In a previous post, we looked at how God designed men to exercise authority, to teach, to provide and to protect. In today’s post, we will investigate how the fall changed men. How has sin damaged the responsibility design? Let’s look at how Adam’s fall into sin affected these four areas in which he was called to exercise responsibility. It’s a sketch of failed masculinity.
First we see that Adam failed to lead authoritatively. The temptation of Eve shows this. All while Eve is being tempted by the serpent, Adam seems to have been standing silently with his wife. We do not realise that he is right next to her until we read the words, “She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” Adam had authority over Eve and the whole created order, yet he stood passively by watching things unfold. He failed to take seriously his responsibility to exercise authoritty as the leader of mankind.
Next, there is in the text a suggestion of his failure to teach the knowledge of God. Remember, God had given Adam alone the instructions about the tree. He was told about this before Eve was made. So it was his job to pass on this knowledge to his wife Eve. It seems like he did not do this well, for when the serpent asks Eve about the tree, she adds to God’s command by saying they were not allowed to touch the tree, which was not part of God’s original command. Again, Adam passively watches and does not correct his wife’s error. He fails to take responsibility to teach truth.
Thirdly, we see his failure to protect. What should Adam have done when this strange creature started speaking with his wife and questioning God’s Word. At the very least, he should have rebuked it and commanded its silence and banished it from the garden. Perhaps he should have crushed its head for challenging the words of his king. He was after all given dominion over all the earth including the creatures therein. Yet he stood by passively.
Finally, there is also a hint of Adam’s failure to provide. This is certainly less clear, but I think is implicit. God created a world of plenty, and he put Adam in a garden to work it. This would produce good things. What was Adam doing standing next to Eve doing nothing? Why was Eve looking at the tree longingly? Was Adam providing as he should have been? Questions we cannot answer for sure, but worth pondering.
So God comes down to deal with rebellion. Notice that when God arrives on the scene, He speaks with Adam first. Adam has authority, and God begins with the one who is ultimately responsible here. It was Adam’s fall that brought humanity into sin. Unfortunately, when God questions Adam, Adam acts in a most unmasculine way. He evades responsibility. He blames Eve and ultimately God himself. And this is the natural state of fallen masculinity today. We like to blame others and situations for failure; we refuse to take our masculine responsibilities seriously.
Now let’s consider the consequences of Adam’s rebellion. God curses the area of Adam’s prime responsibility, that of provision. In the curse, God responds to Adam’s blame-shifting. God’s reason for the curse on his provision of food is because he listened to the voice of his wife and disobeyed by eating from the tree. It’s not Eve’s fault. If Adam had been doing his job, he would have lead his wife, not been led by her. A true man is not led by the voice of his wife to disobey God. The line of authority is God, then husband, then wife. And so, thorns and thistles will now hamper the masculine responsibility of providing food. Now by the sweat of his brow he will provide for himself, his wife and his children. Additionally, we see that Adam’s role of authority is now cursed. The earth will no longer easily yield to him. Nor will his wife, and the marriage relationship will regularly become a battle for power and authority.