Hi Mike,

I was reading something you wrote a few years ago that caught my attention.

It’s from an FAQ reply, and here’s the link:

Why Was Eve Deceived but Not Adam

Here’s the part I wanted to ask you about. It’s the very first sentence:

“I very much agree that Adam knew what he was doing, and he placed his love for Eve above his own spiritual life and his standing with Christ, bringing the plan of God into action to have all who are in Adam subject to death.​”

Adam’s love for Eve is the part I was curious about. Here’s a few scriptures I wanted to share. After Adam and Eve sinned in the garden we read this:

Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten from the tree? whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Gen 3:12 And the man said: The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

This doesn’t sound like an act of love to me. Sounds to me like Adam was throwing his wife under the bus just like any carnal man would. He tried to save his own skin by passing the blame onto Eve, despite the fact Adam knew what he was doing was wrong.

Adam had the “breath of life” (Gen 2:7), but he did not have the Holy Spirit, and we are told that “unfeigned love” (sincere, genuine love) is a fruit that comes only by the Holy Spirit (2Co 6:6)

Your brother in Christ,

C____

Hi C____,

Thank you for your question about whether Adam loved his wife, Eve.

You point out that Adam passed the buck and blamed Eve for eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then you rightfully say:

“… [Adam] did not have the Holy Spirit​, and we are told that “unfeigned love” (sincere, genuine love) is a fruit that comes only by the Holy Spirit (2Co 6:6).”

I think you will agree that I never said Adam’s love for his wife, Eve, was “unfeigned [Godly] love”, which is specifically defined as obedience to God.

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

This is how Adam and all in Adam, including his wife, Eve, will know if Adam had true Godly love for Eve:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

This is certainly not the love of Eve that Adam had. His love of his wife led him to disobey the Lord’s commandments. Here is the love of Eve Adam had:

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

In all three synoptic gospels,​ Christ included wives in the Mat​thew​ 10:37 equation:

Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Mar 10:29  And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,

Luk 18:29  And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake,

As you said: “… [Adam] tried to save his own skin by passing the blame onto Eve, despite the fact Adam knew what he was doing was wrong.”

That is exactly right, but that does not keep Adam from loving his wife more than he loved God. If Adam had loved God more than Eve​, he would have obeyed God instead of his wife.

But as you also pointed out:

“Adam had the “breath of life” (Gen 2:7), but he did not have the Holy Spirit, and we are told that “unfeigned love” (sincere, genuine love) is a fruit that comes only by the Holy Spirit (2Co 6:6).”

Here is that verse you reference:

2Co 6:6  By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

You and I both know the holy spirit was not available to Adam or to anyone else until fifty days after the crucifixion of Christ. So the only ‘love’ Adam was capable of having​ was a physical ‘love’ which did not put place obedience to Christ ahead of his wife:

Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Even in placing the blame on Eve, Adam was, as you said, attempting to “save his own skin” instead of “losing his life for Christ’s sake”​:

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

The ‘love’ Adam had for Eve was “the love of the world” which will always place one’s wife above the “love of God” regardless of how clearly we are told to do otherwise:

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

I hope you can see what I meant when I said, “I very much agree that Adam knew what he was doing, and he placed his love for Eve above his own spiritual life and his standing with Christ…” What I am obviously referring to is his ‘spiritual life’ and his favor with Christ. Adam was not capable of such Godly love because the holy spirit was not yet given to perform such a selfless act as to leave his wife for “[Christ’s] sake, [or] for the kingdom of God’s sake”. But the fact that he knowingly disobeyed the Lord and did what his wife asked of him demonstrates that he loved her more than the Lord.

1Ti 2:14  And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

Your brother in Christ, Mike

Outstanding explanation, Mike. Thank you so much for clearing this up for me, I was always confused on this issue, but now I understand what you meant by that particular statement. It makes perfect sense now. Please keep doing what you’re doing. Your ministry is a great blessing for me.

Your thankful brother in Christ,
C____