1 Timothy 2:14

The woman, Eve, becomes the means of the fall. The serpent approached her, and she listened. Then she took the lead, which was not her place, and she disobeyed. Adam, however, was the responsible transgressor. It is always Adam's sin that Scripture speaks of, and 1 Timothy 2:14 supplies us with the reason. Eve was deceived but Adam was not. His eating of the forbidden tree was therefore an act of pure defiance of God. It was undiluted lawlessness, and that is the very essence of sin.

The man may have been in a certain sense worse. He followed the woman in wrong against God, where he ought to have led her in obedience; and he did it knowingly. She was completely taken in; he was not. So her weakness, and its dangerous effect on man, give one more reason why she should be quiet, neither teaching nor ruling.

The woman did have a safeguard if only she had remembered the woman's place. When Satan tempted her, she could have put the matter to Adam. Here the tempter ignored her head and came to the weaker vessel. Certainly Adam is no less responsible: it is guilt in both cases. But this still illustrates a difference. Man, marked by clear and deliberate judgment, is fitted for the public place. Woman, marked more by feeling and intuition, is fitted for the quieter place of subjection.

The man was not deceived (1 Tim. 2:14); but all the more shame to him for following the woman (who was deceived), contrary to the truth of God. Natural affection often becomes the means of drawing the heart away from God.

Two reasons are given: one is Adam's priority in creation, implying headship; the other, that the woman was deceived by the tempter. She proved herself a bad leader in this. So in His wise government God barred her from the place of authority or teaching in the church. We should not say that her place is inferior to that of the man, but different.

This is not to slight woman. Morally she is generally of finer quality than man, and as a rule she exceeds him in affection and devotion to Christ. Nor is this a question of woman's ability: compared with man she shows no inferiority of genius, culture, tact or speech. It is only in position that man is above woman. Our point here is simply this. When a woman leaves her God-given place and sphere of service and takes a place of teaching and leading, she often becomes the special victim of Satan's deceptions and a spreader of his falsehoods and heresies.

The parallel contained in this warning is very striking and complete. Eve was for Adam; the church is for Christ. Adam was not deceived, Eve was (1 Tim. 2:14). Her deception came from agreeing to listen to another voice, and to reason with a mind other than Adam's. Hers was a double transgression. She set aside her allegiance to her husband, and so broke her Creator's rule. Such was the beginning of natural sin, and the order of spiritual apostasy is similar. A fall from grace begins with a heart and mind not subject to Christ. Independent reasoning corrupts faith.