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

THE KEY IS IN THE SCENE

Let’s recap…

Adam was already there before the woman arrived:

• he received her as a gift from God,
• after having lived long enough in the “before” and “after” to recognize the greatness of the gift,
• and he was called to treat her as someone precious and of great value—as the more delicate vessel, not in a sense of inferiority, but in the sense of being special, sensitive, the crowning touch with which the Lord chose to complete His creative work.
• He had just received someone with whom to be a lifelong team,
• and he would never have to be alone again in any sense. First, he had God, and now he had her as well.
• Together they could fulfill the Lord’s assignment: to multiply, subdue, and rule over creation. And they would do so in fullness—not halfway, as if she weren’t there. He would enjoy companionship, but much more than that (since God Himself had already been with him).
• Leadership was to take place first within each one before God (we are personally responsible),
• but also toward one another. What was required was to become each other’s guardians—caring for one another, being one, and living as one.
• Wherever one was particularly gifted, that person would lead the other in love—and vice versa. It was not about gender, but about mutual leadership through the gifts, talents, discernment, and capacities God gives, which Scripture never limits to one gender over the other.

She, for her part, did not arrive to an “empty house”:

• Adam was already there—and of course, God too.
• She came as a strong ally in a task that otherwise could not have been completed.
• She came to resolve Adam’s loneliness and lack, and opened up new possibilities for him—just as he did for her.
• Now, together as one, they could take on the divine mandate.

When someone arrives where another is already present, they cannot simply “go it alone”. That was part of her sin: she stepped away from the team she was meant to form with the one who was already there—Adam. There were other sins involved, but this was a key part, as we will see next.

If we don’t understand this scene, we lose our way.