CORRECTING POISONOUS MISTRANSLATIONS OF GENESIS 3:16 – AND ITS CONTEXT
THE CONTEXT
1. There was a very good Creator who made the man and woman. (Genesis 1:1-2:3)
It is an error to make a great distinction between the man and the woman as created beings. God created both the man and the woman on Day 6 of Creation. That Day, God blessed them both and gave them the mandate to rule over creation and all living things (Genesis 1:28, 31)
2. This loving Creator Lord was the loving author of marriage. (Genesis 2:21-24)
It is an error to impose a hierarchy on the persons who get married. The man leaves his family unit. Together they make a new one. He cleaves to his wife. Together they commit to one another as Ruth did to Naomi (same Hebrew word for “cleave,” Ruth 1:14). Together they become one flesh.
3. The husband and wife blissfully were naked and unashamed. (Genesis 2:15)
It is an error to value the flesh of one gender over the other. Together they are naked and unashamed. Before they left the Garden God did not change the quality of either one.
4. The Creator Lord came in the cool of the day for a walk together. (Genesis 3:8)
It is an error to suppose that God came to walk with the one more than the other. The human couple was created by God “in our image.” (Genesis 1:26)
THE ATTACK
1. Rebellious Satan made an unprovoked attack. (Genesis 3:1-5)
It is an error to suppose that either human deserved to be tempted. (James 1:13)
2. Jesus said Satan was the serpent tempter who was a murderous liar. (John 8:44)
It is an error to say the woman was the tempter of the man. She defended them both against the tempter by saying “we may eat.” (Genesis 3:2) She shared what she had been deceived into thinking was good for them. (2 Cor 11:3)
3. The serpent tempted both. (used plural pronouns “you” – Genesis 3:1, 4-5)
It is an error to say the serpent spoke to her alone while the man was away somewhere. They were there together listening to the tempter. (Genesis 3:1, 4-5)
4. The woman defended God and instructed the serpent as its ruler. (3:2-3)
It is an error to say she was ill-willed or a flawed being. (Genesis 1:31)
5. In the lies, Satan challenged what the man had heard from the Creator Lord. (3:4)
It is an error to minimize the level of rebellion of the tempter. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
6. Then Satan made the claim that deceived her and tempted the man to rebel. (3:5)
It is an error to minimize the power of the lies of Satan who accused God of shortcomings and praised the power of eating the fruit even though both assertions were incorrect. (Matthew 4:1-11)
THE DISOBEDIENCE
1. The deceived woman took some fruit and ate it. (Genesis 3:6)
It is an error to suppose the woman had bad motives in eating. She did not understand what she was doing for she was deceived. (1 Timothy 2:14)
2. The man accepted some fruit and rebelling against God’s words he ate it. (Genesis 3:6)
It is an error to suppose the man did not know what he was doing. He did. (1 Timothy 2:14)
3. Both knew they were naked and made loincloths to hide from each other. (Genesis 3:7)
It is an error to think their interaction wasn’t affected. It was. The first sign was realizing together they were naked. God revealed that they also were affected in different ways. (Genesis 3:16)
4. Both hid themselves from the presence of God walking in the Garden. (Genesis 3:8)
It is an error to say we are not separated from God by sin. We are. We all turn away from God. But God pursues us and makes a way for us to be restored. (John 3:16)
5. God called out in a way that applied to either one. The man answered first. (Genesis 3:9)
It is an error to think only the man was accountable to God. God spoke to each of them. God called both of them by the Hebrew word ha’adam. (Genesis 5:2) God made sure fully to interact with each of them. (Genesis 3:9-13)
6. God asked the man some questions. The man hid the serpent’s work. (Genesis 3:10-11)
It is an error to think the man was innocent. He disobeyed God. He did not confess it. He protected the tempter aligning himself with the other rebel. (1 John 3:4)
7. The man lied to God by deflecting blame to God and to the woman (Genesis 3:12)
It is an error to minimize the sin of the man. He broke both parts of the Great Commandment spelled out later by Jesus, Christ. He sinned against God and against his neighbor. (Matthew 22:37-39)
8. The woman realized the truth and unmasked the serpent as the tempter. (Genesis 3:13)
It is an error to not give credit to the woman. She had the insight to recognize what had happened to her. She had been deceived. She was not self deceived. Satan had been her deceiver. She confessed both these things to God and did not act like the man had. (1 John 1:8-10)
The themes of familiar folk tales and faulty theology need to be recognized, and stripped away, to get back to the content described above. We need to think again about what the Bible says to us when it is left alone to speak to us clearly, as it was first written in the Hebrew language.
