What guides your marriage? What directs the decisions you make as husband and wife? What is your standard for right and wrong, which you can then pass down to your children? The first mar-riage was not perfect, nor easy; yet, it was guided by God. Truly, the guidance of God has been seen in the previous sections of this study; however, consider how that God guided Adam and Eve by His standard.
“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But 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” (Genesis 2:15–17).
It is not revealed explicitly how these principles were relayed to Eve. It is plausible that: (1) She may have been present when God gave the initial instruction to Adam; (2) God may have reminded Adam at a later time when she was present, which would provide the information for her; (3) Ad-am may have informed her of God’s guidance, as any godly husband would do for his wife (cf. Ephesians 5:25–27). Nevertheless, we do know Eve was guided in the same; for, she later says to the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But 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” (Genesis 3:2–3).
God’s initial commandment revealed at Genesis 2:17 was simply: “thou shalt not eat of it;” howev-er, Eve had an additional principle included with her response to the serpent: “God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it” (Genesis 3:3). Was this a contradiction? In short, No. Reasonable inferences include: (1) Eve simply revealed further details that had not been revealed by Moses’ writing of Genesis 2:17; or, (2) Adam and Eve restricted themselves out of godly wisdom, that they might not be tempted to eat of the forbidden fruit. Binding on others where God does not bind can be dangerous and sinful; however, it is not sinful for one to restrict himself out of godly wisdom to prevent temptation of sin. Many try to get as close to sin as they can without “technical-ly” sinning, and in so doing, they may make unwise decisions which eventually lead to sin.
Now, we know Adam and Eve went on to give into temptation and sin, despite knowing better. However, God did not leave them there. He essentially came and took them by the hand (3:8–9), guided them with discipline, further informed them of the consequences of their sins (3:9–13, 16–21), and punitively and mercifully removed them from the physical tree of life (3:22–24).
May these truths bless your marriage and glorify our God.
Clifton preaches for the Coldwater Church of Christ in Coldwater, MS
