Adam joining his wife in death saved her from the dreadful isolation that defines death, but that didn’t reconcile her to a spiritual relationship for eternal life with the Creator.
God can unilaterally forgive sinners but even He can only offer restoration of relationship, which must be accepted by the sinner.
And the LORD God said…Because thou hast done this…thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Genesis 3:6-16)
There is a direct connection between
- the woman’s desire for tasty food, pleasure, and wisdom getting her in trouble and dragging her husband down into her trouble,
- and God’s response by putting her desires under her husband’s oversight.
It’s to prevent a recurrence!
It is also to reconcile her broken relationship with her husband. How could he ever trust her in the future if she didn’t admit her weakness and allow him to protect himself as much as her from a recurrence? YHVH wasn’t setting up a tyrannical marriage system. Adam had proven his love for his wife by dying for her. If the rest of us women screened prospective husbands for Adam’s qualifications, we wouldn’t find ourselves desperately backing out of slavery.
We love that word “boundaries” in psychology, don’t we?
When you hear the phrase ‘setting boundaries’ you might think it’s all about putting up walls or barriers between you and your loved ones. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Continue reading “SECTION XI: Atonement Is Leadership-Driven Reconciliation”


