LESSON SIX
How The Original Sin Still Affects us Today, and How our Sins Also Affect
Creation
We know God doesn’t make mistakes. He directed Paul to write the word authenteō in 1 Timothy 2:12, and that is the only place in the canonical Bible where that Greek word is used. If it just means to take authority, or to rule, then why not use the Greek verb proistēmi, which means to rule, or to lead?
Interestingly enough, the feminine noun version of proistēmi (to lead) is used only once in the Bible as well, and that is of a powerful woman of God, named Phoebe. She was the minister/deacon of the church in Cenchrea. She was also a leader – prostatis – the feminine noun version of proistēmi (to lead or rule). If proistēmi were used in 1 Timothy 2:12, instead of authenteō, then we’d have a contradiction, because there are multiple woman preachers in the Bible who lead congregations in churches. Phoebe was even a leader of Paul the apostle:
Here is Romans 16:1-2 in The Passion Translation:
“Now, let me introduce to you our dear and beloved sister in the faith, Phoebe, a shining minister of the church in Cenchrea. I am sending her with this letter and ask that you shower her with our hospitality when she arrives. Embrace her with honor, as is fitting for one who belongs to the Lord and is set apart for him. I am entrusting her to you, so provide her whatever she may need for she's been a great leader and champion for many - I know, for she's been that even for me!” -Romans 16:1-2 TPT
Here is Romans 16:1-2 in the Young's Literal Translation:
“And I commend you to Phebe our sister -- being a ministrant of the assembly that [is] in Cenchrea -- that ye may receive her in the Lord, as doth become saints, and may assist her in whatever matter she may have need of you -- for she also became a leader of many, and of myself.” -Romans 16:1-2 YLT
There are women leaders and preachers in the
Scriptures, so we know the ‘teach and have authority’ in 1 Timothy 2:12 isn’t referring
to women preachers or leaders. We must keep it within the context that it gives
us. Our 1 Timothy 2:11-14 passage also
says “and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor” in verse 14 (NRSVue).
What did Eve do, when she gave the wrong teaching to Adam, which he didn’t correct? She led him to his eventual DEATH. He allowed himself to be under her teaching and authority, and the authority she ultimately had over him, was his life, as well as her own.
Our 1 Timothy 2 passage is where it points to Eve in
the deception, instead of the sin entering through Adam, because it’s telling
the wives in a specific church at that time (Ephesus) to not ruin her husband’s spiritual
walk with wrong (Artemis worship) teachings, as Eve did to Adam (forbidden fruit), which lead to the fall of humanity.
Most other passages in the Bible instead mention that sin entered the world
through Adam, such as the following…
Look up Romans 5:14 in the NRSVue, and then fill in the blanks, below:
“Yet death reigned from ____________ to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of ____________, who is a pattern of the one who was to come.” -Romans 5:14
Eve ate the forbidden fruit first, but the transgression, which lead to the fall of man, and sin entering into the world, is attributed to Adam, who ate after Eve. Why is that?
Adam had a double transgression. Like Eve, he knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit, but he was with Eve when she partook, and did not stop her:
“she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.” -Genesis 3:6b
After she partook, she gave him the fruit, and he didn’t turn it down, but also partook of it.
Adam was directly told of God to not partake of that fruit:
Look up Genesis 2:16-18 in the NRSVue, and then fill in the blanks, below:
“And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the ____________ of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not _________, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be _______________; I will make him a helper as his ____________________.” -Genesis 2:16-18
God directly told Adam not to eat of the forbidden fruit, and then He made Eve from Adam’s DNA (The Hebrew word means curve). There is no mention of God directly telling Eve not to eat of that fruit. Eve knew not to partake (as we see in Gen. 3:2-3), and partook anyways, but Adam didn’t stop her. There’s no mention of him even trying to stop her. Since Adam knew directly from God Himself not to eat of the forbidden fruit, but was right there watching Eve do it, and didn’t stop her, and then he did it, the responsibility of the first sin entering the world was put on Adam’s shoulders, because he had the power and knowledge to stop it, and he didn’t.
Therefore, sin entered the world via Adam.
The original sin of Adam opened a door, and this is a
spiritual one, which is not under the laws of physics. The effects of sin (other
than what we detect in the linear physical), knows no time or locality. Adam's sin has not gone away, and it affects each and every one of us, today. This is the same case with us, when we sin. Our sins don't disappear, they stick around, knowing no time or locality.
In the next lessons, we'll get deeper into the power of blood, and we will look into how sins don't go away, and what to do about that.
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What was Phoebe's position in the church that was in Cenchrea?
What was Adam's double transgression?
