Don’t Confuse Eve with Pandora

Don’t Confuse Eve with Pandora

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Hebrews 7:22 (NKJV): “by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.”

God’s first covenant was with Adam. When Adam ate with the serpent, he entered into covenant with the enemy. Adam’s covenant with Satan brought disease, famine and hardship. However, God stepped in immediately.  In the midst of the curse, He introduced the covenant of grace.  

Genesis 3:13 (NKJV):  “And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."  The woman recognized the serpent for who he is, a deceiver who seeks to destroy. She recognized the root of the problem. God laid the axe to the root.

Genesis 3:14-15 (NKJV) “So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."

Contrary to faulty Bible exegesis, the woman is not the conduit by which sin and the consequences of sin entered the Creation.  The Bible does not tell us why Adam ate the fruit.  However, it does tell us that Adam was not deceived.  “And Adam was not deceived” 1 Timothy 2:14 (NKJV).  God placed the onus on Adam. ^“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men” Romans 5:12 (NKJV). 

We must be careful not to confuse Eve with Pandora.  According to Greek mythology, the titan Prometheus created men, just males, no females.  He cared for his creation and gave them many gifts. One of the gifts was fire stolen from the gods on Mt. Olympus.  Zeus, the chief of the gods, determined to punish Prometheus by creating a wife for him. 

Zeus commissioned the blacksmith of the gods, Hephaestus, to forge a woman in his smithy.  She was lovely.  All the gods gave her gifts.  Therefore, she was called Pandora which means “all gifts.”  One goddess gave Pandora the gift of curiosity.  Zeus gave her a lovely box as a dowry and sent her to Prometheus.

“Prometheus” means “forethought.”  He thought before he acted.  He saw the lovely woman and reasoned, “Zeus is angry with me.  If he has given me a gift, it must not be a good one.  Therefore, he refused Pandora and her dowry.

However, Prometheus had a twin brother Epimetheus.  “Epimetheus” means “afterthought”.  He acted without thinking.  He saw that Pandora was lovely, gifted and had a dowry.  He married her.  After her marriage, the gift of curiosity stirred within Pandora.  She begged Epimetheus to open the box.  As they lifted the lid to the box, all the evils of the world poured out.  They quickly shut the box before the last thing flew out of it.  They inadvertently shut hope in the box.

In the Greek philosophical mindset, man will always be attracted to woman.  Woman will always bring trouble into his life and this troubled life is without hope.

 

Eve is not Pandora.  She was created as the perfect “help-meet” for Adam. God said that it is not good for the man to be alone.  Woman is his complement.  She completes man.  Because the woman was created from the man, together, they manifest the image of God in the earth.
 

It is the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, the last Adam, who restores us to the relationship first Adam had with God in the garden. When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, hope is restored.

^”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3 NKJV).

The Adamic Covenant: Grace

The Adamic Covenant: Grace

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Hebrews 7:22 (NKJV): “by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.”

Remember the Lord’s admonition to Adam: “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17 NKJV)

What is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? “Knowledge” comes from a root word that means to know by seeing; by using the senses:  touching, hearing, etc.  It is Thomas doubting until he can put his hand into the wounds in Jesus’ side. It is walking by experience rather than by faith in the word of God. It becomes a subjective knowledge because no two people perceive something in exactly the same way.  It results in no absolute truth.

The serpent placed doubt and unbelief in the mind of the woman.  “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6 NKJV)  When Adam ate with the serpent, he entered into covenant with the enemy. Adam and Eve gave up their connection to God's supporting power and began their physical decline which eventually resulted in death.

We must never forget that all the dominion that Adam had was transferred to satan. Because satan is cursed, that transfer of power brought a curse on the earth. Because our bodies are created from the earth, the curse is upon our physical bodies as well.  Adam’s covenant with satan brought disease, famine and hardship.

God stepped in immediately.  In the midst of the curse, He introduced the covenant of grace.

 “Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"
So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" (Genesis 3:9-11 NKJV)  

The first manifestation of the consequences of sin was fear.  “Naked” implies vulnerability. A sense of vulnerability leads to fear.  In scripture God consistently tells us not to be fear not.  Fear is the opposite of faith.  Fear is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  It has never been the intention of God for us to be afraid. ^”For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV)   

The consequences continue.  “Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." (Genesis 3:12 NKJV)  Adam blamed God and the woman. When we refuse to take responsibility for our actions, we cannot overcome our mistakes. 

However, God desires to forgive. First we must acknowledge our sin.  “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8-9 NKJV)

Then we must agree with God that sin is sin.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “(1 John 1:8-9 NKJV)

The woman responded differently and her response touched the heart of God. “And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." (Genesis 3:13 NKJV)  The woman recognized the serpent for who he is, a deceiver who seeks to destroy.

When woman recognized the root of the problem, God laid the axe to that root. Genesis 3:15(NKJV) “To the serpent, the Lord said:  ^“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:15NKJV)  The seed of the woman is Jesus Christ.  If Jesus had had an earthly father, he would be of the seed of Adam, not the seed of the woman, and could not be our Redeemer.

Throughout history, satan has tried to destroy the seed of the woman. Three outstanding incidents:

▪Cain killed Abel.

▪Pharaoh killed the male infants in Moses’ day.

▪Herod killed the male babies in Jesus’ day.

God also established an order of protection for the woman. “To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you." (Genesis 3:16 NKJV)  Even though childbirth would prove to be painful, it was in childbirth that redemption would come.  God placed the man in dominion over the woman to protect and nurture her.  The woman would desire that protection. However, satan has often perverted that relationship.  The husband is to rule over his family in love just as Christ rules over the Church.  Ruling in God’s sense is dominion rather than domination.

 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.” (Ephesians 5:25-29 NKJV)

 “And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” (Genesis 3:20 NKJV)  Adam demonstrated his faith in the word of God when he named the woman “Mother.”  In Hebrew, “Eve” is Havah (life-giver).

 “Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21 NKJV)  Blood was shed.  A covenant was sealed.  The provision for the covering of sin was enacted. Grace became a reality.

 Although Man broke and continues to break his covenant with God, God, in His grace, has not broken His covenant with man. The question remains through the ages, “Are we willing to enter into the covenant that restores our relationship with the Lord?”

God’s Covenant with Adam – Part One

God’s Covenant with Adam – Part One

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Hebrews 7:22 (NKJV): “by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.”

God relates to us through covenants.  In fact, scripture is divided into the “Old Covenant” and the “New Covenant.”  The covenant we have in Jesus Christ renews and strengthens that first covenant that God made with Adam.  

   

God set down the conditions for covenant before He created man.  “Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (Genesis 1:26 NKJV)

The first condition was that mankind was to be created in the image of God.  God is a spirit.  Therefore, our essential being is spiritual rather than physical.  My former pastor used to say, “I am a spirit.  I live in a body and I own a mind.”

The second condition is that mankind, created to receive the blessing of God, was to reproduce and fill the earth.  God also gave man dominion over the earth.  “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:27-28 NKJV)

Covenants are sealed with a meal signifying provision.  God needed no provision from Adam, but He promised to provide for mankind. “And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.” (Genesis 1-29-30 NKJV) 

We go on to the second chapter of Genesis for more details in the creation epic. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.  And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ” (Genesis 2:7-9 NKJV) 

The Hebrew word translated as “garden” means an enclosed or protected place.  Eden represents the protection that comes from close fellowship with the Father.

God did not create a couple of puppets.  He created living, intelligent creatures and blessed us with free will.  He also gave instructions to aid mankind in making decisions that would result in abundant living. ^“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17 NKJV)

Eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would lead to death. The Hebrew word translated as “Knowledge” comes from a root word that means to know by seeing; by using the senses:  touching, hearing, etc.  This knowledge is the disciple Thomas doubting until he can put his hand into the wounds in Jesus’ side. It is walking by experience rather than by faith in the word of God. 

In disobeying God, Adam and Eve gave up their connection to God's supporting power and began their physical decline which eventually results in death.

Remember Jesus’ admonition in John 10:10(NKJV):  “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Genesis 3 introduces us to the thief.  “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
^“And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' "(Genesis 3:1-3 NKJV) 

The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” 1 Corinthians 6:12 (NKJV)

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.” (1 Corinthians 10:23 NKJV)

The woman “saw” that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good, pleasant and would make one wise. The serpent’s words had caused her to doubt God.  Therefore, she saw the tree through the eyes of doubt and unbelief. She had to experience it to believe it. 

When Adam ate the fruit, he sealed covenant with the enemy.

Paul cautioned, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NKJV) 

Remember, a covenant is the bond in which those involved in the transaction each say, “Everything I have is yours.”All the dominion that Adam had was transferred to satan.  Because satan is cursed, that transfer of power brought a curse on the earth. Because our bodies are created from the earth, the curse is upon our physical bodies as well.

Adam’s covenant with satan brought disease, famine and hardship. But that’s not the end of the story.  Man broke his covenant with God, but God has not broken His covenant with man. God’s plans may be delayed, but never thwarted.  God’s plan is to restore us in covenant.  Covenant Christianity is a relationship with God whose Spirit indwells us.

Covenant Leads to Relationship

Covenant Leads to Relationship

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Hebrews 7:22 (NKJV): “by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.”

God relates to His people through covenants.  A covenant is greater than a promise.  It is a bonding. A covenant is a bond in which each of those involved in the matter say, “Everything I have is yours.”  Covenant is total commitment.  In covenant with God, even though we are not totally committed to Him, He is totally committed to us. 

God’s covenants with us are for our benefit.  The purpose of God’s covenant is to bring abundant life.  The apostle John quotes our Savior, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:10-11 NKJV)  In God’s covenants, we are assured of guidance, protection and provision. 

What do we have to give to Him as our part of the covenant?  Paul wrote to the church in Rome, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2 NKJV)  We are to give Him ourselves in holiness, allowing Him to transform our thinking so that we can demonstrate to the world the transforming, overcoming relationship that results from walking in covenant with our God.

In addition, because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, Christians become participants in the covenants the Lord made beginning with Adam, continuing with Noah, Abraham and the nation of Israel. Today many teach “replacement theology” which says that the Lord no longer deals with Israel and that the Church has replaced Israel in the economy of God.  However, the Word does not support that thesis.  Christians do not replace Israel in God’s covenant.  Paul was adamant, “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.  (Romans 11:1-2aNKJV)

Paul continues, “For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." (Romans 11:16-19 NKJV)  

Because much of the Church has denied our Old Testament heritage, we often do not understand the deeper truths of our relationship with our Redeemer.  The root supports us.

Sometimes our confusion is the result of flawed grammar.  Let’s examine Hebrews 8:7-8 NKJV). “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- .”   Because the pronoun “they” is plural and the noun “covenant” is singular, the writer of Hebrews is not saying that the covenant itself was faulty, but that the people of Israel and Judah were faulty.  The weakness of the Old Covenant was not in the Covenant itself but in the weakness and inability of man. The reason the Old Covenant didn't "work" was because the people did not continue in God’s covenant.

Because the people did not fully embrace the covenant, God, in His mercy, gave us a strengthened covenant that would enable mankind to walk according to His promises. 

The author of Hebrews continues by quoting the prophet Jeremiah, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Hebrews 8:10 NKJV) 

The laws of God are still the same, the difference is that they are not etched in stone; they are written on the hearts of those who accept the sacrifice of Jesus as the pathway to covenant with God the Father.  We are transformed by the renewing of our minds.  How does that transformation come about?

Hundreds of years before the cross, Ezekiel prophesied, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:27 NKJV)

On Pentecost, ten days after Jesus’ ascension, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4 NKJV) 

The Holy Spirit came to indwell God’s people.  Because of the Holy Spirit within, we grow in grace and knowledge, we are transformed; we become the covenant people of our God.  All believers are in the transformation process.  

Paul affirmed, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV) Covenant Christianity is a relationship with God whose Spirit indwells us.