Perfection — and then…

Thoughts on the splendor of Eden before the assault by Satan

It was perfect!

“IN GENESIS 3 we find Adam and Eve living in unparalleled splendor amid the green forests of Eden, in perfect harmony with the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. And this magnificent couple shared a profound harmony of soul—they were of the same bone and flesh.

Relationships

Eve was Adam’s daughter, in the sense that she came out of him. Eve was also Adam’s sister, because they shared the same father. And Eve was Adam’s one-flesh wife! What they experienced in the beginning reflected the eternal glory and order of the Trinity, and it ultimately foreshadowed the intimacy of Christ with his church. Paul would quote Genesis 2:24 in Ephesians 5:31–32:

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Adam and Eve’s union was glorious. From the beginning, it gave substantial glory to God.”

Headship

We must note that Adam’s headship and authority were part of creation before sin and the fall—before anything wicked had entered the picture.

Adam’s headship was evident for four reasons.

1. Obviously, he was created first. Paul makes that a central fact in his argument about creation order in 1 Timothy 2:13: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve.”

2. Next, we note that Eve was taken out of man, which Paul likewise uses in a similar argument in 1 Corinthians 11:8: “For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.”

3. We note, third, that Eve was designated as Adam’s “helper,” whereas this could not be said of Adam in respect to Eve.

4. Lastly, Genesis 2 and 3 rest on the careful creation order of God, man, woman, and the beasts (in Genesis 3, the serpent).

This order was tragically reversed by the fall, when

1. the woman listened to the serpent

2. the man listened to the woman

3. and no one listened to God

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