Check out Part 1 of “Easily Deceived Eve”, in which I discuss why God chose to hold Adam, not Eve, responsible for the sin of mankind.
Easily Deceived Eve.
What a moniker. What a shameful blow.
Imagine the worst dumb blond joke you can think of–Eve ups the ante.
“So a serpent walks up to Eve and says, ‘Hey, if you eat this fruit, you’ll be wise like God.’ She looks at the serpent, looks at the fruit, and says ‘You’re right! This is good fruit. So she takes a bite.”
I mean, hello!?! Didn’t anybody ever tell you not to listen to just any old snake-fruit salesman?
But Eve falls for it. She’s one gullible gal.
Yet Scripture seems to suggest that not only Eve but all women are prone to Eve’s naivete.
I Timothy 2:14 gives Eve’s “easily deceived” nature as a reason (apart from the created order of male headship) that women should not teach or have authority over men.
The implication is that a woman, being easily deceived, might unknowingly lead into falsehood if men were under her spiritual authority.
I Corinthians 14 affirms that women are not to teach or have authority over men–but takes it one step further by saying that women should keep silent in the churches, not being permitted to speak.
Of course, one must realize that the “church service” in Corinth looked quite different from ours today–the order of service in which “each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation” would make it very difficult for a woman to speak in church without teaching or having authority over a man.
Regardless, women are encouraged to learn in silence with submission, asking questions of their husbands at home rather than disrupting the service for their questions–or worse yet, than interrupting the service for a misguided teaching.
At various times, I’ve chafed at this command.
In my remarkable humility (Hah!), I recognize that I have a high IQ, a great deal of education, and a natural aptitude for teaching. Why should I not use the gifts God has given me?
My pride (while inexcusable) is not without cause. Many within the church and without have confirmed that I am intelligent, well-read, and highly educated. They agree that I teach with passion and ease. When I teach, people learn. When I explain, they understand.
But God would protect me from what I, in my pride, consider beneath me.
I think I’m too smart to fall for deception. I think that somehow I can escape Eve’s vulnerability. But I cannot.
If Eve, with a mind uncorrupted by sin, as a woman who had experienced unbroken fellowship with God, could be deceived–how much more can I, with my sin-twisted and sleep-deprived mind and my through-a-glass-dimly view of God?
I am Eve, easily deceived.
God knows it–which is why He has placed this protection over me. James 3:1 says that teachers receive a stricter judgment. God would keep me from this stricter judgment by not having me teach or have authority over a man.
God would protect me by placing me under the headship of man (today, as a single woman, under Christ and my father; someday, Lord willing, under Christ and my husband.)
When I do teach–and I do, using my giftings to teach women and youth spiritually and people of all stripes in my secular area of expertise–I teach under the authority of my father, who offers me good counsel and brings correction when I am in error.
As I teach under the authority of my father, I am protected. My father, to whose authority I submit, is held responsible for error that he sees but fails to correct. This guards me against teaching out of deception.
At the same time, since I am teaching those who are also under authority (women and youth), I have an additional protection. These who hear my teaching are under the authority of husbands and fathers who can correct deceptions that I have unknowingly passed along.
God, recognizing in me Eve’s weakness, chose to protect me from myself by restricting my ability to self-destruct. To rebel against His protective structure is not wisdom but madness.
If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, take a look at my thoughts on why God chose to hold Adam, not Eve, responsible for the sin of mankind. And stay tuned for part 3, which should be posted on Friday.
