M.B.C. NOTES
GENESIS: Origin
Part 39: Paradise Lost
(part 10: The New Normal)
Genesis 3:17-19
Sunday Evening, July 26, 2015
“And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your
wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not
eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all
the days of your life.’”
Genesis 3:17
“Her desire is to contend with him for leadership in their relationship.
This desire disputes the headship of the husband. These words mark the
beginning of the battle of the sexes. As a result of the fall, man no longer
rules easily; he must fight for his headship. Sin has corrupted both the
willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband. This
desire is a result of and a just punishment for sin. The rule of love founded
in paradise is replaced by struggle, tyranny, and domination”
Susan Foh
How bad is the pain?
=bad enough that the imagery of pain in childbirth become a
universal metaphor for the trials and tribulations surrounding
the time of the end! Micah 4:9-10 Matt 24:7-8 I Thess 5:1-3
5 Clarifying Words—
1*the Bible nowhere teaches the subjugation of all women to all
men – the Bible teaches the subjection of a wife to her
husband as the spiritual head
2*Marriage and family MUST have structure
“In a fallen world, unstructured democracy is not possible. Rather,
God brings structure into the primary relationship of man – the manwoman relationship. In a fallen world (in every kind of society – big
and small – and in every relationship) structure is needed for order.
God himself here imposes it on the very basic human relationship.
Form is given, and without such form freedom would only be
chaos.”
Francis Schaeffer
3*God holds the husband accountable / responsible for his family
4*The Bible does not teach that women are:
=less worthy or less able
=less competent or of less value
=less brilliant or of inferior worth
5*God’s judgment in Genesis 3:16 deals with function and order
in the family (not value or worth or competence)
The Reason for Adam’s Judgment
“And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your
wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not
eat of it,’ . . .”
Genesis 3:17
*He followed instead of leading
*He followed in the wrong direction
The Result of Adam’s Judgment
3 Specifics—
The Ground Is Cursed Because of Adam
“ . . . cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the
days of your life. thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you
shall eat the plants of the field.”
Genesis 3:17c-18
Adam was Condemned to Live by the Sweat of His Brow
“By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread…”
(v. 19)
=these conditions are designed to do 2 things:
*one, bring repentance towards God
*two, provoke dependence on God
Man’s Conclusion (in this Life) Would End in Death
“… till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are
dust, and to dust you shall return.”
(v. 19)
“The end is the greatest abnormality in the external world – the
dissolution of the total man. A time will come at the end of each
man’s life when he physically dies, and the unity of man – the unity
of body and soul – is torn asunder . . . at physical death that unity
which man is meant to be is fractured.”
Francis Schaeffer
=this conclusion highlights 2 stark realities:
*the seriousness of sin
*the utter helplessness of man