The Fall of Women

Part 2 - Genesis 3

In my previous post “God Created a Woman”, we reviewed the nature and purpose of women as we studied through Genesis 1 and 2.  I’ve made the point that God created women to be equal in kind to the man, and His purpose for us is to be helpers to the man.  This arrangement, this role, this hierarchy, is a part of God’s perfect creation.  Sin had not entered the picture yet.  Complementarianism seems to be the only form of male headship that embraces this belief. Many views of womanhood (feminism, Islam, Mormonism, many cults, egalitarianism) believe that the curse on the woman after the Fall resulted in woman’s subordination to man, and so they have to make the sinless creation to be without hierarchy.  In these views, if the Fall resulted in subordination, then redemption should be a restoration of equality of the sexes.   I hope I’ve been able to bring some clarity and truth to the discussion. 

 The answers are all in Genesis 1 and 2.   We saw that men are given a leadership role simply by virtue of being a man.  The first woman’s role was to be a helper on par with the man, a complement to him, and this is by virtue of simply being a woman.  God did it this way on purpose and in His wisdom.  When these roles are performed correctly and harmoniously, the original glory of God’s very good creation is re-created and re-invigorated.  Conversely, when the roles are abused, neglected, or distorted, the nobility of God’s purpose in us is hindered.  

Why is it so difficult?

Then comes Genesis 3.  We do need to look at the reason why it is so difficult for us to fulfill God’s role for us.  If we were made for this reason, then why is it so hard?

1.  Write down some examples of women in the Bible who were not a reflection of God’s original intent for women.

Scripture does give us negative examples of women who were not reflections of God’s original intent for women:  Jezebel, Rebekah, the women of Corinth, Herodias, Delilah, etc.  These negative examples can give us some valuable insight into the pitfalls of womanhood.  But it all originates with Genesis 3 and the Fall of the first man and woman.  If we were to take Genesis 3 out of the Scripture, the Bible would not make sense.  Throughout the creation chapters, we get some subtle hints at the hierarchy of creation:  God, then Man, then Woman, then animals and nature.

Read Genesis 3

In Genesis 3 we see very clearly that something is amiss from the very first words out of the serpent’s mouth.  Satan’s first deception and attack is directed against this headship by going to the woman, not the man, to change the direction of their obedience away from God to their own desires.

This role relationship of leader and follower is indicated directly and implicitly.  First, the participant structure of Genesis 2-3 shows implicitly the hierarchy of creation:  God, the man, woman, and animal (serpent). But this was reversed in the fall: the woman listens to the serpent, the man listens to the woman, and no one listens to God.¹