this teaching about the suffering of Christ was all about.
Lord willing, next week I’ll share a few things that I took away from thinking about this. In the meantime, you read this section many times over the next week and see what thoughts you come up with.
