Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #15 of Genesis, chapter 3 and we are continuing to read Genesis 3:10-13:

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And JEHOVAH God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

From here we went to the Epistle of 1Timothy, chapter 2 in the New Testament and we saw a passage where God instructed women to adorn themselves with “modest apparel.” We saw that the word “adorned” identified with salvation and the fruits of the spirit shew forth themselves in those that are saved.

Then it said in 1Timothy 2:11-12:

Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

We were checking out the word “silence,” which is Strong’s #2271, and it is only found a few times and there are a couple of related words we will look at, but our word is only found in 2Thessalonians 3:12:

Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

We also saw that “bread” identified with truth coming forth from the Bible and, therefore, the “work” must be the work that the reader of the Bible puts in as he studies to prove the things he is reading or hearing and to come to a knowledge of truth, by the grace and Spirit of God because the Spirit guides the people of God into all truth.

We were looking at the word “silence” where it is translated as “quietness,” where it said, “Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.” Or, it could be said, “With silence they work.” Again, this was the command to God for the woman, when He said, “Let the woman learn in silence, with all subjection,” but here God is speaking to men and women and all people that are Christians and He basically saying the same thing: Learn as you study the Bible and you do your work in the Scriptures in silence. Learn in silence. It is the same command that was given to the woman and we can understand why this is when we realize that the “woman” is a type and figure of the body of Christ or the bride of Christ comprised of everyone God has saved – both males and females.

So, the women’s role that God has laid out in the churches and in the home is to show forth the spiritual meaning of it, demonstrating how the people of God (both male and female) are to conduct themselves when it comes to the Bible itself. To say it another way, God has not just placed the Law on the woman in regard to Bible teaching or usurping authority over the man for a haphazard reason, but God has very purposefully commanded the woman not to teach or usurp authority over the man because, in doing so, her silence and submission as she seeks to obey God on this point illustrates and shows forth how all believers are to approach the Word of God, the Bible. When we come to the Bible we are all to be silent and with silence we work and eat our own bread.

Now how is that possible? How it is possible for the pastor or the elder and deacon? Or, is it talking about all those other than the men that are to teach? No, it is includes every professed believer, no matter what part of the body they are or what gift they have or what role God has assigned to them in the body of Christ. If they have been given the ability to speak and to teach, they are also to be silent when they work in the Bible. It says something interesting in 1Thessalonians, although it is not the same word as translated as “silence,” but it is a related word, Strong’s #2270, so look it up in the concordance and see how closely they are spelled and related. It says in 1Thessalonians 4:11:

And that ye study to be quiet…

The word “study” is also translated as “labour,” and labor involves work, so it is the same idea as we saw in 2Thessalonians 3, verse 12. Again, it says in 1Thessalonians 4:11:

And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

Again, this verse has everything to do with Bible study; this is our business. When Jonah was asked of the mariners about his occupation, he responded that he was a Hebrew and our occupation is as Christians or to be followers of Christ. That is our calling and that is our number one identification with the family of God and with the Word of God. It is above our earthly family. It is above our earthly work. It is above all things. Our communion and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word is above all. It is our business to be involved with the Word of God, the Bible, and it is our work to “work with our own hands” and turn the pages. Why do we turn the pages? It is to compare Scripture with Scripture and this verse with that verse, as God lays down His direction for working in the Bible and getting our own bread. It says in 1Corinthians 2:12:

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Since we are talking about working in the Bible to obtain our own bread, I should mention that if we are able to come to truth, then that has been given to us. We need to understand that and reconcile the two. Yes, there is effort put forth by us to read the Bible and to do the comparison of Scriptures and there is effort put forth by us when we go the concordance, but without the Holy Spirit leading us to truth and opening our understanding to that truth we would never arrive at truth. It is freely given to us of God.

It goes on to say in 1Corinthinans 2:13:

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

This is a key statement. The Holy Ghost teaches when we compare spiritual things with spiritual things. In the Book of Romans, it tells us that the Law of God is spiritual and the Law is the entire Bible, so the entire Bible is spiritual. A “spiritual thing” is comparing one verse with another verse. When we do it properly and we make sure we have checked out all the places that word is found, we are also praying for wisdom and when we come to a conclusion, it must not conflict with anything in the Bible but harmonizes with all the Bible teaches. Then we have come to a right doctrine. Did we do this ourselves? No – it is the Holy Ghost that teaches when we follow the proper Biblical methodology, comparing Scripture with Scripture. This is the Law that God is laying down and that is the point of learning in “silence” or working in “quietness.” In silence we work in the Bible and we eat our own bread. To work in silence means we do not usurp authority over the “man,” the Holy Ghost; the Holy Ghost is the man that teacheth. That is why it is given by God for the man to teach and not the woman. The man must be the one that disperses the truth of the Scriptures and never the woman – the woman must maintain “silence.” The woman must not usurp authority over the man. Now we can see the real meaning and purpose of God’s command to the woman.

Again, we have tried to stress that the woman is to observe this Law on a practical, moral level. During the church age when she was in the church or in a Bible study online in EBible Facebook groups or wherever men have a presence, women are to be silent. They are not to teach or usurp authority because in their very silence they are illustrating this spiritual point that indicates who is actually doing the teaching.

From an earthly standpoint, during the church age when the pastor had done his “work” or study during the week and he prepared his sermon, then on Sunday morning he would ascend into the pulpit with his Bible and he begins to preach. As he preached and looked out into the congregation, he sees the women, the men and the children. Some of the men taught Sunday school as elders and deacons. But he sees the women and they are not elders or deacons and they are not teaching Sunday school where men are present, and he sees their “silence.” If it was a church that operated according to Biblical principles, there were no women exercising authority over men and teaching them in the church. As he sees the faithful women in submission to that point of Law, it was a witness back to him: “This is how you, Pastor, ought to be approaching the Bible. You had better not say a word. You had better be in total silence when you come to the Bible. That means you had better let the Holy Ghost teach by comparing spiritual with spiritual.” When you compare spiritual things with spiritual things, the Holy Ghost teaches, but if the pastor prepared his message by just turning to the commentaries…and many pastors did this. They did not look at a verse and allow the Bible to interpret it by comparing Scripture with Scripture to develop the doctrine. Instead, they turned to a passage or verse and they immediately went to their commentaries to see what Calvin had to say about it. After they looked at what Calvin had to say, they looked at what Luther had to say. After looking at what Luther had to say, they turned to Matthew Henry. Perhaps, after checking the commentaries of three faithful men, they now knew what they would say about that passage or verse, but they failed to compare Scripture with Scripture, but they compared theologian with theologian.

You know, I used to hear a very famous pastor in Philadelphia. He had written many books and I sat through many of his sermons and it seemed to me he had a certain formula for teaching. He would go to a verse in Romans, or wherever, and then after he presented the verse he would tell us what Theologian A had to say about it; then he would say Theologian B agreed on this point, but disagreed on other points. Then he would give his own opinion, taking from Theologian A and from Theologian B and it was said to have been some wonderful Reformed teaching and, yet, for God’s elect within that congregation it was only meager “bread” that was being delivered.

In order to work, you have to work with “silence” and eat your own “bread.” You have to work like a woman that is commanded to be in “silence,” so we do not present the thoughts of men or the thoughts of other famous Reformed pastors and theologians of old as a substitute for teaching the Word of God. To do so is to completely fail to work silently. You have usurped the authority of the “man,” God the Holy Spirit, by putting forth ideas and thoughts from other men that are part of the bride of Christ, the woman. In doing so, the woman is teaching and we never want to hear from the “woman,” which is from the minds of men. We do not want to hear from Calvin, Luther, Knox or Henry, no matter how faithful they may have been. We can turn to their commentaries and get some ideas, but we always have to go to the Bible and follow the Bible’s way of comparing Scripture with Scripture in order to come to truth. That is the way of working silently in the Word of God, so we can find our own “bread,” so the “man,” the Holy Spirit is doing the teaching and not the woman or anyone else but the Holy Spirit.

Let us go back to 1Timothy and look at one last thing before we return to our verse by verse study in Genesis, chapter 3 and this is going to impact the things we read in Genesis 3. Again, God said in 1Timothy 2:12:

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

Then God goes on to say in 1Timothy 2:13-14:

For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

As we read this, we wonder why God is saying it in this way. It almost sounds as if Adam did not transgress, but the woman did transgress. God points to Adam being first formed and then Eve and then He says, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” Some people have pointed to these statements and they say, “You see, it is all the woman’s fault.” Then when we read what Adam responded to God in Genesis 3:12:

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Then God goes on to inquire of the woman and it almost appears that Adam is trying to shift the blame to excuse himself. It is like he is saying, “You gave me the woman and the woman you gave me is the one that gave me of the tree to eat.” It does not make Adam appear very honorable at all, as if he is trying to “worm his way” out of what he had done because he was involved in this transgression, but we know that Adam definitely transgressed because it says in Romans 5:14:

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Here, very clearly, God speaks of Adam’s transgression. We also have a verse in Job we have looked at a couple of times in Job 31:33:

If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

Adam most certainly transgressed. He was guilty. He sinned by breaking the commandment, so why does God emphasize the woman so much? Again, it says in 1Timothy 2, verse 14:

And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Well, let us go back to Genesis 3, verse 6 after Eve’s conversation with the serpent. It says in Genesis 3:6:

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Yes, we see the woman was deceived and then she gave it to her husband that was with her and then he ate. She ate first and he ate second. We know that, so what is the point? I do not think I noticed this before, but the point is that when the woman ate, she sinned. Then Adam ate because she ate first. She was deceived and then he followed suit by eating. Spiritually, let us look at what Adam said in Genesis 3:12, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,” and now let us substitute the “elect” for the “woman.” He is saying, “The elect that thou gavest to be with me gavest me of the tree.” Because the elect have sinned our sins were laid upon Christ and we gave Him of the tree (our transgression) and He became laden with our sins, as it says in Isaiah 53:5:

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities…

It was the woman’s transgression and she “being deceived was in the transgression,” but Christ was bearing our transgressions. So, in effect, Adam said to God, “The elect that thou gavest to be with me,” and God did give the elect to Christ according to His plan of predestination. Adam said, “She gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” He gained knowledge of evil for her sins and this is the spiritual point that God makes here.