Eve - The Fall

28. April 2011 by admin.

See Genesis 3:1-7

There are many questions and doctrines that can be seen in the Genesis account of the Fall.  One question that many ask is “Why did God allow it?”  Why not just make man and woman in such a state that they were not able to sin.  It is not the purpose of this blog to delve into that but I will quote Joe Morecraft “Adam and Eve were created perfectly holy yet capable of choosing evil. (Joseph C. Morecraft, p. 652)”  “The fall was included in God’s plan so that we would gain far more in Christ than we ever lost in Adam. (p. 651)” See Romans 5:17, 20.  I will just leave it with the fact that it was in God’s perfect will, and that we have a more secure salvation in Christ than we would ever have had in Adam.

Satan used the disguise of a serpent to approach Eve and raise questions in her mind about God that would eventually lead her to disobedience. It is not totally clear in the Genesis account whether Eve was actually with Adam when God gave him the command (2:16, 17), but she was aware of the consequences of disobedience, “You will die.” 

Satan subtly raised doubts in Eve’s mind “you surely will not die!”  He made it seem like God did not want what was best for them because He was withholding the means to be like God.  “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (v5)” He got Eve to use her own reason to prove or disprove God’s intent, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was delight to the eyes.” She turned to her own empirical reason to evaluate and weigh the pros and cons of the command.  Rather than obeying God’s instructions and rejecting Satan’s suggestions to question and doubt, she listened to his tempting words, and she evaluated God’s command in light of them.  She looks at the tree and likes what she sees and takes that fatal step of disobedience “she took from its fruit and ate”.

Is this not the danger women face today (not just women but all of mankind fits here as well) to try and make decisions and judgments on our own without first seeking God’s word and what He has said? We look to other sources for advice and counsel, when the word of God is right there for us to consult and obey.  I wonder if the act of Eve’s rebellion was not only the actual eating of the fruit, but also the questioning of God’s ordained authority over her.  After all, she was created to be a helper for Adam, and placed under his authority.  But in this instance she is stepping out on her own and making a dreadful decision that would doom her and all mankind when Adam ate as well.  His guilt spread to the entire human race because the Bible says that he was the representative head (Romans 5:12-14).

The last part of that verse raises the age old question of where was Adam during this entire exchange?  “And she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”   Was he right there with her and did not step in to remind her of God’s law?  Or was he maybe some distance away, but close enough she could offer him the fruit.  I don’t know, but what is clear is that he did eat and with their act of rebellion against God all of creation suffers.  Instead of being the God honoring stewards of a perfect world God created, Adam’s action plunged all of creation into sin and misery. Consequently all of creation yearns for redemption.

Several questions come to my mind as I meditate on these few passages.  Do I look to God first before I make decisions?  Or do I plunge ahead on my own reasoning and later beg Him to get me out of the mess I created?  Why don’t we spend as much time in reading and meditating on the Word of God as we do in other pursuits?  If we don’t stay close to God’s standard, are we not opening ourselves up to be tempted as Eve.

Do we look to our spouse as our spiritual head?  Wow, that is a big one, after all, in today’s world don’t we hear all the time about how our religious beliefs are personal?  But in the perfect order God created, man was the spiritual head and woman was his support and help meet.  Do we seek to be the wife God ordained us to be? Or do we seek our own pleasures and pursuits?  I do believe we need to remember what happened to Eve when she listened to other voices rather than her God.

Next we will see the consequences of the fall, immediate and long range for Adam and Eve and for all of mankind.

 Cited:

Joseph C. Morecraft, III. (2009). Authentic Christianity (Vol. 1). Powder Springs, GA: The American Vision, Inc.

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Eve - Helper Suitable

9. April 2011 by admin.

Genesis 2:18 – 25:  ¹⁸Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”  ¹⁹ Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.  ²⁰The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.  ²¹So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.  ²²The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

 ²³The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

 ²⁴For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.  ²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

As we have already discussed, God had the creation of woman in His plan from the beginning (see blog on “Image of God”).  But why did He not just create man and woman at one time, both out of the ground?  I think it was to show woman’s dependency on man, not only as his helper, but as her head and leader.  Man was created first and given his marching orders, so to speak.  It is interesting that God created man and put him in the garden and told him he could eat of all, but one (see Vs 16 and 17).  Then he brings the beasts and birds to be named by man.  So man was already about his divinely appointed tasks, when God caused him to sleep and took a rib to create the helper “suitable” for him. 

When man first sees Eve, he has complete understanding of who she is and where she came from – “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.”  She was united with man in physical nature as well as spiritual nature, equal if you like.  But she was given the place of being his helper and companion, so in the government of creation she is below Adam.  It has been said, there can only be one head, or you have a two headed monster.  The same could be said for mankind, there is to be one head, Adam (man).  But woman is a necessary support because Adam realized he was completed with Eve.

Adam recognized himself in his wife, Eve and Eve willingly submitted to her husband, Adam.  And the first marriage was performed.  Marriage is the most sacred union in human society, and the first given by God.  From strong marriages, strong families grow.  Strong families lead to strong communities, and on and on.  It is not the individual that makes society; it is the union between man and woman.  Without that union, man is alone.  Though his fellowship with God was not to be denied as sweet, but God realized that the perfect condition for man was in the married state.

Now, I fully understand that with the fall, this perfect state no longer exists, but it still is the way God ordained it.  One man with one woman, united by God working together to have dominion over the earth.  It is easy to see why Jesus speaks against divorce as an option (Matthew 9:8), because His desire for His body (the church) is to return to what God originally planned.  It is only through the strength and spirit of Christ that fallen man can achieve this.  For some more verses on the relationship of wives and husbands in the married state see: Ephesians 5:22-29, Colossians 3:17-20, I Peter 3:1-3 and I Peter 3:6-7.  I will be going into these in more detail when I get to them.  But do take a few extra minutes to remind yourself of the order God has established between wives and husbands.

I will stop with this and look forward to comments and interaction with my readers.  Next week I will look at the temptation of Eve and the results of the fall that have affected women and marriage as well.

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The Creation Mandate

26. March 2011 by admin.

Genesis 1:26 – “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creep on the earth.’”

As we saw last week, God had a plan for mankind before He even created them.  Since the image of God is born in both male and female, this plan can be seen to be for both male and female as well, because He states the creation of man in v. 26 in the plural.  This is for all of mankind to be aware of, not just one man who existed in the Garden of Eden, but would be handed down generationally to his posterity.  Thus, the creation of woman is presupposed in order for this to occur.

This plan of God in the creation of man was for man to be His representative or vice-regent over the creation.  As is stated in V. 28 “God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Man is responsible to God for how he uses the earth in subduing and filling it.  Not that the creation itself has a greater significance in the mind of God, but it is a trusted stewardship that man needs to be mindful of.  Caring for the earth should be a part of taking dominion.  Also, in the mandate is the authority man has over creation, it is a derived authority from God.  Man is not sovereign in his own right, but he does exercise this dominion as a command of God.  Not as co-creator, but rather as vice-regent under the authority of God.

Even as being made in the image of God elevated man above the animals and other elements of creation, the creation mandate defines his place in God’s world.  He was created to rule over the creation, but under the sovereignty of God, ultimately for the glory of God.

This is never revoked, even after the Fall.  The Fall did not alter the plan of God, but because of the Fall it is not possible to fulfill it outside of Christ’s redeeming work. In Matthew 28:18-20 Christ applies the fulfillment of the creation mandate as found in Him when He says:

 ¹⁸And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

 ¹⁹“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

 ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

As Ken Gentry says in He Shall Have Dominion, “The creation of man is for the purpose of ruling the world under God and to His glory. Man is commanded to develop culture, to exercise dominion in the earth.” (p. 185).  “The spiritual heirs of the Second Adam will progressively fulfill the comprehensive task that was originally assigned to the First Adam. Redemption progressively triumphs in history over reprobation. The resurrection of Christ has and remains more powerful than the Fall of Adam; not just judicially but also culturally.”

As women we will see with Eve being created to be a helpmeet for Adam, that we have a major part in this subduing and filling of the earth.  As wives we are to be at work with our husbands in subduing the world to the Lordship of Christ, this would mean that as a couple we have a mission in furthering the work of the church.  As mothers we have a responsibility in raising godly children to be conscious of their responsibility in this mandate. 

One last point I saw as I was studying this week and last week, has to do with the importance of marriage.  It was in the mind of God that man would be male and female even before He created them.  The command to fill the earth also shows the importance of childbearing and child rearing.  So in short, the family was the main social unit that God had in mind in creation.  The family is the core to all of society and should be seen in that light.  We will work on developing this more as we go, but bear that in mind.  God created one man and one woman to carry out His creation mandate. 

That is all for this week, ladies.  I look forward to any interaction that comes as you think upon these principles:

1.  Male and female were commanded by God to subdue the earth and fill it.

2.  The family unit was God’s primary social unit to carry out this command.

3.  Man acts as a vice-regent under the authority of God.

4.  Man has a responsibility to care for creation and use it to bring glory to the creator.

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The Image of God

19. March 2011 by admin.

Genesis 1:26-28

 ²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

²⁸God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Why did I start with man (Adam) when this is a discussion about woman (Eve)?  Because it is necessary to see how God made man in Chapter 1 of Genesis, differently from the rest of creation, to fully understand the creation of woman.  Also, as you see in vs. 27, male and female both are made in the “image of God” and they were both given the dominion to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it”.  This week we will look at the first aspect of this, the “image of God” and next week look at what is called the “Dominion Mandate.”

So to begin let’s take a look at vs. 26 and God’s statement “Let Us make man in Our image”.  God makes this distinction between animals and man, in that it was a devine decision to make man after His own image.  What does this mean?  What is the “image” of God? Does this mean man was a demi-god as some would say?  A minor god himself?  No, to bear an image of a thing, the image is not the same as the thing.  On a human level think of the image in a mirror – it reflects back to the viewer an image of self, but is not the actual viewer.  So can we take that weak concept and say the man reflects back to God Himself?  Not really, but we do reflect back some of the character of God.  Some of the aspects of God that man bore before the fall were a copy of the holiness and blessedness of the divine life.  This is shattered with the fall and sin, and can only be restored through the transforming power of Christ in salvation.  (See Col. 3:10 and Eph. 4:24).  Before sin marred the image of God in man, man was capable of making rational true decisions.  Man had the ability and freedom to choose to do good and obey God, but they were able to choose to disobey and thus sin.

As Dr. Morecraft states in his Authentic Christianity Series, Volume 1, “Originally the will of Adam and Eve were in conformity with the will of God. They knew what He demanded of them, and they had the ability and the desire to do what He commanded.  Their affections were holy and pure, but their will was created by God in such a way that they were free to act according to their holy inclinations or to choose evil. They could freely choose good or evil; they were capable of falling from a sinless condition in God’s favor to a sinful condition under His curse.” (p. 565).

A second point I would like to make is that God discussed this creation over – with whom?  The angels?  I doubt, because the angels were a separate being from God.  So who?  Many theologians believe this is referencing the trinity of the Godhead.  That He counsels with Himself, in the Godhead there are three separate persons.  So God takes counsel with the Father, Son and Spirit in deciding to create Man in “Our” image.  I will not get into all the details this brings to mind of whether man has three aspects, the physical, spiritual, and intellectual, as some have thought.  That is beyond what I want to discuss today.  But the point I would like to make is that before God creates man, he makes this decision. I will refer you to Dr. Morecraft’s work previously quoted, on page 558ff, he gives an excellent discussion of this matter.

Man is the final act of God’s creation, the crown of the creation and the most personal act of God.  All other aspects of creation were by the spoken word of God.  God said and it was so.  But man (and woman) both were personally created by God in an intimate manner.  Unlike all the other creatures, God made man from the earth and formed his being, then breathed the breath of God that gave him life.  Woman is made from man as we will see in more detail in Chapter 2, not as an afterthought, but as God’s plan because when God takes counsel of the creation of man He does speak in the plural.  This holds several implications for woman.

1.  She was thought of before in the mind of God and bears the image of God as man does.

2.  She was created after man and from man, so she owes her being to man just as man now comes from woman and owes his existence to her.  (See I Cor. 11:7-9 and 12)

3.  She was created for a purpose that is dependent on man’s purpose.  Man was given the command to subdue the earth and fill it; woman was created to help man in that task.

I will end this week with a quote from Matthew Henry on the “male and female He created them” of this verse.

“That man was made male and female, and blessed with the blessing of fruitfulness and increase. God said, Let us make man, and immediately it follows, So God created man; he performed what he resolved. With us saying and doing are two things; but they are not so with God. He created him male and female, Adam and Eve—Adam first, out of earth, and Eve out of his side, ch. 2.

“It should seem that of the rest of the creatures God made many couples, but of man did not he make one? (Mal. 2:15), though he had the residue of the Spirit, whence Christ gathers an argument against divorce, Mt. 19:4, 5. Our first father, Adam, was confined to one wife; and, if he had put her away, there was no other for him to marry, which plainly intimated that the bond of marriage was not to be dissolved at pleasure.

“Angels were not made male and female, for they were not to propagate their kind (Lu. 20:34–36); but man was made so, that the nature might be propagated and the race continued. .. God made but one male and one female, that all the nations of men might know themselves to be made of one blood, descendants from one common stock, and might thereby be induced to love one another.” (I divided this section to be more easily read.)

As I close this week let me leave some points for consideration:

1.  Man’s creation was a personal act of a loving God, and different from that of the creation of all the other animals.

2.  Man in his original form bore an image of God that remains even though marred by the sin of man.

3.  Woman was also in the mind of God, but made for man, and therefore is to be under man’s headship.

I welcome all your comments and observations.  See you next week.

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Eve

9. March 2011 by admin.

My first posting will be dealing with Eve.  I am starting each section with a new page that will contain the primary passages in the Bible that will be dealing with her.  I will include a brief outline as well, so you can start reading on the subject and meditating.  I look forward to our discussions.

Bible Verses referencing Eve

Genesis 1:24 -31 - Creation of Man

²⁴Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.

²⁵God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

²⁸God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

²⁹Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.

³¹God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 2:15 – 25 – Creation of woman.¹⁵Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.   ¹⁶The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;  ¹⁷but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

¹⁸Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”  ¹⁹ Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.  ²⁰The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.  ²¹So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.  ²²The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

²³The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

²⁴For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.  ²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Genesis 3 – The Fall

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

 ²The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;  ³but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”

 ⁴The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!  ⁵For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 ⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.  ⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.  ⁸They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

 ⁹Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

 ¹⁰He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

 ¹¹And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

 ¹²The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

 ¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 ¹⁴The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
¹⁵And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

 ¹⁶To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”

 ¹⁷Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
¹⁸“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
¹⁹By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”

 ²⁰Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

 ²¹The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.  ²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”–  ²³therefore the LORD God sent him out from the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.  ²⁴So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 4:1 – Birth of Cain

¹Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a man-child with the help of the LORD.”

Genesis 4:25, 26 – Birth of Seth

²⁵Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.”

²⁶To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.

Genesis 5 – Man created in God’s image, male and female

 ¹This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.  ²He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.

Other references to Eve.

I Timothy 2: 12-14

Women Instructed

 ⁹Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, ¹⁰but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.  ¹¹A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.  ¹²But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.  ¹³For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.  ¹⁴And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.  ¹⁵But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

II Corinthians 11:2-4

As Christ’s Bride the church may be deceived.  ²For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.  ³But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.  ⁴For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

Outline

A.        Creation of man

1.  In the image of God

2.  To have dominion

B.        Creation of woman as a helpmeet for man

C.        The institution of marriage

D.        Eve’s role in the Fall

E.         The curse of the Fall

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Introduction

8. March 2011 by admin.

I am a pastor’s wife that has had a burden for many years to have a larger influence for the Kingdom of Christ, than just the physical presence I have in a local church.  Not so much to make a “name” for myself, but to use the gifts I feel God has given me.  I love to study history and see how God has worked out His will in the lives of men.  Biographies have always been a source I have enjoyed in this study of history, because it puts a real person in the arena, and being a woman I like to know how someone thought and felt about events that took place around them.  Having said that, I have been thinking a lot lately about  doing a study on the women in the Bible as a historian of sorts, and to see what can be learned from them that will be of benefit in the lives of women today.  As I said, I wanted to go beyond the confines of my particular church I belong to, and reach out to a broader audience.

As a student of computers and the internet, I know that there is a large audience available through this medium.  Hence the blog I hope to start.  Of course, no one may read this, or interact with it either, and if that happens then I will praise God.  He will bring those He wants to this site, and I pray use it for His glory in any lives of those who do take the time to read it.  The activity of studying and writing will be a blessing for me even if no one else reads it.

So what will this blog be? This is going to be a blog of women in the Bible from a reformed perspective. A “reformed” perspective is one that views the scriptures as the infallible Word of God (II Timothy 3: 16, 17 - All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; ¹⁷so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work).  Seeing the scriptures as the Word of God means that what He has revealed in His Word is the truth for man in how we are to worship God, how we are to live before Him, and how we are to live our lives as creatures created by a Holy God.

Being creatures, means that we do not question what He says and expects of us.  He has put us here on the earth for a purpose.  The first catechism question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism says:

What is the chief end of man?  Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

So what do I hope to accomplish with this blog?  I will take a woman from the Bible and look at what the Word says about her, using the verses where she is found.  I will present what godly men have written about these verses in their commentaries and how we should view them.  But I would also like to attempt to apply how we as women in the 21st century need to use these scriptural portraits to see what a godly woman is to be.

There are many both good examples and bad examples to look at, and I will start at the beginning with Eve.  As I think on Eve I find that there are many different facets of her that are presented in the Word, so I will use several of the early blogging entries to deal with her.  I welcome interaction from my readers, let’s use this as a virtual discussion as well as a time of learning about these women God has given us to study.

I don’t claim to be the expert in this area, but I do enjoy studying people and what history has to say about them.  In this case my source of history will be the Bible (supplemented with commentaries).  It is my hope and prayer that this will be of benefit in the Kingdom of Christ.  My ultimate goal in life is not just my own enjoyment of God, but to encourage others to have a godly desire to enjoy Him in their own lives.  It is with great humility that I start off on this endeavor.

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How to view this site

1. March 2011 by admin.

I have divided the pages of this site into the separate major topics that will be covered, by each woman.  So you will see that I will be starting with Eve.

The main page will give the Bible verses where that woman is located by name or direct inference.  This will be posted during the week before the blog will actually be started.

Each blog posting will deal with an aspect of the woman under discussion.  Those who have registered will be encouraged to comment if so led on either the main posting, or on other comments made.  Each comment will be reviewed before being posted, so it will take at the most a day to view new comments.  So check back daily to see what others have said.

I pray that this will encourage us to be in the Word of God each day, and seek to study what God has said about these women.

I am definitely not all knowing, nor am I a theologian, so I look forward to our exchanges to be edifying and educational for us all.

John Otis, as my husband and my pastor, will be overseeing the site and the content as well.  If for any reason, he rejects a comment, I will seek to contact the contributor to explain why.

God bless us all as we look to Him for growth and sanctification in His word.

Christine

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