SERVICES: SATURDAY 6PM | SUNDAY 9AM & 10:45AM. 

We Livestream at www.FaithFellowshipWeb.com/livestream, through the FFC App, and YouTube.

Consequence and Redemption for Woman

Words of Faith Final

Consequence and Redemption for Woman
Words of Faith 1-25-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><<><

Genesis 3
    [16] To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

         There had to be a consequence for the humans. We often call this the "curse." However, it is interesting that the Lord God never "curses" Adam or Eve. The word "curse" is never used toward them. He cursed just about everything around them, but not them.
        The serpent was cursed. The ground will be cursed. The curses that resulted from sin affected Adam and Eve greatly, but there was simply a consequence for the humans. Indeed, with great pain and tenderness, the Lord God pronounced the result of their sin.
        As a consequence of her rebellion, the Lord God pronounced a judgment upon the woman. She would now bear children in increased pain or toil. In the beginning, when the man and the woman were created, childbirth was at the center of the blessing that their Creator had bestowed on them. "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth," (1:28). After the Fall, childbirth would be painful.
        But childbirth would also be the way the Tempter would be defeated and the blessing restored. It would be from Woman that a Savior would come and crush the Enemy's head. In the pain of the birth of every child, there was to be a reminder of the hope that lay in God's promise. Birth pangs are not merely a reminder of the agony of the Fall. They are also a sign of an impending joy: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved" (Rom 8:22-24;  Matt 24:8).
        As a second consequence, the Lord God declared that Eve's "desire" would be for her husband, and he would "rule over" her. This may be better translated "Your desire was for your husband." Having overstepped her bounds in this, she would now be "mastered" by him. She had always been designed to "desire" her husband and him to desire her. The woman and her husband were to have enjoyed the blessing of children (1:28) and the harmonious partnership of marriage (2:18, 21-25). What the woman was intended to do as a blessing-- be a marriage partner and have children-- had become tainted as a result of her sin. In the moments of life's greatest blessing-- marriage and children-- the woman would sense the painful consequences of her rebellion from God.
        But there is redemption. Through the coming of Christ, the offspring of Eve, redemption came. The Apostle Paul declared: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13). Christ has "bought us back" from the place of judgment and curse. This does not mean that there is no evidence of sin with us. We continue to be sanctified (made like Christ) by the work of the Holy Spirit until we join the Lord in glory. The pain of childbirth continues, though certainly, we can pray for redemption from it.
        Even the consequence of a husband "ruling over" or "mastering" the wife is redeemed in Christ. Though a husband and wife may have specific roles in a New Testament framework, Paul declares that  "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).
       In Christ, God calls husband and wife to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph. 5:21). The Lord calls the wife to submit to her husband rather than be "mastered" by him. The Lord calls the wife to submit to her husband and then commands that the husband shall love her as Christ loved the Church rather than "master" her (Eph. 5:22,25).
         We can rejoice today in this knowledge of the Truth. The Lord God does not curse us. We are not under a curse of gender domination. The Lord God has a plan of salvation and redemption. The Lord God redeems us from the curse of the Law. The Lord God sets us free to love!

         Lord God, I give thanks for Your magnificent plan of redemption and freedom in Christ. I give thanks for the Lord Jesus who has set me free. I trust wholly in the work of Jesus to redeem me from the consequence of sin. In Jesus' Name.  

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at http://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/cgi-bin/devotions/displayMonths.cgi
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -      
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.