What if Eve had not followed Adam out of the Garden?

123. Eve was, then, the first woman to forsake her (heavenly) kindred for her husband. She reversed God’s marriage law,—”Therefore shall a man forsake his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife.” Had Eve remained steadfast with God, Adam might through the double influence of God and Eve, have returned to God. Marriage might have been consummated by Adam, the husband, forsaking the devil, his father, and cleaving to his wife, thus returning, like the prodigal he was, to the heavenly Father’s home.

124. God spoke warningly to Eve at this time, telling her that she was inclining to turn away from Himself to her husband, and telling her that if she did so her husband would rule over her. The correct rendering of the next phrase of Genesis 3:16 is this: “Thou art turning away to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee,”—not as it has been rendered, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband.”

95…… Now please rub your eyes carefully, search the latter end of chapter three of Genesis, and point me the place where the Bible teaches that Eve was expelled from Eden. I cannot find such teaching. I find that the one whose duty it was to “till the ground,” was expelled; the one who was “taken out of the ground” was expelled; but I find no account of the sex which was to bear children “in sorrow,” in the story of the expulsion; and I choose to believe that something of the odors of Eden have enveloped motherhood ever since creation. Yet Eve must soon have abandoned Eden to follow Adam (see pars. 122, 123, 137).

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EVE was not expelled from Eden!

95. The rest of the story (excepting Genesis 3:16, which we next explain), on the very face of it, bears evidence of Eve’s favor with God, through her confession and faith. After the eating, God assigns to Adam his particular vocation (Genesis 3:19). Adam was to earn his bread by tilling the soil, “till thou return unto the ground, for out of it thou wast taken.” Eve was not taken out of the ground, in the same sense as Adam; when she became an identity apart from Adam, it was by God’s taking her out of Adam (Genesis 2:21). Now please rub your eyes carefully, search the latter end of chapter three of Genesis, and point me the place where the Bible teaches that Eve was expelled from Eden. I cannot find such teaching. I find that the one whose duty it was to “till the ground,” was expelled; the one who was “taken out of the ground” was expelled; but I find no account of the sex which was to bear children “in sorrow,” in the story of the expulsion; and I choose to believe that something of the odors of Eden have enveloped motherhood ever since creation. Yet Eve must soon have abandoned Eden to follow Adam (see pars. 122, 123, 137).

96. We are taught, in Revelation 22:14, that those who “wash their robes” (the R.V.is the correct reading here), “have right to the tree of life.” If this be true for deliberate sinners, much more is it true for a wholly deceived person. We have shown that Eve was a believer. We see no reason why Eve should have found a “flaming sword” between herself and the tree of life. Adam was thrust out of Eden, with a flaming sword between himself and the tree of life, “lest he put forth his hand and take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” But if Eve was already “living” spiritually, the same motive could not have existed for cutting off her access to the tree of life; she already had eternal life.

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“For this cause shall a man leave father and mother…”

( see also In those days, it was NOT expected that a wife would follow her husband)

56. Dr. A. C. Dixon, in an article in the London Christian (Nov. 16, 1911) says: “Turn to this civilization which God Himself founded, and you will hear Him say: ‘A man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.’ Woman is given the pre-eminence. It is not the woman leaving the father and the mother, and cleaving unto her husband; but it is the man leaving his mother and father, and cleaving unto his wife.” At one point we disagree with Dr. Dixon. Civilization founded on this marriage law of God did not make the wife her husband’s superior; but it prevented her becoming his subordinate. ….

63. We have got so far away from God’s law, that today, in British law, the mother is not a parent. …. The English Church is severe against divorce. Yet, read the Lord’s ruling as to divorce, in Matthew 19, and we discover that the conclusion, “Therefore what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder,” rests upon the premises, “A man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall become [R. V.] one flesh.” The Church will never effectually enforce the conclusion of that statute, while it defies the premises upon which it rests.

156… We have pointed out some of the social wrongs growing out of this violation of God’s marriage law.

157. Christ said: “What God hath joined, let not man put asunder.” Now we inquire, “What did God join, when He gave that marriage law which Christ repeats? First and foremost, he joined a man to his wife’s kindred, by the words, “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and cleave to his wife.” In the second place, God joined the husband to his wife, as indicated by the words,—“and they shall become one flesh.” The R.V.is correct here, in translating, “shall become,” instead of “shall be.” Both the Hebrew of the O. T., and the Greek of the N. T. say “become,” not “be.”

( see also In those days, it was NOT expected that a wife would follow her husband)

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“Creation” of male/female distinct from their “Formation”

30. We return to the story in Genesis. We conclude that the first chapter of Genesis describes the original creation of “Adam,”–mankind. (We must bear in mind the fact that the word “Adam” is applied sometimes to mankind, and sometimes to the individual being who was husband of Eve). The second chapter describes the elaboration of the first Adam into two sexes. The second chapter nowhere uses the word “create,” of Adam, but a totally different word,–“formed.” Please look up this same word, “formed,” in Isaiah 44:2, 24 and 49:5, and convince yourself that it is used there exclusively of all idea of creation. Then turn to Isaiah 43:1, 7;  45:18, and see how it is used of a process additional to creation. This is what St. Paul refers to, where he says, “Adam was first formed then Eve,”—1 Timothy 2:13. He is speaking of development, not of original creation. Adam and Eve (so far as their primal state is concerned) were created simultaneously; but Adam was “formed,” elaborated, first.

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