The Sin of Adam ... the sin of the passive husband

Genesis 3:6 - When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

The role of Adam in the fall of man is often overlooked... The blame is usually laid squarely at the feet of Eve. The narrative is usually that Eve was alone, the serpent deceived her and she ate; when Adam came back from wherever he was, she gave him the fruit and he ate. This narrative was being shared at a Sunday school class  I attended years ago; after I shared the passage above with the class, the discussion and direction of the Sunday school changed. There is more to this story. This verse shows us that Adam was around while Eve was being deceived, why did he not stop it? Let's say he wasn't even around, why did he eat the fruit?

1 Timothy 2:14 - And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

The verse in 1 Timothy clearly tells us that Adam was not deceived, he yielded to the request of Eve and went along with it. So, Eve was deceived, while Adam, while not deceived, still went ahead and ate the fruit.  While Eve's sin was an act of disobedience due to deception, Adam's actions are more concerning since he didn't have the excuse of deception. Romans 5:19 simply states Adam disobeyed. The only excuse he gave was to throw Eve and God under the bus:

Genesis 3: 10 - Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

Spiritually passive husbands blame everyone but themselves for the state of their home: I wonder what Eve thought when Adam laid the blame squarely on her and God. Adam trying to exonerate himself was a man failing to take responsibility for what goes on in his home, in his domain. Men, we need to rise up and defend our homes against intruders, not just physically, but more importantly, spiritually. It is not enough to go to work, cut the grass or change the furnace filter, our responsibility is much higher. In Genesis 3:17, God puts the responsibility right back at Adam.

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’...

God did not buy into Adam's excuse. God tells Adam his disobedience, sin, was rooted in him putting the voice of his wife above the voice of God. This leads to point 2

Passive husbands give in to the voice of the wife when it is clear what God has said: It is important to be careful with this point. To be clear, the point is not that because the man is the head of the home he is always right, NO. The point is when the will of God is known concerning a matter, nothing should change this instruction, not even the voice of the wife. Because, at the end of the day, when it comes to the direction of the home, the man, if he is a partaker, is going to be held accountable for the disobedience - really? yes, really. let's read some verses in Romans 5:

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

You can see no mention of Eve in this verses, it is all on Adam. Mankind did not fall until Adam ate of the fruit... Adam's disobedience led to the fall of man. While the wife is the prayer in most homes, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a praying wife, infact, it is an awesome blessing to have a praying wife, the man cannot leave the praying solely to the wife. The man needs to be a prayer, an intercessor for his home. The husband needs to take his role seriously and not yield to pressure and go against what God has said. 

Genesis 2:16 - 17: The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Passive husbands don't clearly share the vision or direction God is leading: 

we don't see anywhere in the scriptures where God instructs Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but we clearly see God instructing Adam in Genesis 2:16-17. So, Adam likely informed Eve of the command not to eat of the tree. Eve's response to the Serpents question shows her understanding of God's instruction wasn't completely accurate. She responds in Genesis 3:3 by saying "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die". God did not say they cannot touch it, he said they shall not eat it. It is unclear from the scriptures if the addition of "you shall not touch" was Eve's addition or Adam's rendition of God's instruction. Regardless, Adam was there when she made this statement and he did not correct it. When husbands receive instructions from The Lord, we need to state it clearly as many times as we need to to ensure it is clear. if it is misstated, we need to correct it. We cannot build faith on a faulty understanding of what God has said about a matter. We should discuss God's direction regularly in the home as a way to keep it clear in our minds. the Bible also tells us to write the vision down, make it plain.... it also asks us if two can walk together except they agree? these verses are saying the same thing, we can only successfully follow God as we make God's leading plain and clear, so we do not deviate from it. 

Though Eve ate, what would have happened if Adam did not eat? The seed is in the man! I believe this is part of the reason God removed Joseph from the equation when Jesus was to be born. He could not make use of the seed of the man. Automatically, Joseph's contribution would have made Jesus a sinner at birth. Christian husbands, we cannot afford to be spiritually passive, it is not only dangerous, it can lead to problems for generations to come. Think of what Abraham listening to Sarah about sleeping with her servant caused him? not only him, but the child of covenant God promised him. 

Shalom

Abraham’s Tithe to Melchizedek

                                                                                        picture source: www.borntowin.net
The tithe of Abraham to Melchizedek is very often used as the foundational argument for tithing in the church; the view is that since he is the father of faith, if he gave tithes, we should also tithe. It is important we take a look at what Abraham did when he gave Melchizedek a tenth. First and foremost, the Scripture nowhere indicates that God asked Abraham to do this, to make this deduction, we would have to add to the Word of God. The bible also does not tell us why Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth and I am not going to speculate on why he did.

 “And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all” (Genesis 14:20). If Abraham’s tithe to Melchizedek is a requirement for the church, it appears the only things we should tithe are the spoils of war. There is no Scripture that shows us that Abraham gave a tithe of any of his possessions; the only record of a tithe by Abraham is a tithe of spoils of a war. Let us compare the tithe of Abraham to the instruction God gave the children of Israel concerning the spoils of a particular war recorded in Numbers 31:25-31:

 

Numbers 31:25-31 – “Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Count up the plunder that was taken—of man and beast—you and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation; and divide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. And levy a tribute (tax) for the Lord on the men of war who went out to battle: one of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep; take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the Lord. And from the children of Israel’s half you shall take one of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.” So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.”

Obviously missing from this passage is God asking for a tithe of the spoils; He actually called what He asked of the soldiers a levy (tax)! The instructions given by God about the spoils bring the levy of the soldiers to about 0.2% of what the soldiers got, and only about 2% of the rest of the congregation. The total percentage of the persons, donkeys, and the cattle that were given to The Lord adds up to about 1.1%, not 10%. Something important to note in the passage above is that God did not include gold, which they also plundered, in the levy He asked of them. Verses 50-54 of Numbers 31 talks about how the soldiers gave a freewill offering of the ornaments of gold as gratitude to The Lord for none of the soldiers dying in battle. God did not request a levy of the gold ornaments! If the action of Abraham was an everlasting ordinance from God, like some have suggested, the requirements/actions in both cases should be the same.

 Another point to keep in mind in regards to the tithe of Abraham to Melchizedek is that the bible never tells us that Abraham ever gave another tenth of anything, either spoils or not, to Melchizedek or any other person. Hebrews 7:4 even shows us that this was a singular act, not something done repeatedly by Abraham. Hebrews 7:4 – “Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!” (NIV). This verse points to the fact that Abraham only gave a tenth of the plunder we read about in Genesis 14; he did not give a tithe of anything else, not even once does the bible indicate that he ever gave any other tithe to anyone else.

 Genesis 14: 22 – 23 – “But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’”
 

If Abraham’s actions in Genesis 14 is indeed the Christian’s guide to tithing, then we need to follow it all the way through. Abraham did not keep any part of the spoil of war, he gave his portion to the king of Sodom! He had a right to keep it since he fought the battle against the kings and won, but as we see in the above passage, he did not keep any of it for himself. He gave it all away. To teach the encounter with Melchizedek as the foundation for the church, we would need to follow the second part where he gave the remaining part (his portion) to the king of Sodom. For the church to follow Abraham’s example in Genesis 14, we need to give 10% to the church (as it is preached today), and then give the 90% back to our employers, clients, customers and coworkers. Sounds ridiculous? That is actually what Abraham did in this encounter with Melchizedek and the King of Sodom. As our salaries are our rights for working for an employer, so was the plunder to Abraham for going to war and winning. Using Abraham’s tithe to Melchizedek as the reason Christians are to tithe is not right; it was not an eternal ordinance from God to Abraham, neither is it a command of God to the church today.