Romans 5:12 and Genesis 3 | Women's Rightly Divided Bible Study

Thank you Father God for this time that we can spend reading and studying your word. In Jesus's name we pray, amen.

Romans 5:12

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

This one man is, of course, Adam. Sin had not corrupted the world that God created for man until Adam sinned. Let's look over the verses in Genesis chapter 3. I'll include my own commentary. Next week we will discuss verse 12 of Romans chapter 5 even more. This is very important to understand, so it will be a two-part study.

Genesis 3

1¶Now the serpent [Satan] was more subtil [conniving, seductive, deceptive] than any beast [Satan is referred to as both a serpent and as a beast. These are explaining his evil characteristics] of the field [I believe this is referring to all of Gods creation in heaven and earth] which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? [Satan is causing Eve to question God's word, or to question her understanding of God's word that Adam was supposed to teach her]

2¶And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. [God never said to Adam that they could not touch it, just that they couldn't eat the fruit of it; God gave this commandment to Adam, before Eve was created. So, she either wasn't taught this correctly by Adam or she embellished on her own. I tend to believe that Adam didn't teach her correctly. Genesis 2:15-17 says, "15¶And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.]

4¶And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: [Satan is calling God a liar, and making her question God's word and God's intentions]

5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. [I believe that the "gods" here are in reference to the Angelic Host, and not necessarily to Almighty God. It uses a little "g" here in the KJB and I think that Satan was so full of himself that he was already referring to himself and other angels as being "gods." 

Satan does want to be like God and unsaved man also thinks of himself as God which is explained in Romans chapter 1. Today Satan is called the "god of the world" not because he is literally a god, but because he has temporary dominion over the earth, since the fall of Adam and because unbelievers worship him like a god - Satan's spirit actually works in and through all unbelievers. He also has an evil course for this world. The anti-christ in the tribulation period will declare himself to be God. Satan also made it seem as if God were withholding something from them and was trying to paint God as the bad guy. Satan still continues to do this today. In eating from the forbidden fruit, they wanted to decide for themselves what is right and wrong, instead of trusting God and His will and His word. It all comes down to a desire for power.

I also believe that Adam and Eve could clearly see the Cherubims and angels, just like they could literally sit and visit with the Lord Jesus Christ in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8). Fallen angels even were on the earth later on and somehow mated with women in Genesis chapter 6, who then bore giants. I believe that at some point after the flood that God made angels invisible to us and if they do appear to us today, they are NOT supposed to, which means that they are fallen angels and we are not to have anything to do with them. Many people today worship angels. This is common in the newage and pagan religions, but also sometimes even in Christendom. Some cults and religions were started by someone claiming to have seen angels, such as Mormonism and Islam. The angels do watch us and are learning from us today about the manifold wisdom of God, but we are NOT to pray to them or worship them.

Man was made a little lower than the angels (Heb 2:9) and so angels had more power and strength than man, even before the fall. So this temptation to be more powerful seduced Adam and Eve. Many people are seduced by the desire to have more power and every major war was because someone or some group wanted more power or wealth. Evil people desire physical, mental and spiritual power over others. Satan desires all of those things. In fact, Satan desires to be just like God, (God is all-powerful but God is also holy, and gracious, something that Satan could never be) and to be worshipped like God. Satan's fall and his 5 " I wills" are described in Isaiah 14:12-17 in the KJB which says,

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.]

Genesis 3 goes on to say,

6¶And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. [So, the woman was seduced by the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. 1 John 2:16 "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." This lust began with Satan seducing Eve, and Satan uses this today as his course for this world. God wants man to be able to enjoy life WITH him, but man wants to do his own will, separate from God. In heaven we will enjoy good things, good food, beautiful sights and sounds, and we will grow in knowledge and wisdom of God's word but this is completely different from Satan's course for this world which is based on sin including lust and greed. Also, it says that she took of the fruit and ate it, then gave it to her husband and he ate it too. If you notice, there was NO ARGUMENT on his part! In fact, it doesn't even seem like he thought it over. He didn't even bat an eye! Also, Adam knew that this was a sin because God clearly explained it to him. If Adam and Eve were actually clothed in light before the fall, then Adam might have seen Eves light go out, so to say. Yet, he still desired to be like the "gods" - to be more powerful like the Angels - but also so that he could be his own God and decide for himself what He thought was good and evil instead of believing and obeying Almighty God. Thus Eve was deceived but Adam was in the transgression.]

7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. [Once they ate the forbidden fruit, it gave them knowledge of good and evil. This is when they more clearly understood their sin, and felt shame, guilt and fear. Some people have stated that the forbidden fruit was sex or some kind of sinful sexual act. Only people with a reprobate mind would think such a thing! The forbidden fruit was literal fruit from a literal supernatural tree. In heaven and in the coming New Earth and New Jerusalem, God has trees! Rev 22:2 says,

“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” The Garden of Eden also had supernatural trees Genesis 2:9 - "And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." So when they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which was a literal tree with literal fruit, they then clearly understood that they had sinned and felt guilt, fear and shame. Adam and Eve previously had innocence, but now they were sinners and aware of their sin. The sin nature however would be passed down through the man, Adam, because Adam was in the transgression. He willingly sinned. When we are saved today we do not become like Adam and Eve were before the fall (innocence). Rather, we have something even better which is imputed righteousness. We have the very righteousness of God imputed to us from the moment that we believe the gospel. This means that we can never loose our salvation no matter what. In heaven, we will not have the sin nature anymore but on earth even as believers, we still sometimes sin. But we can never loose our salvation once we have truly believed the Gospel.]

8¶And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: [this was the Lord Jesus Christ in his pre-incarnate form, also called a theophany] and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. [They were ashamed of their sin and also afraid. Unholy people cannot stand before a Holy God.]

9¶And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? [God is all knowing, so He's asking this question to cause Adam stop and think about what he was doing]

10¶And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. [His nakedness wasn't just being physically naked, but he understood that his "secret sin" was seen by God]

11¶And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? [Again, God is all knowing but God uses questions in scripture sometimes to cause us to think things over]

12¶And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. [Adam blames God AND Eve for his sin. Instead of feeling sorry about his sin and asking for forgiveness, he puts the blame on others. This means that Adam doesn't really want to admit that he had sinned, even though he knows it and feels fear, guilt and shame. People who go to hell having never believed the gospel do so because they either refuse to acknowledge their sin nature or they refuse to acknowledge that they are incapable of saving themselves and they reject the gospel.]

13¶And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. [Eve does the same thing, not wanting to admit to her sin and putting the blame on Satan. However, she was beguiled, or deceived, by Satan and so God then curses Satan]

14¶And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, [a serpent and cattle are two completely different creatures. So what God is saying is that he's describing Satan's character. Also, Satan is a fallen Cherubim. Cherubim have four faces and one of them is the face of an ox (see Ezekiel 1).] and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 

15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. [God's promise of a coming redeemer!]

16¶Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. [The real sorrow here isn't just painful labor and childbirth, but having children that are also born with a sin nature. Our children are so precious to us, but it breaks our hearts when we see them sin. It's especially difficult for believers if our children walk away from the faith and choose to live worldly, even after we have spent our life teaching them God's word. Also, women have been battling with men for power for a long time. An unbelieving man, or a carnally-minded believer can sometimes even be very abusive to women. Women have been abused often by men all throughout history in all kinds of cultures (Women have also been protected and provided for by men as well). Feminism emerged in recent years and it has not been the solution to these problems. Only us being saved and then allowing Christ and His word to live in us, and obeying our biblical gender roles will make relationships between men and women more peaceable, and it still isn't perfect because we still have the sin nature in our flesh and so we don't always walk in the Spirit as believers. Things will not be perfect until God creates a new heaven and a new earth and only believers will experience that, plus there are NO gender roles then either!]

17¶And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; [Adam was definitely in the transgression. He knew it was wrong to eat of the forbidden fruit, but he chose to please his wife over God. He basically made her a "god". In Romans chapter one it talks about the downward spiral of sin which includes man elevating man and man's wisdom over God, and this often includes elevating and worshipping the opposite gender.]

18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. [The earth is now under a curse]

20¶And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. [Here, Adam had some faith in what God had promised, to bring a redeemer. He understood now that they were sinners and they cannot save themselves and that a Messiah would be born through the woman to save them and all believers. He just didn't know all of the details yet.]

21¶Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. [Because Adam and Eve now believed God and understood their sin nature, God clothed them. When we believe the gospel of the grace of God unto salvation, we are clothed in God's very own righteousness which is imputed to us by grace through faith]

22¶And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: [it would be awful for man to live forever in fallen, sinful bodies. Methusala lived to be almost 1,000 years old and I imagine that it must have been painful to live for all of those years witnessing and experiencing sin, sickness, emotional and physical pain and death. Though none of us look forward to physically dying (though believers have eternal life in Christ and it is far better to be with the Lord), it would be awful to live forever in a sin cursed world with sinful flesh even as believers. Today believers eagerly await the rapture so that we can be given our new glorified bodies, and we look forward to the new heaven and the new earth where there is no more sin, sicknesses, pain or death of any kind.]

23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. [Man is to be the provider for the wife and children. But it's difficult because working for your food, especially before more advanced technology, was hard labor. Even today, men take on the most difficult jobs. Men make up the vast majority of those who work as electrical linemen, stonemasons, heavy vehicle mechanics, crane and tower operators, Carpenters, electricians, roofers, welders, and even police officers, military personnel, firefighters, farmers, loggers, construction workers etc are still mostly men. These are difficult and often more dangerous jobs which often require a lot of physical labor. Regardless of what feminists say, most women don't even want to pursue these types of jobs. When women do work outside of the home its usually as nurses, childcare providers, teachers, social workers, beauticians, secretaries, dental hygienists, dietitians, housecleaners and maids etc]

24So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Now that we better understand what happened in Genesis 3, we will continue to study Romans 5:12 and other verses next week. 

Homework: Read over Romans chapter 5 for yourself and find any repetitive words. Also, if there are any words that you need to define, look for the definition in an 1828 Websters dictionary which is free online. For example, what does the word "peradventure" in verse 7 mean? 

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