What Happened to Us in Eden? - Psychology of the FallNäide

UNEQUAL ATTENTION

When God declared not only His curse but also the consequences of disobedience, He was announcing ahead of time what would unfold in the future, through every generation, until the new heavens and the new earth arrive. That warning remains fully relevant for us today—because we are living in that very stretch of human history.

When the first woman and the first man received God’s verdict, they could not possibly grasp the scope of what was to come—or the cosmic dimensions of what had already taken place in that seemingly simple act of taking and eating the forbidden fruit.

The curses—especially those directed toward the woman—have received unequal attention. As we noted before, emphasis has been disproportionately placed on certain portions of her sentence over others. And in comparison to the verdict on the man, hers has been magnified to titanic proportions.

For the woman, the focus has especially fallen on the “rule” of the man over her. Added to this is the widespread neglect of another heavy burden: being under Satan’s constant crosshairs because of the unique role the woman plays in God’s plan of salvation. This isn’t speculation—it’s written plainly:

• It is evident in the proto-gospel of Genesis 3:15.
• And it was through a woman—Mary (herself a daughter of Eve, the mother of all living)—that Jesus the Messiah was miraculously born, the One called blessed among women.
• As Revelation 12 tells us, since Satan could not devour the child who “was snatched up to God and to his throne,” he poured all his fury onto the woman, pursuing her. Yet she was supernaturally protected, rescued from being swept away by the river he sent against her.
• And “her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus” (an unmistakable picture of us, His Church)—are likewise the object of Satan’s rage. As verse 12 says of humankind: “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”