[Thankful Jane]

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Originally Posted by Igzy

As to the "passive Adam" I don't think you understood my point. There is a popular teaching going around meant to address the problem of husbands/fathers who are not involved enough in their families. Adam is put forth as an example of this because he (they say) was there with Eve all during her discourse with Satan but remained silent and never stepped up to protect her, he just went along with it. I don't buy that based on what 1 Tim says. I believe he was eventually passive, but not that he was there during the discourse.

Since 1 Timothy says Adam was not deceived, I have to combine that with the fact that he manifestly eventually was deceived. And since the verse is talking about him in relation to Eve, I have to conclude it means the deception started with her and spread to him, because I can't see how anyone could sin without being deceived at some level.

So, though I think your interpretation is noble in a way and I understand what you are getting at, I don't agree with it. I don't think grace can come by sinning. However, I applaud your creative thinking. Adam may have "sacrificed" for his wife by eating the fruit, but it was misplaced sacrifice, I have to believe.

Sorry, I did not see your post or Ohio’s before I posted my last one.

Some of what I am learning (from others as well as gleaning from the Bible on my own) offers some possible light on I Tim. 2:14. My conclusions aren’t fixed. I’ve just got a lot of things simmering in the pot while I continue to look into this. Here is some of the stew.

It is important to understand what the transgression referred to in this verse is and who the Bible holds responsible for it. Some commentary that says that the verse in I Timothy should say “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being [thoroughly] deceived became [involved] in the transgression.”

This rendering shows that the transgression being referred to here is something other than Eve’s being deceived, because she became involved in the transgression through deception. According to two verses in the O.T. and some in the new, the transgression was Adam’s. See Job 31:33 and Hosea 6:7.

(The KJV version of Hosea 6:7 has the word “men” in it, but the original Hebrew word is “Adam.” It says, “But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.” )

In the New Testament, according to Romans, the transgression or sin was the disobedience of one person and that was Adam. See Rom 5:12-19. Rom 5:14 says, “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. [italics mine]

So with this perspective, I Tim 2:14 shows us that the transgression was already present or underway when Eve became involved. One commentator says that Adam was to “keep” the garden and that this word “keep” is the same Hebrew word used for the flaming swords “guarding” the way to the tree of life. It appears that Adam may have already failed to guard the garden from the serpent, because the serpent was present in the garden to beguile Eve.

Larry Crabb (and there are other commentators who say likewise) says that Adam’s silence was his sin. God has dominion through His speaking, so Adam, who was made in God’s image and who was charged to have dominion over the earth and subdue it, was to do so by speaking. Crabb says he should have spoken the truth to subdue the serpent who was clearly leading them to disobey God’s command concerning the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Here are some verses in Job that lend some further support (other than the “with her” support) to Crabb’s idea that Adam’s transgression was silence:

Job 31:33-34 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door? (R. V.)

Lots of food for thought.

Thankful Jane