John 3:16 matters of course. And 3:17 too. But the focus in this case is on Genesis 3:16.
Genesis 3:16 matters because God gave some bad news and some good news to the woman in Eden but most modern translations make Genesis 3:16 cover over God’s words to the woman. Instead, they make it look like God gave one big ball of only bad news to the woman. This matters, for mistranslation and misinterpretation can lead to bad doctrine and harmful practices, harming women who make up half the human race.
Cursed and crushed. God had just given bad news to the serpent tempter in Genesis 3:14-15. The serpent was cursed and God promised the tempter would be crushed by the Seed of the woman, whom we know was going to be Jesus. The serpent tempter deserved all the bad news he got. And ever since Eden people have been wary of serpents and the tempter of our souls.
How did God treat the woman and how did God treat the man? Upon close inspection we get a surprise. God treated the man like he did the serpent. God addressed the man using the same six points he gave the serpent tempter.
God treated the woman in quite a different way. He used none of the six points in his words to the woman.
People teach that God treated the serpent and the woman in a parallel way and they treat the man as if he was a case apart from those two. Yet, the truth is that the man and the serpent were treated in the same way while God treated the woman as a case apart.
Here is the BIG PROBLEM. If God had treated the woman in much the same way as the serpent tempter, shouldn’t we be wary of her and all her daughters? In many cultures touched by the mistranslated versions of Genesis 3:16, people are wary of women because they are women! They think God cursed the woman in Eden one or more times and that she must have earned such harsh punishment. Maybe she was the Temptress? They even talk about “Eve’s curse” or “the curse of Eve” like it’s a real thing and still in effect today just like the serpent still crawls on the ground!
WHY CAN’T THEY JUST COUNT? The Hebrew word for “curse” is used only two times in Eden. It is used once for the curse on the serpent in verse 14 and once for the curse on the ground in verse 17. Just two times and no more. There are no more uses left available to be used on the woman and the man. Through making a simple count it is clear that God didn’t curse Eve or Adam or limit woman in any way!
There is much more to the matter. This is why we have written The Book of Eden and produced The Eden Podcast. Please did deeper using these resources for God didn’t curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way!
by Bruce C. E. Fleming, Executive Director of the Tru316 Foundation (Tru316.com)
