The 3:16 Project: Genesis

To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;

with painful labour you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you.”

Straight in with a really challenging verse. God is meting out the punishment to Eve of her disobedience in allowing herself to be tempted by satan into eating the forbidden fruit, and the punishment is pain and subjugation.

My church officially believes in the literalness of the creation story, but I don't know of many actual members who do. Most Christians I know believe the Bible has a lot to say about the "why" and "who" but not about the "how", and that the Genesis accounts actually do tie in with current scientific thinking on the "how". I tend to believe that anything in the scriptures is there for a reason, because of what it can teach us, and the account of Adam and Eve is no exception. They are a metaphor for all of humanity - it's tendency towards rebellion, its reliance on God and need for Him, and its messy awkwardness.

God's decree to Eve is in two parts:

1. Pain in childbearing

I was lucky enough to have extremely quick and easy labours with all three of my children so I feel I rather escaped this. Not that it was a walk in the park, but toothache is worse. However, for many women it is the most pain they'll ever experience, and many have lost their lives or their health giving birth to their children. It's interesting to note that everywhere else in the Bible the Hebrew word “etzev” is translated as "labour, toil, or work," but in reference to childbirth, it’s translated as “pain, sorrow, anguish, or pang.” Does God mean to childbirth to be painful, or just effort? Whatever, it's both.

2. Desire toward husband

Having just read about childbearing it's easy to assume this refers to sexual desire. That despite knowing that pregnancy and birth would be difficult for her, a woman is nevertheless cursed to long for her husband's embrace. In fact, I was all set to acknowledge this enlightened recognition of female sexuality, so often trampled and denied. But it turns out that's not what the original Hebrew meant at all. The New Living Translation more accurately renders this, "You will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” This is about conflict in marriage, the end of the ideal of husband and wife as equal partners. One source I researched made this vital observation: "It is important to note that this judgment only states what will take place. God says that man and woman will live in conflict and their relationship will become problematic. The statement “he shall rule over you” is not a biblical command for men to dominate women." (How is a woman’s desire for her husband a curse (Genesis 3:16)? | GotQuestions.org)

How do I respond to this?

I'm working on the assumption that I was led to all the 3:16s because there's a message in one, or all, of them for me. So what do I take from this?

I'm something of a feminist. I want equality for women, and despite great strides I don't think we truly have it yet, and we need to continue to fight for all women to be respected, recognised, and safe. So this punishment for Eve for being the most sinful, just because she was the first to give in to temptation, doesn't sit well with me. And it seems harsh. Pain and hard work in bringing forth the next generation, and conflict with her husband.

But there's more to it than that. Two other things which are unique about my church come to the fore here. First, we don't believe in original sin. Adam and Eve sinned, but that was just them; we don't believe that every human is born in a sinful state as a result. In fact, we believe children are innocent until they reach the age of accountability, generally believed to be around 8 years old, and do bad things entirely of their own volition. So Eve may have sinned in eating the fruit, but I didn't. The punishment meted out on her was for her alone, not the rest of us.

Second, we believe that it was necessary for Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. The church teaches that in the Garden of Eden they couldn't have progressed or had children (it's unclear as to why not, but since I believe the creation story is metaphorical anyway it hardly matters) and that they therefore had to change their situation and be cast into the lone and dreary world in order to fulfil their destiny and bring mankind into existence. So eating the fruit was a good thing because it moved us onto the next part of God's plan, the part where we all get to be tested, and to grow and develop and have experiences which challenge us and learn to follow God.

What I think I am learning from this verse is the following:

• God spoke to Eve. True, He didn't have a whole lot of other people to speak to, but he gave her attention, knew what she had done, and decreed what would happen as a result. I like to think that even with all the demands on His attention God can still say to me "because you have done this, I will do this." Of course, I hope it is things like, "Because you have been faithful in studying I will open up new knowledge to you," or "Because you have given your time generously I will bless your efforts" rather than allowing me to experience the natural consequences of my sins. He sees what we do. He responds to us as individuals.
  
  
• The way things are is not necessarily the way they are supposed to be. Conflict between men and women is not something God wanted in His Eden, it is something we have introduced through our sin (our sin continues to result in conflict). The same is true of pain, and hard work. In fact, Eve's punishment is similar to Adam's in that his also involved hard effort and labour and sweat. But in the ideal world - heaven or Eden, you decide - there will not be pain, or toil, or conflict.

Does this verse teach you anything I've missed? Do you agree with my assessment?