Shepherd’s Pie -- By: Tim Bayly

Journal: Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Volume: JBMW 03:3 (Fall 1998)
Article: Shepherd’s Pie
Author: Tim Bayly


Shepherd’s Pie

Issues Of Critical Interest To Pastors: Who Cares About Adam?

Tim Bayly

The apostle Paul prohibits the exercise of authority over men by women when he says, “I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, for Adam was created first, then Eve” (1 Tim. 2:12–13, NAS95). With this simple statement Paul explicitly affirms what is implicit throughout God’s Word, that the order of creation establishes patriarchy as God’s pattern for leadership in human relationships. Addressing the matter of propriety in prayer, the Apostle Paul again emphasizes this order:

For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. (1 Cor. 11:8–9, NAS95).

Imagine a new believer, thoroughly confused by the sexual anarchy of today’s culture, discovering the truth inherent in passages such as 1 Corinthians 11:3–16, 14:34–35, Ephesians 5:22–33, 1 Timothy 2:9–15, and 1 Peter 3:1–7. What a deep sense of relief to discover that the order of creation establishes timeless principles for the relationships between men and women.

But while the facts of Eve’s creation are instructive for establishing proper roles for men and women, Genesis goes on to reveal another important biographical note about Adam and Eve. Like the facts surrounding God’s creation of Eve, the significance of this biographical detail is revealed more fully by the New Testament.

The first hint of this element comes after the Fall when God, walking in the Garden in the cool of the day, inquires of Adam, “Where are you?” When Adam responds by explaining that he and Eve found themselves naked and hid, it is notable that God directs His follow-up question again to Adam, asking him, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:11, NAS95).1

It was Adam, not Eve, who was required to explain the tragic alienation from God they both had suffered, and this despite Eve having been the one deceived,2 the first one to sin, and the one who enticed her husband to follow her into that sin. This is neither a small nor unimportant aspect of the Genesis account: it was Adam whom God first held respons...

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